Texts in Conversation
Ephesians reshapes Isaiah's language of awakening and rising from death, blending the description of renewed life in Isaiah 26 with the description of shining in Isaiah 60. Isaiah uses this language to describe national restoration after exile, while Ephesians uses it to teach about individual change in behavior, centered on Jesus.
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Isaiah 26:19
Hebrew Bible
17 As when a pregnant woman gets ready to deliver and strains and cries out because of her labor pains, so were we because of you, O Lord. 18 We were pregnant, we strained, we gave birth, as it were, to wind. We cannot produce deliverance on the earth; no people are born to populate the world. 19 Your dead will come back to life; your corpses will rise up. Wake up and shout joyfully, you who live in the dust!32 For you will grow like plants drenched with the morning dew, and the earth will bring forth its dead spirits. 20 Go, my people! Enter your inner rooms! Close your doors behind you! Hide for a little while, until his angry judgment is over.
Date: 7th-5th Centuries B.C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
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Ephesians 5:14
New Testament
11 Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. 12 For the things they do in secret are shameful even to mention. 13 But all things being exposed by the light are made visible. 14 For everything made visible is light, and for this reason it says: “Awake, O sleeper! Rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you!” 15 Therefore consider carefully how you live—not as unwise but as wise, 16 taking advantage of every opportunity because the days are evil.
Date: 60-70 C.E. (If authentic), 90-100 C.E. (If anonymous) (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... Although this excerptdoes include strong allusions to Isaiah 26:19 asnd 60:1-2, it does not cohere closely with either text ... Certainly, the first two lines of 5:14 have close linkage with Isaiah 26:19 ... The text in Isaiah 60:1-2 contributes conceptual parallels to the citation, with the notion of the 'Light of the Lord' rising and shining on his people who dwell in darkness. Isaiah 60:1 also begins with second person singular imperatives, including the verb 'arise' in the underlying Hebrew. It appears, therefore, that Paul's citation represents an amalgamation of at least these two Isaianic texts ..."
Lunde, Jonathan M. & Dunne, John A.
Paul's Creative and Contextual Use of Isaiah in Ephesians 5:14
(pp. 87-110) Journal of the Evangelical Society, 2012
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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