For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret.
Parallel translations
- WEB For the things which are done by them in secret, it is a shame even to speak of.
- BSB For it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret.
- NKJV For it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret.
- NASB for it is disgraceful even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret.
- NLT It is shameful even to talk about the things that ungodly people do in secret.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The secret deeds of the disobedient are too shameful even to mention. Some sins are so vile that merely speaking of them is degrading.
Overview
Paul notes that the hidden works of darkness are 'a shame even to speak of,' underscoring their gravity. This is not a call to ignorance but a recognition that dwelling on such sins is itself defiling. The verse heightens the contrast between the shameful secrecy of darkness and the openness of light.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Eph 5:3But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints;
- Rom 2:16In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel.
- Eccl 12:14For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.
- Jer 23:24Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the LORD. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the LORD.
- 2 Sam 12:12For thou didst it secretly: but I will do this thing before all Israel, and before the sun.
- Rom 1:24–27Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves:
- 1 Pet 4:3For the time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles, when we walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revellings, banquetings, and abominable idolatries:
- Prov 9:17Stolen waters are sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant.
- Rev 20:12And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.
- Luke 12:1–2In the mean time, when there were gathered together an innumerable multitude of people, insomuch that they trode one upon another, he began to say unto his disciples first of all, Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.
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Christ at the center
Every spiritual blessing is 'in Christ,' the head over all things for the church, in whom Jew and Gentile are made one new man by his blood.
How Ephesians 5:12 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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