Ephesians 6 - Commentary by Rev. John Schultz

Updated
2001-05-26; 14:30:46utc

Chapter SIX

In chapter 6:1-4 Paul proceeds by applying the above truth to family life. If the relationship between husband and wife portrays the reality of Christ and the church, we can assume that life in the family has a spiritual counterpart also. Of course the fact that God is called "the Father" indicates that human fatherhood is an image of the spiritual reality. We refer to ch. 3:14,15. As fathers and children, we both play a role. The relationship within the family on earth helps us to understand our relationship with God, the Father. As fathers we act the role of God toward us, and as children we portray what it means that we are God's children. We have a model to go by, even though sin has done much damage on this level. Ideal relationships between parents and children are as rare as are ideal marriages. We can imagine how much damage this does to the understanding of our relationship with God.

There seems to be a difference between the submission which the wife is required to show to her husband and the obedience that the children are called upon in this verse. This should explain the difference of both relationships to us. Submission does evidently not mean unquestioning obedience. Children, however, are ordered to obey. No age limit is given. This last point was an important factor in my own experience. At the age of 21, I felt that the Lord called me to go into full-time service. But when I told my dad about this, he opposed me and told me to find a job. The Lord used this verse as a guideline, and I realized that, if the Lord had really called me, He could overrule my father's objection. He eventually did this. It is obvious, though, that a person is not required to follow his parents' commands into old age. The word for children in Greek, teknon indicates this.

These verses are parallel to what Paul says in Colossians: "Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord. Fathers, do not embitter your children, or they will become discouraged."^{[ 1 ]} But the Ephesian version adds the reference to the fifth commandment: "Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you."[ 2 ] This reference replaces the "for this pleases the Lord" in Colossians.[ 3 ] The quotation is from the Septuagint, with the variation of the change of "the land the LORD your God is giving you" into "That it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth." This is an adaptation to the changed situation. There was no longer a Canaan to be conquered. We could call what Paul is doing "contextualisation."

The word "honor" is given the specific meaning of obeying here. Jesus enriches the word "honor" by giving it the meaning of giving financial help.[ 4 ] In the same context "honor" is set as opposite to curse, so it also has the meaning of "to bless." The impact of it all is that if families function in a healthy way, as God intended them, there will be health and prosperity on earth. Or what other meaning should we give the "enjoy a long life on the earth?" In the Old Testament spiritual blessing is expressed in earthly terms, but is seems that Paul does not spiritualize the idea of enjoying a long life on the earth here. This world may not be our home, and it is true that we are "at home in the body we are away from the Lord,"[ 5 ] but evidently we are supposed to enjoy our time on earth, in spite of sin and suffering.

Verse 4 is also practical: "Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord." From the children, Paul turns to the fathers. We suppose the mothers are included here. We saw already that Paul says the same thing in Colossians: "Fathers, do not embitter your children, or they will become discouraged."[ 6 ] As Christian parents, we have to ask ourselves the question of how we can exasperate or embitter our children. We are supposed to give them the signals that would make them understand what it means that God is their real Father, by surrounding them with a strong, protecting love that gives them a feeling of security. Demanding obedience does in no way subtract from this. As a matter of fact, strict, but reasonable discipline enhances the feeling of security. A child who is left to do as he wishes feels himself abandoned and unprotected. I do not know if this is true, but I have an idea that a child has a sharper perception of the spiritual darkness that surrounds him than an adult has. We seem to lose that perception as we grow up and are no longer afraid of the dark. When a child is afraid of the dark, he may be closer to reality than we think.

Somehow obeying orders helps to make a child secure. It gives him the idea "my dad is in charge." Orders have to be reasonable, and demanding obedience, just for the sake of imposing our will upon the will of a child, has no validity and certainly exasperates or embitters the child. I quote from an often remembered source: "Know what you ask, but insist that it be done." Here again the key of our behavior towards our children is that we "Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength,"[ 7 ] and "love your neighbor as yourself."[ 8 ] If we love the LORD more than our son or our daughter, we will want him or her to get into a living, loving relationship with Him. I believe this is what is meant by "bringing them up in the training and instruction of the Lord." Verses 5-9 run parallel to Col. 3:22-4:1. Paul says basically the same things in both epistles. He makes no effort to abolish slavery, but he attacks the core of the problem, that of respect for a human being by another human being. In both epistles he states that all obedience to another human is in fact obedience to God. That sanctions both the act of obeying and the content of it. If we obey our masters just as we would obey Christ, in sincerity of heart, we will keep ourselves out of immoral affairs. Again we have to emphasize that Paul precept laid the basis upon which eventually slavery was abolished over the whole world. In modern times, wherever forms of slavery or debasement of human beings is practiced, it is because the image of God is not being recognized in man.

Also in all human suppression the factor of accountability is lost. As soon as we lose sight of the fact that we will have to give account to the Lord of our acts towards others, the power we have over them will start corrupting us. Jesus deals with this in the parable of the slave who has dominion over his fellow slaves.[ 9 ]

6:10-18

With this we enter the last section of this epistle, a classic treatment of spiritual warfare. Verses 10-18 deal with our preparation to meet our real enemy. The amazing part of this picture is that Paul nowhere speaks about our authority. He does not speak in terms of "binding the strong man," as Jesus calls it. "Or again, how can anyone enter a strong mans house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man? Then he can rob his house."[ 10 ] And elsewhere we read: "He called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out evil spirits and to heal every disease and sickness,"[ 11 ] but the armor Paul describes in these verses are for our protection and the weapons are defensive. This doesn't mean that we cannot have authority over demonic powers, but it stresses the importance of being protected first.

We read of the experience of the sons of Sceva, who tried to exorcise a demon in Jesus name without this protection: "The evil spirit answered them, 'Jesus I know, and I know about Paul, but who are you?' "[ 12 ] How important it is for us that the enemy knows us! As a man once prayed: "Lord, let my name be known in hell!"

In this section particularly it is important that we get the whole picture of what the Apostle is saying. We should not take anything out of context. Some people read only part of the verse in ch. 6:12, "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms," and leave the rest.

Now in any war it is important that we know the enemy, before we do anything else. It has been said that Napoleon lost the battle at Waterloo because he didn't bother finding out who Wellington was. His opponent, on the other hand, studied Napoleon's strategy carefully and acted accordingly. We have to realize that the devil is behind all evil human behavior, and we have to know his schemes.

Even more important is the realization that we need the power of God's protection before we do anything else. Paul speaks of God's mighty power which is there to protect us. We have to see ourselves as Jesus pictures us as "sheep among wolves."[ 13 ] We are vulnerable to the extreme. The key word in this whole section is not "conquer," but "stand." The victory is ours in Jesus Christ, for He has vanquished the foe already. We have to be aware of our position and take caution so we shall not fall.

The truth that there is demonic activity that influences human behavior is best demonstrated in a portion of Daniel. The prince of Persia and of Greece are mentioned as the real authority behind the human empires.[ 14 ] The viciousness of some human actions against believers demonstrates that more is involved than just human cruelty. It is helpful to see the real enemy behind human opponents.

Paul begins out this last section with the word "finally." In this epistle he has painted the church as God's masterpiece, prepared for the most glorious future in the heavenlies in fellowship with her Lord Jesus Christ. Now he is back on earth, where the church is struggling and plodding away in less than glorious conditions. And he says: "Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power." The words "be strong" can be taken as a passive present tense in Greek, which would make them read "be (constantly) made powerful." I like this because it shows that the power comes from outside of us. It is our being in the Lord Jesus Christ that empowers and protects. The idea of the armor of God is borrowed from the prophet Isaiah.[ 15 ] The person wearing the armor there is obviously the Lord Jesus Christ. Isaiah only mentions the breastplate of righteousness and the helmet of salvation and from there he goes to vengeance and zeal; that emphasis seems to speak of the coming judgment.

As mentioned before, the task of the Christian and the purpose of the armor is not offensive, but defensive. The word "stand" appears three times in vs. 13,14.

The armor is called "the full armor of God." It is God's armor and God's power. But God doesn't force it on us. We have to put it on ourselves. In the same way as Jesus says: "Take my yoke upon you,"[ 16 ] so here we are invited to put on God's armor.

The enemy we are facing is found "in the heavenlies" en tois ouraniois. The Wycliffe Commentary points out that the expression occurs five times in this epistle.[ 17 ] It is in the heavenlies that we are blessed in Christ and seated with Him. It is to those who are in the heavenlies, both friend and foe, that God reveals His wisdom through the church, and it is in the heavenlies that we stand against the foe. What we do on earth is only part of reality. Wycliffe also gives the three key works of this epistle from which Watchman Nee gets the title of his book on Ephesians: Sit, Walk, Stand.

Paul uses the image of the armor several times in his writing. In Romans he calls it "the armor of light."[ 18 ] In Second Corinthians he speaks of "the weapons of righteousness,"[ 19 ] and in First Thessalonians he mentions "faith and love as breastplate and the hope of salvation as a helmet."[ 20 ]/[ 21 ] But in this epistle we get the complete picture. It has been suggested that Paul dictated this letter while he was chained to a Roman soldier, and possibly this made it easier for him to draw the word picture.

Paul mentions six pieces in this armor: 1-- the belt, 2-- the breastplate, 3-- the shoes, 4-- the shield, 5-- the helmet and 6-- the sword. The image is drawn in sharp, clear lines. They speak to our imagination, but what do they say?

I remember the story of a student in Spurgeon's class on homiletics who preached on these verses and gave a very vivid demonstration of how to put on the various parts of the armor. When he was fully dressed, he shouted: "Where is the enemy?" Spurgeon whispered: "He is inside the armor!"

Paul must be talking about the armor the church is wearing collectively, as well as what the individual member wears. The characteristics of the armor are 1. truth, 2. righteousness, 3. readiness, 4. faith, 5. salvation, 6. the Word of God. These, are not like the fruit of the Spirit or demonstrations of the divine nature in us; although the Holy Spirit and the character of God certainly have something to do with this. The features Paul mentions do not bring about personal salvation. In this picture forgiveness of sin is something that took place in the past; it is behind us. These pieces of armor are what Jesus gives to His church, so that "the gates of Hades (or hell) will not overcome it,"[ 22 ] or as the KJV puts it: "The gates of hell will not prevail against it." These pieces of armor serve a double function, our protection and our advance.

1. The belt of truth. In most commentaries the point is stressed here that a man put on his belt to tie his flowing garments together in order to leave. But a Roman soldier did not wear flowing garments. It could be that Paul mixed his metaphors here. Readiness, or preparedness, seems to enter the picture. The truth stands probably for more than the truth of the Gospel, although in Revelation we read: "The overcame him [the devil] by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death."[ 23 ] Probably truth stands here for the whole of all that comes from God, as opposed to the lie that comes from the devil. The Word of God is an expression of that truth. Putting on the belt of truth we take our stand with God. Moses exemplifies this as he stands at the entrance of the Israelite camp, and says: "whoever is for the Lord, come to me."[ 24 ] If we put on the belt of truth, we identify ourselves with God, and we stand with Him. It also means a complete break with the devil. If we take our stand publicly, we have gone through confession and conversion, and we have accepted the lordship of Jesus Christ over our lives. The shadow of the lie is not easily removed from our lives. But if we confess every lie that comes out of us, our lives will be more and more filled with God's truth. David speaks about "truth in the inner parts" in the Psalms.[ 25 ] Only if the truth has penetrated to the root of our being, can we put on truth as a belt that keeps our armor together.

In a collective sense, in the sense that the church as a whole wears this belt, Paul suggests here the importance of the church holding up the right doctrines. It is relevant that the church preaches the objective truth. Truth is not subjective; it is absolute. As finite human beings, we may not be able to grasp the whole truth, but that does not make the truth subjective or less absolute, or less true.

Vincent's Word Studies defines truth as: "The state of the heart answering to God's truth; inward, practical acknowledgment of the truth as it is in Him: the agreement of our conditions with God's revelation."

2. The breastplate of righteousness. We mentioned before the similarity of Isaiah's text: "He put on righteousness as his breastplate, and the helmet of salvation on his head; he put on the garments of vengeance and wrapped himself in zeal as in a cloak."[ 26 ] Vincent describes righteousness here as "moral rectitude." Undoubtedly, that is the finished product. Righteousness is an imputed entity; as Paul puts it elsewhere: "God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God."[ 27 ] This righteousness that is the righteousness of Christ becomes our protection against attacks of the enemy. Eventually, this righteousness will become more than a protective layer on the outside, and it will penetrate our heart and mind until ultimately the beauty of Jesus will be seen in us.

The Roman breastplate was a mail shirt, the ancient equivalent of a bullet proof vest. As we saw before, in First Thessalonians Paul speaks of the breastplate as consisting of faith and love.[ 28 ] There appears to be a contradiction. In the epistle to the Romans, righteousness is a word borrowed from the judicial lexicon, and it has a two-sided in meaning: for sinners it implies condemnation and punishment, and for God's children it means salvation, because God let the punishment fall on Jesus Christ. It is this aspect which speaks of God's love that let the lightning of His wrath fall on the lightning rod Jesus Christ. That is the protection of our heart, our very life. 3. The shoes of readiness. Our defense is not static since we are not defending a place, but a position. The Roman sandal was bound with leather straps and the soles were studded with nails, according to Vincent. It made the soldier sure footed. The shoes in Paul's picture are put on as a sign of readiness. After all, what are feet for? Paul's quotation of Isaiah in sheds more light on this picture: "And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!"[ 29 ] Paul leaves Isaiah's "on the mountains" out. It is obvious that not all are called to preach. The shoes do no only fit the preachers, they stand for readiness. Peters says: "But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect."[ 30 ] We are not called upon to buttonhole everyone in the neighborhood, but we should always be ready to tell others what the Lord has done for us. We turn again to, where we read: "They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death."[ 31 ] This does not mean that victory depends on our eloquence. The man who said "me too!" in a testimony meeting was just as effective, if not more so, than those who had the words to explain it all. God can give us eloquence when we need it, but it is up to us to make ourselves available. The readiness is in the feet. Although the mouth is involved in the speaking, Paul puts the emphasis on the willingness to go. There is no victory for those who are determined that they will not be moved. So Paul's image actually speaks of our full surrender to the Lord, to the point that He may do with us, what He wants, and send us where He wants.

4. The shield of faith. The Roman armor had a shield, usually made of wood or wicker, that covered the whole length of the body. It makes me think of the war vest the Ekagis or Monis used to wear to war in Irian Jaya, at least as far as the material is concerned. The shield is faith. The image is profound in its suggestiveness. Vincent says that the faith meant here is "saving faith." I do not think this is correct in the sense of a trust in Jesus Christ for salvation from sin and condemnation. The picture Paul paints is that of a soldier who holds a position from being overrun. Jesus has won the victory, and we have to hold the terrain. That faith plays such an important role in this task implies that the enemy tries to exploit the fact that the spiritual things are not visible to the naked eye. He bombards us with that what is visible and tries to make us believe that we are looking at reality. How can we glory in the fact that Jesus conquered death for us, when people around us are dying with cancer? The enemy will rub this in. It takes faith to see beyond these tactics. We have to understand what the writer to the Hebrew says: "Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see."[ 32 ] The KJV says: "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." C. S. Lewis illustrates the use of the fiery darts forcefully in his Narnia book The Silver Chair, where the green witch almost succeeds in making the children and Puddleglum loose their grip on reality. There is a fine line between "Where is God?" and "There is no God!" And the devil will try to make us cross that line.

If heaven were a visible reality to us, and if we had been born on the other side instead of in enemy territory, the darts wouldn't burn as much. What causes our pain is that there is so much combustible material within us. We are in this world, but we are not to be of this world, even when we are in Christ, there still is a lot of world within us. We often serve as a sounding board for the devil's propaganda. That is what makes those darts burn so much. We are being accused by them and we have to admit that there is a lot of truth in what the father of lies has to say.

It is not without reason that Satan is called "the accuser of our brothers".[ 33 ] The picture is borrowed from Zechariah, where the prophet says: "Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right side to accuse him."[ 34 ] The devil has been very clever in exploiting the facts of our sin and God's righteousness, with the idea of driving us to despair. It is the faith that made Martin Luther answer the enemy, when he was confronting Luther with his sins: "Write, washed in the blood of the Lamb," that will help us to put out the fiery darts that are aimed at us also.

This doesn't mean, of course that, it doesn't matter how we live. We should be careful to avoid sin, to confess whenever we stumble, and to have ourselves cleansed regularly of all pollution. We have to cling to the promise that: "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness."[ 35 ]

5. The helmet of salvation. As the shield protects the heart, so the helmet covers the head. Our mind, our thinking process, must be protected by salvation in Jesus Christ. This does not mean an impairment of our thinking power, or that one must have a low IQ to be born again. The fact is that a person can be born again regardless of his IQ; however, just as smog impairs vision, so sin impairs thinking. The devil is very clever, but he is no match for God's omniscience. As a matter of fact Satan's intelligence was given him when God created him. It is the only part of the divine left in him and it is corrupted. So if a human being believes that he commits intellectual suicide when he puts his mind under the protection of the lordship of Jesus Christ, he doesn't know what he is talking about, and he is definitely less intelligent than he thinks. Some parts of the Word of God make no sense to us, not because they are absurd, but because we do not understand them. It is amazing how much fog is lifted from our thinking once we put our mind under the control of the Holy Spirit and put the helmet of salvation on our head.

6. The sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. The Bible teaches us that the Word of God is the most essential need for us as human beings. It is more important than food or the satisfaction of any other physical need we may have. Moses said: "He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD."[ 36 ] Jesus quotes Moses' words in Matthew by which He overcomes the temptation that the devil puts before Him to change stone into bread. This shows us how we are supposed to wield this sword. It is of the utmost importance that we know the written Word of God and that we learn how to apply it to the circumstances of our daily life.

The Word of God is both similar to and different from the word of man. It is hard to imagine what the power of human speech must have been before sin came. On the first pages of the Word of God, we read ten times "and God said." Eight times the result of God's speaking is the creation of something new on earth. That is why the psalmist says: "By the word of the LORD were the heavens made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth."[ 37 ] Human speech never comes close to the Word of God in this respect. It is obvious, though, that our words are derived from the Word of God. The fact that we make noises that express our emotions and thoughts in a way that can be understood by others, would not be possible if God had not spoken. We do not just produce sounds; even music is not just sound. It would take volumes upon volumes of books to dig into the mystery of human speech. We haven't even started to scratch the surface.

But we are talking about the Word of God, not the Word of man. The Holy Spirit uses the Word of God as a sword. The writer of the Hebrew epistle explains what this means: "The word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart."[ 38 ] Paul uses the expression "the sword of the Spirit" in this way. We have to see it in the context of sin and demonic oppression, in which Paul paints the picture of the armed soldier. It is the Holy Spirit, who uses the written Word in such a way that it penetrates into the soul and spirit of man. Jesus puts this truth beautifully in the parable of the sower.[ 39 ] It is the Word of God, sown in the heart of man that brings about the Kingdom of Heaven.

But Paul speaks specifically about what the Word of God does in our struggle against demonic powers. The Word of God works in the heart of sinful man as a scalpel in the hand of a surgeon, with the purpose of bringing life. In our resistance against the devil, the Word of God becomes our most effective means of victory. If the Holy Spirit uses the Word of God through our mouth, the defeat of the enemy is certain. That is the most important lesson Jesus teaches us in His victory over the temptations that the devil put before Him in the desert.

It is important to understand that it is the Spirit using the Word that causes it to be effective. There is no magic in the written Word itself. We cannot detach the Word of God from God Himself and think that anything will happen. In the same way that the Holy Spirit makes the Bible a living book for us, the Word of God becomes a weapon in our hands in our struggle against the "rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms." This finishes the picture of the armed soldier. Or does it?

Maybe we can say that in Vs. 18 Paul actually comes to what he has to say. The real defense in spiritual warfare is prayer. "And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints." We need the whole armor of God in order to be able to pray effectively. This links our position on earth with our position in heaven. Paul started by showing that we are seated with Christ in the heavenlies. He has shown us how this affects our walk on earth. Now he shows us how the two are connected; in Matthew Jesus shows us how it works: "I tell you the truth, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them."[ 40 ]

The strategy of our prayer should be to pray for "all the saints." The strategy of the enemy is to destroy the testimony of the church, which is the bride of Christ, and make the church appear to be a bunch of flunkies who botch up everything they are supposed to be and do on earth. We should catch some of the vision Paul had about the Corinthian church, as he says in the Second epistle to the Corinthians: "I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to him."[ 41 ]

The prayer should be "in the Spirit." This does not necessarily mean speaking in tongues, as some Pentecostals believe, but it means that we should let ourselves be guided by the Spirit in the way we pray and in the things we pray for. The Holy Spirit is willing and eager to assist us in our prayer life. Paul brings this out very forcefully in Romans: "In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express."[ 42 ] Prayer goes deeper than words. Odilon Vansteenberghe said once: "If we can say everything we feel, we do not feel much!" The same goes for our prayer life. We need the Holy Spirit to say for us what we cannot express ourselves. Prayer goes very deep.

We also get a glimpse here of God's emotions about us and the situation in which we find ourselves. If the Spirit "intercedes for us with groans," that means that He feels more deeply than we do. We have a tendency to adapt ourselves to hardship which is sometimes extreme. God never gets used to our suffering. When God calls Moses, He has to convince him how hard the people of Israel are suffering. Moses is not really interested! We read in Exodus: "The LORD said, 'I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them.' "[ 43 ]

What Paul says here runs parallel with what he states in Philippians: "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."[ 44 ] The phrase: "All kinds of prayers and requests" equals "prayer and petition." And 'on all occasions' is the same as "in everything." The idea is that all our circumstances should be under the control of the Lord Jesus Christ. We should not try to do anything or figure out anything without Him.

Paul adds "be alert" to this and the KJV translates it this way: "Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints." That is where the enemy comes into the picture again. We should never forget that we are in a war situation where attacks are always imminent. The devil has a way of sneaking up on us. Vigilant prayer can save a lot of lives and a lot of needless sorrow.

6:19-24

As in Philippians, Paul does not take it for granted that he will perform well in his witness for the Lord. [ 45 ] He knows himself sufficiently to realize that without the prayers of others, he could cut a miserable figure. It is not his own courage, but the Spirit of the Lord that makes a person bold. That is why Paul asks here for prayer: "Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel." (Vs. 19).

Paul calls himself "an ambassador in chains." The title is rather ironic. An ambassador in chains is no compliment to the kingdom he represents. It can also mean a condemnation for the kingdom he is sent to. In the same way does the crucifixion of the Lord of glory condemn the world that crucified Him. What the king of Ammon did to David's ambassadors did not harm David but Ammon.[ 46 ]

On the other hand, can Paul's statement be taken in the same vein as in ch. 3:1 and 4:1, where he calls himself "a prisoner of Christ Jesus" and "a prisoner of the Lord." The chains he wears are not only the chains of the Roman empire, but the chains of the Lord. There is a sense in which we are all "prisoners of the Lord" and "ambassadors in chains." His imprisonment is in no way a senseless experience, for Paul knows why he is in prison. Because of the mystery of the Gospel, t is the price to be paid for the salvation of those who have not heard. That knowledge makes the hardship easier to bear. Even an atheist like Nietsche knew that we can bear the "how" if we know the "why" of our experiences. He was very close to the truth when he said this.

This brings us to the last four verses of this book. Verses 21,22 are similar to Col. 4:7,8. This links this epistle closely to the one to Colosse, as we have seen already. In both cases Tychicus is mentioned as the bearer of the epistle. If we are correct in assuming that the Ephesian letter is actually the one written to the church in Laodicea, then Tychicus is Paul's link with those places he has never visited himself. In Acts we find him mentioned as originating in Asia. "Tychicus and Trophimus from the province of Asia."[ 47 ] So we may suppose that he was treading familiar ground and that this would be the reason that he was chosen to be Paul's mail man. The last two verses give the benediction which is more elaborate here than in any of the other epistles. Romans ends with a doxology; I Corinthians come closest to the one in Ephesians. There Paul puts in a negative way what he says here positively: "If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maranatha."[ 48 ] In II Corinthians Paul writes: "May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all,"[ 49 ] which is the benediction that is most often used at the end of church services. Galatians is brief.[ 50 ] And so are I and II Thessalonians.[ 51 ]

Paul prays for peace, shalom, which probably is a request for unity among the brethren in this context. Faith is evidently considered here to be a gift from God, together with love. For fellowship together we are dependent upon the divine presence which will generate love among people, who love the Lord. None of these things come automatically. We have to ask for them, and of course our Lord will be happy to give them. On the other hand is love between brothers in Christ which is a prerequisite for God's blessing, as we read in the Psalms: "How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity!.... For there the LORD bestows his blessing, even life forevermore."[ 52 ] So there is a circle of experience, which originates in heaven and flows to earth and goes back up to the Father. Verse 24 which says: "Grace to all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with an undying love." concludes the epistle. We find again both shalom and charis. There is a special grace for those who love Jesus with all their heart. KJV puts "in sincerity" in stead of "undying love." I like the latter better. We have to grow in our love for the Lord Jesus Christ, as Peter declares: "Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy."[ 53 ] The more we understand who He is and what He has done for us, the fuller our heart will be with love for Him.

[ 1 ] Col. 3:20,21

[ 2 ] Ex. 20:12 and Deut. 5:16

[ 3 ] Col. 3:20

[ 4 ] Matt. 15:4-6

[ 5 ] II Cor. 5:6

[ 6 ] Col. 3:21

[ 7 ] Deut. 6:5

[ 8 ] Lev. 16:18

[ 9 ] Matt. 24:45-31

[ 10 ] Matt. 12:29

[ 11 ] Matt 10:1

[ 12 ] Acts 19:15

[ 13 ] Matt.10:16

[ 14 ] Dan.10:20,21

[ 15 ] Is. 59:17

[ 16 ] Matt.11:29

[ 17 ] 1:3,20; 2:6; 3:10 and 6:12

[ 18 ] Rom.13:12

[ 19 ] II Cor. 6:7

[ 20 ] I Thess. 5:8

[ 21 ] See Thompson Chain Reference Bible no.362

[ 22 ] Matt. 16:18

[ 23 ] Rev. 12:11

[ 24 ] Ex. 32:26

[ 25 ] Ps. 51:6

[ 26 ] Isa. 59:17

[ 27 ] II Cor. 5:21

[ 28 ] I Thess. 5:8

[ 29 ] Isa. 52:7, Rom.10:15

[ 30 ] I Pet. 3:15

[ 31 ] Rev. 12:11

[ 32 ] Heb. 11:1

[ 33 ] Rev. 12:10

[ 34 ] Zech. 3:1

[ 35 ] I John 1:9

[ 36 ] Deut. 8:3

[ 37 ] Ps. 33:6

[ 38 ] Heb. 4:12

[ 39 ] Matt.13:3-8;18-23

[ 40 ] Matt.18:18-20

[ 41 ] II Cor.11:2

[ 42 ] Rom. 8:26

[ 43 ] Ex. 3:7,9

[ 44 ] Phil. 4:6,7

[ 45 ] See Phil. 1:19,20

[ 46 ] II Sam. 10:1-5

[ 47 ] Acts 20:4

[ 48 ] I Cor. 16:22 (KJV)

[ 49 ] II Cor. 13:14

[ 50 ] Gal. 6:18

[ 51 ] I Thess. 5:18; I Thess. 3:18

[ 52 ] Ps. 133.

[ 53 ] I Peter 1:8