15 See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, 16 Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.
After the puzzle of verse fourteen, we return to the exhortation of our walk, which makes the previous verse all the more enigmatic, especially with the "see then" transition, which implies that this exhortation is a result of the previous verse (or verses). “Circumspectly” is an adverb modifying the verb “walk,” informing us how we should complete that action: we are to be “very watchful on all sides and very cautious” (White). Failing to do so characterizes the walk of a fool, as we saw clearly in verse three of this chapter. Why must we exercise such caution? Paul tells us: “because the days are evil.” Unless you have adopted an evolutionistic or humanistic view of the world, the point needs no elaboration. There is much in this world and in our flesh that can ruin our walks, our lives, and our testimonies. In essence, this is Paul's “don't be stupid” directive.
We should note that the directive includes some form of redemption. We often associated redemption with the soul (at the moment of belief) and the body (when we are given glorified bodies like Christ’s – Romans 8:23, Ephesians 1:4, and Ephesians 4:30). Neither is accurate here, however, because what is redeemed in this case is neither soul nor body, but time. Michael T. Wolski examines all of the Scriptural uses of the word and comes to the conclusion that it can be used in four senses: deliverance, ransom, liberty, or recovery (111). The first three would not make sense in this context, so we are dealing with a “recovery” of time. Since we cannot go back to “re-live” time that has already been spent, then the exhortation here is to walk carefully so that we may recover as much as possible of our testimonies from whatever residue there is of the time that we walked in darkness (5:8).
NEXT IN THIS SERIES:
Ephesians 5:17-21
Sources Referenced:
White, Steven J. White’s Dictionary of the King James Language, Volume I: A-E. Steven John
Wolski, Michael T. Rightly Defining the Words of Truth. Daystar Publishing, 2017.
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