Ephesians 5.17b-The Believer is Commanded to Conduct Their Life as a Wise Individual
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Tuesday June 16, 2026
Ephesians Series: Ephesians 5:17b-The Believer is Commanded to Conduct Their Life as a Wise Individual
Lesson # 355
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 we noted, following the prohibition is a command, which is elliptical because Paul is employing the figure of ellipsis.
This means that he is deliberately omitting second person plural present middle imperative conjugation of the verb ginomai (γίνομαι) and the articular nominative masculine plural form of the adjective sophos (σοφός).
The former is implied from the previous prohibition here in Ephesians 5:17 and the latter is implied from Ephesians 5:15 and pertains to being wise.
As was the case in the previous prohibition here in Ephesians 5:17, the verb ginomai (γίνομαι) in this elliptical command 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 adjective sophos (σοφός) functions as a predicate nominative, which means that it is making an assertion that the recipients of this letter are conducting their lives as wise individuals.
They would be wise individuals if they continue to make it their habit of obeying Paul’s Spirit inspired apostolic teaching in Ephesians 4:17-5:16 and specifically by continuing to obey his Spirit inspired apostolic teaching recorded in Ephesians 5:11-16.
Once again, the present imperative conjugation of the verb ginomai (γίνομαι) is a customary present imperative.
Here it expresses the idea of the recipients of this letter “continuing to make it their habit of” conducting their lives as wise individuals.
It too has the force of a general precept and makes no comment about whether the action is going on or not.
However, as in the case with the previous prohibition, here in this elliptical command, it does contain the idea of “continuing” to not make it a habit of conducting one’s life in a foolish manner because as we noted earlier 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 conducting their lives a wise individuals.
The middle voice of the ginomai (γίνομαι) is once again an indirect middle, which expresses the idea that the recipients of this letter would “benefit themselves” by continuing to make it their habit of conducting their lives in a wise manner.
As we also noted earlier, it would benefit them because obedience to this elliptical command 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.
Therefore, this elliptical command presents a strong emphatic contrast between the members of the Gentile Christian community in the Roman province of Asia conducting their lives as foolish individuals and that of conducting their lives as wise individuals.
