Walk in Love
Study note
Paul sets the highest standard for Christian conduct: imitate God himself, walking in sacrificial love as Christ loved us and gave himself as a fragrant offering. He then names specific sins that are incompatible with the identity of saints, including sexual immorality, impurity, greed, and coarse speech. The warning is serious: those who practice these things have no inheritance in God's kingdom, and believers must not be deceived by those who excuse such behavior.
1 Since you are God's beloved children, try to be just like him. Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children;
2 Let love be the driving force of your life. Do this just like Christ loved us and gave up his life for us as an offering to God — an offering as pleasing as a sweet smell. And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour.
3 Sexual sin, every kind of impurity, and greed should not even be mentioned among you. That is the standard for God's holy people. But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints;
4 Dirty talk, foolish chatter, and crude jokes have no place among you either. Instead, let your mouth be full of thankfulness. Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks.
5 You can be sure of this. Anyone who lives in sexual sin, impurity, or greed — which is the same as worshiping a false god — has no place in the kingdom of Christ and God. For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.
6 Do not let anyone fool you with empty arguments. These sins are exactly why God's anger falls on people who refuse to obey him. Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience.
7 So do not join them in any of it. Be not ye therefore partakers with them.
Walk as Children of Light
Study note
The contrast between darkness and light serves as the organizing metaphor for this section. Believers were once darkness itself, not merely in darkness, but now they are light in the Lord. The fruit of this light is goodness, righteousness, and truth. Rather than participating in the deeds of darkness, believers are to expose them by living transparently. The quotation in verse 14, likely from an early Christian hymn, calls sleepers to rise from spiritual death and receive Christ's illumination.
8 There was a time when your life was full of darkness. But now you belong to the Lord, and your life is full of light. So live like people of the light! For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light:
9 (The light produces everything that is good, right, and true.) (For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;)
10 Figure out what makes the Lord happy, and do that. Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord.
11 Stay away from the worthless things that people do in the dark. Instead, shine a light on those things and show them for what they truly are. And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.
12 The things people do in secret are too shameful to even talk about. For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret.
13 But when light shines on something, it becomes clear and visible. Light reveals everything. But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light: for whatsoever doth make manifest is light.
14 Therefore it says, "Wake up, sleeper! Get up from among the dead, and Christ will shine his light on you." Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.
Walk in Wisdom and Be Filled with the Spirit
Study note
Paul urges careful, wise living that makes the most of every opportunity in evil times. The command to be filled with the Spirit (v. 18) is the central imperative of the practical section, governing the participles that follow: speaking to one another in worship, singing, giving thanks, and submitting to one another. Being Spirit-filled is not a one-time event but a continuous lifestyle that replaces the loss of self-control found in drunkenness with the joyful self-giving enabled by God's Spirit.
15 So be very careful about how you live. Do not live carelessly, but live wisely. See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise,
16 Grab every chance that comes along. We are living in hard times. Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.
17 Stop being foolish. Instead, understand what the Lord wants you to do. Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.
18 Do not get drunk on wine, because that leads to a wrecked life. Instead, let the Holy Spirit fill you up. And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;
19 Talk to each other using psalms, hymns, and songs that the Spirit gives you. Sing and make music to the Lord from the bottom of your heart. Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord;
20 Always be thankful to God the Father for everything, and thank him through our Lord Jesus Christ. Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;
21 Honor one another by putting each other first, out of your respect for God. Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.
Marriage as a Picture of Christ and the Church
Study note
Paul applies the principle of mutual submission (v. 21) to marriage. Wives are called to respect and submit to their husbands as the church submits to Christ, while husbands are called to love their wives with the same self-sacrificing, purifying love that Christ has for the church. This is not a license for domination but a call to servant leadership modeled on Christ who gave himself up. Paul quotes Genesis 2:24 about the two becoming one flesh and declares it a 'great mystery' pointing to Christ and the church. Marriage thus becomes an enacted parable of the gospel.
22 Wives, follow your husband's lead in the same way you follow the Lord's lead. Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.
23 A husband leads his wife the way Christ leads the church. Christ is also the one who saves the body. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body.
24 In the same way the church follows Christ, wives should follow their husbands in everything. Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing.
25 Husbands, love your wives with the same sacrificial love that Christ had for the church when he gave up his life for her. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;
26 He did this to make the church holy, washing her clean through the word, like water makes something pure. That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,
27 His goal was to present the church to himself as something beautiful and glorious. He wanted it without a single stain or wrinkle or flaw — completely holy and perfect. That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.
28 Husbands should love their wives that same way -- like they love their own bodies. A man who loves his wife is truly loving himself. So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself.
29 Nobody has ever hated their own body. Instead, they feed it and take care of it, which is exactly what Christ does for the church. For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church:
30 After all, we are parts of his body. For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.
31 The Scripture says, "A man will leave his father and mother and be united with his wife, and the two will become one." For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh.
32 This is a deep and wonderful mystery, and I am saying it points to Christ and the church. This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.
33 Therefore, every husband must love his wife as much as he loves himself. And every wife must deeply respect her husband. Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband.