Ephesians 6

¹ Children, obey your parents in the Lord for this is right.

In the last chapter, Paul showed the divine arrangement between husbands and wives. Now, he shows the divine relationships between parents and children.

The Greek word for "children" is τέκνον (teknon), meaning a child who is still dependent upon its parents for survival. These would be the children who were still living at home under their parent's care. Therefore, the early church consisted of the children attending the church meetings with their parents. They were not separated by Sunday school classes or children's church. They learned the Word of God by the same pastor-teacher as their parents.

Parents are responsible for everything that their child learns. This apostolic system gave parents the control of listening to everything that was taught to their children. Parents had the opportunity to discuss these teachings with their children on the walk home from the local assembly, which was usually in a person's home. Most Sunday school teachers and youth pastors today do not have enough Biblical knowledge to even teach children. Children's Sunday schools have replaced the teaching of Bible doctrine with crafts, activities, and other secular teaching strategies.

The Greek word for "obey" is ὑπακούω (hupokouo), meaning to listen and obey. Children were to listen to their parents and obey them. This message was taught to the children as they were attending the church with their parents sitting directly next to them. 

² “Honor your father and mother,” which is the first commandment accompanied by a promise, namely,

The children were taught directly in front of their parents by a pastor-teacher that they were to honor their mother and father. 

³ “that it may go well with you and that you will live a long time on the earth.”

According to Exodus 20:12, children who honor their parents were offered a long life. Samson and Absalom did not honor their parents and their lives were shortened.

⁴ Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but raise them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

Parents were not to punish their children in anger. It is the parent's responsibility to teach their children the truths of Scripture and then to live them before the child.

Should a child be spanked? Do not listen to the secular psychologists. Listen to the Word of God. “He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him early” (Prov. 13:24). “Chasten thy son while there is hope, and let not thy soul spare for his crying” (Prov. 19:18). “Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child; but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him” (Prov. 22:15). “Withhold not correction from the child: for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die. Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from hell” (Prov. 23:13–14). “The rod and reproof give wisdom: but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame…. Correct thy son, and he shall give thee rest; yea, he shall give delight unto thy soul” (Prov. 29:15, 17).

⁵ Slaves, obey your human masters with fear and trembling, in the sincerity of your heart as to Christ,

Paul had shown the Biblical relationship between husbands and wives, and then parents and children.  Now, he will show the Biblical relationship between employers and employees. This relationship is different, because the family bond is missing.

Fifty percent of the Roman society was slaves. It was part of the Greek and Roman economic system. Paul did not attempt to end slavery, but if every owner would have followed Paul's advice to Philemon, then slavery would have ended. 

Slaves were commanded to obey their earthly masters, even if they were unbelievers. They were to respect their masters in work, in voice, and even in internal attitude. 

⁶ not like those who do their work only when someone is watching – as people-pleasers – but as slaves of Christ doing the will of God from the heart.

Slaves were to be sincere to their masters, not flattering them to their face, but then verbally assaulting them behind their backs. Slaves were to work as though God was watching them.

⁷ Obey with enthusiasm, as though serving the Lord and not people,

Slaves serve God, not people. 

⁸ because you know that each person, whether slave or free, if he does something good, this will be rewarded by the Lord.

God is keeping track of their wages.

⁹ Masters, treat your slaves the same way, giving up the use of threats, because you know that both you and they have the same master in heaven, and there is no favoritism with him.

Masters also serve God, so they are not to threaten their slaves. When God judges the master and the slave, God will show no favoritism.

Exhortations for Spiritual Warfare

¹⁰ Finally, be strengthened in the Lord and in the strength of his power.

The Christian is a soldier and he needs to be strengthened for battle. 

¹¹ Clothe yourselves with the full armor of God so that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.

The Christian is in a spiritual battle. The enemy is the devil, an enemy who is invisible and more powerful than any creature on earth, except for God. The only defense that the believer possesses against this kind of enemy is the full armor of God, which is Bible doctrine from the entire counsel of the Word of God. The more the Scriptures are studied, memorized, and meditated upon, the stronger the believer's armor. 

Charismatics like to rebuke Satan and bind the devil, but these tactics must make Satan laugh. Believers are not commanded to rebuke or bind Satan. Michael, the arch-angel, would not even rebuke Satan. He had to call upon Jesus to rebuke him. Satan will be bound, but not by modern Charismatics. Only Christ Himself will bind Satan at the end of the Great Tribulation. Believers are commanded not to rebuke the devil, but to resist him by the use of Scripture. At the Wilderness Temptation, Jesus quoted Scripture to Satan three times, and the devil ran away for a season. 

A believer cannot be demon-possessed, but he can be demon influenced. One example is Peter advising Jesus not to go to the cross. Another example is Ananias and Saphira selling their property and keeping back some of the money for themselves. Neither of these three were demon possessed, but they were demon influenced. Those Christians who do not possess strong bible doctrine can be influenced by Satan.

¹² For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavens.

Most Christians do not even realize that they are involved in a spiritual battle.  Most Christians are sitting on the sidelines, AWOL from the battle. Most Christians will never fire a shot in the angelic warfare. Most Christians who do enter the battle are casualties of war, because their armor was insufficient for the attacks of the enemy.

The battle is real, and there are evil spiritual forces who are attempting to stop God's program. When a believer aligns with God in battle, then he has gained a powerful spiritual enemy who wishes to devour him. If a Christian does not believe that there is a spiritual battle going on, then ask the angel who came to answer Daniel's prayer. He had to fight with a demon for three weeks just to get a message to Daniel! Satan has a demonic army and it is organized in ranks.

¹³ For this reason, take up the full armor of God so that you may be able to stand your ground on the evil day, and having done everything, to stand.

Notice that the Christian soldier is not to onward march and attack, but he is commanded to stand and resist.

¹⁴ Stand firm therefore, by fastening the belt of truth around your waist, by putting on the breastplate of righteousness,

Paul was speaking like a sergeant. Dr. Charles Ryrie, Dr. John Danish, and Robert Thieme teach in this military style as well. Congregations should be military institutions where soldiers are to be trained to fight against powerful, evil, spiritual enemies. The church has become too fluffy to become a spiritual boot camp. The church does not desire to be trained like a soldier. They would rather have their ears tickled. They would rather hear funny and inspirational stories. They do not like being reminded that they are in a spiritual war against an enemy who can crush them if they do not drill the Word of God into their heads.

Paul commanded for a fourth time that the soldiers were to stand and resist. The belt of a soldier holds every bit of clothing and armor in place. In history past, one wise commander told his soldiers to cut the belts of the enemy soldiers while they were sleeping. The soldiers woke up without their belts and lost the battle. The belt of truth is another metaphor for the Word of God.

Human viewpoint works are dirty menstrual rags to God. They are not fit for a soldier in combat. The breastplate of righteousness is the personal character of the believer that is developed by the study of the written Word of God. Divine viewpoint works is the combat mission of the soldier.

¹⁵ by fitting your feet with the preparation that comes from the good news of peace,

Good shoes are needed for standing and resisting. The good news of peace is the Word of God. There are a lot of people today who want to teach everything in church but the Word of God. They give out their testimonies, speaking of how great they were in sports or Hollywood or entertainment. Then, they speak about how lucky Christ is now to have them on His side. This is not the gospel of peace.

¹⁶ and in all of this, by taking up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.

The Romans learned how to fight battle successfully with a phalanx attack system from the Greeks. They had large shields that, when in a fixed military formation, would protect every soldier from the darts and missiles of the enemy. After the enemy ran out of weapons, the Romans would march and conquer with their shields and short swords. Whenever the enemy attacks the Word of God, then just put up your shield of faith until the arrows are extinguished. Attacks on the dating’s of the Bible, archaeology, and the different authorships of different books of the Bible have been attacked by the enemy for years, but in time, new research always arrives and extinguishes the arrows.

¹⁷ And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

The helmet is salvation keeps the believer secure and safe throughout the battle. The helmet protects the head and symbolizes the mind of Christ. Believers are to have the mind of Christ, which comes only from the study of Scripture. Skeptics falsely claim that faith is a leap in the dark. It is not. It is a leap into light.  God has supplied a solid foundation of history, science, and archaeology to support the Word of God. It is just that the intellectuals refuse to look at it, refuse to accept it, or refuse to believe it. Their human total depravity makes their intellectuality look foolish.

The short sword was the secret weapon of the Roman Empire. It was quick, deadly, and it was a death blow. The Word of God is the short sword of the believer. “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart” (Heb. 4:12). Christ used this sword to quickly defeat Satan in the wilderness. Christ will win the Battle of Armageddon with this sword, which is the Word of God. Believers need that short sword going out of their mouths today.

 

¹⁸ With every prayer and petition, pray at all times in the Spirit, and to this end be alert, with all perseverance and requests for all the saints.

The believer's second weapon is prayer. Believers are to ask their commanders for supplies which will defeat the enemy. The believer's prayers are to be in the Spirit. Unless believers study the entire counsel of the Word of God, then they do not even know how or what to pray. Strong Bible doctrine gives the believer more resources to ask for the right supplies.

¹⁹ Pray for me also, that I may be given the message when I begin to speak – that I may confidently make known the mystery of the gospel,

Paul also asked for prayers for himself. The soldiers should always pray for their commanders. It is the training by the commanders that keeps the soldiers secure and victorious. The mystery of the gospel was new revelation. It was not revealed in the Old Testament. Paul asked his soldiers to help him deliver this mystery to those who were in the dark.

²⁰ for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may be able to speak boldly as I ought to speak.

Paul was imprisoned by the enemy, but he was still an effective ambassador for Christ. He did not whine about his lemons. He asked prayers for lemonade.

Farewell Comments

²¹ Tychicus, my dear brother and faithful servant in the Lord, will make everything known to you, so that you too may know about my circumstances, how I am doing.

Tychicus carried the epistle from the Roman prison to the churches in Ephesus.

²² I have sent him to you for this very purpose, that you may know our circumstances and that he may encourage your hearts.

Tychicus would encourage the Ephesians about Paul's conditions.

²³ Peace to the brothers and sisters, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Greek word for “peace” is εἰρήνη (eirana), from the Hebrew word שָׁלום (shalom), meaning peace with God.

²⁴ Grace be with all of those who love our Lord Jesus Christ with an undying love.

Paul ends with his salutation.