Here is my commentary on Ephesians 6:11. I am publishing these once or twice a week, but you can read all of the available articles at our web-site, http://www.new-life.org.au

Ephesians 6:11

“Put on the whole armour of God, so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.”

It is easy for christians to forget that we are involved in spiritual warfare. The devil continues to war against the Lord, and the field of battle is in the hearts of human beings.

When christians join with the wider society in viewing things from a humanistic point of view, then we miss what is really happening in the spirit realm. Christianity can easily become a religion, a subculture, or a code of behaviour with no spiritual power.

When Paul tells us to be strong in the Lord (v. 10), it is not merely an encouragement to keep the faith and read our Bible. Paul’s intent is that we stay strong in the Lord in order to withstand the wiles of satan as he seeks to pull us down.

The phrase “ put on the whole armour of God” is so important that’s Paul repeats it two verses later, as he does with the word ”stand.”

There is an urgency in this and the subsequent verses.”There is a war going on,” Paul is saying. “You must ensure that you are properly equipped so that you can stand firm.”

Paul will describe shortly what the armour and also who the enemy is that we are fighting. What is important is that we recognise the reality of the existential warfare that we are engaged in. The war for the souls of men and women has been unrelenting since the time of Adam and Eve. The death and resurrection of Jesus bought the final victory over sin and death, but the fighting continues to this day.

Paul tells us to put on the whole armour of God. Our spiritual victory depends on our being protected at every point. A soldier who put on his helmet but left off his breastplate was vulnerable.

We all have points of weakness in our souls. Temptations can assail us at every turn, but some are more easily with stood than others. For one person greed is a weakness, for another it is lust, for another it may be pride. Many of us have false gods which demand to be served – family, work, sport, and so on.

These vulnerabilities are so easily turned against us, causing us to trip at vital moments. We decide to spend more time praying, and then find a barrage of almost Irresistible temptations hammers us so that we feel defeated, unworthy, or unable.

Putting on the whole armour of God means determining in our hearts that at all times, in all places, and in every situation, Christ comes first. Even in making that decision we may find a hundred temptations and distractions will come in. The one thing that Satan fears above all else is a Christian determined to put Christ first. He will rage and rail against such a person.

Paul describes Satan as having “ wiles.” The Greek word literally means cunning plans. One variation of the word suggests thorough planning.

Be under no illusions. The devil knows you better than you know yourself. Since you were born, he has been probing your soul, finding what temptations you are most taken in by. There is no potential weakness that he will fail to employ against you.

Paul says that satan dresses himself up as an angel of light to deceive the elect. (2 Corinthians 11:4).He will use seemingly good things to turn us away from God’s path. He will even use well-meaning christians to undermine our walk with the Lord.

Does this mean that we are doomed to fail? Of course not!

The key to standing firm against the wiles of the devil is to constantly keep our eyes focused on the Lord. When we look at him, and not at ourselves, or the devil, or our friends, then we can know continual victory in the Lord.

When we do fall, we confess our sins to the Lord, and He cleanses us. He picks us up, brushes the dirt off us, and equips us to continue the journey. As long as we keep on getting up and maintaining our walk with Christ, we will overcome to the end.

Key points in this verse:

• We need to see with the eyes of the spirit, and not just the eyes of the flesh
• We need to stand in the strength of the Lord in order to withstand the enemy
• We are in a war for our souls and we must continue to fight
• We need all of God’s armour to be fully protected
• The devil will use all tactics and every weakness to pull us down
• Victory comes when we refuse to let our failures hold us down

Here is my commentary on Ephesians 6:10. I am publishing these once or twice a week, but you can read all of the available articles at our web-site, http://www.new-life.org.au

Ephesians 6:10

“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the might of his power.”

Paul is now getting ready to conclude his letter. He has covered the topics of the glory of Christ, the cosmic importance of the church and each member of it, the implications of this for our morality and our relationships at home and at work. He now finishes it all with a remainder of the battle in which we are engaged and the source of our strength.

In this verse, Paul uses three different words for the same idea: strength, might, and power. He wants to emphasise this idea that we need strength, and that it comes from the Lord.

Nobody can live the Christian life out of their own resources. Not only is this impossible, the idea of self sufficiency apart from God is the definition of sin. We cannot live for God from this underlying position of sinful pride.

Our strength for spiritual battle does not come from ourselves. Tto think that I can take on satan, or sin, or evil, by myself is a recipe for defeat. The devil is bigger and stronger than any human being .

Our strength must come from the Lord. When Paul tells us to be strong in the Lord, he is telling us that the Lord is where we go to gain our strength.

We strengthen ourselves in the Lord when we seek to know him more. Our delight should be in God’s word, the Bible. It is in the word that we discover the nature of God, His personality, and His desires for our lives in relationship with Him.

The word by itself is not enough. We need to read scripture prayerfully, constantly asking the Holy Spirit to make the written word come alive to us. The Bible must never be read merely for information. When we read it this way, we lose the power of the word.

We become strong in the Lord as we learn to pray. Prayer is not just my words to God, but a two-way conversation. The process of listening prayer in which we both speak and listen to the still small voice of the Holy Spirit is the way to grow to maturity and strength in the Lord.

Power and strength in the Lord come as we learn to obey Him. Paul has given us instructions about how we are to live as Christians in Ephesians and in his other writings. But we must not reduce Christian living to a moral code or series of regulations

To obey the Lord also means being sensitive to the Holy Spirit in other ways. We need to grow in the gifts of the Holy Spirit described in 1 Corinthians 12, allowing the Holy Spirit to manifest Himself through us in words of knowledge, wisdom, faith, miracles, and so on.

Our relationship with the Holy Spirit will result in the grace of character in such areas as love, joy, peace, patience, and so on (Galatians 5:22-23)so that we grow to be more like Christ.

To be strong in the Lord and in the might of his power means that we pursue a relationship with God by every means possible.

Key points in this verse:

• We must become strong in the Lord’s power
• This means that we read God’s word, pray, listen, and obey
• As we seek the gifts and fruit of the Holy Spirit, we will grow in maturity and strength

Here is my commentary on Ephesians 6:9. I am publishing these once or twice a week, but you can read all of the available articles at our web-site, http://www.new-life.org.au

Ephesians 6:9

“And masters do the same to them. Stop threatening them, for you know that both of you have the same Master in heaven, and with him there is no partiality.”

Paul now turns his attention to slave owners. In all of these admonitions, he always balances out his demands so that both parties are clear of the Lord’s expectations of them. His instructions to slave owners are perhaps the most radical of all.

He has just told slaves that they are to obey their masters with fear and trembling, and to serve enthusiastically as to the Lord.

He now tells masters that the same also applies to them. Masters are to direct their slaves as though they are doing it for the Lord.

Slavery was a fact of life in the ancient world. Rather than demanding that masters free their slaves, which might condemn some of them to poverty and even re-enslavement, Paul tells the owners to treat their slaves well. They are to represent Christ in their relationship with their slaves.

He specifically tells them to stop threatening their slaves. This is not the way of Christ. Jesus laid down his life without resisting his captors in anyway. Masters must lay down their rights to make threats of death or violence against their slaves. They must, in fact, become like servants in their attitudes.

Both slaves and masters have the same Master in heaven. The word for master is kurios, the same word as Lord. So Paul says,” Lords you also have the same Lord in heaven.” The one who is lord in his own household is subject to the Lord in heaven, as are his slaves.

This reasoning is very similar to the centurion who tells Jesus, “I am a man under authority. I say to this one go and he goes.” ( Matthew 8:9) All authority comes from our relationship to the ultimate authority of God in heaven.

Because christian masters are subject to the lordship of Christ, they must love their neighbours, even their slaves, as they love themselves.

With God there is no partiality. The word used here means a “respecter of persons.” Paul is saying that the Lord does not distinguish between slave and master; both are held to the same requirements, even though their social standing is different, and one certainly wields more power than the other.

Masters are subject to the same judgement by God as their slaves are. Social position will not determine the outcome, but faithfulness to Christ will .

In our economy, where we no longer have slaves, this suggests that directors and managers should show the same deference to their workers that they expect to receive. Impersonal emails and texts delivered from “on high” may get the job done. Concern and compassion for those doing the work “at the coal face” are more important from God’s perspective.

Key points in this verse:

• Paul presents an radical redefinition of the relationship between slaves and their masters
• Slave owners are to treat their slaves as people for whom Christ died
• Masters must always remember that they also are accountable to the Lord
• Employers and managers have a responsibility before God to care for their workers beyond the requirement of the law.

Here is my commentary on Ephesians 6:7-8. I am publishing these once or twice a week, but you can read all of the available articles at our web-site, http://www.new-life.org.au

Ephesians 6:7-8

“Render service with enthusiasm, as to the Lord, and not to men and women, knowing that whatever good we do, we will receive the same again from the Lord, whether we are slaves or free.”

Paul now repeats his admonition that slaves are to work as if they are working for the Lord, not just men and women. We are all servants, even slaves, of the Lord, and we must see our daily work as being an act of service to him.

It is not easy to do this. We can so easily see things just from a human perspective. The whole of Ephesians is an encouragement to see the bigger picture, and to believe that God is building us into His church. This applies to the lowliest servant as much as it does to the rulers and business people whom the world lauds as leaders and history makers.

Paul tells slaves that they must serve with enthusiasm. Because they are serving the Lord, Christian slaves are to do so with heartiness.

Many people believe that life is basically meaningless, and that people have to find their own meaning. Paul is here saying that this is not true. Our meaning for work and service is found in focusing our hearts on Christ, and therefore working with enthusiasm.

The recent Covid pandemic has reminded us of our fundamental dependence on people who might have gone unnoticed in more normal times. People such as nurses, cleaners, truck drivers, retail workers, and so on, who are not normally considered as elite professionals are suddenly seen to be vital.

So slaves are to see themselves as important in God’s Kingdom because they are serving Him, and are to do so with enthusiasm for that reason.

There is a reward in all of this. Even if we cannot approach our work with enthusiasm in its own right, we have a future hope. Every good deed will be rewarded in eternity.

Even in the most humble of work places – and there is nothing lower in any society than a slave – there are opportunities to show forth the love and kindness of Jesus Christ. In our work, we interact with customers, fellow-workers, supervisors, and so on. How we choose to relate to these people reflects on our relationship with the Lord. A factory, school, office, call centre, can be a mission field in which we decide to act with kindness and generosity knowing that there is a reward for us on the day of judgement.

In Matthew 25: 31-46, Jesus warns us that the compassion that we show to “ the least ones of my brothers and sisters” is service given to Him. This is as true in our place of work as it is anywhere.

This promise applies to slaves in particular, but also to those who are free. In other words, Christ will reward everyone regardless of the earthly status. The promise is given to the slaves and to the overseers, to the employee and to the boss, to the self employed and to the corporate CEO. The Lord is watching our work life for attitudes and actions motivated by the Holy Spirit.

This is not salvation by good works. Paul is writing to Christians here, reminding them that there are rewards in eternity for those who faithfully serve the Lord, to the best of their opportunities, in this life.

Key points in this verse:

• Slaves are to serve their masters with enthusiasm, a positive attitude, because they are serving Jesus .
• Our meaning comes from our relationship with God
• Every work environment provides opportunities to show God’s love and kindness
• There are rewards in heaven for those believers who serve the Lord in their work place, regardless of their status on Earth

Here is my commentary on Ephesians 6:6. I am publishing these once or twice a week, but you can read all of the available articles at our web-site, http://www.new-life.org.au

Ephesians 6:6

“…not only while being watched, and in order to please them, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart.“

The words used by Paul here are interesting. The more literal translation is “ not as in the way of eye- service as man- pleasers.” Some commentators suggest this word eye- service was made up by Paul.

Slaves are instructed not to only work while they are being directly overseen, because they are not merely there to please people.

Giving eye- service suggests that our heart is not in what we are doing. Some work is like this – drudgery with no obvious results or sense of achievement at the end of the week. Some people carry no pride in their work, whether it is work they find interesting or not. They watch the clock, desperate to get out of work and get into what they want to do. For such people, diligent oversight is necessary because all they do is give eye- service.

Paul tells those who are slaves that this is not how it is to be for them. As Christians, they are to work for the Lord, not for their earthly master, and put in their full effort. There should be no discernible change of pace when they are being watched and when they are not being watched.

To be a people pleaser is a terrible trap. It may seem congenial to keep the people around us happy, particularly those who wield some form of power over us. To do this consistently requires compromise and deception .

We might be popular because we can always do what people expect of us or because we voice the right opinions. It is impossible to keep that up if people around us have opposing views, or if the demands of one person compete with the demands of another.

To be a people pleaser means that we must sacrifice our integrity and our sense of what we should be doing with our time and money.

Paul entreats slaves not just to please the person that is over them. They must rather seek to please the Lord. Because the Lord is always with them, they are always under supervision and always accountable.

Every follower of the Lord, regardless of their status in life, is a slave of Christ. Whether you are a CEO of a top corporation or the cleaner, to follow Christ means that you are His slave. Our life is no longer in our own hands but in His.

Paul says elsewhere, “You are not your own for you were bought at a price.” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20)

Therefore, whoever we are as followers of Christ, we are slaves of Christ. Our whole life must be dedicated to serving Him.

This must have been a revolutionary idea for people who were actual slaves. They were unwilling slaves, forced to work for another and without any alternative life opportunities. Paul is saying that they did not work for their earthly master, but for Christ. They might not understand, but their position in life was the will of God, and they were to serve their master as their service to the Lord.

Key points in this verse:

• All of us are to serve from the heart and not give mere eye- service
• Being a people pleaser is a trap which may force us to give up our integrity
• All followers of Jesus are slaves of Christ
• We should see our work as service to the Lord