Bible Strands
Ephesians 5:7
Therefore do not be partakers with them.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Paul addresses believers who have been transferred from darkness to light, issuing the command immediately after warning that God’s wrath is coming on the sons of disobedience. He speaks to the Christian community as a direct response to the preceding judgment warning.
The words — οὖν (oun) = therefore binds the command to the prior warning of divine wrath, while συμμέτοχοι (summetochoi) = partakers denotes those who share a common fate or practice. The present imperative γίνεσθε (ginesthe) = do be combined with μὴ (mē) = not establishes an ongoing prohibition against joining that group.
The thread — The warning against sharing in the sins or condemned fate of the disobedient runs through Revelation 18:4, 1 Timothy 5:22, and Ephesians 5:11. These passages consistently link fellowship with darkness to shared culpability and divine judgment.
Why it lands — The text commands readers to actively refuse association with the disobedient, preventing shared participation in their condemned path. It requires a practical boundary that aligns the believer’s conduct with their stated identity as light rather than darkness.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
Be not ye therefore partakers with them.
Cross-references
- Revelation 18:4 Then I heard another voice from heaven say: “Come out of her, My people, so that you will not share in her sins or contract any of her plagues.
- 1 Timothy 5:22 Do not be too quick in the laying on of hands and thereby share in the sins of others. Keep yourself pure.
- Ephesians 5:11 Have no fellowship with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them.
- Numbers 16:26 And he warned the congregation, “Move away now from the tents of these wicked men. Do not touch anything that belongs to them, or you will be swept away because of all their sins.”
- Psalms 50:18 When you see a thief, you befriend him, and throw in your lot with adulterers.
- Proverbs 1:10 My son, if sinners entice you, do not yield to them.
- Proverbs 13:20 He who walks with the wise will become wise, but the companion of fools will be destroyed.
- Proverbs 9:6 Leave your folly behind, and you will live; walk in the way of understanding.”
- Ephesians 3:6 This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are fellow heirs, fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus.