Ephesians 4:29

4:29 You must let no unwholesome word come out of your mouth, but only what is beneficial for the building up of the one in need, ¹  that it may give grace to those who hear.

Ephesians 6:6

6:6 not like those who do their work only when someone is watching ²  – as people-pleasers – but as slaves of Christ doing the will of God from the heart. ³ 

Ephesians 6:12

6:12 For our struggle ⁴  is not against flesh and blood, ⁵  but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world rulers of this darkness, ⁶  against the spiritual forces ⁷  of evil in the heavens. ⁸ 

---

¹ tn Grk “but if something good for the building up of the need.” The final genitive τῆς χρείας (th" creia") may refer to “the need of the moment” or it may refer to the need of a particular person or group of people as the next phrase “give grace to those who hear” indicates.

² tn Grk “not according to eye-service.”

³ tn Grk “from the soul.”

⁴ tn BDAG 752 s.v. πάλη says, “struggle against…the opponent is introduced by πρός w. the acc.”

⁵ tn Grk “blood and flesh.”

⁶ tn BDAG 561 s.v. κοσμοκράτωρ suggests “the rulers of this sinful world” as a gloss.

sn The phrase world-rulers of this darkness does not refer to human rulers but the evil spirits that rule over the world. The phrase thus stands in apposition to what follows (the spiritual forces of evil in the heavens); see note on heavens at the end of this verse.

⁷ tn BDAG 837 s.v. πνευματικός 3 suggests “the spirit-forces of evil” in Ephesians 6:12.

⁸ sn The phrase spiritual forces of evil in the heavens serves to emphasize the nature of the forces which oppose believers as well as to indicate the locality from which they originate.