Paul writes, “Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience” (Eph. 5:6, NKJV).

 Paul has identified those who practice various sins without shame or repentance, the “sexually immoral, or impure, or who is covetous” (Eph. 5:5, ESV). He has offered a blunt assessment: Those who are in Christ and destined to be participants in His future kingdom should not act like those who are not (Eph. 5:5). He now worries over the effect of “empty words”; that is, believers might be deceived by explicit language into thinking that sexual sin is not taboo, or might even be drawn into such sins themselves (Eph. 5:6). To be so deceived, warns Paul, risks God’s end-time judgment, “the wrath of God” that “comes upon the sons of disobedience” (Eph. 5:6, ESV).

 The phrase “the wrath of God” is a challenging one. That it is the wrath or anger of God suggests a contrast to the usual, moody human variety (compare Eph. 4:31). It is the just response of a long-suffering and righteous God against stubborn commitment to evil, not a crazed, volcanic reaction to some minor infraction. Moreover, mentions of divine wrath most often occur in the context of inspired, biblical warnings about the coming judgments of God (e.g., Rev. 6:12-17, Rev. 16:1-16, Rev. 19:11-16). God warns of His own coming judgments — an act of grace, since human beings are “by nature children of wrath” (Eph. 2:3, ESV), subject to those judgments.

 Why does Paul exhort believers not to become “partners” or “partakers” with sinners? (Eph. 5:7-10).

 Paul exhorts, “Walk as children of light” (Eph. 5:8) and continues with a further command: “and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord” (Eph. 5:10, ESV). The pagan seeks pleasure through “sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness” (Eph. 5:3, ESV). The believer’s goal is dramatically different, not to please oneself but to please God (compare Rom. 12:1, 2 Cor. 5:9, Heb. 13:21, which use the same Greek word, euarestos, “pleasing” or “acceptable”). The believer seeks to reflect the self-sacrifice of Christ (“walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us,” Eph. 5:2, ESV).