starts with “For this reason,” a thought Paul will not finish until verse 14, as he goes instead into discussion of the secret of the Gentiles, a secret made known to Paul (3:2) and which we can understand (3:4); a secret that was hidden but was now being revealed (3:5). “This is that secret: The Gentiles are heirs-in-common, members-in-common of the body, and common participants in what was promised by the Messiah Jesus through the gospel” (3:6). Paul was called to proclaim the secret (3:7-9) the church is the union of God’s people, the Jews and the Gentiles, and it is through his people God works in the world.
Paul completes the thought he had started in verse 3:1 and again writing, “for this reason” adding “I bow my knee…” and begins his closing prayer for this section (3:14-19) making three requests, that we would be given strength, understanding, and filled with the fullness of God. He closes the first part of the letter with a doxology, the only one to mention the Church.
This teaching about the Church has ramifications as to how we should live, and that is what Paul now focuses on in the second half of the letter. This part of the letter can be divided into five exhortations, each one centered around the concept of how we are to “live” (literally walk), the first one beginning, “I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, urge you to live in a way that is worthy of the calling to which you have been called” (4:1).
The first exhortation (4:1-16), and the exhortation that serves as a foundation for all the rest, is a call for unity. The second (4:17-32) is a negative exhortation not to live as the Gentiles do. The third exhortation (5:1-5) is to live in Love, while the fourth (5:6-14) is a call to live in the light.
This brings us to the exhortation that contains the teaching on marriage. Building on the earlier part of the letter, this exhortation starts, “So, then, be careful how you live. Do not be unwise but wise.” (5:15) The main part of the exhortation starts with a long sentence beginning with the dual commands to “Stop getting drunk with wine, which leads to wild living, but keep on being filled with the Spirit” (5:18) which is then followed by a series of participles describing the results of being filled with the Spirit.
In most translations, this long sentence is broken up primarily to avoid long sentences in English, and the participles changed to regular verbs to make the sentences complete. Thus in the translation quoted in this book, the International Standard Version (ISV), the participle for “reciting” is translated as “Then you will recite”; “singing and making music” becomes “you will sing and make music”; while “giving thanks” becomes “you will give thanks” (5:19-20). Normally this does not cause any problems, but it does, at times, make what was a result seem to be a command, as when “singing and making music” is translated as “Sing and make music.” This brings us to the text on which we will be focusing.
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