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For once you were full of darkness, but now you have light from the Lord. So live as people of light!
Ephesians 5:8 · New Living Translation
Parallel translations
  • WEB For you were once darkness, but are now light in the Lord. Walk as children of light,
  • KJV For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light:
  • BSB For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light,
  • NKJV For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light
  • NASB for you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord; walk as children of light

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

Believers were once darkness but are now light in the Lord, and so must live as children of light. Identity in Christ determines conduct.

Overview

Paul contrasts the believers' past and present in absolute terms: they were not merely in darkness but 'were darkness,' and now 'are light in the Lord.' This radical change of identity grounds the command to 'walk as children of light.' Conduct flows from who one has become through union with Christ.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 38

  • John 8:12Again, therefore, Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the light of life.”
  • 1 Jn 1:7But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanses us from all sin.
  • John 12:46I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in me may not remain in the darkness.
  • Acts 26:18to open their eyes, that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive remission of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’
  • Col 1:13who delivered us out of the power of darkness, and translated us into the Kingdom of the Son of his love;
  • 1 Pet 2:9–11But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, that you may proclaim the excellence of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light:
  • Isa 42:6–7“I, Yahweh, have called you in righteousness, and will hold your hand, and will keep you, and make you a covenant for the people, as a light for the nations;
  • Eph 4:18being darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardening of their hearts;
  • John 12:36While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become children of light.” Jesus said these things, and he departed and hid himself from them.
  • Isa 9:2The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. Those who lived in the land of the shadow of death, on them the light has shined.
  • Eph 2:2in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the children of disobedience;
  • Jer 13:16Give glory to Yahweh your God, before he causes darkness, and before your feet stumble on the dark mountains, and, while you look for light, he turns it into the shadow of death, and makes it gross darkness.
  • 2 Cor 4:6seeing it is God who said, “Light will shine out of darkness,” who has shone in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
  • Isa 60:1–3“Arise, shine; for your light has come, and Yahweh’s glory has risen on you.
  • Isa 2:5House of Jacob, come, and let us walk in the light of Yahweh.
  • Luke 16:8“His lord commended the dishonest manager because he had done wisely, for the children of this world are, in their own generation, wiser than the children of the light.
  • Titus 3:3For we were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another.
  • 2 Cor 3:18But we all, with unveiled face seeing the glory of the Lord as in a mirror, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord, the Spirit.
  • Eph 6:12For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world’s rulers of the darkness of this age, and against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.
  • Isa 60:19–20The sun will be no more your light by day; nor will the brightness of the moon give light to you, but Yahweh will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory.
  • 1 Th 5:4–8But you, brothers, aren’t in darkness, that the day should overtake you like a thief.
  • Luke 1:79to shine on those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death; to guide our feet into the way of peace.”
  • Matt 4:16the people who sat in darkness saw a great light, to those who sat in the region and shadow of death, to them light has dawned.”
  • John 1:4–5In him was life, and the life was the light of men.
  • 2 Cor 6:14Don’t be unequally yoked with unbelievers, for what fellowship have righteousness and iniquity? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?
  • Isa 49:9saying to those who are bound, ‘Come out!’; to those who are in darkness, ‘Show yourselves!’ “They shall feed along the paths, and their pasture shall be on all treeless heights.
  • John 1:9The true light that enlightens everyone was coming into the world.
  • 1 Cor 1:30Because of him, you are in Christ Jesus, who was made to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption:
  • 1 Jn 2:8–11Again, I write a new commandment to you, which is true in him and in you; because the darkness is passing away, and the true light already shines.
  • Rom 2:19and are confident that you yourself are a guide of the blind, a light to those who are in darkness,
  • Gal 5:25If we live by the Spirit, let’s also walk by the Spirit.
  • Isa 49:6Indeed, he says, “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel? I will also give you as a light to the nations, that you may be my salvation to the end of the earth.”
  • Rom 1:21Because, knowing God, they didn’t glorify him as God, neither gave thanks, but became vain in their reasoning, and their senseless heart was darkened.
  • Isa 42:16I will bring the blind by a way that they don’t know. I will lead them in paths that they don’t know. I will make darkness light before them, and crooked places straight. I will do these things, and I will not forsake them.
  • Eph 2:11–12Therefore remember that once you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called “uncircumcision” by that which is called “circumcision”, (in the flesh, made by hands);
  • Acts 17:30The times of ignorance therefore God overlooked. But now he commands that all people everywhere should repent,
  • Ps 74:20Honor your covenant, for haunts of violence fill the dark places of the earth.
  • Eph 5:2Walk in love, even as Christ also loved you, and gave himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling fragrance.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (6)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Ephesians videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Ephesians 5:8YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on EphesiansMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

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 5:8 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

Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.