The Blessed Effects of God’s Saving Grace (4:1–6:20)
Examples of pure living
But everything exposed by the light becomes visible, 14 for it is light that makes everything visible. This is why it is said:
“Wake up, O sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”
Children of light don’t relish exposing deeds of darkness. It is “shameful” even to speak about the evils that need to be combatted and exposed by the light of God’s truth. But we have a wholesome purpose for doing this. Our hope is that sinners may see the error of their ways, repent, and turn in faith to the forgiveness that Christ has earned for even the vilest and darkest of misdeeds.
That wholesome and saving intent is reflected in Paul’s quotation. The source of this quotation is unknown, but it may be from one of the very early Christian hymns. Whatever the source, it’s a winsome invitation, both for the careless Christian who is sleeping in apathy and for the crass pagan who is still dead in transgressions and sins. Both need the same remedy: Christ’s light shining into their hearts, which wakes the apathetic Christian and raises to life those who are spiritually dead in unbelief.
Paul is reaching the close of a major section of his letter, a section in which he has stressed the need for personal purity in the lives of his readers. Paul has not appealed to purity so that we will become acceptable to God but so that our lives exhibit purity appropriate for people who, by faith in Christ, have been accepted by God. Out of love and appreciation for what Christ has done for us, we will want to conform our lives to God’s holy will.