1:3 The phrase "in the heavens" occurs at 1:3,20; 2:6; 3:10; 6:12. It appears to be the locale of believers in the first three instances but of malignant spiritual powers in the last two. Paul's metaphor refers to the realm where Christ reigns with the church that He has raised with Him (2:5-6). Yet, living in this age, the church wages war against its spiritual foes (6:12) in this same spiritual realm.
1:4 Debates over whether God has chosen specific individuals for salvation or whether they choose to believe in Christ may miss Paul's point here. He affirmed the corporate election of the church "in Him." Individuals are elect because they are in Christ.
1:5 Paul affirmed predestination—a divine action that determines future realities. God predestined that those in Christ will be adopted as His children so that God will receive praise (vv. 5-6) and that they will live for the praise God's glory (v. 12).
1:11 Paul did not claim that humans have no self-determining free will. As Rm 9 indicates, God is able to use even sinful human choices for His purposes. But the point here is that whatever God does for those in Christ, He does according to a carefully orchestrated plan for their benefit.
1:19-20 In Asia Minor many lived in dread of malign spiritual beings and powers who dominated their lives. Paul prayed that His readers would have an experiential knowledge—the realization and confidence that as believers in Christ they possessed divine power. Christians need not cower in fear of any other spiritual powers.
1:22-23 Paul asserted that Christ fills the church, His very body, with His presence and power (see 3:19). No human institution has greater potential power to effect good than Christ's church.
2:1-6 Being "dead" in sins does not imply that unbelievers can do no good or that they cannot respond to the message of salvation through God's initiating grace. This describes their hopeless condition as separated from God (vv. 11-12). Salvation removes that separation (v. 13) and locates believers "in Christ Jesus."
2:8-9 Faith is the means by which people acquire salvation: It is "through faith." Salvation by grace through faith comes as God's gift, not by works.
2:10 While good works cannot merit right standing with God, good works are the fruit borne in the lives of those whom God has saved. Good works are neither an afterthought nor optional in the lives of believers. God created and saved them for the very purpose of doing good works.
2:13-15 In securing peace through His death, Christ demolished all racial and ethnic barriers in the church. The church should be the world's most racially integrated community.
4:4-6 Since believers are one body, they must maintain unity (v. 3). Though current divisions among Christians are embarrassing, organic unity at all costs does not adequately address these schisms. Given departures from orthodoxy and the church's expansion, denominations are not only inevitable but may serve to preserve the truth.
4:8 Probably Paul adapted wording from Ps 68:18. Instead of receiving gifts from humans (the point of the psalm)—which Christ rightly deserves—Christ lavishes gifts upon His people.
4:9 Some think the phrase "the lower parts of the earth" refers to Hades (metaphorically below the earth). Most, however, agree that these regions are set opposite the "heavens," from which Christ descended to earth to give gifts to His church.
4:26 Though Paul's literal "be angry" may be a genuine command to righteous anger, many versions rightly take the imperative in a conditional way: "In your anger . . ." or "If you get angry . . ."
4:30 Paul thought of the Spirit in personal terms. Those whom God marks as His own (see 1:13) grieve the Spirit when living contrary to His will.
5:3-4 Paul reminded believers that what we talk about and think about will eventually find expression in our behavior. When we are in Christ, our talk 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. Rather he said that no immoral, impure, or greedy person currently has an inheritance in the kingdom (1 Co 6:9-11).
5:22,24 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 counter-cultural 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 time.
6:5,9 Paul did not condone slavery when urging both slaves and masters to live as responsible Christians; his concern was to change Christians' attitudes toward each other. The gospel is opposed to slavery. Where the gospel permeates lives, the institution of slavery will be undermined and abolished. It is worth noting that the first generation of Christians who had been freed from slavery to sin, gladly called themselves "slaves" of God or of Christ (see 1 Tm 6:1; Phm 16). Paradoxically, this latter slavery is the highest human freedom.
6:11-12 In contrast to modern skepticism toward evil spirits, Paul pictured the church's battle for survival as a struggle against the devil, demons, and malign supernatural beings (see 2:2; 3:10).