And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.
Ephesians 5:11 commands having no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reproving them. Unfruitful means those deeds produce no good fruit and turn people away from God, and to reprove them means to expose them and make them manifest by the light. Its setting contrasts those who were once darkness with those now light in the Lord walking as children of light in all goodness and righteousness and truth. Therefore believers must refuse to join in or associate with such works, because contact with worldly companions and principles conforms the mind to the world until love for God grows cold and eternal realities fade. Wrongdoing is not to be concealed or sanctioned but to be criticized, investigated and purged away, rebuked firmly yet with humility and Christlike words that seek to save without sacrificing principle.
Words and Immediate Context
The command is to have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather to reprove them. Those who are now light in the Lord are to walk as children of light, showing goodness and righteousness and truth and proving what is acceptable to the Lord. Sharing in sinful deeds or forming close associations with those who practice them is forbidden, lest their spirit and fate be shared, and the distinction between the converted and the unconverted is clear and not a gradual blending. The verse sets a divine standard for conduct that condemns what will bring ruin unless there is reform.
Unfruitful means the deeds produce no good fruit and belong to darkness and turn people from God. The surrounding verses explain that these deeds are shameful even to speak of in secret, and that reproof brings them into the light, since whatever makes things visible is light. They contrast those works with the goodness and righteousness and truth that are the fruit of the Spirit. Those who have learned of Christ do not join in works that produce no good, but turn from sinful fruitless practices to live for doing good, and their speech and conduct are simple, straightforward and true, fitting them for fellowship with holy ones who have no guile. Deceptive influences that test faith are to be discerned rather than joined.
To reprove means to expose and make manifest by the light, bringing secret shameful deeds into the open. Any partnership with fruitless dark deeds is to be refused, and wrongdoing is not to be concealed or covered up but to be corrected, criticized, investigated and purged away. The darkness is spiritual, as when those who have not taken Christ's yoke are called to become children of light by learning His meekness and lowliness and relying on His strength. Those once in darkness must no longer share in its fruitless works but must expose them by wearing His yoke.
Its setting explains that shameful secret things are made manifest by light, and calls those asleep to awake and rise from the dead so that Christ gives light, then to walk circumspectly not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time because the days are evil, and understanding what the will of the Lord is. For workers in God's health institutions this demands receiving regenerating power and spiritual life and living by every word of God. It requires refusing inspiration from those bitter against the truth, ceasing to criticize and judge brethren who should be respected and loved and esteemed better than self, unlearning past wrongs, learning to love one another as Christ loved, gaining moral power only by a minute-by-minute fight of faith, practicing the wisdom that is first pure then peaceable and easy to be entreated and full of mercy and good fruits, and putting away lying and hypocrisy because the Lord looks on the heart, so that God gives hearts of flesh for hearts of stone unto conversion and eternal life.
Its setting contrasts those who were once darkness but are now light in the Lord walking as children of light, bearing fruit in all goodness and righteousness and truth and proving what is acceptable to the Lord. Followers of God as dear children must walk in love as Christ gave Himself as an offering and sacrifice. Fornication, uncleanness, covetousness, filthiness, foolish talking and jesting must have no place among saints and must not even be named among them, but thanks is to be given instead. Believers must refuse to be deceived by vain words and refuse to partake with the children of disobedience on whom the wrath of God comes. The verse guides every married man and every married woman to walk as children of light, circumspectly and wisely, redeeming the time, with careful study and with searching of the heart as with a lighted candle.
Separation from Evil Associations
Believers must not join in or associate with the fruitless dark works, because such contact exposes them to corrupting influence that can lead away from truth and right principles and dishonor God. The children of darkness are blinded by the god of this world and led by the spirit of the prince of darkness and cannot enjoy heavenly things, while the children of light set affections on things above and leave worldly things behind. Loving God and keeping His commandments rejects friendship with the world and love of its pleasures, for Christ has no concord with Belial.
Concord with unbelievers and the spread of the world's spirit in the church is fellowship with darkness that opposes God's calling, provokes His displeasure, and marks falling away. Neglecting light leaves a more unfavorable position than that of the Jews whom Christ warned. God has drawn a sharp line as distinct as midday and midnight between saint and sinner, converted and unconverted, with no gradual blending.
Intimate association with those who know the truth but do not practice it and break God's law in dealings is unsafe, compromises honor, risks adopting their spirit, sharing their fate, and becoming a participant in evil deeds. Giving patronage and willingly joining with people who work against God's law and truth makes one share responsibility and become a partaker catching their spirit. Fabricating reasons to welcome workers of evil who trample God's laws is not from God, for they may appear as an angel of light, so caution is required.
Loving efforts to recover someone from evil are allowed, but willing partnership with wrongdoing must be refused. Disciples never give approval to sin by words or deeds or silence or presence. Association with worldly companions and principles conforms the mind by association and habit to the worldling's standard until love for God grows cold, communion is lost, spiritual blindness calls evil good and good evil, eternal realities fade, hunger for the bread of life is gone, and the worldly spirit controls the life. When men are not under God's Word and Spirit they are captives of Satan led to unknown lengths in sin.
God's people are called to be His special, peculiar, chosen people by faith in Christ, coming out from the world which lies in wickedness to be separate and unspotted, free from worldly customs, habits and sentiments. They stand on the holy ground of Bible truth on Christ's side, holy and pure in heart and life.
Specific Evils to Reprove
Deception and falsehood are fruitless works of darkness to have no part in, and those taught by Christ are simple, straightforward and truthful in speech and life, speaking plainly and purely without corrupt or unchaste talk, which fits them for fellowship with holy ones who have no guile. Believers are to speak and act truthfully, keep conduct clean, reject every deceptive or unrighteous proposal, and show by example the right path away from evil. Communication with evil spirits is forbidden fellowship, including sorcery and spiritualism and attempts to communicate with the dead, and consulting mediums, clairvoyants and fortune-tellers, which gives Satan access to minds to bewilder, deceive and pollute the soul, and the warning binds God's people today as it did Ephesus. Such works are not to be joined but to be exposed and reproved and opposed.
Involvement in irreligious pleasures and the company of sensual, skeptical or blasphemous persons, whether in person or through the press, is tampering with darkness, including letting collision with common opinions and modes of thinking and practice draw into wrong and following life-destroying practices in a world of extremists in pleasure and selfish gratification who are lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God. Circulating books that portray crimes and atrocities belongs to the same evil, since giving publicity to evil can influence readers toward similar acts and keep wicked deeds alive in memory, and such works should not be perpetuated but exposed and rejected rather than supported or spread. Yielding to inordinate appetite clamoring for unhealthful things until gratifying perverted taste becomes second nature sacrifices health, truth, righteousness and eternal life. Indulgence of wine, tobacco and intoxicating liquor is not essential to Christian growth but puts a person under demonic control to deface and destroy the moral image of God, and separation requires refusing them while walking as children of light bearing fruit in all goodness and righteousness and truth, proving what is acceptable and bringing secret shameful deeds into the open by the light.
Fornication, uncleanness, covetousness, filthiness, foolish talking and jesting must not even be named among saints, who give thanks instead and refuse to be deceived by vain words or to partake with the children of disobedience on whom wrath comes. Loving worldly gain, putting self-interest first and sacrificing conscience to get what one wants is fellowship with darkness and is idolatry because it gives worldly wealth the place due to God, and it is especially blameworthy among professed knowers of a better way. Loving worldly things and taking pleasure in unrighteousness is fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness that sets a stumbling block of iniquity before a person and an idol in the heart, and it must be put away by determined effort or the person will not be acknowledged as a son or daughter of God.
Teachings and human plans that undermine truth and mislead students and workers belong to darkness and must be exposed and corrected rather than shared in. Deceptive practices that appear good or zealous but are not open as daylight belong to the methods of evil and must be refused partnership and exposed, and such methods can operate even among Seventh-day Adventists, requiring vigilance and commitment to truth and righteousness. Worldly practices that perverted the faith of those with great privileges and known truth must be named plainly by their right name, no longer called righteousness nor bound up with worldly elements, with a decided stand and lifted standard for truth and righteousness, especially by leaders who love and fear God and Christ with experimental knowledge of Him.
Impure familiarities are forbidden, where thoughts and affections are fixed on one who is not a lawful spouse, even between a minister and a professed sister, for God's people are to be holy, pure in heart and life, unspotted from the world, standing on the holy ground of Bible truth as His chosen people by faith in Christ, saved from the lust of the flesh. Immoral conduct by a standard-bearer is a reproach and scandal bringing certain ruin of soul and body unless there is thorough reform, since each person must individually meet the Bible's divine standard by asking if a course is the Lord's way, breaking at once with temptation and rushing for the light, with truth enthroned in the heart sanctifying character in thorough change from darkness to light, made possible because Jesus took human nature and was tempted in all points yet without sin. Having no fellowship with unruly people who seek freedom from restraining rules requires maintaining a high standard and refusing to join those working against God's plans, showing by word and life that Christ is followed and reflecting heaven's light rather than sharing the world's spirit.
How Reproof Is Given
Wrongdoing is not to be concealed or covered up but is to be brought into the light where reproof makes it manifest, criticized, investigated and purged away. In sanitariums and other institutions this means close examination and correction of their own existing wrong practices. It forbids neglecting the duty to investigate and correct wrongdoing while fault-finding over supposed small mistakes in those who are nearer to God and nearer the kingdom than their accusers. Sin is to be rebuked firmly and given no sanction, while wrongdoers are still treated with patience and hope.
Reproof is not given by contention but by circumspect actions and Christlike words that rebuke the heedless and disrespectful soul. It is done with humility and a conciliatory spirit that seeks to save without sacrificing principle, walking worthy of the calling and free from business entanglements. Such an attitude is itself an argument in favor of Christianity, an invitation to come and receive good. Disciples never give approval to sin by word or deed or silence or presence, but carry Jesus with them wherever they go to reveal the preciousness of the Saviour and to brighten the pathway of those who do not know the Light of life, using social relations to contact the world rather than hiding religion and losing opportunities to do good.
The character of the work is consenting to be laborers together with God and working in Christ's lines. It exercises mental endowments to a purpose in making those within the sphere of influence wise and better. It uplifts and strengthens the weak and makes straight paths for the feet, lest the lame be turned out of the way. The unfruitful works of darkness bear no good fruit, in contrast to the goodness and righteousness and truth that are the fruit of the Spirit, and believers are to discern deceptive influences that test faith rather than join in them. Having no fellowship with them means careful obedience to the warnings given, seeing and resisting temptation and keeping a sure path with no uncertainty.
Having no fellowship with evil requires decided, straight work. It demands thorough, heartfelt confessions and receives nothing less. It separates from those who think so much of self that they cannot see their faults and confess them fully. This is urgent at a time when God is at work for the last time to settle things, when those who reject light from heaven and the means taken to set them right will be left to themselves.
Calling and Daily Obedience
Ephesians 5:11 guides every married man and every married woman to walk as children of light, circumspectly and wisely, redeeming the time, proving what is acceptable to the Lord, and searching the heart as with a lighted candle, with careful study of the chapter showing that fornication, uncleanness, covetousness, filthiness, foolish talking and jesting have no place among saints who take no part in fruitless deeds of darkness but expose them. Each person must individually meet the Bible's divine standard by asking whether a course is the way of the Lord, since Scripture declares one class of actions right and just and doing them righteousness, while prohibiting and condemning another course that brings certain ruin of soul and body unless there is thorough reform. Having no fellowship with sinful works of darkness means breaking with Satan's temptations at once and rushing for the light, which is especially binding on a minister of the gospel whose immoral course becomes a reproach and scandal and an influence of death rather than life, leaving others with no guide when a standard-bearer falls. Obedience requires truth enthroned in the heart to sanctify character in a thorough change from darkness to light, made possible because Jesus took human nature and was tempted in all points yet without sin.
For the health institution at St. Helena, the Health Retreat, the verse demands complete renovation and working from Christlike principles with a clear separation between the precious and the vile, refusing any partnership with fruitless dark deeds and instead correcting them by exposing secret shameful practices by the light. This means awaking from sleep and rising from death so Christ gives light, walking carefully not as fools but as wise, buying back the time because the days are evil, and knowing what the will of the Lord is. Workers there must receive regenerating power and spiritual life, live by every word of God, refuse inspiration from those bitter against the truth, unlearn past wrongs, learn to love one another as Christ loved, and stop criticizing and judging brethren who should be respected, loved, and esteemed better than self. Moral power comes only by a minute-by-minute fight of faith, practicing the wisdom that is first pure then peaceable and easy to be entreated and full of mercy and good fruits, and putting away lying and hypocrisy because the Lord looks on the heart, so that God gives hearts of flesh for hearts of stone unto conversion and eternal life and the cloud resting on the institution is rolled back, for God will not be trifled with and will never approve a work that tolerates evil.
Walking in light means following Christ who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, walking worthy of the calling and free from all business entanglements. Having no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness means careful obedience to the warnings given, seeing and resisting temptation, and keeping a sure path with no uncertainty, while reproving them is done not by contention but by circumspect actions and Christlike words that rebuke the heedless, disrespectful soul, with an attitude that is an argument in favor of Christianity and an invitation to come and receive good. The whole chapter of Ephesians 5 is to be read and obeyed in the time when every effort Satan can make is made to tear up the foundation of faith in the third angel's message, so that not a pin or pillar is moved from the building of the work established through the last sixty years.
Ephesians 5:11 commands having no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reproving them. Unfruitful means those deeds produce no good fruit and turn people away from God, and to reprove them means to expose them and make them manifest by the light. Its setting contrasts those who were once darkness with those now light in the Lord walking as children of light in all goodness and righteousness and truth. Therefore believers must refuse to join in or associate with such works, because contact with worldly companions and principles conforms the mind to the world until love for God grows cold and eternal realities fade. Wrongdoing is not to be concealed or sanctioned but to be criticized, investigated and purged away, rebuked firmly yet with humility and Christlike words that seek to save without sacrificing principle.
Words and Immediate Context
The command is to have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather to reprove them. Those who are now light in the Lord are to walk as children of light, showing goodness and righteousness and truth and proving what is acceptable to the Lord. Sharing in sinful deeds or forming close associations with those who practice them is forbidden, lest their spirit and fate be shared, and the distinction between the converted and the unconverted is clear and not a gradual blending. The verse sets a divine standard for conduct that condemns what will bring ruin unless there is reform.
Unfruitful means the deeds produce no good fruit and belong to darkness and turn people from God. The surrounding verses explain that these deeds are shameful even to speak of in secret, and that reproof brings them into the light, since whatever makes things visible is light. They contrast those works with the goodness and righteousness and truth that are the fruit of the Spirit. Those who have learned of Christ do not join in works that produce no good, but turn from sinful fruitless practices to live for doing good, and their speech and conduct are simple, straightforward and true, fitting them for fellowship with holy ones who have no guile. Deceptive influences that test faith are to be discerned rather than joined.
To reprove means to expose and make manifest by the light, bringing secret shameful deeds into the open. Any partnership with fruitless dark deeds is to be refused, and wrongdoing is not to be concealed or covered up but to be corrected, criticized, investigated and purged away. The darkness is spiritual, as when those who have not taken Christ's yoke are called to become children of light by learning His meekness and lowliness and relying on His strength. Those once in darkness must no longer share in its fruitless works but must expose them by wearing His yoke.
Its setting explains that shameful secret things are made manifest by light, and calls those asleep to awake and rise from the dead so that Christ gives light, then to walk circumspectly not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time because the days are evil, and understanding what the will of the Lord is. For workers in God's health institutions this demands receiving regenerating power and spiritual life and living by every word of God. It requires refusing inspiration from those bitter against the truth, ceasing to criticize and judge brethren who should be respected and loved and esteemed better than self, unlearning past wrongs, learning to love one another as Christ loved, gaining moral power only by a minute-by-minute fight of faith, practicing the wisdom that is first pure then peaceable and easy to be entreated and full of mercy and good fruits, and putting away lying and hypocrisy because the Lord looks on the heart, so that God gives hearts of flesh for hearts of stone unto conversion and eternal life.
Its setting contrasts those who were once darkness but are now light in the Lord walking as children of light, bearing fruit in all goodness and righteousness and truth and proving what is acceptable to the Lord. Followers of God as dear children must walk in love as Christ gave Himself as an offering and sacrifice. Fornication, uncleanness, covetousness, filthiness, foolish talking and jesting must have no place among saints and must not even be named among them, but thanks is to be given instead. Believers must refuse to be deceived by vain words and refuse to partake with the children of disobedience on whom the wrath of God comes. The verse guides every married man and every married woman to walk as children of light, circumspectly and wisely, redeeming the time, with careful study and with searching of the heart as with a lighted candle.
Separation from Evil Associations
Believers must not join in or associate with the fruitless dark works, because such contact exposes them to corrupting influence that can lead away from truth and right principles and dishonor God. The children of darkness are blinded by the god of this world and led by the spirit of the prince of darkness and cannot enjoy heavenly things, while the children of light set affections on things above and leave worldly things behind. Loving God and keeping His commandments rejects friendship with the world and love of its pleasures, for Christ has no concord with Belial.
Concord with unbelievers and the spread of the world's spirit in the church is fellowship with darkness that opposes God's calling, provokes His displeasure, and marks falling away. Neglecting light leaves a more unfavorable position than that of the Jews whom Christ warned. God has drawn a sharp line as distinct as midday and midnight between saint and sinner, converted and unconverted, with no gradual blending.
Intimate association with those who know the truth but do not practice it and break God's law in dealings is unsafe, compromises honor, risks adopting their spirit, sharing their fate, and becoming a participant in evil deeds. Giving patronage and willingly joining with people who work against God's law and truth makes one share responsibility and become a partaker catching their spirit. Fabricating reasons to welcome workers of evil who trample God's laws is not from God, for they may appear as an angel of light, so caution is required.
Loving efforts to recover someone from evil are allowed, but willing partnership with wrongdoing must be refused. Disciples never give approval to sin by words or deeds or silence or presence. Association with worldly companions and principles conforms the mind by association and habit to the worldling's standard until love for God grows cold, communion is lost, spiritual blindness calls evil good and good evil, eternal realities fade, hunger for the bread of life is gone, and the worldly spirit controls the life. When men are not under God's Word and Spirit they are captives of Satan led to unknown lengths in sin.
God's people are called to be His special, peculiar, chosen people by faith in Christ, coming out from the world which lies in wickedness to be separate and unspotted, free from worldly customs, habits and sentiments. They stand on the holy ground of Bible truth on Christ's side, holy and pure in heart and life.
Specific Evils to Reprove
Deception and falsehood are fruitless works of darkness to have no part in, and those taught by Christ are simple, straightforward and truthful in speech and life, speaking plainly and purely without corrupt or unchaste talk, which fits them for fellowship with holy ones who have no guile. Believers are to speak and act truthfully, keep conduct clean, reject every deceptive or unrighteous proposal, and show by example the right path away from evil. Communication with evil spirits is forbidden fellowship, including sorcery and spiritualism and attempts to communicate with the dead, and consulting mediums, clairvoyants and fortune-tellers, which gives Satan access to minds to bewilder, deceive and pollute the soul, and the warning binds God's people today as it did Ephesus. Such works are not to be joined but to be exposed and reproved and opposed.
Involvement in irreligious pleasures and the company of sensual, skeptical or blasphemous persons, whether in person or through the press, is tampering with darkness, including letting collision with common opinions and modes of thinking and practice draw into wrong and following life-destroying practices in a world of extremists in pleasure and selfish gratification who are lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God. Circulating books that portray crimes and atrocities belongs to the same evil, since giving publicity to evil can influence readers toward similar acts and keep wicked deeds alive in memory, and such works should not be perpetuated but exposed and rejected rather than supported or spread. Yielding to inordinate appetite clamoring for unhealthful things until gratifying perverted taste becomes second nature sacrifices health, truth, righteousness and eternal life. Indulgence of wine, tobacco and intoxicating liquor is not essential to Christian growth but puts a person under demonic control to deface and destroy the moral image of God, and separation requires refusing them while walking as children of light bearing fruit in all goodness and righteousness and truth, proving what is acceptable and bringing secret shameful deeds into the open by the light.
Fornication, uncleanness, covetousness, filthiness, foolish talking and jesting must not even be named among saints, who give thanks instead and refuse to be deceived by vain words or to partake with the children of disobedience on whom wrath comes. Loving worldly gain, putting self-interest first and sacrificing conscience to get what one wants is fellowship with darkness and is idolatry because it gives worldly wealth the place due to God, and it is especially blameworthy among professed knowers of a better way. Loving worldly things and taking pleasure in unrighteousness is fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness that sets a stumbling block of iniquity before a person and an idol in the heart, and it must be put away by determined effort or the person will not be acknowledged as a son or daughter of God.
Teachings and human plans that undermine truth and mislead students and workers belong to darkness and must be exposed and corrected rather than shared in. Deceptive practices that appear good or zealous but are not open as daylight belong to the methods of evil and must be refused partnership and exposed, and such methods can operate even among Seventh-day Adventists, requiring vigilance and commitment to truth and righteousness. Worldly practices that perverted the faith of those with great privileges and known truth must be named plainly by their right name, no longer called righteousness nor bound up with worldly elements, with a decided stand and lifted standard for truth and righteousness, especially by leaders who love and fear God and Christ with experimental knowledge of Him.
Impure familiarities are forbidden, where thoughts and affections are fixed on one who is not a lawful spouse, even between a minister and a professed sister, for God's people are to be holy, pure in heart and life, unspotted from the world, standing on the holy ground of Bible truth as His chosen people by faith in Christ, saved from the lust of the flesh. Immoral conduct by a standard-bearer is a reproach and scandal bringing certain ruin of soul and body unless there is thorough reform, since each person must individually meet the Bible's divine standard by asking if a course is the Lord's way, breaking at once with temptation and rushing for the light, with truth enthroned in the heart sanctifying character in thorough change from darkness to light, made possible because Jesus took human nature and was tempted in all points yet without sin. Having no fellowship with unruly people who seek freedom from restraining rules requires maintaining a high standard and refusing to join those working against God's plans, showing by word and life that Christ is followed and reflecting heaven's light rather than sharing the world's spirit.
How Reproof Is Given
Wrongdoing is not to be concealed or covered up but is to be brought into the light where reproof makes it manifest, criticized, investigated and purged away. In sanitariums and other institutions this means close examination and correction of their own existing wrong practices. It forbids neglecting the duty to investigate and correct wrongdoing while fault-finding over supposed small mistakes in those who are nearer to God and nearer the kingdom than their accusers. Sin is to be rebuked firmly and given no sanction, while wrongdoers are still treated with patience and hope.
Reproof is not given by contention but by circumspect actions and Christlike words that rebuke the heedless and disrespectful soul. It is done with humility and a conciliatory spirit that seeks to save without sacrificing principle, walking worthy of the calling and free from business entanglements. Such an attitude is itself an argument in favor of Christianity, an invitation to come and receive good. Disciples never give approval to sin by word or deed or silence or presence, but carry Jesus with them wherever they go to reveal the preciousness of the Saviour and to brighten the pathway of those who do not know the Light of life, using social relations to contact the world rather than hiding religion and losing opportunities to do good.
The character of the work is consenting to be laborers together with God and working in Christ's lines. It exercises mental endowments to a purpose in making those within the sphere of influence wise and better. It uplifts and strengthens the weak and makes straight paths for the feet, lest the lame be turned out of the way. The unfruitful works of darkness bear no good fruit, in contrast to the goodness and righteousness and truth that are the fruit of the Spirit, and believers are to discern deceptive influences that test faith rather than join in them. Having no fellowship with them means careful obedience to the warnings given, seeing and resisting temptation and keeping a sure path with no uncertainty.
Having no fellowship with evil requires decided, straight work. It demands thorough, heartfelt confessions and receives nothing less. It separates from those who think so much of self that they cannot see their faults and confess them fully. This is urgent at a time when God is at work for the last time to settle things, when those who reject light from heaven and the means taken to set them right will be left to themselves.
Calling and Daily Obedience
Ephesians 5:11 guides every married man and every married woman to walk as children of light, circumspectly and wisely, redeeming the time, proving what is acceptable to the Lord, and searching the heart as with a lighted candle, with careful study of the chapter showing that fornication, uncleanness, covetousness, filthiness, foolish talking and jesting have no place among saints who take no part in fruitless deeds of darkness but expose them. Each person must individually meet the Bible's divine standard by asking whether a course is the way of the Lord, since Scripture declares one class of actions right and just and doing them righteousness, while prohibiting and condemning another course that brings certain ruin of soul and body unless there is thorough reform. Having no fellowship with sinful works of darkness means breaking with Satan's temptations at once and rushing for the light, which is especially binding on a minister of the gospel whose immoral course becomes a reproach and scandal and an influence of death rather than life, leaving others with no guide when a standard-bearer falls. Obedience requires truth enthroned in the heart to sanctify character in a thorough change from darkness to light, made possible because Jesus took human nature and was tempted in all points yet without sin.
For the health institution at St. Helena, the Health Retreat, the verse demands complete renovation and working from Christlike principles with a clear separation between the precious and the vile, refusing any partnership with fruitless dark deeds and instead correcting them by exposing secret shameful practices by the light. This means awaking from sleep and rising from death so Christ gives light, walking carefully not as fools but as wise, buying back the time because the days are evil, and knowing what the will of the Lord is. Workers there must receive regenerating power and spiritual life, live by every word of God, refuse inspiration from those bitter against the truth, unlearn past wrongs, learn to love one another as Christ loved, and stop criticizing and judging brethren who should be respected, loved, and esteemed better than self. Moral power comes only by a minute-by-minute fight of faith, practicing the wisdom that is first pure then peaceable and easy to be entreated and full of mercy and good fruits, and putting away lying and hypocrisy because the Lord looks on the heart, so that God gives hearts of flesh for hearts of stone unto conversion and eternal life and the cloud resting on the institution is rolled back, for God will not be trifled with and will never approve a work that tolerates evil.
Walking in light means following Christ who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, walking worthy of the calling and free from all business entanglements. Having no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness means careful obedience to the warnings given, seeing and resisting temptation, and keeping a sure path with no uncertainty, while reproving them is done not by contention but by circumspect actions and Christlike words that rebuke the heedless, disrespectful soul, with an attitude that is an argument in favor of Christianity and an invitation to come and receive good. The whole chapter of Ephesians 5 is to be read and obeyed in the time when every effort Satan can make is made to tear up the foundation of faith in the third angel's message, so that not a pin or pillar is moved from the building of the work established through the last sixty years.