49 Gk. παϱϱησία (cf. Col. 2:15; Eph. 3:12; 6:19, 20).
48Gk. τò ἀνῆϰoν. Cf. Col. 3:18 (p. 162, nn. 172, 173).
49Gk. παϱϱησία (cf. Col. 2:15; Eph. 3:12; 6:19, 20).
50Gk. ἐπɩτάσσεɩν, rendered “point out” in the translation above (as in the NEB); it is quite a forceful word, however. Cf. Paul’s use of the corresponding noun ἐπɩταγή in 1 Cor. 7:6, “I say this by way of concession, not of command (ϰατ’ ἐπɩταγήν),” and in 2 Cor. 8:8 (where the tone is not dissimilar to that of our present passage), “I say this not as a command (ϰατ’ ἐπɩταγήν), but to prove ... the genuineness of your love.”
51W. C. van Unnik, “The Christian’s Freedom of Speech in the New Testament,” BJRL 44 (1961-62), 474.
52Cf. John 14:15, 23. For Paul, as for Jesus, “love is the fulfilling of the law” (Rom. 13:10; Gal. 5:14; Mark 12:29-31, quoting Deut. 6:4-5 and Lev. 19:18); where the law is fulfilled in the spirit of love, it is fulfilled “not compulsorily but spontaneously.”