Ephesians 5.17a-The Believer is Prohibited drom Conducting Their Life as a Foolish Individual
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Saturday June 13, 2026
Ephesians Series: Ephesians 5:17a-The Believer is Prohibited From Conducting Their Life as a Foolish Individual
Lesson # 354
Ephesians 5:15 Therefore, each and every one of you as a corporate unit must continue to make it your habit of paying careful attention to the manner in which each and every one of you make it your habit of conducting your lives. Each and every one of you as a corporate unit must continue to not make it your habit of conducting your lives in an unwise manner. On the contrary, each and every one of you must continue to make it your habit of conducting your lives in a wise manner 16 by continuing to make it your habit of taking full advantage of your opportunity for your own benefit because these days are characterized by evil. 17 For this reason, each and every one of must continue to make it your habit of not conducting your lives as foolish individuals. On the contrary, each and every one of you as a corporate unit must continue to make it your habit of conducting your lives as wise individuals by comprehending for the purpose of personal application what constitutes the Lord’s will (for the manner in which each one of you as a corporate unit are to continue making it your habit of conducting your life). (Lecturer’s translation)
Ephesians 5:17 is composed of the following:
(1) prepositional phrase Dia touto (Διὰ τοῦτο), “for this reason” (Lecturer’s translation)
(2) prohibition mē ginesthe aphrones (μὴ γίνεσθε ἄφρονες), “each and every one of must continue to make it your habit of not conducting your lives as foolish individuals” (Lecturer’s translation).
(3) elliptical strong adversative command alla (ἀλλὰ), “On the contrary, each and every one of you as a corporate unit must continue to make it your habit of conducting your lives as wise individuals” (Lecturer’s translation).
(4) participle clause sunientes ti to thelēma tou kyriou (συνιέντες τί τὸ θέλημα τοῦ κυρίου), “by comprehending for the purpose of personal application what constitutes the Lord’s will (for the manner in which each one of you as a corporate unit are to continue making it your habit of conducting your life). (Lecturer’s translation).
As the reader can see, the prohibition, which begins this verse, required that the recipients of this letter, who we noted were members of the various Gentile Christian communities throughout the Roman province of Asia, continue to make it their habit of not conducting their lives as foolish individuals.
The elliptical command required that they continue to make it their habit of conducting their lives as wise individuals.
This command presents a strong emphatic contrast with the prohibition.
The participial clause presents the means by which both the prohibition and the elliptical command were to be accomplished, namely by comprehending for the purpose of personal application what constitutes the Lord’s will for the manner in which the recipients of this epistle were to continue making it their habit of conducting their lives.
As was the case in Ephesians 5:1 and 7, the verb ginomai (γίνομαι) in the prohibition in Ephesians 5:17 pertains to conducting one’s life in a particular way or manner.
The referent of the second person plural form of this verb is the recipients of this letter, who were noted many times in our study of Ephesians were members of the Gentile Christian community living throughout the Roman province of Asia.
The word is not only referring to them as a corporate unit but also as individuals because the second person plural form of this verb is also used in a distributive sense emphasizing no exceptions.
The meaning of this verb ginomai (γίνομαι) is negated by the negative particle me (μή), which denies any idea of the recipients of this letter conducting their lives in a foolish manner.
Together, they form a prohibition.
The adjective aphrōn (ἄφρων) describes a person who is devoid of wisdom or good sense or sound judgment.
This word is in the plural and should be translated “foolish individuals” because in context it is referring to people who are foolish.
It is making an assertion about the recipients of this letter, namely that they must continue to make it their habit of not conducting their lives as “foolish individuals.”
In a broader context, they would be foolish if they disobey Paul’s Spirit inspired apostolic teaching in Ephesians 4:17-5:16, which addresses their conduct or lifestyle.
Specifically, in the immediate context, they would be foolish if they disobeyed Paul’s Spirit inspired apostolic teaching in Ephesians 5:11-16.
The present imperative conjugation of the verb ginomai (γίνομαι) is a customary present imperative, which expresses the idea of the recipients of this letter “continuing to make it their habit of” not conducting their lives in a foolish manner because the period of time in which they are living in is characterized by evil.
It has the force of a general precept and makes no comment about whether the action is going on or not.
However, it does contain the idea of “continuing” to not make it a habit of conducting one’s life as a foolish individual because the contents of Ephesians 1:15 affirm that the recipients of this epistle were exercising faith in Paul’s Spirit inspired apostolic teaching as well as practicing the love of God when interacting with each other.
Also the contents of Ephesians 4:17-5:16 affirm they were already being obedient to Paul’s Spirit inspired apostolic teaching recorded in this epistle.
Therefore, the present imperative conjugation of this verb expresses the idea that the recipients of this letter must “continue to make it their habit” of not conducting their lives as foolish individuals.
The middle voice of the ginomai (γίνομαι) is an indirect middle, which expresses the idea that the recipients of this letter would “benefit themselves” by continuing to make it their habit of not conducting their lives as foolish individuals.
It would benefit them because obedience to this prohibition would result in continued spiritual growth and ultimately it would result in rewards for them at the Bema Seat Evaluation of the church (1 Cor. 3:11-15; 2 Cor. 5:10; Rom. 14:10-12), which immediately follows the rapture or resurrection of the church, which is imminent.
