Ephesians 5:14
14 Wherefore [dio] he saith, [lego] Awake thou [egeiro] that
sleepest, [katheudo] and [kai] arise [anistemi] from [ek] the dead, [nekros] and [kai] Christ [Christos] shall
give [epiphausko] thee [soi] light. [epiphausko] KJV-Interlinear
14 For
this reason it says, "Awake, sleeper, And arise from the dead, And Christ
will shine on you." NASB
The phrase ‘it says,’ is
a typical but general statement that refers to a commonly known fact.
When quoting scripture,
generally the phrase used is ‘it is written.’
When a statement from God is stated, the comment used is generally ‘thus
says the Lord.’
But here Paul does not
use a quote, but refers to a common truth, that should be widely known. Just as we all know that the sun rises in the
east, or two plus two is four, even though we do not quote any written text, we
simply take this as a stated truth, that everyone knows and accepts as truth.
Sleep and death are used
here to symbolize the detachment of a person from truth.
When you are asleep, you
are unconscious, inactive in life, not awake, not cognizant of the world around
you.
When you are dead, you
are separated completely from life, as it were.
But here both sleep and
death are not used in a literal sense, but figuratively to indicate that if you
are not functioning in the light of truth, which is Bible doctrine, then you
are asleep, or worse yet, you are dead to the realities of truth. You are detached and completely removed or
disconnected from life and reality.
So, Paul commands that
you wake up, smell the coffee, stop acting like the dead, but get back with or
rejoin the living as it were, and get your act together. This is what you tell someone who has their
thinking messed up, that has their head on crooked, and needs a swift kick to
the back side, in order to get them back on course in life.
And we do this, by
listening, learning, studying daily, confessing whenever necessary, praying
frequently, and otherwise functioning within our spiritual life as intended by
God.
When you are asleep, you
cannot function in life. When you are dead, you certainly cannot function.
Life without doctrine is
like sleeping or like being dead. You have
nothing, do nothing, are nothing.
And that is how most people
are in this world. They are
sleep-walking or dead-walking and going nowhere.
By ignoring, rejecting,
or being indifferent toward doctrine, or trying to invent your own reality,
then you and your life are no better than the life of a sleeping or dead
person.
Only doctrine, when
learned in the proper way, which is by means of a daily study while in
fellowship, supplies all of the necessary ingredients for living a life
completely and thoroughly to its fullest.
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