Ephesians 5.17c-The Means by Which the Believer is to Conduct Themselves as a Wise Individual
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Saturday June 20, 2026
Ephesians Series: Ephesians 5:17c-The Means By Which the Believer is to Conduct Themselves as a Wise Individual
Lesson # 357
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).
Now, the participial clause, which completes Ephesians 5:17, contains the verb syniēmi (συνίημι), which speaks not only of knowing and comprehending the nature or meaning of a particular subject but also applying the meaning of particular subject to one’s life.
In context, the verb refers to the church age believer “comprehending for the purpose of personal application” what constitutes the Lord Jesus Christ’s desire for the manner in which He wants them to conduct their lives on a habitual basis.
Once again, 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 because this is a circular letter directed at these communities.
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 participle conjugation of the verb syniēmi (συνίημι) functions as a participle of means, which indicates that the recipients of this epistle were to continue to make it their habit of conducting their lives as wise individuals “by means of” continuing to make it their habit of comprehending for the purpose of application what constitutes the Lord Jesus Christ’s desire for the manner in which He wants them to conduct their lives in relation to the non-Christian community.
The participle of means defines the action of the main verb or makes it more explicit what the author intended to convey with the main verb and this type of participle is frequently used with vague, generate, abstract or metaphorical finite verbs and usually follows its verb.
In Ephesians 5:17, the verb syniēmi (συνίημι) is in the present tense and follows its controlling verb, which we noted is ginomai (γίνομαι).
The participial form of this verb syniēmi (συνίημι) as functioning as a participle of means because the point of the main verb is removed if this word were absent.
In other words, the verb syniēmi (συνίημι) is defining for the recipients of this letter specifically what constitutes the Lord Jesus Christ’s desire for the conduct of the church age believer because the command to conduct one’s life as a wise individual in Ephesians 5:17 is not explicit and needs defining.
As was the case in Ephesians 5:10, the nominative neuter singular form of the interrogative pronoun tis (τις) here in Ephesians 5:17 introduces a categorical or qualitative question.
In the former it expresses the idea of “what constitutes” pleasing for the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ but in the latter is expresses the idea of “what constitutes” the will of the Lord Jesus Christ and so obviously, both ideas are related.
This indirect question is answered by the contents of Ephesians 5:11-16, which is indicated by the fact that this interrogative pronoun was last used in Ephesians 5:10 in relation to the will of the Lord or conducting one’s life in a manner that pleases Him.
Specifically, the contents of Ephesians 5:10 and 17 serve as bookends for the contents of Ephesians 5:11-16.
As was the case in Ephesians 1:1, 5, 9, and 11, the noun thelēma (θέλημα) here in Ephesians 5:17 means “will” since the word pertains in each instance to that which is desired by someone for someone else.
However, unlike Ephesians 1:1, 5, 9 and 11, the noun here in Ephesians 5:17 is not used of the will of the Father for the church age believer but rather of the will of the Lord Jesus Christ, which of course, reflects the will of the Father for the believer.
As was the case in Ephesians 1:2, 3, 15, 17, 2:21, 3:11, 4:1, 5, 17, 5:8 and 10, the referent of the dative masculine singular form of the noun kurios (κύριος) here in Ephesians 5:17 is Jesus Christ.
The articular form of the noun kurios (κύριος) is anaphoric, which means that it is pointing back to the use of the word in Ephesians 5:10 indicating that the word has the same referent and the meaning here in Ephesians 5:17 as it did in Ephesians 5:10 and throughout this epistle up to this point.
The apostle Paul employs the noun kurios (κύριος) alone and not with Iēsous (Ἰησοῦς), “Jesus” or with Christos (Χριστός), “Christ” or with both of these words together because the Spirit through Paul wants to emphasize Jesus Christ’s rulership over the members of His body, which of course, is the church.
The noun kurios (κύριος) functions as a subjective genitive, which expresses the idea of what constitutes the Lord Jesus Christ’s “desire” or “will” or for the manner in which He “wants” the church age believer to conduct their life in relation to their interaction with the non-Christian community.
Now, the verb syniēmi (συνίημι) not only refers to an intellectual grasp of a subject but also the application of a particular subject to one’s life and in particular one’s conduct.
In context, this subject is what constitutes the Lord’s will or desire for the behavior of His people when interacting with the non-Christian community.
There are three reasons for this interpretation of the verb syniēmi (συνίημι).
The first reason is the use of the participial conjugation of this verb and the second is the meaning of the adjective sophos (σοφός) and lastly the contents of Ephesians 5:11-16 addresses the church age believer’s behavior in relation to the non-Christian community.
As we noted, the participle conjugation of this verb is defining what constitutes the Lord Jesus Christ’s desire for the conduct of the church age believer and as we also noted the elliptical command to conduct one’s life as a wise individual is not explicit and needs defining.
Secondly, the adjective sophos (σοφός) pertains to a person who is characterized by wisdom. Paul’s Spirit inspired apostolic teaching in this epistle reveals the Father and the Son’s will for the believer’s life and those who exercise faith in this teaching, which produces obedience to this teaching, results in the believer receiving wisdom.
Therefore, the believer who habitually obeys Paul’s Spirit inspired apostolic teaching will be characterized by God’s wisdom and thus, wisdom is the application of the knowledge that the believer receives by the Holy Spirit through Paul’s apostolic teaching regarding the Father’s and Son’s will for their life.
Lastly, Paul is addressing the conduct of the Gentile Christian community throughout the contents of Ephesians 4:17-5:16 and in fact, he continues to address their behavior until the end of the epistle.
Furthermore, as we noted the first three chapters of Ephesians is the doctrinal section of the letter, which serves as the basis for the last three chapters of this epistle, which specifically address the conduct of the Christian community.
Therefore, the verb syniēmi (συνίημι) expresses the idea of the believer conducting their life as a wise individual rather than a foolish individual “by means of comprehending for the purpose of personal application” what constitutes the Lord Jesus Christ’s desire for the manner in which He wants them to live their lives in relation to the non-Christian community.
So therefore, the verb syniēmi (συνίημι) not only refers to an intellectual grasp of a particular subject but also the application of this subject for the purpose of personal application because the participial conjugation of this verb is defining what it means to be wise, which is defined as the application of truth to one’s life and conduct.
The meaning of the verb syniēmi (συνίημι) here in Ephesians 5:17 is similar to the use of the verb akouō (ἀκούω) in the Greek New Testament where the latter at times does not simply mean “to hear” but rather “to hear and obey” the teaching of Jesus Christ or the apostles or false teachers (cf. Matt. 11:15; 13:9, ; Lk. 16:29, 31; John 10:27, 11:41; Col. 1:23; 1 Tim. 4:16; 1 John 3:11; 1 John 4:5-6).
This use of the verb akouō (ἀκούω) is similar to a mother saying to her child, “you don’t listen to me!” and she is really saying “you don’t obey me!”
This use of the verb syniēmi (συνίημι) in Ephesians 5:17 also appears in Matthew 13:23.
Therefore, it would appear that the contents of Ephesians 5:17 parallels the contents of Ephesians 5:10 since both are speaking of pleasing the Lord by doing His will and applying the apostle Paul’s Spirit inspired teaching in this epistle, which reveals the will of the Father and the Son.
In fact, as we noted earlier, Ephesians 5:10 and 17 serves as bookends for the contents of Ephesians 5:11-16.
