Ephesians 5.21-The Fourth Result of Permitting Oneself to Be Influenced by the Spirit
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Tuesday September 15, 2026
Ephesians Series: Ephesians 5:21-The Fourth Result of Permitting Oneself to Be Influenced by the Spirit
Lesson # 370
Ephesians 5:15 Therefore, each and every one of you as a corporate unit must continue to make it your habit of paying careful attention to the manner in which each and every one of you make it your habit of conducting your lives. Each and every one of you as a corporate unit must continue to not make it your habit of conducting your lives in an unwise manner. On the contrary, each and every one of you must continue to make it your habit of conducting your lives in a wise manner 16 by continuing to make it your habit of taking full advantage of your opportunity for your own benefit because these days are characterized by evil. 17 For this reason, each and every one of must continue to make it your habit of not conducting your lives as foolish individuals. On the contrary, each and every one of you as a corporate unit must continue to make it your habit of conducting your lives as wise individuals by comprehending for the purpose of personal application what constitutes the Lord’s will (for the manner in which each one of you as a corporate unit are to continue making it your habit of conducting your life). 18 Consequently, each and every one of you as a corporate unit must continue to make it your habit of not permitting yourselves to be drunk by means of the excessive intake of wine because this is non-sensical behavior. On the contrary, each and every one of you as a corporate unit must continue to make it your habit of permitting yourselves to be influenced by means of the Spirit’s teaching 19 with the result that each and every one of you as a corporate unit continue to make it your habit of communicating with one another by means of psalms, hymns as well as spiritual songs so that each and every one of you as a corporate unit continue to make it your habit of singing and specifically continuing to make it your habit of making music with your hearts for the benefit of the Lord. 20 This also results in each and every one of you as a corporate unit continuing to make it your habit of always expressing thanks to the one and only God, namely the Father because of each and every circumstance on the basis of the merits of the name possessed by the Lord ruling over each and every one of us as a corporate unit. 21 Furthermore, this results in each and every one of you as a corporate unit continuing to make it your habit voluntarily subordinating yourselves to one another based upon reverential respect for the self-sacrificial love of Christ on behalf of each and every one of you as a corporate unit. (Lecturer’s translation)
Ephesians 5:21 is composed of the following:
(1) Participial result clause: Hypotassomenoi allēlois (Ὑποτασσόμενοι ἀλλήλοις), “Furthermore, this results in each and every one of you as a corporate unit continuing to make it your habit voluntarily subordinating yourselves to one another” (Lecturer’s translation)
(2) prepositional phrase: en phobō Christou (ἐν φόβῳ Χριστοῦ), “based upon reverential respect for the self-sacrificial love of Christ on behalf of each and every one of you as a corporate unit.” (Lecturer’s translation)
So therefore, Ephesians 5:21 is composed of a result clause, which asserts that the members of the Gentile Christian community in the Roman province of Asia, who were the recipients of this letter, continue to make it their habit of voluntarily subordinating themselves to one another.
This result clause is modified by a prepositional phrase, which presents the reason for this result clause.
It asserts that this voluntary subordination of oneself to one’s fellow believer is based upon their reverential respect for the self-sacrificial love the Lord Jesus Christ displayed on behalf of them at the cross.
Like the assertions in Ephesians 5:19-20, this assertion in Ephesians 5:21 presents another result of the recipients of this letter obeying Paul’s Spirit apostolic command in Ephesians 5:18, which required that they continue to make it their habit of permitting themselves to be influenced by means of Paul’s Spirit inspired teaching in this letter.
The result presented in Ephesians 5:21 is in addition to the previous three presented in Ephesians 5:19-20.
In our study of verse 19, we noted that this verse makes two assertions, which are the result of obeying the command in Ephesians 5:18.
The first assertion states that obedience to this command will result in the recipients of this letter continuing to make it their habit of communicating with one another by means of psalms, hymns as well as spiritual songs.
The second assertion states that obedience to this command will result in the recipients of this letter continuing to make it their habit of singing and specifically continuing to make it your habit of making music with their hearts for the benefit of the Lord.
The participle result clause in Ephesians 5:20 we noted asserts that each and every one of the recipients of this epistle as a corporate unit continue to make it their habit of always expressing thanks to the one and only God, namely the Father.
It too presents another result of the recipients of this letter obeying Paul’s Spirit apostolic command in Ephesians 5:18, which required that they continue to make it their habit of permitting themselves to be influenced by means of Paul’s Spirit inspired teaching in this letter.
The participial result clause in Ephesians 5:20 is modified by two prepositional phrases.
The first presents the reason why the recipients of this letter were continuing to make it their habit of always expressing thanksgiving to God the Father.
They did so because of each and every circumstance, which they have experienced in life as a Christian.
The second prepositional phrase presents the basis in which they approach the Father in prayer to thank Him for each and every circumstance they experienced in life as a Christian, which were designed to benefit their spiritual growth.
They could do so based upon the merits of the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
So therefore, the participial result clause in Ephesians 5:21 asserts that the members of the Gentile Christian community in the Roman province of Asia, who were the recipients of this letter, continue to make it their habit of voluntarily subordinating themselves to one another based upon their reverential respect for the self-sacrificial love the Lord Jesus Christ displayed on behalf of them at the cross.
Like the participles in Ephesians 5:19-20, the participle here in Ephesians 5:21 presents another result of the recipients of this letter obeying Paul’s Spirit apostolic command in Ephesians 5:18, which required that they continue to make it their habit of permitting themselves to be influenced by means of Paul’s Spirit inspired teaching in this letter.
Therefore, it expresses the idea that the recipients of this letter must continue to make it their habit of permitting themselves to be influenced by means of Paul’s Spirit inspired teaching in this letter “with the result that” they continue to make it their habit of voluntarily subordinating themselves to one another based upon their reverential respect for the self-sacrificial love the Lord Jesus Christ displayed on behalf of them at the cross.
