A verse-by-verse explanation of the chapter.
Resting in the Finished Work of Christ
An overview of the principles and applications from the chapter.
Tying the chapter to life with God.
Historical, geographical, and grammatical enrichment of the commentary.
Suggested step-by-step group study of the chapter.
Zeroing the chapter in on daily life.
“Humanity falls into two equal and opposite
errors concerning the devil. Either they take him altogether
too seriously or they do not take him seriously
enough.”
C. S. Lewis
In chapter 6, Paul commands the Ephesian Christians: As you continue to respond to the Holy Spirit in your life, children, obey your parents; and fathers, do not anger your children, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. Slaves, obey your masters; and masters, treat your slaves as you would like to be treated if you were in their shoes. Finally, recognize that this life is a spiritual war, so take up the full armor of God; and having done so, stand firm against the schemes of the devil.
The name Benedict Arnold is synonymous with traitor. He has been reviled and discussed as an unfaithful American for two hundred years, but nearly two hundred years after his death, a new theory was advanced. If accurate, the theory would change dramatically our understanding of the role of this notorious figure of our Revolutionary War.
His act of treason was attempting to smuggle to the British a diagram of the West Point fort located on the Hudson River. The cannons on the walls at West Point guarded all ship traffic up and down the Hudson River. If the British had the plans to the fort, they could figure out a way to conquer it. With the cannons silenced, they could sail shiploads of soldiers up the Hudson River and attack the American forces from the rear, as well as from the coast. Such betrayal might well have been a turning point in the war.
Arnold was meeting with a British officer, John Andre, to turn the plans over to him when they were discovered. Benedict Arnold fled to the British side and became one of their finest officers. He has never been forgiven by the American public.
The question is, Why would Arnold do such a thing? What possessed one of the finest generals in the American army to defect? According to the new theory, Benedict Arnold, at heart, was not a traitor. He was an American loyalist. However, when America asked the French for help in our battle with the British, they sent so many troops to America that there were more French soldiers fighting at one time than there were American troops. Arnold became deeply suspicious of the French motives. The only reason the French would be so willing to spill such massive amounts of French blood on behalf of America was, in his opinion, if they had ulterior motives. Perhaps, he thought, they had in mind to help the Americans defeat the British and then make America a French colony instead of a British colony.
So, in Arnold's reasoning, America was going to be a colony of some country, either Britain or France. If we remained a British colony, they would rule us more or less benevolently, he felt, and would eventually give us our freedom. If we became a French colony, they would rule us like tyrants and never give us our freedom. Therefore, Arnold argued, we should sue for peace with Great Britain.
Since America was unwilling to do so, Arnold felt that the next best thing for our nation was to do something to allow the British to win the war, rather than the French. Therefore, in an act of, as Arnold would have described it, great patriotism, he attempted to turn the diagram of West Point over to the British. When that failed, he joined the British side, not to defeat America but, as he saw it, to defeat the French and drive them off our soil.
Interestingly enough, shortly after the British were defeated, the French Revolution broke out; and all the French soldiers were recalled to France. If it weren't for that, we might be French today.
I tell this to make the point that warfare is not all a matter of putting people on two sides of a line drawn in the sand and “having at it.” Warfare is not always a matter of blood and guts on the front line. War is also diplomacy, espionage, negotiations, and maneuvering behind the scenes. Things going on behind the scenes can have a greater impact on the outcome of warfare than the fighting on the battlefront.
So it is with spiritual warfare. It isn't all face-to-face combat. Much of it is a great chess match behind the scenes. One of the great responsibilities of the Christian is to learn well how to play chess, how to play this serious game.
After finishing his discussion of the role of mutual submission in the lives of Christians, Paul establishes for us the central passage in all the Bible on the reality of and strategy for spiritual warfare.
Our Spiritual War
MAIN IDEA: Fathers are to nurture their children while children are to obey their parents, and slaves are to obey their masters while masters are to take care of their slaves. Also, life is a spiritual war, so be sure to keep each piece of spiritual armor in place; and stand firm against the devil.
The Responsibilities of Families (vv. 1–4)SUPPORTING IDEA: Children are to be submissive to the authority of their parents while parents are to be submissive to the needs of their children.
6:1. Children are instructed that their role in mutual submission is to obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Without learning obedience from parents, children would run wild in society. All social order depends on this. In the Lord does not mean that children only need to obey Christian parents. Rather, it means that they are obeying the Lord when they obey their parents. Sadly, we are living in a day when child abuse is on the rise. This causes us to mention that the same exceptions which wives have from obeying their husbands, children have in obeying their parents. When children are asked to do something unethical, illegal, or immoral, or when they are harmed or in danger of being harmed, the command to obey would be superseded by higher biblical principles of “obeying God rather than man.”
6:2–3. The fifth of the Ten Commandments, to honor your father and mother, is repeated here, then followed by the statement that it is the first commandment with a promise. Actually, it is the second commandment with a promise (compare Exod. 20:6). There are many potential ways to solve this apparent contradiction. Perhaps the easiest is by noting that “first” may refer to the importance rather than order. Paul's point is probably that this commandment is of extraordinary significance. The promise, that the obedient child would live long on the earth, is a general promise, not an absolute promise. Children who learn obedience tend to live better lives and tend to live longer. Drug addicts, criminals, foolish and careless people tend not to live as well or as long as well-disciplined people.
6:4. The father's role is not to exasperate his children but to bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord. Growing up in a Christian home is intended to be a very positive experience for both parent and child when each plays his proper role.
The Responsibilities of Workers (vv. 5–9)SUPPORTING IDEA: Slaves are to be submissive to the authority of their masters while masters are to be submissive to the needs of their slaves.
6:5–8. Slaves carry the same principle of submission to authority as we see with wives and children. They serve the Lord by serving their master. They were not to serve their masters for the external reason of pleasing others but because they wanted to please Christ. Paul reminded slaves that their service to Christ would be rewarded by God just as will be all members of God's kingdom. Slaves on earth, they are equal members of the heavenly kingdom.
6:9. Then, fulfilling his pattern, Paul moves to the master, instructing him to please the Lord by the way he treats his slave. God is in heaven, where both master and slave are of equal importance to him.
Slaves had no options in relationships with their masters. The same general principles apply in a worker's relationship with his boss. However, as with wives and children, the employee would not be obligated to do anything unethical, illegal, immoral, or to endanger himself or others. He would be free to find other employment within the will of God.
SUPPORTING IDEA: We are to put on the full spiritual armor of God so that we will be able to win the spiritual war against the devil.
6:10. Paul introduces his final subject by urging the Ephesian believers to be strong in the Lord. When it comes to spiritual warfare, we cannot be sufficiently strong by ourselves. If we are going to have adequate strength for the spiritual battles of life, it must be the Lord's strength. Only he has the mighty power sufficient to win spiritual battles against the demonic enemy.
6:11. The way we are strong in the Lord is to put on the full armor of God. When we have this armor on, we are able to stand against the wiles and schemes of the devil. Satan is a deceiver and a destroyer (Rev. 12:9). He deceives in order to destroy. Putting on the armor, of course, is a metaphor for following certain instructions from Scripture. 6:12. The reason this spiritual armor is needed is that our struggle is not against flesh and blood. The picture of warfare here implies that we do not face a physical army. We face a spiritual army. Therefore our weapons must be spiritual. Against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms seems to suggest a hierarchy of evil spirit-beings who do the bidding of Satan in opposing the will of God on earth.
6:13. When we have obeyed all the instructions implicit in the full armor of God, we can resist Satan's attempts to deceive and destroy us. The day of evil is anytime during this era in history until Jesus returns. All days are evil in their potential and become evil in reality when Satan or his demons decide to use that day to attack you.
The clear implication here is that, if the Christian has all his armor on, he has the ability to stand firm against Satan. At times the spiritual warfare in which we find ourselves may be frightening. However, the only thing we have to fear, if our armor is in place, is fear itself. “The one who is in you [Jesus], is greater than the one [Satan] who is in the world” (1 John 4:4). “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (Jas. 4:7). “Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith” (1 Pet. 5:8–9). Scripture is utterly consistent. If we have our armor in place, if we are firm in our faith, we may resist the devil. If we do, he will flee from us.
6:14. After instructions to put on the full armor of God and the promise of the power of God in victory over the devil, Paul specifically describes the various pieces of armor. The belt of truth pictures the large leather belt the Roman soldier wore. It held other weapons and kept his outer garments in place. To put on the belt of truth can be understood as accepting the truth of the Bible and choosing to follow it with integrity.
The breastplate of righteousness pictures the metal armor in the shape of a human torso common to the Roman uniform. To put on the breastplate can be understood as choosing not to harbor and nurture known sin. It is striving to be like Christ and live according to his ways of righteousness.
6:15. Feet fitted with the readiness pictures the hobnailed shoes which kept the soldiers footing sure in battle. To put on these shoes could be understood as believing the promises of God in the gospel and counting on them to be true for you. Faith in these promises yields peace in the Christian's life.
6:16. The shield of faith pictures the small, round shield the Roman soldier used to deflect blows from the sword, arrow, or spear of the enemy. To take up this shield can be understood as rejecting temptations to doubt, sin or quit, telling yourself the truth and choosing on the basis of the truth to do the right thing.
6:17. The helmet of salvation pictures the Roman soldier's metal protective headgear. It does not refer to our salvation in Christ. First Thessalonians speaks of the helmet of the “hope of salvation,” which is probably a parallel idea. That being the case, taking the helmet of salvation could be understood as resting our hope in the future and living in this world according to the value system of the next.
The sword of the Spirit pictures the soldier's weapon sheathed to his belt and used both for offensive and defensive purposes. Taking the sword of the Spirit—defined for us as the Word of God—can be understood as using Scripture specifically in life's situations to fend off attacks of the enemy and put him to flight. We see the example of Jesus using the Scripture this way in Matthew 4:1–11.
6:18. Finally, while preparing for and doing battle, we are to be on the alert and always keep on praying. We petition God for our own needs in the battle, and we pray for the spiritual victory of other saints.
6:19–20. Paul finishes by asking for prayer for himself in his own ministry, acknowledging the fact that he was a prisoner at the time of this writing. He sought courage from prayer to proclaim the gospel even to those in his prison.
Encouragement for the Saints (vv. 21–24)SUPPORTING IDEA: Sending another Christian with good news of one's welfare can encourage the church in your absence from it.
6:21. Paul closes with a review of his own circumstances, his intention to send Tychicus to encourage them, and a benediction. Tychicus served as a messenger for Paul to the churches (Acts 20:4; Col. 4:7; 2 Tim. 4:12; Titus 3:12). He may have carried the letter from Paul to Ephesus. He would let the church know of Paul's situation.
6:22. Knowing Paul's situation would be an encouragement for the church just as modern churches gain encouragement from news about missionaries they know in distant places. Churches need news of God's work around the world to encourage and strengthen them in their own work with God.
6:23. Letters typically closed with a wish for good health for the readers. As with his greetings, so in the closing Paul transformed this into a spiritual benediction. He prayed for wholeness, love, and faith for the readers, qualities that only God through his Son Jesus could grant. Victors in spiritual warfare would experience these qualities in daily life.
6.24. Paul concludes with his great theological word: grace. The letter that centers on divine grace (1:6–7; 2:5,7–8; 4:7) and love (2:4; 3:19; 5:2,25) and on love in the church (1:15; 3:17; 4:2,15–16; 5:2,25,28,33; 6:23) concludes with the hope that God's unearned love will be experienced by those who give love to Jesus forever. Such is the situation Paul wants to create in the churches, a climate where peace, love, and grace dominate all relationships, where God is sovereign, and where Christ is loved. Such a climate is the arena for victorious spiritual warfare and for successful family living.
MAIN IDEA REVIEW: Fathers are to nurture their children while children are to obey their parents, and slaves are to obey their masters while masters are to take care of their slaves. Also, life is a spiritual war, so be sure to keep each piece of spiritual armor in place; and stand firm against the devil.
This spiritual warfare section, then, is one of the most important passages in the Bible. It tells us what we need to know and do to be successful in the spiritual battle of life. Said in as few of words as possible: keep a clear conscience before God, and resist the devil's attempts to frighten, deceive, or tempt you.
You cannot take that statement alone. You must read into it a fuller understanding of the information we have just covered. Basically, we are to draw near to God (keep a clear conscience; don't allow known, willful sin to take root in your heart unchallenged; accept the truth of the Bible and live accordingly) and resist the devil (stand firm against him; resist his attempts to deceive you; don't be terrorized by him). Satan has no real power if your armor is on, and he will flee from you.
PRINCIPLES
APPLICATIONS
Resting in the Finished Work of Christ
Satan is called the “accuser of our brothers” (Rev. 12:10). He stands ready to whisper venomous accusations to us in our quiet moments and hurl demonic defamations in our busy ones. “
You cheap hypocrite!” he hisses. “You worthless loser,” he rasps. “You try to talk to people about Jesus, about righteousness, about faithfulness, and all the while, you have immoral thoughts, sinful attitudes, and inconsistent behavior. Who are you to talk about forgiveness? You have no right to talk to anyone about Christianity. Why don't you come back into your old life where you belong?”
And we believe him! Doing so, we go down in flames. The secret to withstanding Satan's accusations is not what we do; it is what Christ did on the cross. The secret to withstanding Satan's accusations is to rest consciously in what Jesus did on the cross. If we truly understand it, we can stand against Satan's accusations. If we don't, we might not be able to.
As John White wrote in his book The Fight:
God's answer to your guilty conscience is the death of His Son. Your answer to a guilty conscience is usually something you do, like confessing harder, praying more, reading your Bible, paying more than your tithe in the offering, and so on. Do you not understand? The Father does not welcome you because you have been trying hard, because you have made a thoroughgoing confession, or because you have been making spiritual strides recently. He does not welcome you because you have something you can be proud about. He welcomes you because His Son died for you. Are you blasphemous enough to suppose that your dead works, your feeble efforts can add to the finished work of a dying Savior? “It is finished!” he cried. Completed. Done. Forever ended. He crashed through the gates of hell, set prisoners free, abolished death and burst in new life from the tomb. All to set you free from sin and open the way for you to run into the loving arms of God.
Now do you understand how ‘the brethren’ overcame the Accuser by the blood of the Lamb? They refused to let his accusations impede their access to God. A simple confession was enough. They face the Accuser boldly saying, “We already know the worst you could ever tell us, and so does God. What is more the blood of Jesus is enough.” Therefore, when you find the grey cloud descending, whether it be as you pray, as you work, as you testify or whatever, when you find the ring of assurance going from your words because of a vague sense of guilt, look up to God and say, “Thank you, my Father, for the blood of your Son. Thank you, even now, that you accept me gladly, lovingly in spite of all I am and have done—because of His death. Father and God, I come” (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1976, 87).
Resist the efforts of Satan to accuse you, to bury you with guilt, to make you feel worthless and unqualified to come to Christ again. It is part of his warfare strategy to make you ineffective as a witness and unhappy as a disciple. Be on guard against his schemes. Recognize them. Stand firm against him in the strength which God provides.
When we are faced with the temptation to sin or feel buried by guilt, we are facing spiritual warfare. At that moment, we must be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. We must take up the armor of God and stand firm against the schemes of the devil.
Dear Heavenly Father, help us to draw near to you. Help us to resist the temptations and deceptions of Satan. Help us to want to resist him. By your grace, may we stand firm against him, victorious in the spiritual battle. Amen.
A. Provoking children to anger (v. 4)
Verse 4 instructs us not to “exasperate your children.” The Bible does not tell us what this means. Both wrath and exasperate come from the root word anger. A study of human and family behavior can shed some insight on how we might exasperate our children and provoke them to anger. The following examples will give us a good starting point for understanding this instruction.
These eight things will provoke a child to anger; they will exasperate a child, and we would be well-advised to avoid them.
Proverbs 22:6, a parallel passage to Ephesians 6:4, gives us additional insight on what it means to bring children up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord: “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not turn from it.” This is often a misunderstood verse. Many have understood it to mean something like what Chuck Swindoll wrote in You and Your Child:
Be sure your child is in Sunday school and church regularly. Cement into his mind a few memorized verses from the Bible plus some hymns and prayers. Send him to a Christian camp during the summer during his formative years, and he can be educated by people whose teaching is based in the Bible. Because after all, someday he will sow his wild oats. For sure, he will have his fling. But when he gets old enough to get over his fling, he will come back to God.
This is a breakdown in understanding because of the limitations of translations. To train up comes from a root word which means “the palate, the roof of the mouth, the gums.” The verb form of the word is used for breaking a horse and bringing it into submission. The term was used of a midwife who would rub the mouth and gums of a newborn to stimulate the child to begin nursing. It is the word used to describe “developing a thirst.”
Referring to the phrase, “in the way,” again, Swindoll writes:
“In” means “in keeping with, in cooperation with, in accordance to” the way he should go. That is altogether different from your way. God is not saying, “Bring up a child as you see him.” Instead, He says, “If you want your training to be godly and wise, observe your child, be sensitive and alert, so as to discover his way, and adapt your training accordingly.” In Proverbs 30:18–19, the same word for “way” is used as in Proverbs 22:6. WAY is a Hebrew word that suggests the idea of “characteristic, manner, mode.” “
There are three things which are too wonderful for me, four which I do not understand: the WAY of an eagle in the sky, the WAY of a serpent on a rock, the WAY of a ship in the middle of the sea, and the WAY of a man with a maid” (Proverbs 30:18–19).
In each case, “way” is not a specific, well-defined, narrow road or path. It is a characteristic. The one who wrote this verse is saying, “As I observe these four things, I find myself intrigued. I can't put it all together. There is a beautiful coordination, an intriguing mystery which keeps me and captures my attention.” WAY is used in that same sense back in Proverbs 22:6—train up a child in keeping with his characteristics.
In every child God places in our arms, there is a bent, a set of characteristics already established. The bent is fixed and determined before he is given over to our care. The child is not, in fact, merely a pliable piece of clay. He has been set; he has been bent. And the parents who want to train this child correctly will discover that bent.
Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the instruction and training of the Lord (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1977, 27).
C. Parental modeling (v. 4)
The Scriptures make clear that “modeling” is a key ingredient in the parenting process. Perhaps the clearest and most complete passage is found in Deuteronomy 6:4–9. In this passage, we see four principles essential in passing on spiritual faith to children.
Further, Moses wrote: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts.”
These words shall be on your heart, Moses writes, not merely in your head. You cannot impart what you do not possess. Do not expect that your children will have a devotion to God unless you do. Do not expect that your children will walk with God unless you do. Do not expect that Christ will make a difference in your children's lives unless he is making a difference in yours. From the time of their childhood and early adulthood, your children are likely to have less of a walk with the Lord than the parents are. If the parent's walk is weak, the children's are likely to be weaker. If the parent's walk is strong, the children's are likely to be less strong. Then, when they move into adulthood and choose their values for themselves, parental modeling will often determine if Christ is at the center of their lives.
Jesus said, you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free (John 8:32). If you do not know the truth, you shall be in bondage to ignorance.
Children must know the Scriptures. They must know the words of God. When Jesus was tempted in the wilderness, each time he rebuffed Satan with Scripture. It is likely that he did not quote Scripture from his capacity as an omniscient God; rather he quoted it because as a boy receiving traditional Jewish instruction in the local synagogue and in his home he sat down and memorized it.
Moses is saying, all the times of life should be geared to revealing how scriptural truth is lived out in everyday life. If children are to be free from bondage and ignorance, they must know truth. In order to know it, they must be taught it. That is one of the reasons children should be involved in church, but if parents are depending on the church to solve all their problems, they have misplaced hopes. The home is the dominant influence in a child's life. A church will reinforce truth if it is upheld at home. If it is not upheld at home, the truth may be drowned in a sea of contradiction.
As you consider cultivating the environment to foster spiritual growth, you must consider two aspects. First, you must eliminate the negative, and then accentuate the positive in the home environment. What, in your home, encourages spiritual development in your children, and what discourages it? You reveal your value system to the world, and ingrain it in your children, by what you have in your home and by how you treat what you have in your home.
What pictures do you have on the walls? What books do you have on the bookshelf? What magazines do you subscribe to? What television programs do you watch? What music do you listen to? What friends do you invite in? What do you talk about? What recreation do you engage in?
All these things combine to create an environment in the home, and it is not neutral. It is making a significant impact on your child's worldview, on his value system, on what is important to him and not important to him. If you have things in your home that influence your child in a direction other than toward Christ, you are contributing to a spiritual breakdown as the baton is passed from your generation to your child's generation.
Each Christian home must be carefully analyzed as to the messages it sends to the children. It is building into their value system and either encouraging or discouraging Christian behavior.
There is more to this than “material” environment. A spiritual and emotional environment is created that either encourages or discourages spiritual development. What do you talk about in the home? What do you laugh at? Do you laugh? Do you affirm and encourage one another? Do you have fun together? Do you ever have people into the home and talk about spiritual things? If you do, this creates one environment. If you don't, it creates another, and the spiritual and emotional environment has an impact on the spiritual development of the children.
D. The Christian at work (vv. 5–9)
The instructions which Paul writes for slaves and masters can form principles for the Christian in the workplace. From this passage, we learn four things. Our behavior on the job is to be obedient. Our motive on the job is to serve Christ by serving our employer. Our diligence on the job is to be for the Lord, not merely for men. Our reward for the job on earth is knowing that God will reward us in heaven for our faithfulness to him.
From these principles, and from the rest of Scripture, we can learn four lessons.
We often have the feeling that God is more pleased with people if they are missionaries or pastors. That is not true. God is only pleased when we are doing what he has given us to do. If he has given us the job of working on an assembly line, then he is as pleased with us as he is when Billy Graham does what God has for Billy Graham.
This does not mean it is wrong to change jobs if our job is difficult. This passage was written to slaves, who did not have the option of mobility. If we have the option of mobility, I see nothing in Scripture that categorically prohibits changing jobs. But we must take care that we change jobs for right reasons, not merely to escape something we should see through.
When we work for unpleasant people, we must learn to look past them, to see Christ. Colossians 3:24 says of our labor at work, “It is the Lord Christ you are serving.” It is like going to war. The battle is unpleasant, but you are pleasing your commander in chief.
E. The schemes of the devil (vv. 10–20)
Ephesians 6:11 teaches us that if we put on the full armor of God we may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. The word schemes in the Greek is methodia, from which we get the English word method. It has the idea of craftiness, cunning, and deception.
The apostle John summarizes the attack points of the devil in his first epistle: “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the world” (1 John 2:15–16).
By ourselves, we certainly are no match for his spiritual weapons.
A. INTRODUCTION
B. COMMENTARY
C. CONCLUSION: RESTING IN THE FINISHED WORK OF CHRIST
