gengwall

Charis – Is 5:24 Descriptive of wives? Only if you divorce the verse from the surrounding text, especially verse 21-22. 5:18b-21 is absolutely prescriptive: “be filled with the spirit; speaking…singing and making melody…giving thanks…submitting yourselves…” These are not descriptions of what the Ephesians are, they are prescriptions for what Paul wants the Ephesians to do. Verse 5:22 continues the prescription addressing wives specifically. 5:22 is not a description of what wives are, it is a prescription for what Paul wants wives to do. In verse 24, Paul then gives a descriptive example for the wives to follow, but he has not ceased prescribing what he wants the wives to do based on that descriptive example. I disagree that 5:24 in relation to wives is descriptive.

The confusion comes from which form of “to be” the translators insert. YLT uses [are] while others use [be] or [should be]. Which should it be? The precedent from verse 22 makes it obvious. You can’t be both prescribed and described as being subject in the same thought. Since the prescription in verse 22 is clear, the continuing prescription in verse 24 is also clear.