Expose Them

           Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. It is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. But everything exposed by the light becomes visible - and everything that illuminated becomes a light. This is why it is said:

“Wake up, sleeper,

rise from the dead,

and Christ will shine on you." (Ephesians 5:11-14)

          “Don’t judge!” people scream.

          “…but rather expose them,” Scripture commands. We’ll get to the critical issue of the definition of “expose” in a moment. First, we must deal with the first requirement involved: judgment, discernment, discrimination. Before we can expose anything, we have to be able to determine whether or not it is something deserving exposure. Scripture tells us that we are most definitely and assuredly to stand in judgment. We are to discern or discriminate what are fruitless deeds of darkness.

          But notice, scripture says “fruitless deeds of darkness.” We’re to expose them to the light. It doesn’t say to judge people. It’s not easy to separate people from their deeds, and people don’t recognize it when you do, because they’ve been taught that what they do is who they are. They’ve also been taught that what they feel is what they are, and what they look like is what they are. This is one of the errors of identity politics.

          The second preliminary note is the question of where our focus should be. Paul says “…the disobedient….” Those who aren’t involved in the New Covenant aren’t bound to it, to be obedient or disobedient. They will be judged and I believe that love requires that we speak to them, but that’s not the focus of this passage. This passage is about the deeds and the disobedient. The disobedient are those who are under the covenant.

          This is one of those difficult things – we don’t want to turn anyone away or offend them, but their disobedience doesn’t help them, it hurts them. If we love, we must correct. If we would be obedient ourselves we must correct not only ourselves but others.

          Now, finally, to the issue of the term expose. We tend to think of expose as meaning to show. If he exposed himself in public, it tends to mean he dropped his drawers. But, if we are exposed to the cold, that means we are put into the cold. In ancient days, unwanted children were “exposed.” They were taken to the rocks along the river and left to die. So one way to understand this passage is as a call to say, “See, this is evil, vile, wicked, and shouldn’t be done.” The other way is to throw it away and leave it to die.

          There’s good reason to do both but we’d do well to start with the latter, throwing away those things about ourselves that we know can’t withstand the light of Christ.