The believer has changed sides in the ongoing conflict between God and Satan. Becoming a child of God means there will be relentless opposition from the Satan and his forces to try and get the believer to sin, to doubt, or cooperate with his evil will. God has provided all that is necessary for the believer to successfully stand firm in this battle but those provisions are absolutely necessary without which the believer will succumb. Understanding the fact of there being ongoing spiritual warfare opposing efforts to live for the Lord and to be pleasing to Him is vital as is knowing what has been provided and the need to continually be armed, alert, and ready.

Ultimately all human authorities the believer lives under are in their position under God's sovereign authority. From the home to the work place there is order and different positions with varying responsibilities. Those in authority in whatever capacity are to be served and obeyed as their authority is exercised. God's word gives the principles for those in authority to be lead by and for those who are under that human authority to serve and obey accordingly. If the commands to obey require disobedience to God's commands then it is the Lord who is to be obeyed and relied upon for how to handle the situation that may develop as a result. The life and testimony of the believer is to be one of consistently living for the Lord and according to His word while trusting Him and HIs ultimate control.

Each individual in the home has responsibilities to others for which they are accountable. Accountability is individual and not conditioned by the treatment of the others in the particular relationships. For believers in those relationships, they are to be living under the control of the Holy Spirit and obedience to the Word of God. In regard to relationships within the family, children are to be obedient to their parents. Responsibility for training and discipline in the home is shared by both parents, mother and father with the father having the final and ultimate responsibility to provide the leadership and oversight of his family in the home. Children are responsible to honor their parents due to their position even in situations where parents are failing to carry out God's standards. One sin never excuses another sin before the Lord and obedience by any and all is ultimately to the Lord to be pleasing to Him or it is disobedience to Him when sin is occurring. The Proverbs provide practical instruction for both parents and children concerning what is the wise and God-pleasing way to speak and way to behave.

Men who are husbands, as believers being filled with the Holy Spirit, will love their wives with the quality of love generated by the Spirit. Husbands are commanded by God to love their wives as Christ loved HIs church. This love is sacrificial at times choosing to do what is needful and best for their own wives and not dependent upon the attitude or action of the wife to be loved but is dependent upon the Holy Spirit and motivated by the desire to be pleasing to God. The command to wives to respect their husbands likewise is directed to women who are believers having the indwelling Holy Spirit whose control they are ultimately living in submission to.

The ministry and control of the Holy Spirit in believers is given further details in regard to the distinctions in the roles of men and women in the marriage relationship. The conduct of the godly wife will be evident as she carries out her responsibilities in the home consistent with the role she has. This role will be one as a helper who compliments the leadership of the husband in the home. Other scriptures are brought to the fore of this study to add details concerning this responsibility in the relationship with her husband, her children, and in the home.

-Therefore walk- is a foundational command given to believers with detailed instructions being give as to why that is so important and how it is to be done. By way of explanation the contrast is drawn between the life and lifestyle of the unbeliever with that of the believer. The unbeliever's life is one that is unwise in choices, foolish, and will be under the influence of the world and-or worldly things. The believer's life will be characterized by being wise, careful, and under the influence of the Holy Spirit. The unbeliever is driven to please and satisfy self for self-determined reasons while the believer has the ambition to be pleasing to God and in so doing finds lasting and full satisfaction. The word of God and the Spirit of God are provisions the believer has to pursue that higher ambition and must do so mindful of the nature of the world now lived in. The days are evil and the pressures to conform are relentless.

Who a believer was before being born again and being transformed by the indwelling Holy Spirit is contrasted with what will be true after being saved. The realm of the lifestyle of the unbeliever is characterized by spiritual darkness under the influence of the devil and the power of sin while spiritual light is the new realm of the believer. The believer is to be living under the influence of the Holy Spirit, separating from the deeds, ways, and patterns of the old life and the ambitions of life driven by sin, self, and the world. Living to please God is the new goal of life that is an ongoing learning curve being put into practice as the believer matures through the ministry of the Word of God by the Spirit of God.

The pattern and characteristics of love that God has shown through Jesus Christ is to become that quality of love the believer acts upon in their walk with the Lord. The new inner nature is manifested in speech, attitude, and actions of the believer who being new separates from the old way of life so as not to be influenced by it. A warning is sounded concerning the deceptive nature of the words and ways of the unbeliever that are to be avoided as the sinfulness of the former way of life is no longer in practice.

Details are given as to what should characterized the manner of life and lifestyle the new life of the believer. Those characteristics of the old life will have been laid aside and the new put on as the power and ministry of the new resident Holy Spirit works through the Word of God in the life. What were some tendencies and practices of the old life are described with the new to be put on. These new life characteristics are manifestations of the grace of God by which the believer has been given and will receive continually as the daily walk is in obedience to and in harmony with God's will and Word.

The Christian life involves more than knowing about God and believing that He exists. God's intention for the believer's life is to live in and live out the relationship with Him that was reconciled by faith in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. That relationship is one in which the believer has lifelong growth in being transformed by the Holy Spirit of God inwardly to become the person God created to be in a personal relationship with Him. This will be a life of change, a life in contrast to the former life before becoming a believer, a life in contrast to the world of unbelievers being lived amongst. The characteristics of the new life will be righteousness and holiness by and consistent with the truth of God's word.