Ephesians 6:10-6:24

This last passage is quite clear, and as such, there is little that I can do to supplement the text. We are told to be strong and to trust in the Lord, a command repeated throughout the Word. (See Joshua 1 for an example.) By doing so, we may have a chance at resisting the evil one. We have all proven that we cannot stand against him alone, but we know that our savior will defeat him simply by speaking.

In the passage comparing our life to that of a Roman soldier, the only offensive weapon that a soldier carried was his sword, and the only weapon that we carry is the word of God. Note that this is not a weapon that we wield, but one from above. This is like an Old Testament battle, in which the Israelites fought but God did most of the work of defeating the enemy. Jude 1:9 also demonstrates this concept.

Paul tells us to pray at all times in the Spirit, petitioning for the saints (likely facing persecution). He asks for prayer for himself. He does not directly ask for prayer to be released from prison, only that he be used to spread the good news. He more directly asks for boldness.

Paul also tells those in Ephesus that he is sending a messenger to them who will give more details of his condition. He ends his letter as he began it, speaking of the grace of God.

Ephesians 5:22-6:9

Paul then speaks of the relationships between husbands and wives. Yes, women are called to submit to their husbands. Yes, our liberal feminist society doesn’t like that. No, it’s not as bad as you think. All Christians are called to “regard one another as more important than yourselves” (Philippians 2:3), which is a great definition of submission.

Many preachers will stop here, which means that they miss a few points. First, they miss that this passage does not allow the husband to force the wife into submission. Second, this was quite a bit better than the society at that time, which treated women and children as little better than slaves.

Third, they miss that he has a greater responsibility than she does. What is greater—the church’s submission to Christ or Christ’s sacrifice to the church? A husband is called to love his wife as Christ loved the church. He is called to act in order to sanctify her, to allow her to be holy and blameless, and to love her as his own body. And this is how Christ loves the church: that while she constantly wandered, he drew her back. When she defiled herself, he took the penalty. When we killed him, he forgave us. Finally, Jesus presented the church to the Lord, and she was holy and blameless. This is how husbands and wives relate.

The sixth and final chapter of Ephesians continues speaking of the relations between different groups. Children are called to honor and obey their parents. Paul emphasizes that this is not a forced honor and obedience—we don’t do so because we must, but because we can. The commandment is the first with a promise, making it obvious that God intended that children obey their parents not for the good of the parents but for the good of the children.

Similarly to the complementary relationship between men and women, children are called to submit, but fathers (this likely means “parents” in context) are called to act in the interest of the children. They are not to provoke the children to anger, but to “bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.” This is a parallel to the Old Testament, in which parents are told to continually teach their children the law.

The same is said of slaves and masters. Slaves are called to be obedient to their masters as to Christ. This is not the appearance of obedience, but true obedience. What is the reason for this? Verse 8 tells us that our good will be paid back to us as a reward, whether we are free or not. (I’m not saying that salvation is by works, but once we are saved, our works do affect our reward once in heaven.) Masters, in turn, are called not to threaten their slaves, but to love them as any other person, for even the master’s master is watching.

(As a sidenote, Greek society’s workforce consisted of slaves. This is likely to be understood as anyone who works for another person.)

There is only one exception to obedience, which is being commanded to disobey the Lord. For this, I will bring in the example of Daniel. He did not protest when used as a slave for a pagan king, or when his name was changed by said king. He only protested when told to eat meat sacrificed to that king’s god. Likewise, we are to obey our masters except in this one case.

If obedience to a human master is rewarded well, just imagine how great the reward is for obeying the Almighty God. Even when we have not obeyed him, even when we turned completely against him, he took the punishment upon himself. What joy it will be to hear those words: “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

Ephesians 5:1-21

This chapter continues the premise of the last chapter, which is how people under grace should act in the world. We are primarily called to be “imitators of God,” walking in love and demonstrating to others the grace which we have received. One who does this will hold to the rest of the commands.

The first two actions listed as contrary to Christ are immorality and impurity. The first word can mean fornication or other sexual sin, although it can also be translated as general “uncleanness.” Impurity is more general, and acts as a catchall for other (primarily sexual) sin. Paul dictates that these, along with greed, should not even be named. These activities are so opposite the gospel that they cannot exist to any extent alongside it.

Next are condemned filthiness and foolish talking. The word for foolish talk is “morologia,” of which the first part is the same root from which we derive the English word “moron.” This is the talk that is unproductive. Wesley describes this as “talking of nothing, the weather, fashions, meat, and drink.” The specific content of our talk is not condemned, merely its lack of edificatory value. The talk that is appropriate, according to this passage, is “giving of thanks.”

(I do not mean this passage to condemn; I found it quite convicting. In meatspace, your author is quite sarcastic and coarse, and I know that I have done all of these. In short, I’m working on following this too.)

The next verse goes back to dealing with immorality, impurity, and greed. Paul lumps these all into the one category of idolatry, and declares it up front: you either will have God as your god, or you will have sex or other earthly things as your god. “No one can serve two masters.”

We are called to be children of the light. Paul lays a few more encouragements on us, which are intended not to bind but to protect us from the evil of the world. We are called to be wise. We are called to act as productively as is possible, for time is short. Regardless of when the end will come, we are to live as if it is tomorrow. We are called to speak from the Spirit, and to constantly give thanks.

Ephesians 4

Paul makes a shift here from theology to practice. He focuses less on our calling from God and more on how we should act when so called. He starts by calling himself a prisoner of the Lord, which typically has two meanings in Scripture—that for the Lord’s purpose he is literally in prison, and that having been called he has been taken for the Lord’s purpose. Context dictates here that the latter is more likely in this case.

He then asks them to “walk in a manner worthy of the calling.” This marks the transition between the two halves of this letter, yet unifies them as both relating to God’s calling. He asks them to treat each other in a loving manner so that they may “preserve the unity of the Spirit.” Since one Spirit has called them, this passage argues that they should act out of one purpose.

While we are to act as one, Jesus has given us different abilities. Like any body, the body of Christ (that is, the church) has different parts, and no one part can do everything. For this reason, no single person has all of the gifts listed here. (Certainly, however, we can be expected to act in some capacity in all of them—for example, we must evangelize when needed, even if we do not have this gift in a great capacity.)

The first two gifts, apostleship and prophecy, should be dealt with carefully. In each case one must separate the office from the gift, as the office has been closed but the gift remains. Regarding apostleship, the only apostles were those appointed in person by Christ. However, the word for “apostle” in the chapter here simply means “messenger.” Since the canon is closed, no prophets (in the mold of Daniel and Jeremiah) exist, but prophecy can happen. I would also believe that if the other gifts in this chapter exist, then these two also can exist.

The other spiritual gifts listed here are relatively clear and without controversy, so I will not cover them here. I will, however, cover the purpose of the spiritual gifts. These gifts, Paul writes, were given to us so that the saints (that is, those who are set apart for the Lord) would be equipped, and for the strengthening and education of the church. The gifts, he writes, will be necessary until our maturity and unification. He provides Christ himself as a measure of this necessary maturity, which means that as long as we live on this earth, we will need to rely on God’s grace, some of which came in the form of these gifts. Once this happens, we should be more mature in our faith than mere children. We will be able to stand our ground against Satan’s attacks on our doctrine, and will be able to respond out of love.

He then calls his readers to stop walking “as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind.” He describes them as showing greed for the opportunity to act wickedly. He calls them, as people under God’s grace who have been separated from their old life, to act as a new creation.

He calls them to speak the truth to others, for they are all part of the same body. He directly invites them to show anger, but not to act rashly or sin because of that anger. He asks those who stole for a living to move on to productive work so that they could share with the needy. He calls them only to speak in order to strengthen another. He asks them not to grieve the Holy Spirit, which means not causing him sorrow. Paul wraps up his exhortations by asking that they turn from bitterness and wrath and any desire to cause harm to another, and to forgive others as Christ has forgiven us.

Ephesians 3

The content of this chapter continues the lesson of the last chapter, namely that grace, while given as a gift, should also be understood as a further calling. This chapter uses the example of Paul and talks about how he was so called.

Paul describes himself as being the “prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles,” or that his salvation had a purpose that benefited the Gentiles. This we of course know as his ministry, perhaps the most successful in history. (Of course, Jesus’ calling of all believers is more successful because it includes all Christian efforts in history. I am only speaking of human ministries.) God dispensed his grace to Paul so that he could further dispense it to others.

This is the essence of Paul’s purpose: to tell the Gentiles of God as he had revealed himself to the Jews already. Peter was given the task of preaching to the Jews, and indeed Jesus had already done so. (Not all sermons are preached with words, and the death of God the Son would be a compelling sermon indeed.) Paul was made a minister of the Word by grace, just as he was saved by grace. This was, of course, so that God could dispense grace to many more.

Certainly this was undeserved. Paul was, of course, no friend of Christians at the time of his salvation, and he put that here. Despite his mission, the largest of all of the tasks that Jesus assigned, Paul was hardly worthy. He calls himself “the least of all saints,” and he is truly that. Many modern believers have an idea that we are “more moral” than others, but Paul had no such misconception. He knew perfectly well that he was a murderer and a legalist. His point here was this: if God can use the most despicable to do his greatest and hardest work, certainly he could use the rest of us.

Paul then speaks about his trials. He had been imprisoned for a while, and the Ephesians most certainly knew it. He asks the Ephesians not to be weary because of his suffering, but to press on. Paul knew that they might be discouraged, but he himself asked them to rejoice that God would send him to suffer on their behalf, similar to the joy that we have because Christ suffered. Regarding this passage, Matthew Henry said, “Observe, not only the faithful ministers of Christ themselves, but their people too, have some special cause for joy and glorying, when they suffer for the sake of dispensing the gospel.”

Paul and this church both know that they received a great blessing. Paul prays for them further, asking for power through the Holy Spirit, “according to the riches of his glory.” He also asks that they would better understand the fullness of God’s love. He knows that they cannot fully receive this, for it is too great for us now to comprehend. But we can know that we will know soon.

Editor’s note: Forgive the delay since the last article. I’m still here.

Ephesians 2

The second chapter of Ephesians starts with a description of one who is still a slave to sin. Paul doesn’t use the word hopeless or impure or many of the descriptions of the sinner that we might use today. He uses the word dead here, and it truly works best, especially in this chapter. Dead people, of course, cannot help themselves. This is true for physical death, but it is also true for spiritual death.

“But God, being rich in mercy, because of his great love with which he loved us,” did not wish to leave us in such a state. When we were dead, God made us alive together with Christ, which we know as grace. We are not deserving of this grace, but he gives it to us anyway. It is a gift, not earned, not deserved, but received anyway.

This gift was given completely out of love. But the fact that we are saved by this grace, rather than by works, also serves a practical purpose—to prevent us from boasting in our salvation. Imagine hearing, in church, something like “I’ve gone on more missions than you!” Great. I can go on a hundred missions and not pay the slightest bit of attention to God. I can follow the law to the letter, and add a few extra rules (hey, being “more moral” can never hurt), and still be an unregenerate sinful man—the Pharisees pulled it off.

Paul likely thought of this “apparent morality” when writing these words. After all, he was one of the Pharisees, and quite impressive among them as well. He was taught under Gamaliel, he followed the law, and he persecuted the believers of the time. When the Lord called him, he was on his way to Damascus to arrest Christians there.

God ignored all of this. He simply declared Paul saved, and called him to service. He was in no position to boast of his morality anymore; he called himself “the worst of all sinners.” But regardless of our past state, God has appointed good works for us. They do not save, no, but anyone who is under grace should recognize their value.

Circumcision was one of these “good works.” It determined who could belong to the community of Israel and who could not, and the “Circumcision” used it as proof that the “Uncircumcision” was without God. We, the Gentiles, had no hope. Yes, this is true. But now our hearts have been circumcised, and we can belong to the community and be a part of a new, greater covenant with God. This is peace.

Ephesians 1:15-23

Sometimes one of the greatest gifts from God is the people that he uses to do his will. Paul thought this of the Ephesians. The churches that he established varied greatly, with some (such as the Galatians) having turned their backs completely on their savior and some (for example, the Corinthians) being considered mostly worthy but still in need of doctrinal corrections on some issues.

Ephesus had a church that Paul considered worthy of thanks. Even in an age where communication was slow, Paul had heard of the faith of this church and considered it worthy of commendation. This church also had love, rightly considered of highest importance by Paul, who is fairly well known for 1 Corinthians 13, the famous discourse on the subject.

I’m going to go on a bit of a tangent about love. The Greek language had many words for the subject that primarily differed in intensity. (Pastors and Greek scholars may skip this paragraph.) Phileo could best be translated “friendship”—it is love, and quite a good thing to have, but not as deep as some of the others. Eros is physical love, as between a husband and wife. Agape is what all Christians are to show to all others at all times; it is sacrificial love, consciously aware of this, and the constant direction of one’s efforts to the welfare of the recipient. Agape is what Jesus showed to us when he laid down his life to bear our sins.

Obviously love was a big deal, and lovelessness has been a problem in many churches, ancient (Corinth, Laodicea) and modern churches (you know who you are). But the Ephesian church did not have this problem. Paul did not stop giving thanks for the great gift that this was.

Paul appreciated a loving, faithful church for one reason: that they were useful to the Body of Christ. He prayed that God would give them a spirit of wisdom and revelation. This was not a prayer for an end to persecution, or a wish of physical blessing; it was a prayer of spiritual blessing. He prayed for this because, as Matthew Henry wrote, “If the same Spirit who indited the sacred scriptures do not take the veil from off our hearts, and enable us to understand and improve them, we shall be never the better.”

He further prayed: “that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of his calling, what are the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of his power toward us who believe.” He prayed that they would know that even in the face of persecution and martyrdom, they had a Father in Heaven who sought to bless them, and that the end of this life means eternal blessing. There is no greater gift than to be released from fear of death, because we will never know death.

The mere fact that Paul can be so thankful for a group of people is a testimony to the greatness of God. That he may regard those who were once sinners as having great faith and love is a testimony to the great transformation that has happened because of the work of Jesus. The last five verses of the chapter cover this, and talk about Christ’s fulfillment of his purpose—to die for us, and then to be resurrected to the right hand of his Father to lead over his church, his very body. And as we are the body, Jesus is both the mind (directing us as he wishes, to do his work) and the immune system, allowing what was once weak and diseased to be filled and strengthened to be used for a greater purpose.

Keep reading; next up is the debate between salvation by faith and works.

Ephesians 1:1-14

Paul starts his letter like always, calling himself “an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God.” Even this introduction fits with the theme of election about which he wrote here.

His first statement in the letter proper is one of praise. He praises the Father who sovereignly chose a group of people (the elect) upon whom to pour out his blessing. To the believer, he has given the greatest gift of all—the right to stand at the feet of the Creator and be called “holy and blameless,” or in other words separated for God’s use and clean in God’s eyes.

Let us look at the parts of this gift more carefully, one by one. First, as I already mentioned, he makes us “holy and blameless.” These two work hand in hand—when a person is blameless (that is, when God can find no flaw in him, because Jesus has already cleansed him), he will be more holy (set apart for the Lord’s use). Jesus’ death accomplished both of these.

The next gift is “redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace which he lavished upon us.” When we still looked away from God, living without him, he cleaned us. He didn’t make us do half the work. He did not look for the “moral people”; rather, he chose us even before he made the world.

The third gift is that “He made known to us the mystery of His will.” Mystery, of course, refers to something that was unknown that was revealed later. In this case, the revelation was that of God’s plan. This plan—all of history. It fit into his plan that Adam and Eve would sin, because then he would glorify himself by saving their brood by punishing his Son in our place.

This ties in with the fourth gift, our “inheritance.” Our inheritance is to live forever, as was the intention back in the days of Adam. He chose that some would believe, and be restored to what we were like before Genesis 3.

In short, we have been redeemed, regardless of how useless and deserving of death we are. Thanks be to God.