Ephesians 5 Footnotes

PLUS

5:3-4 Paul reminded believers that what we talk and think about will eventually find expression in our behaviors. When we are in Christ, our conversations will change, as will our actions.

5:5 Paul did not say that no one who ever engaged in immorality or greed can enter Christ’s kingdom. He said that no immoral, impure, or greedy person currently has an inheritance in the kingdom (1Co 6:9-11).

5:22-25 Paul’s command for wives to “submit” follows the all-encompassing command to submit “to one another in the fear of Christ” (v. 21)—the last outcome or result of the filling of the Spirit (vv. 18-21). While a submissive wife is countercultural today, she was not so in Paul’s time. Moreover, while a self-sacrificing and loving husband sounds quite appropriate in our culture, he was radically counter-cultural in Paul’s day. The Bible by no means approves domineering or self-centered husbands; rather, it calls for a home environment of mutual giving and selflessness. For the husband, this commitment extends even to being willing to give his life for his wife (v. 25).