The Blessed Effects of God’s Saving Grace (4:1–6:20)
Examples of pure living
Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit. 19 Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, 20 always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Drinking too much was common in Paul’s day, just as it is today. It is a sin that is hard to shake.There can be no doubt that in this verse Paul is sounding a bona fide warning against the misuse of alcohol. But because of where this admonition is placed on Paul’s list, it seems also to serve as a backdrop for another encouragement, perhaps an even more important one.
By using the word “instead,” Paul joins two somewhat parallel lines of thought. He says not to misuse alcoholic spirits to give yourself a bogus kind of lift, a temporary sort of high that leads to all kinds of bad things. “Instead” be filled with the real Spirit to guide you in wholesome activity that brings lasting benefit to you and others.
Paul then proceeds to enumerate the activities that result from being filled with the Spirit. In the Greek those activities are expressed with participles. Literally Paul writes: Be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another with psalms, singing and making music, and always giving thanks. (Note that there is another activity in the series, “submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ” [verse 21], but that will be treated in the next section.)
Filled with the Spirit, the Ephesians are to “speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs.” Paul suggests that the use of biblical psalms be supplemented with hymns and spiritual songs. There is probably no great difference between hymns and songs. Both are expressions of Spirit-taught truth set in artistic form, which the Ephesians themselves or other Christians had developed.
Although Paul does not specify where or how this activity of speaking to one another is to occur, he does seem to imply that a public worship life with liturgical forms was being developed and used (see 1 Corinthians 14:26). We should also note that Paul once more stresses the importance of the proper use of the tongue. At least three times in this letter Paul has touched directly on that subject (4:25,29; 5:4), each time in the context of using speech to help build up one another to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace (here again note 1 Corinthians 14:26).
Speaking to one another (including public worship life) has its counterpart in private activity. A joyous response wells up in the hearts of redeemed children of God whenever they think of the great blessings they have received. Although not a syllable is spoken or a single note sounded, in their upbeat outlook and cheerful devotion to duty Christians “sing and make music in [their hearts] to the Lord.”
Somewhat along the same lines, Paul urges that the Christian life be marked by “always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Let’s not forget that Paul himself acknowledged that “the days are evil.” All kinds of things can discourage, irritate, and disappoint Christians, harried as they are by the devil and the world and hampered by their own sinful flesh. But filled with the Spirit, they know that “in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28). Daily they can rise and confidently say, “This is the day the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it” (Psalm 118:24).