John Calvin Commentary Ephesians 5:14

"Wherefore [he] saith, Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall shine upon thee." — Ephesians 5:14 (ASV)

Wherefore he saith. Interpreters take great pains to discover the passage of Scripture which Paul appears to quote, and which is found nowhere. I will state my opinion. He first presents Christ as speaking through his ministers, for this is the ordinary message that is delivered every day by preachers of the gospel. What other purpose do they propose than to raise the dead to life?

The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live (John 5:25).

Let us now turn to the context. “Unbelievers,” Paul had said, “must be reproved, that, being brought forth to the light, they may begin to acknowledge their wickedness.” He therefore presents Christ as uttering a voice that is constantly heard in the preaching of the gospel,

Arise, thou that sleepest. The allusion, I have no doubt, is to the prophecies that relate to Christ’s kingdom, such as that of Isaiah,

Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of Jehovah
is risen upon thee. (Isaiah 60:1)

Let us therefore endeavor, as far as it is in our power, to rouse the sleeping and dead, so that we may bring them to the light of Christ.

And Christ shall give thee light. This does not mean that when we have risen from death to life, his light begins to shine upon us, as if our actions came before his grace. All that is intended is to show that when Christ enlightens us, we rise from death to life—and thus to confirm the former statement that unbelievers must be recovered from their blindness to be saved. Instead of ἐπιφαύσει, he shall give light, some copies read ἐφάψεται, he shall touch; but this reading is an obvious error and can be dismissed without any argument.