Paul proceeded from immorality to vulgarity. The Christian"s speech should also demonstrate love (cf. Ephesians 4:29). Filthiness or obscenity refers to dirty speech. Silly or foolish talk (lit. stupid words) probably describes talk that just wastes time, not necessarily "small talk." Coarse jesting does not mean joking necessarily but vulgar joking that uses clever word plays such as double entendres. This type of speech is inappropriate for saints who should be full of thanksgiving since we have received so much. Thanksgiving is also edifying. [source][source][source]
"All God"s gifts, including sex, are subjects for thanksgiving, rather than for joking. To joke about them is bound to degrade them; to thank God for them is the way to preserve their worth as the blessings of a loving Creator." [1][source]
Context Summary
Ephesians 5:1-12 - Walk As Children Of Light
It is indeed a high calling to imitate God and to walk in love after the measure of Christ; but it will be impossible unless we open our innermost heart to the Holy Spirit. We must not only sacrifice ourselves for others, but there should be a fragrance in all that we do. "An odor of a sweet smell." Note carefully the injunctions of Ephesians 5:3-4, especially as they concern speech. It is by our speech that we betray the true condition of our hearts.
We must be as distinct from the worldly as light is from darkness. There should be no twilight in our testimony for our Lord, though there may be considerable obscurity in our views of truth. Whatever is unfruitful; whatever we should blush to have transcribed and read to the world; whatever would be inconsistent with the strong, clear light of the throne of God and the Lamb, must be avoided. We must walk in the light of the Lord. Then we ourselves shall become luminous, as some diamonds do after being held in sunshine. People who love darkness will avoid and hate us; but their treatment may be only a cause for our own encouragement, as God becomes increasingly precious to us. [source]
Chapter Summary: Ephesians 5
1After general exhortations to love; 3to flee sexual immorality; 4and all uncleanness; 7not to converse with the wicked; 15to walk carefully; 18and to be filled with the Spirit; 22he descends to the particular duties, how wives ought to obey their husbands; 25and husbands ought to love their wives, 32even as Christ does his church
Greek Commentary for Ephesians 5:4
Filthiness [αισχροτης] Old word from αισχρος aischros (base), here alone in N.T. [source]
Foolish talking [μωρολογια] Late word from μωρολογος mōrologos Old word from ευ τρεπω eutrapelos (απαχ λεγομενα euα ουκ ανηκεν trepō to turn) nimbleness of wit, quickness in making repartee (so in Plato and Plutarch), but in low sense as here ribaldry, scurrility, only here in N.T. All of these disapproved vices are τα ουκ ανηκοντα hapax legomena in the N.T. Which are not befitting Same idiom (imperfect with word of propriety about the present) in Colossians 3:18. Late MSS. read ta ouk anēkonta like ta mē kathēkonta in Romans 1:28. [source]
Jesting [ευτραπελος] Old word from ευ τρεπω eutrapelos (απαχ λεγομενα euα ουκ ανηκεν trepō to turn) nimbleness of wit, quickness in making repartee (so in Plato and Plutarch), but in low sense as here ribaldry, scurrility, only here in N.T. All of these disapproved vices are τα ουκ ανηκοντα hapax legomena in the N.T. [source]
Which are not befitting [τα μη κατηκοντα] Same idiom (imperfect with word of propriety about the present) in Colossians 3:18. Late MSS. read ta ouk anēkonta like ta mē kathēkonta in Romans 1:28. [source]
Foolish talking [μωρολογία] Only here in the New Testament. Talk which is both foolish and sinful. Compare corrupt communication, Ephesians 4:29. It is more than random or idle talk. “Words obtain a new earnestness when assumed into the ethical terminology of Christ's school. Nor, in seeking to enter fully into the meaning of this one, ought we to leave out of sight the greater emphasis which the words fool, foolish, folly obtain in Scripture than elsewhere they have or can have” (Trench). [source]
Jesting [εὐτραπελία] Only here in the New Testament. From εὐ wellor easily, πρέπω toturn. That which easily turns and adapts itself to the moods and conditions of those with whom it may be dealing at the moment. From this original sense of versatility it came to be applied to morals, as timeserving, and to speech with the accompanying notion of dissimulation. Aristotle calls it chastened insolence. The sense of the word here is polished and witty speech as the instrument of sin; refinement and versatility without the flavor of Christian grace. “Sometimes it is lodged in a sly question, in a smart answer, in a quirkish reason, in shrewd intimation, in cunningly diverting or cleverly retorting an objection: sometimes it is couched in a bold scheme of speech, in a tart irony, in a lusty hyperbole, in a startling metaphor, in a plausible reconciling of contradictions, or in acute nonsense … . Sometimes an affected simplicity, sometimes a presumptuous bluntness giveth it being … . Its ways are unaccountable and inexplicable, being answerable to the numberless rovings of fancy and windings of language” (Barrow, Sermon xiv., “Against Foolish Talking and Jesting.” The whole passage is well worth reading). [source]
Reverse Greek Commentary Search for Ephesians 5:4
Colossians 4:6Seasoned with salt [ἅλατι ἠρτυμένος] Both words only here in Paul. The metaphor is from the office of salt in rendering palatable. Both in Greek and Latin authors, salt was used to express the pungency and wittiness of speech. Horace speaks of having praised a poet for rubbing the city with abundant salt, i.e., for having wittily satirized certain parties so as to make them smart as if rubbed with salt, and so as to excite the laughter of those who are not hit (“Satires,” 1 x., 3). Lightfoot gives some interesting citations from Plutarch, in which, as here, grace and salt are combined. Thus: “The many call salt χάριτας gracesbecause, mingled with most things, it makes them agreeable and pleasant to the taste.” Seasoned is, literally, prepared. It is not likely that the fact has any connection with this expression, but it is interesting to recall Herodotus' story of a salt lake in the neighborhood of Colossae, which has been identified, and which still supplies the whole surrounding country with salt (vii., 30). The exhortation to well-seasoned and becoming speech is expanded in Ephesians 4:29; Ephesians 5:4, in a warning against corrupt communication. [source]
Philemon 1:8That which is convenient [τὸ ἀνῆκον] Rev., befitting. Convenient is used in A.V., in the earlier and stricter sense of suitable. Compare Ephesians 5:4. Thus Latimer: “Works which are good and convenient to be done.” Applied to persons, as Hooper: “Apt and convenient persons.” The modern sense merges the idea of essential fitness. The verb ἀνήκω originally means to come up to; hence of that which comes up to the mark; fitting. Compare Colossians 3:18; Ephesians 5:4. It conveys here a delicate hint that the kindly reception of Onesimus will be a becoming thing. [source]
Philemon 1:8That which is befitting [το ανηκον] Neuter singular accusative of the articular participle (present active) of ανηκω anēkō to come up to requirements and so to be befitting. For idea in ανηκω anēkō see note on Colossians 3:18; Ephesians 5:4. This idiom is in later writers. I rather beseech (μαλλον παρακαλω māllon parakalō). Rather than command (επιτασσω epitassō) which he has a perfect right to do. [source]
What do the individual words in Ephesians 5:4 mean?
Greek Commentary for Ephesians 5:4
Old word from αισχρος aischros (base), here alone in N.T. [source]
Late word from μωρολογος mōrologos Old word from ευ τρεπω eutrapelos (απαχ λεγομενα euα ουκ ανηκεν trepō to turn) nimbleness of wit, quickness in making repartee (so in Plato and Plutarch), but in low sense as here ribaldry, scurrility, only here in N.T. All of these disapproved vices are τα ουκ ανηκοντα hapax legomena in the N.T. Which are not befitting Same idiom (imperfect with word of propriety about the present) in Colossians 3:18. Late MSS. read ta ouk anēkonta like ta mē kathēkonta in Romans 1:28. [source]
Old word from ευ τρεπω eutrapelos (απαχ λεγομενα euα ουκ ανηκεν trepō to turn) nimbleness of wit, quickness in making repartee (so in Plato and Plutarch), but in low sense as here ribaldry, scurrility, only here in N.T. All of these disapproved vices are τα ουκ ανηκοντα hapax legomena in the N.T. [source]
Same idiom (imperfect with word of propriety about the present) in Colossians 3:18. Late MSS. read ta ouk anēkonta like ta mē kathēkonta in Romans 1:28. [source]
Obscenity. [source]
Only here in the New Testament. Talk which is both foolish and sinful. Compare corrupt communication, Ephesians 4:29. It is more than random or idle talk. “Words obtain a new earnestness when assumed into the ethical terminology of Christ's school. Nor, in seeking to enter fully into the meaning of this one, ought we to leave out of sight the greater emphasis which the words fool, foolish, folly obtain in Scripture than elsewhere they have or can have” (Trench). [source]
Only here in the New Testament. From εὐ wellor easily, πρέπω toturn. That which easily turns and adapts itself to the moods and conditions of those with whom it may be dealing at the moment. From this original sense of versatility it came to be applied to morals, as timeserving, and to speech with the accompanying notion of dissimulation. Aristotle calls it chastened insolence. The sense of the word here is polished and witty speech as the instrument of sin; refinement and versatility without the flavor of Christian grace. “Sometimes it is lodged in a sly question, in a smart answer, in a quirkish reason, in shrewd intimation, in cunningly diverting or cleverly retorting an objection: sometimes it is couched in a bold scheme of speech, in a tart irony, in a lusty hyperbole, in a startling metaphor, in a plausible reconciling of contradictions, or in acute nonsense … . Sometimes an affected simplicity, sometimes a presumptuous bluntness giveth it being … . Its ways are unaccountable and inexplicable, being answerable to the numberless rovings of fancy and windings of language” (Barrow, Sermon xiv., “Against Foolish Talking and Jesting.” The whole passage is well worth reading). [source]
Reverse Greek Commentary Search for Ephesians 5:4
Both words only here in Paul. The metaphor is from the office of salt in rendering palatable. Both in Greek and Latin authors, salt was used to express the pungency and wittiness of speech. Horace speaks of having praised a poet for rubbing the city with abundant salt, i.e., for having wittily satirized certain parties so as to make them smart as if rubbed with salt, and so as to excite the laughter of those who are not hit (“Satires,” 1 x., 3). Lightfoot gives some interesting citations from Plutarch, in which, as here, grace and salt are combined. Thus: “The many call salt χάριτας gracesbecause, mingled with most things, it makes them agreeable and pleasant to the taste.” Seasoned is, literally, prepared. It is not likely that the fact has any connection with this expression, but it is interesting to recall Herodotus' story of a salt lake in the neighborhood of Colossae, which has been identified, and which still supplies the whole surrounding country with salt (vii., 30). The exhortation to well-seasoned and becoming speech is expanded in Ephesians 4:29; Ephesians 5:4, in a warning against corrupt communication. [source]
Rev., befitting. Convenient is used in A.V., in the earlier and stricter sense of suitable. Compare Ephesians 5:4. Thus Latimer: “Works which are good and convenient to be done.” Applied to persons, as Hooper: “Apt and convenient persons.” The modern sense merges the idea of essential fitness. The verb ἀνήκω originally means to come up to; hence of that which comes up to the mark; fitting. Compare Colossians 3:18; Ephesians 5:4. It conveys here a delicate hint that the kindly reception of Onesimus will be a becoming thing. [source]
Neuter singular accusative of the articular participle (present active) of ανηκω anēkō to come up to requirements and so to be befitting. For idea in ανηκω anēkō see note on Colossians 3:18; Ephesians 5:4. This idiom is in later writers. I rather beseech (μαλλον παρακαλω māllon parakalō). Rather than command (επιτασσω epitassō) which he has a perfect right to do. [source]