Useful Bible Studies > Ephesians Commentary > chapter 5
In Acts 2:1-4, God’s Holy Spirit filled the first Christians. As a result, they spoke in languages that they had not learned. As they declared God’s great deeds, a large crowd gathered. Some of the people in the crowd started to laugh at the Christians. They said that the Christians had drunk too much wine (Acts 2:13-15).
So, the Christians were behaving in a way that was unusual. Their behaviour reminded the crowd about the actions of people who have drunk wine. The Bible does not tell us why that was. However, it does tell us about the effects that the Holy Spirit has upon our lives (Romans 14:17; Galatians 5:22-23). Those effects include that the Holy Spirit fills God’s people with joy (Philippians 4:4).
We see that joy often when Christians praise God in song (5:19-20). They sing with their whole heart, because their hearts cannot contain their joy. In other words, they are so grateful to God that they must declare his wonderful deeds. It does not seem enough simply to speak these things, so they sing.
However, we also see that joy as Christians live their daily lives (Ephesians 5:22 to 6:9). It is not easy to accept the authority that other people have over our lives, both at home and work. However, a Christian can do his work joyfully, because the Holy Spirit fills him (5:21). That Christian respects the people with authority over him, because he respects Christ. So as the Christian does his daily tasks, he is serving Christ (6:6-8).
It is a nuisance to everyone to have a drunk at work. However, it is different when a Christian carries out his work with joy from God’s Holy Spirit. That Christian’s joyful attitudes encourage and help the people whom he deals with.
Next part: Sing to praise God (Ephesians 5:19)
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© 2019, Keith Simons.