Ephesians Chapter 5 verse 11 Holy Bible
and have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather even reprove them;
read chapter 5 in ASV
And have no company with the works of the dark, which give no fruit, but make their true quality clear;
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and do not have fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather also reprove [them],
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And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.
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read chapter 5 in WBT
Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather even reprove them.
read chapter 5 in WEB
and have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of the darkness and rather even convict,
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Pulpit Commentary
Pulpit CommentaryVerse 11. - And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness. The point of this exhortation is in the adjective "unfruitful." The works of darkness are unfruitful; they produce no goodness, give rise to no satisfaction, to no moral results that are "a joy forever;" or, if fruit they have, it is shame, remorse, despair. Contrast this with the renovating, satisfying, joy-producing, fruits of righteousness. But rather even reprove them. Do not be content with a passive attitude towards them, but take the aggressive and expose their wickedness, whether in public or in the domestic circle. A testimony has to be lifted up against ways that are so shameful and that bring down the wrath of God.
Ellicott's Commentary
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(11) Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness.--To "have no fellowship" with such works is not to refuse to take part in them (for this surely might be taken for granted), but to keep no terms with them, to have no sympathy or indulgence or excuse for them. So the word is used, in Philippians 4:14, of "communicating with my affliction;" and in Revelation 18:4, of "being partakers with the sins" of Babylon. It is through such weak or cowardly indulgence, more than the actual love of evil, that sin is suffered to prevail. Hence St. Paul adds, "rather reprove them." Our Lord Himself has declared in all such cases, "He that is not with Me is against Me."The unfruitful works of darkness.--St. Paul has a similar antithesis in the Epistle to the Romans (Romans 6:19-22). They who are in sin "yield their members servants to iniquity unto iniquity." Iniquity has no result but iniquity; and hence he goes on to ask, "What fruit had ye then in those things of which ye are now ashamed?" This weary fruitlessness is at once the sign and the penalty of sin, so that men have fancied it to be one chief element of the suffering of the lost. But they who are in Christ "yield their members servants to righteousness unto holiness." "They have," he says, "their fruit unto holiness" now, and "in the end the everlasting life," which is everlasting holiness. Similarly, in Galatians 5:20-22, we have "the works of the flesh," but "the fruit of the Spirit." Rarely, indeed, does Scripture speak of "evil fruit" (Matthew 7:17; Matthew 12:33). Generally, "to be unfruitful" is an all-sufficient condemnation. "Every branch that beareth not fruit he taketh away" (John 15:2). . . .
