55 Cf. Gal. 5:16.
52As in Rom. 13:12; Eph. 4:22, 25; cf. Jas. 1:21; 1 Pet. 2:1.
53CNT, ad loc. Such an absolute use of μέλη in this sense would be tolerable only if their membership in the body of Christ were stressed in the immediate context.
54This transition of thought “is easily explained on psychological grounds by the inrush of various associations when a picture-word is being used” (M. Dibelius, ad loc.). With this extended use of the word “members” may be compared the use of the word “body” in Rom. 6:6 (“the body of sin”); 7:24 (“this body of death”). According to N. A. Dahl (“Der Epheserbrief und der erste Korinther-brief,” in Abraham unser Vater, ed. O. Betz, M. Hengel, and P. Schmidt [Leiden/Köln, 1963], p. 72), the vices listed are the members of the “body of flesh” which has been laid aside in baptism. Cf. Col. 2:11, with exposition (pp. 103-04 above).
55Cf. Gal. 5:16.