Paul has been discussing the Holy Spirit, spiritual gifts and church unity.
Ephesian 5: 1-2, Live a life of love
Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
Christ is our fragrant incense, our loving sacrifice!
Ephesian 5: 3-5, Practice Kingdom citizenship
But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God's holy people. Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving. For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person--such a man is an idolater--has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.
We should focus on the kingdom of God -- and its citizenship -- living lives that reflect the purity of this (sometimes distant) kingdom.
Ephesian 5: 6-14, Rise into Light!
Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God's wrath comes on those who are disobedient. Therefore do not be partners with them. For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord.
Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. For it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. But everything exposed by the light becomes visible, for it is light that makes everything visible. This is why it is said: "Wake up, O sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you."
Live pleasing to God, as children of Light, living in transparency.
Paul gives a quotation that includes the Messiah shining on the rising sleeper. It is not clear what he is quoting. He may be summarizing some Old Testament passages, with the Messiah implied. One such passage is Isaiah 60:1-2.
Ephesian 5:15-17, Keep unity
Be very careful, then, how you live--not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is.
Be very careful, then, how you live--not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is.
Part of kingdom living is to understand God's plan for the kingdom and to seek to act in consistency with that. Indeed, an early phrase in the brief prayer that Jesus suggested to us is "Your [God's] kingdom come, on earth as it is in Heaven." This desire to further God's kingdom requires wisdom and understanding of God, moving out of our past darkness.
Ephesian 5: 18-20, Filled with the Spirit
Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.
Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
It is interesting that drunkenness is contrasted with the Holy Spirit. In each case, one recognizes "I am not myself". Yet, in each case, there is a tendency to throw off inhibitions and do things we may deeply wish to do. The Christian, guided by the Holy Spirit, should be doing that in a holy or kingdom-focused direction. Examples of what that might look like follow the instructions to "be filled with the Spirit." Those examples also continue in the paragraph below.
Ephesian 5: 21-30, Keep unity
Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.
Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.
Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.
In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church-- for we are members of his body.
So the Church ("Bride of Christ") and Christian marriage (Wives/Husband) are compared. Which is the metaphor?
As a husband (of 40 years) I suggest that the main emphasis here should be mutual submission....
"For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh." This is a profound mystery--but I am talking about Christ and the church. However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.
The quote in verse 31 is from Genesis 2:24. Paul returns to the very beginning to give the motivation for Christian marriage -- a unity and identification of two people as one. And then Paul suggests that the marriage metaphor is to describe how the Church (consisting of kingdom citizens walking in the Holy Spirit) should react with Christ.
In the next chapter, Paul gives some practical instructions on living within these relationships.
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