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EPHESIANS CHAPTER 6 KJV WEB See previous page Eph 6,1-9 (87k) Thy kingdom come >> Obedience >> Obey authorities (95j) Thy kingdom come >> Attitude >> Obedient attitude >> Positive attitude about authority Eph 6,1-4 (3l) Parenting (Key verse) (73i) Authority >> Respect authority in the family >> Respect your mother and Father – The phrase “in the Lord” means that Paul is commanding children to trust their parents as they guide them in the Lord, but if the parents do not guide them in the Lord, their children do not have to blindly trust them, though they must still respect them. What if someone’s parents use their children to rob stores, should their children obey them? Of course not, if parents are wicked, children should respect them as the people who gave birth to them and changed their diapers, but only honor them to the degree that they advocate the biblical principles of Scripture. Paul assumes the parents want the best for their children, which is true in most cases, but not in all. To honor that which is good is obviously how things go well and we live long, but if we honor that which is evil, things will not go well with us, being the recipe for dying young. Eph 6,1-3 (3o) Responsibility >> Children are accountable to their parents – The assumption of parents is that they are respectable, and that they love their children and know what is best for them, which in the days of the old covenant were understood through the Law of Moses. For children to respect unrespectable parents would only lead to becoming like them. The Ten Commandments promise that if we obey them we will be blessed, and we could summarize that blessing to children as being prosperous and living long on the earth. This carries with it a set of prerequisites, such as respect and trust and righteous living like our parents. (206d) Salvation >> God makes promises on His terms >> Conditions to promises >> Conditions to receiving in the natural >> Conditions to participating in the natural realm Eph 6-1 (89a) Thy kingdom come >> Fear of God is the beginning of wisdom >> Being sensible is always wise – Children rely on their parents for everything. Prior to puberty young children must follow many commands, yet they don’t mind so much since they want to be led. The upside of being younger is they can sit back and let their parents wrangle out the details of life for them. At the age of two they are just developing mindsets of obedience, and when they become teenagers, they want to abandon those mindsets and put into question their parents’ sensibility and wisdom and begin to explore the world on their own. This is normal and scary for both parent and child. Parenting teenagers is like walking a tightrope. If we lean one way and become authoritarian, they will rebel, and if we lean the other way and become permissive, they may make poor choices and find trouble we could have spared them. Parenting starts when the child is very young, according to Solomon, “Train up a child in the way he should go, even when he is old he will not depart from it” (Proverbs 22-6). When they become teenagers, they will have a solid platform on which to stand and draw from their lessons and experiences to discern right from wrong, what is sensible and appropriate from a base of wisdom, ethics and morality that was previously established in their formative years. Being a good parent, then, is having wisdom to know when to give teenagers room to make their own decisions and mistakes, and when to step-in and officiate. Barking orders is a losing proposition that leads teenagers to turn off their parents. If we instead show trust in our teenagers and step-in only when necessary, they will be more inclined to listen and respect our opinions. Eph 6-2,3 (90h) Thy kingdom come >> Keeping the law >> Righteousness of the law >> We must keep the law because it is righteous (151f) Witness >> Validity of the Father >> New Testament bears witness of the Old >> The law Eph 6-4 (3n) Responsibility >> Parenting >> How to discipline your children – Teenagers have a rebellious attitude; therefore, provoking them to rebellion is not a good parenting strategy, though we should be diligent to instruct them in the ways of the Lord. Disciplining our children without provoking them to anger is a matter of starting at a very young age, showing that everything we tell them is for their good. Our consistency in this will lessen their inclinations to doubt our good judgment. We should not discipline them with the intent to make our lives easier, but always to make their lives better. (4m) Responsibility >> Advocate God’s cause >> Disciples are chastened by the Lord (24l) Sin >> Poverty (Forms of fear) >> Unrighteous anger (80j) Thy kingdom come >> Know the word to minister to people >> To edify one another (176j) Works of the devil >> The religion of witchcraft >> False doctrine >> Extremes >> Truth is never found in your conduct on either extreme of any circumstance (239g) Kingdom of God >> Pursuing the kingdom >> Pursuing the knowledge of the kingdom >> Teachers are construction workers >> God raises up teachers to raise up the body KJV WEB / Navigation Bar Eph 6,5-8 (13i) Servant >> Support the body >> Servant in the work force – We are to work for our employer as though we were working for Christ Himself, as though He were our boss, for indirectly He is our boss. It says that whatever good thing we do at work, we will prosper above and beyond our paycheck from the Lord. (73g) Authority >> Respect positions of authority >> Respect your boss at work – We are work for our employer as though we were working for Christ, instead of nodding at the boss indicating we will do whatever he asks and then not doing it. If his request is reasonable, we are obligated to do it to the best of our ability. We are to do everything in our power to make his business succeed, especially those who are also brothers in the faith. For him to mention this suggests that it was common back then for Christians to hire one another and work with each other, reminding the employee that his boss lives by the principles of faith and love, hence he will be merciful, kind and generous, and we are to reciprocate those values without taking advantage of him. God has called us to be loving and gracious, and the world immediately recognizes this as a vulnerability and exploits it as weakness. Therefore, we should not be like the world but serve our employers and fellow Christian brothers with all the more sincerity and vigilance. Any so-called Christian employee who would take advantage of his fellow Christian boss displays a lack of faith; and a discerning employer who is mistreated by a so-called brother in the workplace ought to suspect that he is not a brother at all, and if he is a Christian, he certainly has a lot of growing-up to do. (78d) Thy kingdom come >> Sincerity >> Taking God to heart >> Having a genuine heart (100d) Thy kingdom come >> Diligence >> Diligence in your service to others (227a) Kingdom of God >> Illustrating the kingdom >> Rewards of heaven >> God rewards us for obeying Him >> God rewards what we do for Him in secret Eph 6,5-7 (233i) Kingdom of God >> Pursuing the kingdom >> Seeking the glory of God >> Seek His glory without wavering >> Seek His glory through obedience Eph 6-5,6 (74a) Thy kingdom come >> The heart >> God wants you to bless your brother from the heart (169i) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> Seeking the glory of man >> Loving the approval of men rather than the approval of God >> Coveting the favor of men (247k) Priorities >> God’s priorities >> The will of God >> We play our part in the will of God >> Doing the will of God Eph 6-6 (184g) Works of the devil >> The origin of lawlessness >> Abusing the grace of God >> Spending His grace on your pleasures >> Abusing your position – “Eye service” refers to those who look their employer in the eye and nod with the appearance of dutiful service, and then become idle the minute he turns his back. Our performance on the job is a reflection of our faith in Jesus. The one who would take advantage of his employer would also take advantage of God's kindness and mercy. KJV WEB / Navigation Bar Eph 6,7-9 (131g) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Unity >> Interdependence >> Serving one another Eph 6-7,8 (127e) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Goodness >> Rewards for doing good >> Sow the seeds of goodness >> goodness yields a harvest of righteousness -- These verses go with verse 14 (218d) Sovereignty >> God overrides the will of man >> God’s will over man >> Reaping the harvest >> We choose our actions, not their consequences >> God controls the consequences of our actions – Most "Christians" these days live for this life only; few bank on the rewards of heaven and the rest berate them, but if there were no value in heavenly rewards, the Bible wouldn’t have called us to pursue them even as Paul is saying in this verse. God will reward us for our labor, including our positive attitude toward our employer and the dedication we showed him in doing all we can to enhance his business and make him a profit. Attitudes like these are what make companies strong. There are rewards in this life for being a conscientious worker, through the cause and effect system that is at play, for whatever a man sows, this he shall also reap (Gal 6-7,8), and this also goes for the judgment of God. We are rewarded for the good we do in this life as a consequence of our actions, and God Himself will repay us at the resurrection of the righteous. There are many times when we do the right thing to no benefit in this life, but in the life to come we will see the reward, for God has been keeping tabs on us all the while. When we are patient to accept God’s blessing in the next life, it will be infinitely multiplied as an eternal reward for patterning our lives after Him, and it will prove far greater than any reward in this life. The longer we must wait, the greater the reward. He rewards us just as much for waiting for Him as the good we have done in His name, for patience is a matter of pure faith, whereas our works could have any motive behind it. See also: Rewards appended to the resurrected body; 1Pet 5-1; 144b (235i) Kingdom of God >> Pursuing the kingdom >> Invest in the kingdom >> Giving (your inner self) >> Give for goodness sake Eph 6-7 (75c) Thy kingdom come >> Motives of the heart >> Being motivated to do the will of God Eph 6-9 (51h) Judgment >> Judging the Church with the world >> No partiality among us with God – Paul started this conversation saying that we should serve “with fear and trembling, in the sincerity of our hearts, as to Christ” (v5). Employees should treat their employers with fear and trembling, and employers should do the same, knowing their Master and ours is watching from heaven, who shows no partiality. In the life to come, when the righteous are reward with eternal life and the wicked are cast into outer darkness, then He will consider His people special in relation to unbelievers who refused to serve Him, but until then He does not consider us more important than our boss or employee, for the greatest are least and the least greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven. (75j) Thy kingdom come >> Motives >> Being manipulative >> Controlling people by abusing authority (88g) Thy kingdom come >> Fear of God >> Fearing God's judgment is the beginning of wisdom >> Fear the consequences of your disobedience – Bosses, supervisors and foremen, owners of businesses, give up threatening. If we are a Christian owner of a business and have people working under us, praise them for their excellent service and reward them for being good employees. Paul by the word of the Lord commands us to treat our help with utmost respect. We are to model our use of authority after Christ, who viewed His position as an opportunity to bless and serve those in his care. (135n) Temple >> Your spirit is the temple of God >> The body of Christ >> Similarity in the body >> The things we have in common >> Common Lord KJV WEB / Navigation Bar Eph 6,10-20 (8m) Responsibility >> Responsible to defend God’s cause >> Laying the foundation of freedom – God speaks to His people individually with the result that each person hears a similar message, so when we come together and share our ideas, we discover everyone thinking along the same lines. This builds confidence in our ability to hear the Spirit, and we don’t feel alone in what we believe. It also builds confidence in the direction of our lives being on track with God’s plan. This is how God leads His people, and it is how He discloses His truth. (28j) Gift of God >> God is our advocate >> God protects us from the devil – In the story of David and Goliath, he put on the king’s armor and it was so heavy that he couldn’t move much less fight, so he took it off and faced the in giant his own way, clothed in the armor of God (1Samuel 17,38-53). He fought the good fight the way he knew, with a sling and a few carefully selected stones from the creek bed. He spent the day alone with God next to the flowing stream and talked to Him about defeating the Philistines, and this is how he prepared for battle. When he came to Goliath, fresh on his mind was his beautiful relationship with God that he garnered on beautiful spring mornings along the creek. The giant made two mistakes: seeing vulnerability in the young boy with a sling, and messing with the armies of Israel. David slung a stone and buried it in the giant’s forehead, and he fell down dead. He could have approached Goliath dressed in full armor array and the giant would have made sport of him, but David's protection was his confidence in God, and with that Satan has no power over us, but if we are unwilling to fight, no amount of faith can defeat the devil. See also: David and Goliath; Eph 6,10-17; 113f / Spiritual warfare; 45j (45j) Spiritual Warfare (Key verse) – The Bible says that we are fighting a spiritual war. If there were nothing at stake, how could it be a war? What is the cause of this war? We are fighting for freedom from fleshly bondage to walk in the Spirit and to keep the faith (1Tim 1-18,19), and we are fighting for human souls. See also: Spiritual warfare; 46g (46g) Judgment >> Spiritual warfare >> Fall of Satan >> Removing Satan’s obstructions – These are some of the most significant verses in the Bible pertaining to how we walk with God. Sometimes we get tempted and want to throw in the towel. As Christians we know what it is to backslide; it is very deflating in that Jesus has delivered us from such bondage. We don’t know why we surrendered so easily and why we so willingly gave up everything that was valuable to us. We humble ourselves before God and confess our sins and let Him forgive and cleanse us from all unrighteousness, and He sets us back on track, pointing us in the right direction and gives us a little push, and off we go again. This is the process of repentance. So how do we rise above our bondage to sin? These verses actually tell us how! He said to take up the full armor of God, and what is key to this is that after we have done everything to stand firm, we "stand firm therefore." This means making preparations for battle does not win the war; it only aids us in our stand against sin. See also: Spiritual warfare; 68c (68c) Authority >> Jesus delegates authority to execute judgment >> Against Satan – Spiritual warfare is often construed to mean something other than what the Bible teaches. Our war is not against other people; it is against spiritual forces of wickedness in high places (v12), and the war is against the animal nature of our fleshly passions and desires. We are in a war against Satan, against the forces of wickedness that want to coral our flesh through trials and temptations. Satanic forces attempt to warp our worldview, providing us with secular, humanistic interpretations of our experiences and control our perspective on reality. A good analogy of satanic forces at work in the world is an overcast sky, where the clouds go from horizon to horizon, setting the mood for the day; the sun is still up there, but we can't see it. Satan’s objective is to train people’s minds to think like him, so when they hear the gospel, they can't believe it and be saved. Talk to people about Jesus and the excuses that surface to justify their rejection of Christ are all the things they learned from the world that is under Satan's control. See also: Spiritual warfare; Eph 6,10-17; 7g Eph 6,10-17 (7g) Responsibility >> Protecting the gospel >> Defending your territory – Defending our territory goes back to the days of Joshua when they cleared the promise land of its inhabitants, sometimes not destroying the people entirely. The people then made an effort to return to their land, requiring Israel to resist and defend their territory. This has become an allegory for the battles we fight in our lives today against spiritual forces of wickedness in our quest for freedom to serve Christ in righteousness and holiness of the truth. The whole point of spiritual warfare is to become free of sin, but Satan would have us enslaved and working for Him. God has saved us, and now we have a new Master, but Satan doesn't recognize Jesus as our Master, and neither do the sinful passions and desires of our flesh. These demonic forces want us to come back to our old ways, where we were comfortable living in spiritual darkness and our addictions to sin. We gain ground over these evil forces, while they seek to reclaim their own ground in our heart, but we stand firm and resist the devil and he flees from us (Jm 4-7). We fight the battles for freedom, not knowing we were slaves until we met Jesus. Go to a psychologist and he will try to help us, but he doesn’t address sin, and so how can we become free through human agency? See also: Spiritual warfare; 113f (113f) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> The anointing >> Heaven’s clothes >> Garments of warfare – In the story of David and Goliath, they put all that armor on David, but he couldn’t even walk, because he was just a boy and the armor was very heavy on him. He shed all these things and fought the giant in the way that he was familiar, with a simple sling and a round, smooth stone. He was very accurate and drove the creek pebble into the giant’s forehead so that he died. We see people heaping their ideas on David about how to conduct spiritual warfare, and their ideas didn't work for him (apparently they didn't work for them either, or a boy wouldn't have needed to do a man's job). What worked was his relationship with God that he nurtured in fields and forests and along the winding creek. Our fiercest weapon against spiritual darkness is the truth that God has personally planted in our heart by the Spirit. See also: David and Goliath; Eph 6,10-20; 28j / Spiritual warfare; Eph 6,10-15; 168a Eph 6,10-15 (168a) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> Do not conform to the world >> Do not let the world’s approval shape you to itself – The meaning of verse 12 does not refer to human governments at all but to the hierarchy of satanic authority that controls the world. When we look at it this way, we see social engineering conforming people-groups and nations to act a certain way in a trance-like satanic delusion that would all have us automatons. The more people conform to a certain belief system, the more power Satan has over society; for this reason God has commanded His people to become separate from the world (2Cor 6-17), for we are either conforming to the mind of Christ or to the mind of the devil. See also: Spiritual warfare; Eph 6,10-12; 45m KJV WEB / Navigation Bar Eph 6,10-13 (194f) Die to self (Process of substitution) >> Turn from sin to God >> Hate evil >> Condemning sin >> Judging evil Eph 6,10-12 (45m) Judgment >> Spiritual warfare >> Subjecting your flesh >> Satan Vs the saints >> Demons are subject to the Church through Christ – The battleground of the mind is where spiritual warfare takes place. This is why God commands us to renew our mind in the word of God and prayer, according to Rom 12-1,2. Without renewing our mind we will eventually regress to a secular worldview, though we may still believe the Scriptures. Without renewing the mind in the word of God and prayer the things we perceive in our flesh will take precedence over our unattended beliefs. See also: Spiritual warfare; Eph 6,10-20; 184b (184b) Works of the devil >> The origin of lawlessness >> Darkness >> Hiding behind your own imagination >> Hiding behind a false authority – Man’s world is arbitrary, a concoction of ideas that change like the seasons. The world may be a certain way now, but in a couple years it will be different. It is not developing and maturing but churning like "wild waves of the sea, casting up their own shame like foam" (Jd-13). Is the world's tirade against God real? In a way, yes, but there is no truth in it, hence the difference between truth and reality. This ever shifting reality only proves that the less the truth changes the more real it is, and for this reason God’s truth is more real than anything this world will ever know, because God never changes. See also: Spiritual warfare; Eph 6-10; 9i / Believing the truth is not easy; Act 11,1-23; 210k Eph 6-10 (9i) Responsibility >> Strengthen one another >> Be strong – We are called as saints to be strong in the Lord in the strength of His might; we don’t serve God with our flesh, but by His Spirit. We put on the whole armor of God, which paints a picture of a military soldier in God’s army, only we aren’t fighting people but saving them. We put on the military garb before we go into battle, the breastplate of righteousness, the helmet of salvation, etc., because there is a spiritual war that has been raging ever since Adam and Eve fell into sin. We are in a war against our own flesh, which is one of our greatest enemies. Paul said that our enemy is three: the world, the flesh and the devil (Eph 2-2,3). We have been given a body that actually understands Satan, and we can’t follow our body's tutelage or the example of others in the world, for it can only lead us in the ways of Satan. See also: Spiritual warfare; 116d (102a) Thy kingdom come >> Ambitious to fulfill God’s calling >> To see God’s will in your life (116d) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Working the grace of God >> Through worship >> Through His authority -- This verse goes with verses 13-20. I f God gives us His strength, why then does Paul tell us to be strong? If God has strengthened us, then shouldn’t we already be strong? All the grace that God gives is in the form of weapons and tools to both destroy the work of Satan and build the kingdom of God, like Nehemiah, who was given charge to rebuild the wall surrounding Jerusalem. He did it with a sword in one hand and a trowel in the other. We have a calling to fulfill, and if we choose not to do it, He will not make us do it. The only way to test our willingness is to dedicate our life to the work that God has called us and walk in His grace. God expects us to walk in faith and implement His grace, employing our will, which is how we behave like God, who consists of faith. See also: Spiritual warfare; Eph 6-11,12; 158a KJV WEB / Navigation Bar Eph 6-11,12 (158a) Works of the devil >> Excerpts of the greatest verses of this chapter – The King James uses the phrase “high places” instead of the NASBs “heavenly places,” but we are not talking about heaven. Paul used this phrase, “prince of the power of the air” (Eph 2-2), so these high places are principalities in governing positions. Our politicians who campaign for office, who put on pretty smiles, comb their hair and have their suits pressed have learned how to put on a façade to get elected. These refer to power in high places according to the flesh, but these principalities have offices above them that are occupied by spiritual beings, whose head is Satan. This does not mean our politicians are satanic or they even avail themselves to satanic powers; rather, Satan uses them whether they know it or not. Follow this train of thought: Politicians start wars; Satan loves war; politicians do the will of Satan. The most powerful weapon in the hand of Satan is man’s willingness to desecrate his own conscience. It doesn’t matter if our government has ever tried to do the right thing and governed with the people’s best interest in mind; eventually all governments erode to the people serving them. The cause of this stems from a corroboration of both man’s willingness to do evil and Satan’s ability to govern that evil. In this way he can gain control of society and the governing powers and laws of nations and slowly make them self-destructive, until eventually they collapse under their own weight of sin. This depicts the lifecycle of nations. See also: Spiritual warfare; 164f (164f) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> The world system >> Satan’s system of authority >> He is the prince of the power of the air – Our struggle against Satan and his minions is in high places, and these high places refer to governmental authorities, but that is not the most accurate depiction of our enemy. Metaphorically, Satan and the demons inhabit the first heaven, which surrounds the earth, our atmosphere (the second heaven is the physical universe and the third heaven is God’s holy habitation that exists outside the physical universe). Paul calls him the prince of the power of the air (Eph 2-2). The earth’s atmosphere works well as a metaphor for Satan’s realm especially in these last days with the radio and television blaring at us with a constant barrage of messages. Satan is ultimately at the helm of these messages, in the very air we breathe. Although mankind claims to be in control of the world, it is Satan that actually rules the world (Jn 12-31). He has the ultimate say about world-truth, which itself is an oxymoron, consisting of many perspectives that all converge at the feet of Satan. This single perspective represents the world's reality. Satan is the opposite of God, causing the world that serves Satan to oppose God by default. World-truth is elusive like the wind; you can hear the sound of it, Jesus said, but you do not know where it is coming from or where it is going. Jesus spoke this about the Holy Spirit, indicating that Satan’s deceptions and God’s truth have one thing in common – they are both spiritual and are both unconquerable by man, and they both use the atmosphere surrounding the earth as a metaphor to describe them. See also: Spiritual warfare; Eph 6-12; 19a Eph 6-11 (44f) Judgment >> Satan destroyed >> Transformed >> Completing the will of God (183g) Works of the devil >> The origin of lawlessness >> Spirit of Error (Anti-Christ / Anti-Semitism) >> Spirit of the broad road >> Spirit of the world Eph 6-12 (19a) Sin >> Twisted thinking >> Evil is good >> Loving darkness – The world shares nothing in common with God's wisdom, and the Church over the last few decades has attempted to doctrinally and theologically conform to the world, and the result is that spiritual problems have plagued the Church from sin. The more the Church integrates into the world, the less influence it has on the very people it is trying to reach with the gospel; instead, the result is a deadly concoction of satanic delusion. Conversely, the more the Church separates from the world, the more influence it has to convince people to believe in the gospel. People must venture into the world to their jobs to make a living, for they can’t really be like the Amish, or can they? That is how the early church lived! They constructed their own society and were patrons of one another’s goods and services; they were committed to each other, and established an economy among themselves, though they held jobs among unbelievers too. In contrast, the Church today is completely dependent on the world for its sustenance, and it is not united, because Christians have shut their ears to the Holy Spirit, not conforming to His truth but embraced the deceptions of the world instead. See also: Spiritual warfare; Eph 6-13,14; 86g KJV WEB / Navigation Bar Eph 6,13-20 (5b) Responsibility >> Advocate God’s cause >> Disciples are soldiers in God’s army (46b) Judgment >> Spiritual warfare >> Subjecting your flesh >> Preparing for battle – Getting ready for spiritual battle against sin involves putting on our headgear, footgear, thorax shield and pelvic guard. Wearing all this stuff doesn’t mean we won’t sin; it is just preparing for battle. Then, after doing everything to stand firm, we must still stand firm in the faith. Many a Christian has sinned fully decked in battle gear, because they were unwilling to fight these spiritual forces for our right to be Christians in a world of evil. (116d) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Working the grace of God >> Through worship >> Through His authority -- These verses go with verse 10 Eph 6-13,14 (86g) Thy kingdom come >> Obedience >> Be doers of the word >> Clothe yourself with the word of God >> Practice the truth – Jesus said, "You shall know the truth and the truth will set you free" (Jn 8-32). It is interesting that we gird our loins with truth; the average person would have guessed that truth belongs with the helmet, but that is where salvation goes. Truth belongs to our loins, the location of Satan’s greatest deception, leading to rejecting Christ and getting lost in the darkness of sin. Some persecute the knowledge of salvation, complaining that knowledge narrows the road that leads to life and restricts unbelievers from heaven. Yet, salvation actually comes through knowledge, as Rom 10-9 says, “If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” We apply the knowledge of God to the body part that is most prone to deception; for this reason truth belongs wrapped around our pelvis, since it is more easily deceived than any other body part. Nothing else lies to us like sex; our erotic desires are difficult to subject to the authority of Christ. Therefore, when our loins tell us, ‘You should seek a sexual encounter with that young woman over there,’ we should reply, ‘On the contrary it is written, “Marriage is to be held in honor among all, and the marriage bed is to be undefiled; for fornicators and adulterers God will judge”’ (Heb 13-4). See also: Spiritual warfare; 192j (139k) Temple >> Temple made without hands >> Hiding place >> Abiding in Jesus (192j) Die to self (Process of substitution) >> Turn from sin to God >> Repent >> Stop practicing sin >> Stop sinning – Paul is saying that there are many available tools and weapons in our arsenal that we can use to counteract sin, but in the end we just have to grit our teeth and endure our temptations through God’s help. We must forcibly push ourselves from the table of evil desire and take precautions, develop an anointing and renew our mind in the word of God and prayer and put on the armor of God while we walk in the Spirit. See also: Spiritual warfare; Eph 6-14; 74c Eph 6,14-17 (80c) Thy kingdom come >> Know the word in spiritual warfare >> To fight in the Spirit Eph 6-14,15 (93c) Thy kingdom come >> The narrow way >> You will find your ministry along the narrow way Eph 6-14 (74c) Thy kingdom come >> The heart >> God wants you to protect your heart – If God has given us grace to stand firm, then why do we still need to stand firm? Ultimately, we must implement God’s grace for it to be complete. So the first thing, we must complete the grace of God by girding our loins with truth, that is, applying truth foremostly to our reproductive organs. Why them? They are the body parts most apt to lie to us. We put the breastplate of righteousness over our heart and train ourselves to love righteousness. See also: Spiritual warfare; Eph 6-17; 111k (127e) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Goodness >> Rewards for doing good >> Sow the seeds of goodness >> goodness yields a harvest of righteousness -- This verse goes with verses 7&8. R ighteousness protects our heart; if we don’t love righteousness, then we will hate it and love its opposite, which is lawlessness. God wants our heart to beat for righteousness, which smacks at the center of the sinful nature. The world, though, wants to exploit their own bodies and extract as much pleasure from them as possible. This requires them to have as much money as possible, hanging their pride on it and financing their pleasure seeking pursuits and lording themselves over those who have less. The world scoffs at do-gooders. Just say the word “righteousness” and a worldly person's hair will stand on end. KJV WEB / Navigation Bar Eph 6-15 (126h) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Peace >> Anointing of peace – We put peace on our feet and shuffle to the next person who is open to the gospel. Eph 6-16,17 (114g) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Working the grace of God >> Obeying the Holy Spirit >> Implementing the revelation of the Holy Spirit – There are four things here: faith, knowledge, the Holy Spirit and the Bible. Faith is to the Holy Spirit as knowledge is to the Bible. We use our faith to extinguish the flaming arrows of the evil one. For example, when Jesus quoted the Bible to the devil in His temptation in the wilderness, He was exercising faith in what was written. What is faith? Most people would say it is a synonym for “belief”, and that would be correct to a point, but it means more than that. In most cases in the New Testament, when “faith” is used, it is not referring to our faith but God’s faith that we have received from Him. Our faith is what it means to believe. To believe something is to incorporate it into our perception of reality. For example, when science first discovered germs, people had a hard time believing it; that is, they had a hard time incorporating germs into their worldview. The general population viewed illness with various forms of superstition, so when they heard about germs, it required a paradigm shift in their thinking, which is rather a stressful thing. We regularly revise our perspectives, but a paradigm shift requires an overhaul of our belief system and that makes us feel uncomfortable, because it is an affront to our ego to admit that we were wrong about the very fundamentals of life. In the same way, when we believe in Jesus, we incorporate the Bible into our beliefs and treat Him as a reality, yet faith comes from God. Therefore, we say that faith is a revelation of the truth imbued by the Spirit. We use our mind, will and emotions to consciously choose to believe in the Bible; and as we live what we believe, God transforms our beliefs into His faith. This is what extinguishes the flaming arrows of the evil one. By a revelation of Jesus Christ we tear down strongholds, entire mindsets and belief systems that oppose the knowledge of God (2Cor 10-5), and we do this by revelation knowledge. Regarding the helmet of salvation, depicting our beliefs, faith fastens the buckle under our chin. We take the Bible into prayer and God adds His Spirit to His word, which is the process of developing faith in God (Lk 17-5,6). The Holy Spirit and the word of God work together to create faith that correlates with the Bible that we believe. By the faith of God we interpret the Bible to understand the truth. There are many beliefs about the Bible, and many of them are wrong, because people are not working with God, taking the Bible into prayer, putting the Holy Spirit and the word of God together, obeying what they know and giving opportunity for God to reveal His truth to them so they believe the word of God by the Spirit. It is fine to have a set of beliefs, but if we want to extinguish the flaming arrows of the evil one, we need to believe the truth by the Spirit. See also: Difference between "belief" and "faith"; 1Jn 4-18; 57c Eph 6-17 (40i) Judgment >> Judgment of Christ >> God’s word executes judgment by the Spirit (78m) Thy kingdom come >> Renewing your mind >> God renews your mind by His Spirit (109g) Spirit And The Word (Key verse) – Each Bible passage of this topic has a comment about the Holy Spirit and the word of God mentioned in the same context. Both the Spirit and the Word are found in the holy place in Israel's temple of worship. According to the manner of worship that God commanded Moses (depicted in Hebrews chapter nine), after they built Solomon’s temple they prepared a room called the holy place, and they added a room behind it called the Holy of Holies. In the first room was a table, and they set bread on it, which the priests would eat a day later and replenish with fresh bread. They placed Menorahs with seven candlesticks beside the table of showbread. The light and the bread represent the Spirit and the Word. The Ark of the Covenant, that contained the stone tablets of the law, was placed in the Most Holy Place, and they placed a curtain at the entrance of this room, and in front of the curtain in the first room they placed the Golden Altar of Incense. They performed daily temple services in the first room, replacing the bread, the candlesticks and the incense, but into the Most Holy Place the high priest went only once a year, not without taking the blood of a heifer. When the high priest made the annual sacrifice for sin, he walked past the Table of Showbread and the Menorahs and the Golden Altar of Incense. These articles of worship related to the daily reading of Scripture and prayer. Hence, we access the Spirit through prayer and we interact with Him according to the word of God. (111k) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Spirit and the word >> Living and active word of God – This is the most concise verse in the New Testament that speaks of the Spirit and the word in single context. It comes in the form of a sword, which is a weapon of war. This concept of the Holy Spirit and the word of God mentioned together is repeated dozens of times throughout the New Testament. Jesus called Him the Spirit of truth. The word of God is the written account of God’s truth that never changes. That’s why Paul can write an epistle about Him and it still be relevant 2000 years later. When we put the Spirit with the word in prayer, we brandish a weapon that destroys demonic forces of wickedness in high places. The things God reveals to us as we pray builds upon our knowledge of the truth as we grow in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. The things we learn in this fashion becomes knowledge revealed by the Spirit, which has the power to change our lives. This revelation knowledge takes the form of a sword that slashes through this present darkness and opens our eyes to walk in the light of God's truth. See also: Spiritual warfare; 122e (119b) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Freedom >> Law of the spirit >> Law of the Spirit of truth (122e) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Confidence in yourself as you die to sin >> Confident in your salvation – Our faith is the most important armor of all, which Paul depicts as a defensive weapon in the form of a shield. Our faith protects us from the devil’s flaming darts of unbelief, lies and deception. “The helmet of salvation,” renewing the mind and puts confidence in our salvation that we belong to God. See also: Spiritual warfare; Eph 6,10-20; 28j (255b) Trinity >> Holy Spirit’s relationship between Father and Son >> God’s word is Spirit >> Spirit of the word >> Words of His Spirit are truth KJV WEB / Navigation Bar Eph 6,18-20 (7c) Responsibility >> Protecting the gospel >> Defending the word of God >> Protecting the men who carry the gospel Eph 6-18,19 (81m) Thy kingdom come >> Pray without ceasing >> For the Church >> Life of prayer – Paul commands us to pray in the spirit. That is a term that Pentecostals and Charismatics regularly use. They are not misunderstanding anything here. To pray in the Spirit is to use our prayer language that God has given us. Paul is talking about doing this alone, not in the congregation, not even with another person. This is our private prayer language with God. Rom 8-26,27 says we do this when we don’t know how to pray. When we feel God tugging on us but don’t know what He’s trying to tell us, we pray in the Spirit. Some people call it gibberish, but to us they are a sequence of phonemes (word-sounds) that God leads us to say as we walk along the narrow way. We often don’t know which way we should go, and we pray in the Spirit for divine direction. See also: Golden Altar of Incense represents prayer; Mat 26,36-39; 140b (83k) Thy kingdom come >> We have the ministry of intercession >> Church intercedes for each other (84b) Thy kingdom come >> Be on the alert >> Remain on duty >> Keep watch (99l) Thy kingdom come >> Perseverance (Working to keep in motion) >> Persevere in prayer (130g) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Unity >> Committed to caring for the needs of the body >> Caring for spiritual needs – In the days of the apostles unity was well established. When one person was persecuted, they all felt persecuted; and when one person was encouraged, they all were encouraged. When one was blessed and comforted, they all were blessed and comforted. When the body of Christ is in unity, we can put up with just about anything, because it is not happening to us alone, though some were arrested and thrown in prison to die alone. Others were tortured to death apart from any help or encouragement from anybody, but the grace of God was with them, and they knew the Church was sure to benefit from their sacrifice. From the blood of martyrs the Church grew both spiritually and numerically. The people of God had nothing to lose, but today’s Church is steeped in apostasy, and they may sit together in Church, but they are separate in heart. We can hardly suffer for the sake of the brethren, because they are unable to receive the blessing of our sacrifice. We hope for heaven in the afterlife, but unity is our hope in this life, and the Church has been stripped of it. Eph 6-18 (7k) Responsibility >> Use time wisely >> Get ready >> Make time to pray (13j) Servant >> Support the body >> Bear one another’s burdens Eph 6-19,20 (85e) Thy kingdom come >> Words that are spoken in faith >> Powerful when spoken by the Spirit >> by the anointing (123a) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Boldness to speak the word by the Spirit (148i) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Works of the Church bear witness to Jesus >> Evangelism >> Obligation to preach the gospel >> Ambassador in chains – Pray for the proclamation of the gospel, that it may penetrate the darkness of this world. Paul says that he is an ambassador in chains, but even if he weren't in prison, he would still be a bondservant of Christ. He was in chains to the Lord; he was God’s slave, as though a robot doing his master’s will. Whatever buttons God pushed is what Paul did without question. Does God really make robots of people? Not at all! When we think about the devil enslaving people by their own fleshly impulses, whether it be through sex, drugs and rock-n-roll, or something else, they do not control their own addictions, which borders on robotic behavior, yet these same people complain that God makes robots of His people. Rather, He calls us to incorporate faith in everything we do, which is the ultimate act of our will. (152ia) Witness >> Validity of the Father >> Witnesses of the father >> Prophets >> The Church holds the position of a prophet >> Church operates under a prophetic anointing >> Delivering a prophetic message from God Eph 6-19 (231a) Kingdom of God >> God’s kingdom is a living organism >> Mystery of godliness >> Solving the mystery of godliness >> The Church discloses the mystery of Christ Eph 6-20 (61a) Paradox >> Two implied meanings >> Prisoner—In jail / Of God’s will KJV WEB / Navigation Bar Eph 6-21,22 (14l) Servant >> Ministry of helps >> Helpers fill in the gaps >> Messengers help in communications – They didn’t have telephones in the first century, or TVs or cell phones; communications were by word of mouth or hand-written letters. Although there was the written language it wasn’t as prolific as it is now, partly due to illiteracy but mostly due to the fact that paper wasn’t invented yet. Parchment and other materials back then was expensive, compared to a sheet of paper today; though it is useful, it is almost worthless from abundance. Consequently, just about everything was conveyed by word of mouth, unless it was very important, such as the letter Paul wrote to the Ephesians while in prison, where he mentioned his faithful messenger, Tychicus. There weren’t dozens of people lining up to be Paul’s messengers but a finite number of faithful men. Anyone who was close to Paul had a blameless reputation by requirement. He did not rub shoulders with people of ill-repute, simply because it wouldn’t look good. If onlookers saw Paul associating with people of questionable character, they would have questioned Paul's character too. (32g) Gift of God >> Father will honor you if you die to self >> Your faithfulness – Anybody’s name found in the Bible in a positive context was good as a signature in the Lamb’s Book of Life; they are both permanent records. What did Tychicus do to receive this honor? He was a servant! He wasn’t a great orator; he didn’t have people working under him; he wasn’t important in the world's eyes. God will honor us too if we serve Him, but those who reject this purpose will someday meet God and want Him to honor them then. Too bad they can’t think about it now and live for that day, like some who have wisdom and busy themselves preparing to meet Jesus. The more service we render, the more faithfulness we show, the more obedience we prove, the better our experience in heaven. When we meet Him we will know then that all our weeks, months and years of service were worth it. (228c) Kingdom of God >> God’s kingdom is a living organism >> God working in you >> Comforted >> We are comforted in the presence of God >> Holy Spirit is our comforter (247e) Priorities >> God’s priorities >> God’s interests >> Concern >> Concerned about your well being Eph 6-21 (102c) Thy kingdom come >> Faithfulness (Loyalty) >> Faithfulness is dependable >> God’s servants are dependable – One advantage of surrounding ourselves with loyal people is that we can trust them. Another advantage is their spiritual fellowship, because they have the same faith that we have in Jesus, and there is nothing like two or more people coming together and sharing their faith. It is the very definition of encouragement. Edification is the word that best describes encouragement, and the root word of “edification” is edifice, which means house or dwelling, more specifically a rooftop. Encouragement (edification through spiritual fellowship) is where we go to get out of the rain, sort-a-speak. Paul associated with likeminded people and basked under the umbrella of their loyalty. Spiritual fellowship is one of the main advantages of Christianity in this life, though it is extremely rare these days. See also: Spiritual fellowship; 1The 5-10,11; 76k Eph 6-23,24 (125b) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Faith and love >> Faith toward God and love toward man (138h) Temple >> Building the temple (with hands) >> Exhortation >> Exhorting the people to glorify God – “Faith and love” is a recurring theme throughout the New Testament. There is a relationship between them in that faith is the basis of love and love is the manifestation of faith, and wherever these coexist there is peace. The reason we can be patient with somebody is that we have the peace of God resting on us. The best way to deal with a person who requires our patience is through God's peace that dwells in us. Incorruptible love is divine, originating from heaven, understood as faith. It originates from the Spirit of God, given to us to give to others. He entrusts His treasures to us that nobody can take from us, this faith that originates from heaven, kept by God and entrusted to us, proving that we possess something from God. Love that we manifest through faith is the grace of God. People talk about grace and mercy together as though they were the same, but they’re not. Mercy is what we received from God on the basis of faith in Jesus’ blood sacrifice, while the works we produce through His faith is the grace of God. See also: Faith and love of the truth; 1Cor 13-7; 99g Eph 6-23 (126a) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Peace >> God is at peace >> The peace from God Eph 6-24 (116i) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Working the grace of God >> Working God’s kindness (208fa) Salvation >> The salvation of God >> Personal relationship >> Being the friend of God >> Relationship with God through obedience >> We resemble Him through faith (243g) Kingdom of God >> The eternal kingdom >> The indestructible kingdom >> The body of Christ is indestructible >> The indestructible kingdom within us – We love one another with the love of God. In this we are incorruptible, and one day we will inherit a body that is incorruptible. God is asking us to remain homogenous in body and heart in order that all things may point in one direction, toward Christ that we may exhibit His character through the fruits of the Spirit, and lead an incorruptible life that others may be saved and God glorified.