Ephesians 5:11

NET Bible® (New English Translation)

Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but rather expose them.

📖 Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

Καὶ μὴ συγκοινωνεῖτε τοῖς ἔργοις τοῖς ἀκάρποις τοῦ σκότους, μᾶλλον δὲ καὶ ἐλέγχετε.

Transliteration

And mē sygkoinōneite the ergois the akarpois of the skotous, mallon de also elenchete

Grammar Details

• *mē*: negative particle - not
• *sygkoinōneite*: present imperative, active, 2nd plural - participate with/take part in [continuous command]
• *ergois*: dative, neuter, plural - works/deeds
• *akarpois*: dative, neuter, plural - unfruitful/barren
• *skotous*: genitive, neuter, singular - of darkness
• *mallon*: adverb, comparative - rather/instead
• *de*: conjunction - but/and
• *elenchete*: present imperative, active, 2nd plural - expose/reprove [continuous command]

Word Meanings

• *sygkoinōneite*: participate with/have fellowship with/partake in
• *ergois*: works/deeds/activities
• *akarpois*: unfruitful/barren/useless
• *skotous*: darkness/obscurity
• *mallon*: rather/instead/more
• *elenchete*: expose/reprove/refute/convict

Referenced Verses

• Rom 13:12 : 12 The night has advanced toward dawn; the day is near. So then we must lay aside the works of darkness, and put on the weapons of light.
• 1 Tim 5:20 : 20 Those guilty of sin must be rebuked before all, as a warning to the rest.
• 2 Thess 3:6 : 6 Response to the Undisciplined But we command you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to keep away from any brother who lives an undisciplined life and not according to the tradition they received from us.
• Rom 6:21 : 21 So what benefit did you then reap from those things that you are now ashamed of? For the end of those things is death.
• Rom 16:17 : 17 Now I urge you, brothers and sisters, to watch out for those who create dissensions and obstacles contrary to the teaching that you learned. Avoid them!
• Titus 2:15 : 15 So communicate these things with the sort of exhortation or rebuke that carries full authority. Don’t let anyone look down on you.
• 2 John 1:10-11 : 10 If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house and do not give him any greeting, 11 because the person who gives him a greeting shares in his evil deeds.
• Rev 18:4 : 4 Then I heard another voice from heaven saying,“Come out of her, my people, so you will not take part in her sins and so you will not receive her plagues,
• 2 Tim 3:5 : 5 They will maintain the outward appearance of religion but will have repudiated its power. So avoid people like these.
• 2 Tim 4:2 : 2 Preach the message, be ready whether it is convenient or not, reprove, rebuke, exhort with complete patience and instruction.
• Lev 19:17 : 17 You must not hate your brother in your heart. You must surely reprove your fellow citizen so that you do not incur sin on account of him.
• 2 Cor 6:14-18 : 14 Unequal Partners Do not become partners with those who do not believe, for what partnership is there between righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship does light have with darkness? 15 And what agreement does Christ have with Beliar? Or what does a believer share in common with an unbeliever? 16 And what mutual agreement does the temple of God have with idols? For we are the temple of the living God, just as God said,“I will live in them and will walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.” 17 Therefore“come out from their midst, and be separate,” says the Lord,“and touch no unclean thing, and I will welcome you, 18 and I will be a father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters,” says the All-Powerful Lord.
• Gal 6:8 : 8 because the person who sows to his own flesh will reap corruption from the flesh, but the one who sows to the Spirit will reap eternal life from the Spirit.
• 2 Thess 3:14 : 14 But if anyone does not obey our message through this letter, take note of him and do not associate closely with him, so that he may be ashamed.
• 1 Tim 6:5 : 5 and constant bickering by people corrupted in their minds and deprived of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a way of making a profit.
• 1 Thess 5:7 : 7 For those who sleep, sleep at night and those who get drunk are drunk at night.
• Gen 20:16 : 16 To Sarah he said,“Look, I have given a thousand pieces of silver to your‘brother.’ This is compensation for you so that you will stand vindicated before all who are with you.”
• Eph 4:22 : 22 You were taught with reference to your former way of life to lay aside the old man who is being corrupted in accordance with deceitful desires,
• 1 Cor 5:9-9 : 9 I wrote you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people. 10 In no way did I mean the immoral people of this world, or the greedy and swindlers and idolaters, since you would then have to go out of the world. 11 But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who calls himself a Christian who is sexually immoral, or greedy, or an idolater, or verbally abusive, or a drunkard, or a swindler. Do not even eat with such a person.
• 1 Cor 10:20-21 : 20 No, I mean that what the pagans sacrifice is to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be partners with demons. 21 You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot take part in the table of the Lord and the table of demons.
• Job 24:13-17 : 13 There are those who rebel against the light; they do not know its ways and they do not stay on its paths. 14 Before daybreak the murderer rises up; he kills the poor and the needy; in the night he is like a thief. 15 And the eye of the adulterer watches for the twilight, thinking,‘No eye can see me,’ and covers his face with a mask. 16 In the dark the robber breaks into houses, but by day they shut themselves in; they do not know the light. 17 For all of them, the morning is to them like deep darkness; they are friends with the terrors of darkness.
• Ps 1:1-2 : 1 ¶ Book 1(Psalms 1-41) How blessed is the one who does not follow the advice of the wicked, or stand in the pathway with sinners, or sit in the assembly of scoffers! 2 Instead he finds pleasure in obeying the LORD’s commands; he meditates on his commands day and night.
• Ps 26:4-5 : 4 I do not associate with deceitful men, or consort with those who are dishonest. 5 I hate the mob of evil men, and do not associate with the wicked.
• Ps 94:20-21 : 20 Cruel rulers are not your allies, those who make oppressive laws. 21 They conspire against the blameless, and condemn to death the innocent.
• Ps 141:5 : 5 May the godly strike me in love and correct me! May my head not refuse choice oil! Indeed, my prayer is a witness against their evil deeds.
• Prov 1:31 : 31 Therefore they will eat from the fruit of their way, and they will be stuffed full of their own counsel.
• Prov 4:14-15 : 14 Do not enter the path of the wicked or walk in the way of those who are evil. 15 Avoid it, do not go on it; turn away from it, and go on.
• Prov 9:6-8 : 6 Abandon your foolish ways so that you may live, and proceed in the way of understanding.” 7 Whoever corrects a mocker is asking for insult; whoever reproves a wicked person receives abuse. 8 Do not reprove a mocker or he will hate you; reprove a wise person and he will love you.
• Prov 13:18 : 18 The one who neglects discipline ends up in poverty and shame, but the one who accepts reproof is honored.
• Prov 15:12 : 12 The scorner will not love one who corrects him; he will not go to the wise.
• Prov 19:25 : 25 Flog a scorner, and as a result the simpleton will learn prudence; correct a discerning person, and as a result he will understand knowledge.
• Prov 25:12 : 12 Like an earring of gold and an ornament of fine gold, so is a wise reprover to the ear of the one who listens.
• Prov 29:1 : 1 The one who stiffens his neck after numerous rebukes will suddenly be destroyed without remedy.
• Isa 3:10-11 : 10 Tell the innocent it will go well with them, for they will be rewarded for what they have done. 11 Woe to the wicked sinners! For they will get exactly what they deserve.
• Isa 29:21 : 21 those who bear false testimony against a person, who entrap the one who arbitrates at the city gate and deprive the innocent of justice by making false charges.
• Jer 15:17 : 17 I did not spend my time in the company of other people, laughing and having a good time. I stayed to myself because I felt obligated to you and because I was filled with anger at what they had done.
• Matt 18:15 : 15 Restoring Christian Relationships“If your brother sins, go and show him his fault when the two of you are alone. If he listens to you, you have regained your brother.
• Luke 3:19 : 19 But when John rebuked Herod the tetrarch because of Herodias, his brother’s wife, and because of all the evil deeds that he had done,
• John 3:19-21 : 19 Now this is the basis for judging: that the light has come into the world and people loved the darkness rather than the light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For everyone who does evil deeds hates the light and does not come to the light, so that their deeds will not be exposed. 21 But the one who practices the truth comes to the light, so that it may be plainly evident that his deeds have been done in God.
• Rom 1:22-32 : 22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for an image resembling mortal human beings or birds or four-footed animals or reptiles. 24 Therefore God gave them over in the desires of their hearts to impurity, to dishonor their bodies among themselves. 25 They exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshiped and served the creation rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. 26 For this reason God gave them over to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged the natural sexual relations for unnatural ones, 27 and likewise the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed in their passions for one another. Men committed shameless acts with men and received in themselves the due penalty for their error. 28 And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what should not be done. 29 They are filled with every kind of unrighteousness, wickedness, covetousness, malice. They are rife with envy, murder, strife, deceit, hostility. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, contrivers of all sorts of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 senseless, covenant-breakers, heartless, ruthless. 32 Although they fully know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but also approve of those who practice them.
• Eph 5:7 : 7 Therefore do not be sharers with them,
• Gen 49:5-7 : 5 Simeon and Levi are brothers, weapons of violence are their knives! 6 O my soul, do not come into their council, do not be united to their assembly, my heart, for in their anger they have killed men, and for pleasure they have hamstrung oxen. 7 Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce, and their fury, for it was cruel. I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel!