Ephesians 6 - The Armor of God
As we saw yesterday in Ephesians 5 - May the Righteous Shine, Paul was exhorting the Ephesians to live intimate (i.e., emotionally trusting, not necessarily sexual) lives with the believing Christians God has put in your life. After focusing on the practical consequences of attaching yourself intimately with unbelievers (they don’t have God’s light, and so at least unwittingly bring you into darkness), Paul then turns his focus to exactly how you should be within your Christian relationships. As Paul states in 5:21:
Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.
He then gives examples in chapters 5 and 6 of the kinds of relationships the Ephesians were already participating in, and submission might work within them, to give them perspective on themselves and what living in God’s light means for the relationships they are currently in: marriage, children, slaves, etc., because we are members of the church, and we all submit to God and Christ. I do not believe the list is a complete list of relationships, and I do not believe it establishes a doctrine of what kinds of relationships are expected of us, but rather it’s a list of the types of relationships the Ephesians already had in place. Some were prescribed by God (children-to-parents, marriage) and some not (slaves to masters), but in all cases the expectation was that if you are in a relationship that includes a dominant member and a submissive member, then take it seriously, and conduct yourself like a child of God.
Next, Paul describes how to actually go about living seriously in this world. He discusses how to live among the saved and the unsaved, and uses imagery referred to as the Armor of God. Now, I have written on this previously in Reflections: What is Life? Choosing to Live in the Light, and it brings things together quite nicely. It takes the light and the darkness we discussed in Ephesians 5 - May the Righteous Shine, and gives it another perspective, and then moves on the Armor itself, and how it helps us. I also write about it toward the bottom of 2 Corinthians 6 - Using God’s Grace in Vain - Paul’s Guide to Relationships. I apologize for the all the extra reading, but I believe reading through these posts works together to pain a picture of our challenge in this life, how we are to interact with the unsaved, and how we are to protect ourselves against Satan while we do so.
Please read these other posts, and then pray to God about how He might use you to today. Then, put on the full armor of God and let God use you to shine light upon the darkness… you might find someone who got lost searching for God.