Ephesians 6
Children Obey Your Parents
(Ephesians 6:1-4)
Children fall under the Torah of their parents until adulthood. There's no formula guaranteeing godly children, but here are a few pastoral tips from Ephesians 6.
Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. (Ephesians 6:1)
The book of Ephesians is primarily about the relationship between Israel and the nations. Prior to the proclamation of the good news about Yeshua, there was no relationship. The Gentiles were far off, strangers and aliens, without God and without hope, foreigners to the covenants of promise and outside of the commonwealth of Israel. That changed with the introduction of the good news about Yeshua. Now the apostles, prophets, teachers, and evangelists of the Yeshua-believers represent Israel on a mission to bring God's revelation to the nations. The Gentile disciples of Yeshua represent the first fruits of that mission to the nations.
The first several chapters of the epistle describe this new and unprecedented relationship. Paul describes the union of Jewish and Gentile disciples into the assembly of Messiah in metaphysical terms as "one new man." He describes how the dividing wall that once kept Jews and Gentiles separate has been removed by the Messiah. He explains that the Jewish disciples received the Spirit and were given the responsibility of serving the nations as apostles, prophets, teachers, and evangelists. In the Epistle to the Ephesians, Paul speaks about the unity of the Jewish people and Gentile disciples without abandoning the distinction between Israel and the nations. In other writings, he categorizes that distinction as analogous to that of a male and female, or of slave and free, while pointing out that the various categories all share the same criteria for participation in the kingdom and the World to Come: Messiah Yeshua:
There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. (Galatians 3:28)
Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircum-cised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all. (Colossians 3:11)
The distinctions remain in place, but all are saved by faith in the Messiah. In the kingdom, there is no difference in criteria for salvation.
After his discussion about the relationship between Israel and the Gentile disciples (Ephesians 1-4), Paul transitions to discussing the implications of the new union in Messiah, specifically as it applies to three other types of relationships:
Husbands and wives (5:22-33)
Children and parents (6:1-4)
Slaves and masters (6:5-9)
The new identity found in Messiah transforms these relationships, just as it has transformed the relationship between Jews and Gentiles in Messiah. Paul presents rules governing each relationship to explain how the new identity in Messiah impacts it.
Not coincidentally, Jewish law makes a distinction between these categories as well. Three blessings in the morning prayers at the beginning of the Siddur distinguish between Jew and Gentile, male and female, slave and free.
Blessed are you, LORD our God, King of the universe, who has not made me a woman.
Blessed are you, LORD our God, King of the universe, who has not made me a Gentile.
Blessed are you, LORD our God, King of the universe, who has not made me a slave.
These three blessings are unfortunately formulated in such a way as to sound offensive, misogynistic, racist, and classist. Believe it or not, that's not the actual intention of these three infamous blessings. The liturgy was not intended to give Jewish men a pat on the back every morning for not being Gentiles or women. Instead, these blessings are supposed to remind a Jewish man that he belongs to God and has no exemptions from the obligations of the Torah.
A woman, a Gentile, and a slave are all exempt from certain commandments of the Torah. For example, a woman need not wear tzitzit, don tefillin, pray at the fixed times of prayer, or perform other commandments specifically incumbent upon a Jewish male. A Gentile need not observe the Sabbath, the calendar, or the strict dietary laws. A slave has no rights of his own and is therefore exempt from the commandments he cannot perform because he is under his master's con-trol. Therefore, the three blessings are intended to distinguish these categories of people and remind the Jewish male that he has no exemptions to the Torah as others do. He is God's slave. These three blessings are not supposed to be anti-Gentile, anti-female, or anti-slave. Instead, they are intended as offerings of thanksgiving to God for one's specific obligations to the Torah.
It's not coincidental that while discussing the relationship between Israel and the nations and the distinction between Jewish and Gentile disciples, Paul goes on to discuss these additional categories in which occur similar distinctions regarding one's respective obligations to the Torah.
Husbands and wives are described as "one flesh," but their roles differ dramatically. Husbands must love their wives sacrificially, but wives must submit to their husbands "as to the Master." Likewise, children and parents share a close union but with different roles, privileges, and responsibilities-children must honor and obey their parents, and parents must instruct their children in the discipline of discipleship and godliness. Slaves and masters are both fellow servants of "their Master in heaven."
It's worth pointing out that the epistle discusses one category of relationship that doesn't appear in the formula of the three blessings but still follows the same pattern. There is no blessing in the Siddur that says, "Blessed are you ... who has not made me a child." That's because, in fact, God did make all of us as children. Everyone begins life as a child. Nevertheless, this category fits the pattern of distinguishing between those who are obligated to the whole Torah and those who are not. A child under the age of puberty is not obligated to the commandments as an adult is. That's the point of the "bar mitzvah"" which means "son of the commandment." At the age of thirteen, a boy becomes officially obligated to observe the Torah as an adult.
For example, before becoming a bar mitzvah, a boy is not required to wear tzitzit, don tetillin, pray at the appointed times, recite the Shabbat Kiddush, or fast on Yom Kippur. Children are exempt from many of the commandments. One might wonder, "What rules must a child observe?" Paul explains that children are obligated to obey their par-ents: "Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right" (Ephe-sians 6:1). To the child, the parents carry the authority of the Torah. Moreover, children are specifically obligated to the commandment of honoring their parents.
Before entering into further discussion on Ephesians 6, it's worth emphasizing that Paul is still working within these legal categories. Israel and the nations retain their distinction, but in Messiah, they are joined into one metaphysical body—the body of Messiah. Males and females retain their distinction, but in marriage, they are joined into one new identity as "one flesh." Therefore, husbands should love their wives as the Messiah loves the assembly, and wives should honor their husbands and defer to their authority. Adults and children retain their distinction, but children should obey their parents, and parents should raise their children in the discipline and instruction of the Master. Slaves and masters retain a legal distinction, but in Messiah, slaves should serve their masters as if serving Messiah, and masters should treat their slaves with dignity and respect as fellow servants of Messiah.
Honor Your Father and Mother
Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. "Honor your father and mother" (this is the first commandment with a promise), "that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land." (Ephesians 6:1-3)
Paul binds the Gentile disciples in Ephesus with the commandment to "honor your father and mother." Jewish law does not consider this commandment to be an obligation for Gentiles. The sages did not include the commandment to honor one's mother and father in the list of seven laws commanded to the son of Noah. Why? The justification for excluding the commandment to honor one's parents from the universal Noachide laws is never stated explicitly. However, one could presume that a Gentile's parents were idolaters and that honoring them would involve allegiance to their idolatrous faith and practice, participation in idolatrous rituals, and possibly even veneration of the dead in the form of ancestor worship.
Paul had a different perspective. He wanted Gentile disciples to preserve relationships with their idolatrous families if possible. For example, he encouraged disciples married to unbelieving spouses to remain with those spouses if they could (1 Corinthians 7:14-16). The apostles always weighed the commandments and assessed them under the criteria of the commandment, "Love your neighbor as yourself" (Leviticus 19:18). The apostles considered any commandment that could be construed to fall under that broad categorical commandment to apply universally to both Jews and Gentile disciples:
For the commandments, "You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet," and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. (Romans 13:9-10)
For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." (Galatians 5:13-14)
A Story from the Talmud
Even though the sages considered Gentiles free of the obligation to honor their parents, they described it as praiseworthy for Gentiles to do so. A story from the Talmud describes a delegation of sages from the Sanhedrin attempting to buy a precious stone from a non-Jewish gem merchant in Ashkelon. They needed the gem for the high priest's breastplate, and they were willing to pay an extraordinary price. The gem merchant refused to even show them the precious stone despite the generous offer. He explained that his father kept the key to the safe under his pillow, and seeing that his father was at that time sleeping, he would not disturb him even for such a fortune. The sages took this story as instructive, saying, "If this is how one who is not obligated to honor his parents behaves, how much more so is it incumbent upon Jews to honor their parents."
Another Story from the Talmud
The Talmud refers to the commandment of honoring one's parents as one of the weightiest commandments in the Torah. It contrasts and compares it with one of the least of the commandments, "you shall not take the mother with the young" (Deuteronomy 226). The Talmud points out that the Torah offers the same reward for both command-ments: "That it may be well with you and that you may prolong your days." On this basis, Rabbi Yehudah said, "Be as scrupulous observing a small commandment as you are observing a great commandment for you do not know what the reward of each is" (m.Avot 2:1).
Paul refers to this as the "first commandment with a promise, which should be understood as an allusion to reward in the kingdom and the World to Come. A story in the Talmud raises an anecdotal objection to the notion that keeping a particular commandment can guarantee an individual reward in this lifetime:
A father said to his son, "Climb up the tree and send away the mother bird and bring me the young birds." The son climbed the tree, drove off the mother bird, and took the young from the nest, thereby keeping both the commandment of honoring his father and the commandment of driving away the mother bird]. As he climbed back down to his father, he fell to his death. In what way did it go well with him? In what way were his days prolonged? Instead, the words "that it may be well with you" refer only to the day that all is wholly well, and the words "that you may prolong your days" refer only to the day that is wholly long. (b. Kiddushin 39b)
The Discipline and Instruction of the Master
Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. (Ephe-sians 6:4)
Children are duty-bound to obey and honor their parents, but parents are not licensed to treat children harshly or heavy-handedly. Fathers are warned against provoking their children. They are not to regard their children as their property. Instead, they are to accord their children the dignity of a fellow human being and fellow child of God. Parents are told to raise their children "in the discipline (musar] and instruction of the Master," teaching their children the words of Yeshua and the obligations of discipleship. The reference to "discipline ... of the Master" in Ephesians 6:4 refers to discipleship to the Master, not punishments for misbehavior.
Jacob and Esau
In the Torah portion Toldot, Isaac and Rebekah are desperate to have children. They try for twenty years. Isaac stands opposite Rebekah and prays for her. Why do they want children so badly? Because they need sons to carry on the Abrahamic legacy and to inherit the promises God gave to Abraham. They want children so they can transmit their faith to a new generation. After all, God chose Abraham only because he saw that Abraham would pass his faith on to his children:
For I have chosen him, that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing righteousness and justice, so that the LORD may bring to Abraham what he has promised him. (Genesis 18:19)
Likewise, the Torah commands the Jewish people to teach the commandments to their children: "You shall teach them diligently to your children" (Deuteronomy 6:4). Paul extends this obligation to Gentile disciples when he tells them to raise their children in the discipline and instruction of the Master. The parent is thus enjoined to correct his or her children and guide them on the straight and narrow path that leads to life. A disciple of Yeshua must not raise his or her children as King David raised Absalom and Adonijah:
His father had never at any time displeased him by asking, "Why have you done thus and so?" (1 Kings 1:6)
Yet, despite our best efforts, kids don't always make the same choices in religion and morality that we have made. Many of us did not make the same choices that our parents made. This is illustrated well by Jacob and Esau. The twins wrestle in the womb. We don't understand why they are wrestling until they are born. Then we see that they are polar opposites in nature. One is hairy; one is smooth. Esau is a man of the field; Jacob is a perfect man, staying at home. Esau seeks to satisfy his appetites, chasing soup and Hittite girls. Jacob is looking for the spiritual inheritance of Abraham.
Nature vs. Nurture
When Rebekah had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac, though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad—in order that God's purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of him who calls—she was told, "The older will serve the younger." As it is written, "Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated." (Romans 9:10-13)
Psychologists debate the roles of nature and nurture in the development of human personality, character, and behavior. The story of Jacob and Esau demonstrates that the ultimate outcome of a human being is not based on nature or nurture. Both boys shared the same genetic material, being twins and sons of Isaac and Rebekah. Both shared the same nurture, being raised in the same home by the same family at the same time. So what accounts for the big difference between Jacob and Esau? It turns out that they were entirely different people.
From the moment of conception, the souls that come to inhabit these bodies are already people. The personalities are already there. Yes, we can influence them. Hopefully, we can persuade them toward godliness and discipleship. But they will make their own decisions in life. We can't make decisions for people. Children are not formless lumps of clay ready to be shaped by our hands. They are individuals in possession of their own unique souls-transcendent and heavenly beings.
Parents take too much credit for themselves when their children meet or exceed their expectations. Likewise, parents blame themselves too much when their children disappoint their expectations.
Tips for Raising Disciples
There's no formula to guarantee that you will raise godly children. But here are a few tips for mom and dad if you want to raise kids that stay in faith.
1. Teach your children to honor their parents.
Part of keeping children in the faith and raising them to lead godly lives involves teaching them to honor you. A child who honors his parents will naturally be reluctant to disappoint his or her parents' expectations and therefore reluctant to abandon the faith and stray into godlessness. But how do you teach your children to honor you?
If you want your children to honor you, you should model that by demonstrating utmost reverential honor for your own parents. Both sets of parents. Children learn through imitation. When they see how you honor your parents, they will imitate your model.
A father cannot teach his child to honor him by demanding honor. Neither can a mother teach her child to honor her by demanding to be honored. Instead, we teach our children to honor us by honoring our parents and our spouses. When a child observes his mother honoring his father and vice versa, then the child learns the art of honoring father and mother. Only the mother can teach a child to honor the father. Only the father can teach the child to honor the mother.
The sages say that Esau had one great redeeming quality despite his wickedness and self-indulgences: He honored Isaac. No son ever honored his father as Esau honored Isaac. However, he failed to honor his mother, Rebekah. In contrast, Jacob honored his mother, but he failed to show proper honor to his father. The story might have been different if Isaac had taught Esau to honor Rebekah and Rebekah had taught Jacob to honor Isaac.
2. Teach your children to honor their religion.
A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If then I am a father, where is my honor? And if I am a master, where is my fear? (Malachi 1:6)
Children must be taught the fear of the LORD. This is accomplished only by modeling the fear of the LORD. If you want your children to stay in your religion, you need to show them that you yourselves honor your religion. When at all possible, it's important for both parents to share the same faith and be on the same page about their observance. Both parents need to present the same set of values and expectations regarding religious devotions. Disagreements over matters of faith and practice should never occur in front of the children. Talk them through privately, but parents should always present a consolidated approach to faith.
Moreover, religious upheaval, such as switching churches or switching religions, is not good for kids. Consistency is key. If we show our children that we are free to leave our religion to explore another, they may well follow our example.
3. Teach your children to honor their community of faith.
Engage in your religious faith and participate to the fullest extent, both in public and private, at your place of fellowship and also at home. Never speak dismissively of the religious values of your faith com-munity. Beware of dismissing "traditions of men" or communicating to your children that religious observances are only for the pious but not for you.
Don't disparage your place of worship, your spiritual leaders, your teachers, or their teachings in front of your children. Beware the after-service critique of the pastor's sermon or the rabbi's talk. Your children are listening, and they are absorbing your disrespect. Don't expect them to respect their religious leaders if you do not respect yours.
We have all seen this happen enough times to understand the pattern. The kids in families where the parents are unhappy with their place of worship don't grow up and find a congregation that suits them better. More often, they want nothing to do with religion at all. They want to stay far away from the religion that brought so much unhappiness into their parents' homes.
4. Provide your children with godly peers.
It's essential to provide your children with godly peers, preferably from your community of faith or one affiliated with it. But don't assume other children from your faith community are godly peers. Look for friends who will reinforce your values.
It's especially important to provide opportunities for your children to mix with godly peers of the opposite gender. Rebekah was disgusted when Esau married Hittite girls, but he was already forty years old, and his parents had done nothing to provide him with a wife. Realizing their mistake, they sent Jacob to Aram to find a wife from among Rebekah's family.
If our children learn to honor their parents, their religion, their religious community, and to find friends and potential spouses among godly peers, they will have a better chance of remaining within the fold of our faith. For those of you raising children: good luck. Best wishes. God's blessings. However, I think it is also helpful to remember that you don't own them. They don't belong to you. They've been entrusted to you for safekeeping and lent to you for a little while. For those brief few years, we do our best. But every single one of them is an individual with a unique soul and a unique path.
Servants and Masters
(Ephesians 6:5-9)
Apostolic directives for slaves and their owners in the Roman world have modern implications for discipleship today. Ephesians 6 teaches principles for distinction theology, discipleship, and the service of God.
Once, it happened that Rab Yehudah HaNasi (Judah the Prince) needed to send a letter to the Roman Emperor. He called in his secretary, Rabbi Assef, and said, "I need you to write while I dictate a letter to the emperor." Rabbi Assef sat down and wrote the salutation: "From Rabbi Yehudah the Prince to our Lord the Emperor Antonious." Rabbi Yehudah read what Assef had written, tore it up, and threw it away. "Why did you do that? What's wrong with that?" Assef asked. Rabbi Yehudah said, "It should say, "To our Lord, the emperor from your servant Yehudah." Don't put my name in front of his name, and don't call me Judah the Prince when talking to the emperor; call me Judah your servant."
Rabbi Assef didn't like this. He complained, "Rabbi Yehudah, why are you lowering your dignity? Why would you humble yourself when writing to an idolater like the Roman emperor? Why not put your name first? And why not call yourself the Nasi, the prince, because that is what you are to the sages? And why debase yourself and call yourself the emperor's servant?" Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi replied, "Am I better than my forefather Jacob? When he sent his servants out to meet Esau on the road, he sent them with a message. He told his servants, "When you see Esau, thus shall you say to my lord Esau, 'Thus says your servant Jacob."
The Servant of the LORD
The story of Abraham sending his servant Eliezer on a mission to Haran to obtain a spouse for his son Isaac was programmatic for the apostles. The apostles took their sense of mission and their mode of prayer in their Master's name from this story. Just as Eliezer identified himself only as the servant of Abraham (i.e., the slave of Abraham), they always identified themselves as "servants of Yeshua" (i.e., "the slaves of Yeshua"). The distinction between servant and slave does not exist in Biblical Hebrew. The Hebrew word eved gets translated into our English Bibles as either "servant" or "slave," but this is an artificial distinction. It means slave. An eved is a human being owned by someone else.
Why do we refer to Yeshua as "Master?" This is the title by which a slave addresses his owner. Yeshua said, "A slave is not above his master, nor is a disciple above his teacher. You call me master and teacher, and rightfully so, for so I am." Though he himself came among us as one who serves, we are, in relation to him, as his servants, moreover, as his slaves. Think of his many parables in which he compares himself to a man who goes away on a journey and leaves his slaves in charge of his affairs and household. We are to understand ourselves as Yeshua's slaves.
This is similar to what God said regarding all the children of Israel. He said, "They are my servants, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt; they shall not be sold as slaves" (Leviticus 25:42). This explains why Isaiah refers to the nation of Israel as the eved HaShem, "the servant of the LORD," a title that he also applies to the Messiah, the King of Israel, as the chief "slave of the LORD."
The Service of the LORD
Moreover, the service of the LORD, which is the worship of the LORD, is called avodah, a Hebrew word ordinarily used to describe the service rendered by an eved, a slave. You can hear the root word eved inside the word avodah. It's the service a slave renders to his or her master.
In the Bible and in Judaism, the daily prayers and the observances of the Torah, particularly the ceremonial, ritual, liturgical, and Levitical observances, are generally and collectively referred to as the avodah-that is, "the service." We also translate it as "worship." But that's why we speak of a "worship service" as a service. One engaged in worship is engaged in the service of the king, serving a master.
Exemptions from the Avodah
In our previous studies in Ephesians, I pointed out that every Jewish male has this status of eved HaShem ("slave of the LORD") in that he has no exemptions from the service (avodah) of the LORD. He is responsible for the Torah's ceremonial, ritual, liturgical, and Levitical observances. This is why the daily prayers require every adult Jewish male to acknowledge every morning that he is not a woman, not a Gentile, and not a slave —that is, not a slave to someone else. All those categories of people have exemptions from the avodah. So do children under the age of bar/bat mitzvah.
We saw how the Epistle to the Ephesians addresses these differ-ences. The first several chapters address the distinctions between the Jewish people and the Gentile disciples, emphasizing their unity as one new metaphysical identity in Messiah without losing sight of the differentiation between Jews and Gentiles along the way. The emphasis is put on unity and mutual submission despite differences. The Gentile disciples are said to be being built together with the Jewish disciples on the foundation of the prophets and the apostles. This new identity has implications for the Gentile disciples. While not making them Jewish, it imposes a higher moral standard derived from the Scriptures of Israel, which Paul makes clear in his discussions on living as children of light.
After his discussion about the relationship between Israel and the Gentile disciples (Ephesians 1-4), the epistle goes on to talk about the other distinctions in obligation to the service of God: women, children, and slaves, three classes of people who enjoy some level of exemptions to the avodah.
The new identity found in Messiah transforms each of these rela-tions, just as it has transformed the relationship between Jews and Gentiles in Messiah. Paul presents rules governing each relationship to explain how the new identity in Messiah impacts it.
Husbands and wives are described as "one flesh"" but their roles differ dramatically. Husbands must love their wives sacrificially, but wives must submit to their husbands "as to the Master." Likewise, children and parents share a close union but with different roles, privileges, and responsibilities- children must honor and obey their parents, and parents must instruct their children in the discipline of discipleship and godliness. Finally, he addresses the implications for slaves and their masters.
As Yeshua himself said, "No one can serve two masters." There-fore, a slave is considered exempt from the avodah because he is not the master of his own time and decisions. He belongs to a competing master. In practical terms, this means that a Jewish slave was not required to pray at the set times of prayer, offer prescribed sacrifices, don tefillin or tzitzit, or undertake many of the various other obligations of Jewish law unless his master required it of him. This is also why God doesn't want his people to be slaves to others. They are his slaves.
Slavery in the Roman World
It's important to point out that we are not discussing biblical slavery as spelled out in the Torah. Those laws, which discuss the obligations of Jewish slave-owners in possession of Jewish slaves, essentially reduce slavery to a six-year term of indentured servanthood, after which the slave must be released and even compensated for his labors. That's not the type of slavery in view here. That's not how Roman slavery worked. Roman slavery was real slavery, and it was common.
In Ephesians, Paul is speaking about slavery as it existed in the Roman world.
This is not the first time Paul invokes the Roman institution of slav-ery. Earlier in the epistle, we discussed the concept of manumission within a Roman household. Paul used that institution as a helpful metaphor to explain a Gentile disciple's role in the kingdom when juxtaposed against the national identity of Israel. He compared Gentile disciples within the family of Israel to the household servant, or slave, in a Roman household, who has gone through manumission to become an honorary member of the family. In some cases, such a slave was allowed to take the family's surname and, through that process, obtain Roman citizenship. Paul's parents, or perhaps his grandparents, may have gone through that very process back in Tarsus, and that's probably how Paul obtained citizenship. It also explains his association with the Synagogue of the Freedmen in Jerusalem. "Freedmen" is a term used to describe former slaves.
In the Roman economy, slaves were considered property. Roman law protected the rights of slave-owners, but it accorded no legal personhood to a slave. Even though manumission was a possibility, it rarely happened. Most slaves would never be freed. Without legal protections, slaves were subject to any type of corporal punishment or torture their masters might impose, and if a slave-owner killed his slave, that was his business. Slaves were also used for sex. In the Roman world, prostitutes were almost always slaves.
In first-century Italy, about 40 percent of the population were slaves. Across the rest of the empire, the numbers were somewhere around 15 percent. That doesn't mean everyone had slaves. Only the elite upper class owned slaves. However, they had lots of them. It's not a surprise that many of the disciples in Paul's communities were slaves, or even that some were owners of slaves. (The Epistle to Philemon deals directly with that issue. Philemon, a disciple of Yeshua in Colossae, owned a slave named Onesimus who escaped to Rome, where he became a disciple under Paul's influence.) With all this background on slavery in place, we are ready to look at the next few verses of Ephesians 6.
Masters according to the Flesh
Slaves, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, with a sincere heart, as you would Christ. (Ephesians 6:5)
The apostle directs slaves to obey their "earthly masters." The Greek term translated "earthly masters" is more literally translated as "mas-ters according to the flesh, i.e., your "physical masters." Paul's need to distinguish one's master as a "physical master" implies the existence of a "spiritual master." He reminds the disciples in slavery that their earthly masters are not their real masters. Instead, they are slaves to Yeshua —their spiritual master.
This is similar to Yeshua's saying about persecution: "Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body" (Matthew 10:28). Paul directs the disciples in slavery to obey their earthly masters sincerely and devoutly, "with fear and trembling" as if they were serving the Messiah himself, who, in turn, is the Eved HaShem, "the Slave of the LORD." In this way, Paul reconciles the difficulty raised by the teaching of Yeshua that "no one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other" (Matthew 6:24). By serving the earthly master to honor the heavenly master, the believing slave casts his full allegiance with Yeshua.
Fear and Trembling
Slaves, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, with a sincere heart, as you would Christ, not by the way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but as servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, rendering service with a good will as to the Lord and not to man. (Ephesians 6:5-7)
In slave-owning cultures, the lazy slave is proverbial. The typical slave shirks his duties and responsibilities and only makes a show of working hard while under direct observation. The Master's parables refer to slaves misbehaving when their masters are absent. The proverbs of Jewish wisdom literature encourage slave-owners to impose strict measures: "By mere words a servant is not disciplined, for though he understands, he will not respond" (Proverbs 29:19).
It's easy to understand why a slave would attempt to do as little as possible. He has no incentive to work hard or show himself to be industrious since his efforts will benefit only his master. A slave could not be expected to do more than the barest minimum he or she was forced to do.
Paul calls slaves who are also disciples to adopt a higher standard of service. They are to work "not by the way of eye-service," a reference to direct supervision. In keeping with the Master's teachings about going the extra mile and exceeding what is required of us, Paul calls upon slaves to show themselves responsible and diligent even in the absence of direct supervision. They are not to act as "people-pleasers"; instead, they are to remember that they are slaves of Messiah. Therefore, they should carry out their duties as if for Yeshua. The instructions invoke the story of Joseph, who performed his service in the house of Potiphar with such excellence and diligence that Potiphar elevated him to head of the household: "So he left all that he had in Joseph's charge, and because of him he had no concern about anything but the food he ate" (Genesis 39:6). (The story of Joseph also sets the limits of the slave's submission. Joseph refused to capitulate to the demands of Potiphar's wife. In the biblical worldview, a slave need not feel compelled to consent to sexual coercion.)
A disciple's higher-level work ethic that exceeds expectations has practical implications in today's workplace. The disciple of Yeshua should be among the highest caliber of employees, working with alac-rity, diligence, integrity, and attention to detail. I once met a house-painter who worked with his son painting houses in Minneapolis. Before he started work on a house, he told me that he would always tell his son, "This house belongs to Jesus, and that's who we are working for." Then they would give the job their best effort as if serving their heavenly Master, the Messiah. That's how a disciple should set about fulfilling the duties of his or her employment.
If so, how much more so should the same principle apply to our service of the Messiah, who says, "Why do you call me 'Master, Master, and not do what I tell you?" (Luke 6:46). With fear and trembling, we should serve Yeshua-not playing religious games but exercising genu-ine, honest, sincere, heartfelt submission to our heavenly Master. Our discipleship should be real and not a charade. We should not act one way in private and another in public; instead, we should always conduct ourselves knowing that his eyes are ever upon us.
Recompense from the LORD
Knowing that whatever good anyone does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether he is a slave or free. (Ephesians 6:8)
Paul encourages slaves to serve their earthly masters "with fear and trembling" as a component of their fear of the LORD. The "fear of the LORD" is the knowledge that God exists and that he rewards righteousness and punishes wickedness. Those who conduct themselves in a God-fearing manner according to the fear of the LORD have con-fidence that ultimately, their actions in this lifetime, whether good or bad, receive recompense. There is a reward for righteousness and a punishment for sin, whether in this life or the next.
In the Torah, Joseph might have complained that there was no reward for the good service he rendered to his earthly master. He served Potiphar with fear and trembling and ended up in prison on false charges. But the story wasn't over yet, and neither is our story over yet. Knowing this, that there is compensation to be paid out by God for all the good we do, we can serve our earthly masters cheerfully and with a pure heart, regardless of how well they might reward us or how they mistreat us. If this principle applies to the workplace, how much more so to the service of our heavenly Master.
Their Master and Yours
Masters, do the same to them, and stop your threatening, knowing that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and that there is no partiality with him. (Ephesians 6:9)
Having addressed the slaves, Paul turns to address the believing slave-owners on the other side of the relationship. He tells the slave-owners to "do the same to them"" meaning that they should treat their slaves with integrity, honesty, purity, and goodwill, both in public and private. They should keep in mind that God is watching them and will recompense them for the good or evil they do to their slaves. The apostle points out that spiritually speaking, both the slave-owner and the slave share the same heavenly Master.
This principle adjures the slave-owner to treat their slaves not as property but as fellow human beings. They are to grant them dignity, remembering that the distinction between slave and master exists only in this world. In the sight of heaven, all men are equal, and before God, there is no partiality.
This directive to slave-owners has practical implications for how we treat those in our employ and anyone occupying a lower social station than ourselves. It also has ramifications for the distinction between Jews and Gentiles, which, ultimately, is the theme of the epistle to the Ephesians.
No Distinction
There is no partiality with him. (Ephesians 6:9)
The Greek translated as "there is no partiality with him" could be more literally translated to read that with God, there is no "respect of faces." This turn of phrase hearkens back to Peter's initial revelation in the household of Cornelius, where he used the same term in his surprising declaration: "Truly I [now] understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him" (Acts 10:34-35). That revelation became the theological basis for welcoming Gentiles into the school of Yeshua's disciples and granting them standing in the kingdom. It's the origin of Paul's frequently repeated axiom about the equal standing of Jewish and Gentile disciples before God:
There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. (Galatians 3:28)
Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircum-cised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all. (Colossians 3:11)
There is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For "everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." (Romans 10:12-13)
Yet, as regards this world ("according to the flesh"), such distinctions do remain in place, and these relationships still need to be navi-gated, even for Yeshua-believers. It's possible to be a believing slave or a believing slave-owner as long as one acknowledges that their real Master is the Messiah. In that regard, they are equals, and there is no distinction between them. In terms of this world ("according to the flesh"), however, there remains a distinction, just as there remains a distinction between children and adults and between husbands and wives and between Jews and Gentiles concerning their respective roles and obligations in Messiah.
Slaves of the Messiah
Ultimately, the lesson regarding slaves and masters teaches us that we are not to see ourselves as our own masters. To be your own master is to be a slave to sin and self, as our Master says, "Everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin" (John 8:34). Bob Dylan puts it succinctly in his song, "Gotta Serve Somebody. One who lives for himself or herself, serving himself or herself alone, has a cruel and relentless taskmaster. It's a life of slavery to the evil inclination.
The apostles teach us that we do not serve ourselves. Instead, we are slaves of the Messiah. The Messiah owns us, bought and paid for. Therefore, we endeavor not to do our own will but his will (even as he sets aside his will for the sake of his Father's), whether we be slave or free in this world ("according to the flesh"), child or adult, male or female, Jew or Gentile. We all share a common Master. We are servants of Messiah, fellow bondservants with the apostles and disciples, and slaves to righteousness.
Not Against Flesh and Blood
(Ephesians 6:10-12)
Stand against the schemes of the devil and learn about spiritual warfare in Ephesus. Here's the real story behind the "armor of God" in Ephesians 6 and the meaning of "the devil's schemes."
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. (Ephesians 6:10)
Beginning with the word "finally" Ephesians 6:10 indicates that our study in the Epistle to the Ephesians is wrapping up. We have "finally" come to the end of the epistle. Almost. It says, "Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might." These words, coming at the conclusion of the epistle, should remind us of Moses' final words to Israel and to Joshua, in which he frequently repeated the admonition, "Be strong and courageous." In the last days of his life, Moses encouraged Israel to "be strong and courageous" because he knew they would face war as they went into the land of Canaan. He did not want them to shrink back, as their fathers had done a generation earlier, and abandon the land. Likewise, Paul knew that the disciples in Ephesus faced war-not a physical war of flesh and blood, but a spiritual war.
Don't forget about the context in Ephesus. Remember the story of the riot: "Great is Artemis of the Ephesians." Ephesus was a spiritual warzone because Ephesus belonged to Artemis, i.e., Diana. The temple of Artemis at Ephesus was considered one of the seven wonders of the world, and the many-breasted idol of Artemis at the center of the temple was said to have fallen from the sky. When Paul's teaching led to Gentile idolaters in Ephesus abandoning Artemis and turning to worship the God of Israel, their defection inspired a riot in which the citizens of the city turned against the Jewish population and several Jews were nearly killed. Paul was forced to flee, and he could never return to Ephesus. So he knew that there is real spiritual warfare in Ephesus. In anticipation of future conflicts, he told the Ephesian disciples, "Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might."
The Armor of God
Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. (Ephesians 6:11)
The passage about the "armor of God" brings us into some familiar ter-ritory. If you grew up in a Bible-teaching church as I did, you encountered this passage frequently. You probably heard many teachings about the armor of God. Many of us from an evangelical or charismatic background may be over-familiar with the passage. It's popular in teachings about "spiritual warfare." That over-familiarity can sometimes be an obstacle to reading the New Testament from a Jewish per-spective. If you grew up in Messianic Judaism, on the other hand, this passage might be all new to you, but it shouldn't be. It's one of those that should be underlined and highlighted in your Bible:
Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace.
In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. (Ephesians 6:11-18)
A New Subject
Is this a new subject? As Paul launches into this discussion on spiritual warfare and girding oneself for battle, it seems as if he is introducing a totally new topic unrelated to the preceding discussion. But that doesn't make a lot of sense. Paul's letters are never collections of random thoughts. There's always some type of internally consistent logic organizing his discussions. Furthermore, he introduces this seemingly new subject with the word "finally," indicating that he has come to some type of conclusion based on the previous discussion.
Remember that this entire letter is about the same thing Paul always talks about: namely, the inclusion of Gentile disciples in the kingdom and the working through of the parameters of their relationship to Israel, the Torah, and the Jewish people. I think I've demonstrated that the text of the epistle is concerned with explaining the inclusion of the Gentile disciples, their unity with Israel in Messiah, and the resulting implications for their lives. It's some of Paul's most explicit teachings on the subject of what I call "distinction theology." This includes all the passages about the commonwealth of Israel, the one new man, the dividing wall of partition, the spiritual Temple, and the rest of Paul's metaphors. It's reasonable to ask what spiritual warfare and the armor of God have to do with that subject. It seems to have nothing to do with the relationship between Jews and Gentile believers in Messiah. However, although the transition sounds like an abrupt shift to a new subject, it's not. It's the same idea, the same concerns, and the same subject.
The Schemes of the Devil
Paul warns the disciples to arm themselves against "the schemes of the devil." The English word "devil" is really a mistranslation of the Greek diabolos, a word that literally means "accuser." In other words, it's the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew word satan, the accuser of the brethren.
Devil = Satan = Adversary = Accuser
What are the "schemes" of the devil? The phrase alludes to Genesis 3:1, where it says, "Now the serpent was more crafty (arum) than any other beast of the field." The Hebrew word translated by the ESV as "crafty" could also be rendered as "clever" "shrewd" or "scheming." According to Jewish lore, the serpent in the garden was possessed by Satan when he schemed to deceive Adam and Eve. Yeshua alludes to Genesis 3:1 when he warns his disciples to avoid falling into the hands of persecutors by being "wise as serpents and innocent as doves" (Mat-thew 10:16). He's not referring to divine wisdom. He's talking about being clever enough to stay one step ahead of those who wanted to harm them. We could translate Genesis 3:1 to say, "The serpent was more scheming than any other animal."
Ephesians 6 is not the only place Paul refers to the devil's schemes. It's an idea he invokes frequently. According to Paul's idea, the schemes of Satan and his many snares take place primarily in the realm of interpersonal relationships.
We Are Not Ignorant of His Schemes
For example, previously in the epistle, Paul warned his readers, "Do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil" (Ephesians 4:26-27). By retaining anger against one who has offended or sinned against us, we ally ourselves with the Satan, who seeks to bring his accusations against that person. Paul asks us to forgive everyone before we go to sleep so that the accuser has no basis for bringing his charges against the one who has offended us. Jewish liturgy prescribes the same exercise in the form of the so-called Bedtime Shema, a recitation of the Shema intended to literally fulfill the injunction, "when you lie down" (Deuteronomy 6:7). The recitation is prefaced with a legal declaration offering forgiveness and exoneration to anyone who has sinned against you:
Master of the Universe, behold I forgive and pardon anyone who angered me, or antagonized me or who sinned against me, whether relating to my body, or my money, or my honor, or anything that belongs to me, whether done accidentally, or willingly, unintentionally or intentionally, or whether with words, whether with actions, whether in this present incarnation, whether in another incarnation-any person of Israel. And may no person be punished because of me. (Bedtime Shema)
Paul said, "We are not ignorant of [Satan's schemes]." From Paul's perspective, unforgiveness toward a person gives the devil opportunity against that person —that's the devil's scheme. For that reason, Paul legally forgives those who sin against him, and when he does, he invokes the presence of the Messiah as a witness:
But one whom you forgive anything, I forgive also; for indeed what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, I did it for your sakes in the presence of the Messiah, so that no advantage would be taken of us by Satan, for we are not ignorant of his schemes. (2 Corinthians 2:10-11 NASB)
It should be clear that in Paul's mind, the schemes of the devil function in the sphere of interpersonal relationships. Satan invests his energy in destroying our relationships with one another. This explains why the writings of the apostles focus on the command of love for one another and so frequently admonish us with the commandments about "one to another." It also explains why we are so frequently and relentlessly beset with attitudes of unforgiveness and bitterness, contention and agitation, and why there are always people in a community who take an unholy delight and perverse satisfaction in stirring up trouble and fueling contention. In 1 Timothy 6:4-5, Paul warns about fellow believers who have "an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions, and constant friction among people who are depraved in mind and deprived of the truth." Yes, that sounds familiar.
Ostensibly, we should be the most loving people in the world; after all, we are the only people with an absolute mandate to love every-one-especially one another-as the Master loved us. Moreover, Yeshua himself said that the mark that distinguishes us as his disciples from every other people on earth is supposed to be our love for one another. So how can it be that disciples of Yeshua are beset with such inner animosity at work within our communities? It's the work of Satan.
Whenever my father faced trouble in the churches he led in the form of contentious people who fought with him, fought with one another, or otherwise disrupted the peace, he would remind himself, "We do not wrestle against flesh and blood." Before letting feelings of resentment or animosity dictate his attitude toward an individual, he would say to himself, "My enemy is not Mr. So-and-so; it's the devil."
The real spiritual battleground is not in demonic possession and exorcism (though I do not discount those situations or question their reality) but in how we treat one another. Solomon said, "The wise woman builds her house, but the foolish tears it down with her own hands" (Proverbs 14:1 NASB). It is almost always the case, both in the home and in the community, that the real danger comes not from outside but from within. This is the work of Satan, and we need to recognize it for what it is, and not join his team or give him an opportunity.
Not against Flesh and Blood
For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. (Ephesians 6:12)
What does the phrase "We do not wrestle against flesh and blood" remind us of? If we are reading Ephesians from a Jewish perspective, it should remind us of the story of Jacob, who wrestled an assailant who was not of flesh or blood. Of course, a cursory reading of the Torah might lead us to conclude that the assailant Jacob wrestled was the Angel of the LORD, as Jacob himself said, "I have seen God face to face" (Genesis 32:30), but the sages object to that interpretation. The story is not about Jacob's struggle with God; it's about Jacob's struggle with Esau. Jacob had been wrestling with his twin brother since before he and Esau were born.
The story of Jacob wrestling the angel comes in the context of the culmination of that narrative thread. It occurred as Jacob prepared to face off with Esau. He was afraid of facing his brother. He knew that Esau intended to kill him. He knew that Esau had come out with armed men and was on his way, at that very moment, to kill him. He had done what he could to prepare. He had divided his family into two camps in the hope that one might escape the sword of Esau. He had thrown himself on God, praying for God's help. That night, in the darkness, the wrestling match took place. So who does the angel represent? It represents Esau, and the struggle with the angel represents Jacob's struggle.
On this basis, Jewish tradition identified the angel with whom Jacob wrestled as "the angel of Esau" —not just Esau's guardian angel, but the angelic prince appointed over the nation of Edom (i.e., the nation founded by Esau). From that perspective, the idea is that Jacob needed to wrestle with and defeat the spiritual force behind Esau before he could be reconciled to Esau. Because he won the spiritual wrestling match, the battle was already over by the time he encountered Esau. Rather than killing him, Esau embraced him, and the brothers were reconciled. Jacob declared, "Seeing your face is like seeing the face of God." According to this interpretation, the spiritual battle is about personal relationships.
Principalities
It's obvious that Paul had the story of Jacob's encounter with the angelic prince of Edom in mind when he said, "We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities" (Ephesians 6:12 KJV). I prefer the King James Version's word "principalities" because it's a better translation of Paul's intent. In Judaism, the angel with whom Jacob wrestled is called the Prince of Edom (Sar Esav). The "principalities" against which we struggle are such angelic princes.
The idea is derived from the book of Daniel. In that story, Daniel received a troubling vision he did not understand. He prayed to God, asking for the interpretation of the vision. Heaven dispatched the angel Gabriel to bring Daniel the interpretation, but it took a long time for Gabriel to arrive. When he finally did arrive, he apologized to Daniel for his tardiness. He said, "The prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me for twenty-one days, but Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I was left there with the kings of Persia" (Daniel 10:13).
The Prince of Persia is the angelic prince over the nation of Persia. At that point in the Daniel story, Persia had just defeated Babylon, meaning that Daniel had fallen under the power of the Persians. Gabriel had to cut through the angelic defenses of the Principality of Persia to reach Daniel and deliver the message. He would not have been able to reach Daniel if the archangel Michael (one of the chief princes) had not come to his assistance.
Judaism teaches that each of the seventy nations is under the authority and administration of an angelic prince, but Israel is the LORD's portion. That idea is derived in part from the Torah portion Vayigash, which counts the seventy sons of Jacob who go down into Egypt. The Torah says, "All the persons of the house of Jacob who came into Egypt were seventy" (Genesis 46:27). A critical textual variant in Deuteronomy correlates that number with the number of angelic princes assigned over the nations. Compare Deuteronomy 32:8-9 as it appears in the New American Standard, the English Standard, and the Greek Septuagint (LXX):
When the Most High gave the nations their inheri-tance, when He separated the sons of man, He set the boundaries of the peoples according to the number of the sons of Israel. For the LORD's portion is His people;
Jacob is the allotment of His inheritance. (NASB)When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance, when he divided mankind, he fixed the borders of the peoples according to the number of the sons of God. But the LORD's portion is his people, Jacob his allotted heritage. (ESV)
When the Most High divided the nations, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the nations according to the number of the angels of God.
(LXE)
When the Septuagint version says, "according to the number of the angels of God," it's almost certainly translating a Hebrew version of Deuteronomy that read, "according to the number of the sons of God." A version of Deuteronomy from the Dead Sea Scrolls says precisely that. But the Masoretic Text of the Hebrew prefers to alter the expression "sons of God" to "sons of Israel" This explains the discrepancy between the New American Standard and the English Standard ver-sions. However, in the days of the apostles, the reading was probably "sons of God," a term the Bible regularly uses to describe the angels. Moreover, the apostles regarded the Septuagint as a reliable witness, and they employed it regularly.
Judaism derives the idea that humanity is divided into seventy nations directly from the table of nations in Genesis 10, which charts the descendants of Noah's three sons. According to the traditional Jewish interpretation of Deuteronomy 32:8-9, God assigned each of the seventy nations to an angelic prince, but he retained Israel, the seventy-first nation, as his own. The archangel Michael stands for Israel as his representative (the name Michael means "Who is like God?"). Other than Michael, the other angelic princes over the nations are not exactly good angels. They are the false gods of the nations, which according to first-century Jewish thought, were the idolatrous gods worshiped by the Gentiles.
The Heavenly Sanhedrin
The idea of the seventy angelic princes presiding over the nations is also derived in part from Psalm 82, in which the gods are said to form a heavenly Sanhedrin. According to this idea, the Sanhedrin on earth, with seventy members, corresponds to the heavenly Sanhedrin, just as the Temple on earth is a shadow and reflection of the heavenly and angelic Sanctuary. This is the older, ancient Near East meaning of Psalm 82, in which God is depicted as rebuking the angelic principalities for the injustices that they have perpetrated upon the nations:
A Psalm of Asaph. God has taken his place in the divine coun-cil; in the midst of the gods he holds judgment: "How long will you judge unjustly and show partiality to the wicked? Selah. Give justice to the weak and the fatherless; maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute. Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked." They the gods have neither knowledge nor understanding, they walk about in darkness; all the foundations of the earth are shaken. I said, "You are gods, sons of the Most High, all of you; nevertheless, like men you shall die, and fall like any prince."
Arise, O God, judge the earth; for you shall inherit all the nations! (Psalm 82)
At the conclusion of the psalm, the LORD removes the corrupt administration of false gods and takes over the nations himself. He takes the nations as his inheritance, elevating them to a status originally unique to Israel: "Jacob his people, Israel his inheritance" (Psalm 78:71). The psalm predicts a regime change in which the authority over the nations is transferred from the false gods over to the LORD. This worldview also explains how it is that Satan has possession over the nations and was able to offer them to Yeshua in the third temptation:
Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to him, "All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me." (Matthew 4:8-9)
Paul speaks about the seventy angelic princes over the nations when he warns his readers that they are in a struggle against "the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places" (Ephesians 6:12). He's talking about the spiritual powers over the Gentile nations. This is also why he urges the Ephesians to be strong and put on the armor of God. He knows that the spiritual powers over the nations are not happy with the defection of the Gentile disciples. They will make war against them, trick them, trap them, deceive them, turn them against one another, and especially turn them against the Jewish people. Paul has prophetically foreseen a coming apostasy.
Earlier in his career, not long after he had to flee Ephesus, he arranged a rendezvous with the elders of the Yeshua-believing communities in Ephesus. Since it was impossible for him to go to Ephesus, he arranged the meeting in nearby Miletus. The elders of the Ephesian communities made the trip to meet with him, and he bade them fare-well. He knew, through prophecy, that he would never again see them. He warned them about a coming spiritual battle that would take place in their communities and an apostasy that would draw disciples away:
I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them. Therefore be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease night or day to admonish every one with tears. (Acts 20:29-31)
Eternal Purpose of God
It should now be clear that this discussion of spiritual warfare relates directly to the earlier content in the Epistle to the Ephesians. It's not just a collection of random thoughts at the end of the letter. It's the whole point of the letter.
As Paul persuaded Gentiles in the ancient world to abandon their allegiance to their idolatrous gods and cast their allegiance with the God of Israel, he incurred the displeasure of the idolatrous gods. The Gentile disciples were contested property. The gods of the nations claimed that they belonged to them and were under the authority of the kingdom of darkness. But God was redeeming them, stealing them away from the false gods, and adding them to his own portion.
The same thing happened in the story of Israel's redemption from Egypt. God used the redemption of Israel as a judgment against all the gods of Egypt and as a means to establish his reputation among the nations. This is made explicitly clear in the literal reading of the Exodus narratives: "So that they will know my name... I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt." Paul taught that the redemption of Israel was merely a first step in God's war with the false gods. Through the work of the Messiah, the LORD now redeems the nations, too, stealing them away from the false gods. Paul believed that this was God's mysterious purpose and sovereign plan for world domination from the beginning. According to Paul, God uses the salvation of the Gentile disciples to flaunt his wisdom and sovereign power before the principalities, rulers, and authorities in the heavenly realms:
To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of the Messiah, and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things, so that through the church (i.e., the assembly of Yeshua the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. This was according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him. (Ephe-sians 3:8-12)
Paul refers to this cosmic plot twist as "the mystery of the gospel" It's the salvation of the whole world. For the sake of this mystery, Paul was willing to endure humiliation and imprisonment as a casualty of the ensuing spiritual war. Satan's forces were doing everything they could to hold on to their Gentiles. The spiritual forces to whom the nations belong were reluctant to let their property go, so the devil schemed about how best to attack the disciples. Paul believed there was a spiritual war going on between the powers of darkness over the nations and the powers of heaven. This is why he told the Gentile disciples in Ephesus, "At one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light" (Ephesians 5:8).
From this, we learn that spiritual warfare is real. It happens in all our congregations all the time. We should be more careful about whose side we are on in this spiritual battle. When we raise accusations against our brothers and sisters or against the community or stir up trouble and dissension, we are speaking on behalf of the devil and granting him opportunity. That's tragic.
It's not a battle against "flesh and blood." That's part of the decep-tion. That's Satan's scheme. When he turns us against one another, he wins. The battle is against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Make sure you are on the right side.
Armageddon and the Armor of God
(Ephesians 6:13-24)
A discussion on the armor of God in its biblical and eschatological context: the final battle with the nations, which is called Gog and Magog and the battle of Armageddon.
As Paul persuaded Cientiles in the ancient world to abandon their allegiance to their idolatrous gods and cast their allegiance with the God of Israel, he incurred the displeasure of the idolatrous gods. The Gentile disciples were contested property. The gods of the nations claimed that they belonged to them and were under the authority of the kingdom of darkness. But God was redeeming them, stealing them away from the false gods, and adding them to his own portion, as it says at the end of Psalm 82:
"You are gods, sons of the Most High, all of you; neverthe-less, like men you shall die, and fall like any prince." Arise, O God, judge the earth; for you shall inherit all the nations! (Psalm 82:6-8)
According to Paul, God used the redemption of the Gentile disciples to flaunt his wisdom and sovereign power before the princi-palities, rulers, and authorities in the heavenly realms, just as he used the redemption of Israel from Egypt to flaunt his power in front of the Egyptian gods:
[This is] the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things, so that through the church [i.e., the assembly of Yeshua the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. This was according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Ephesians 3:9-11)
The gods of the nations are actively fighting to hold on to their possessions and thwart the efforts of the assembly of Yeshua. So Paul tells us to "put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil" The "schemes of the devil" are primarily at work in interpersonal relationships. Unforgiveness, bitterness, dissensions, discord, quarrels, fights, factions-that's the real spiritual warfare in which we are engaged. The fight is not against one another or against other disciples of Yeshua or against the Jewish people. It's not against flesh and blood at all; it's against these unseen spiritual beings and powers.
The Evil Day
Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. (Ephesians 6:13)
In view of the spiritual warfare in which the disciples are engaged, Paul urges them to gird themselves in "the whole armor of God." They are to prepare so that they can stand firm in the evil day. Not an evil day, but the evil day. What is the evil day? You won't find it marked on your calendar, but the prophets spoke about it. The "evil day" is a component of the broader term "the day of the LORD." The evil day generally refers to the travails before the final redemption and specifically to the battle of Gog and Magog, at which the seventy nations will unite to turn against Israel (Ezekiel 38-39). It's the last battle, also called Armageddon (Revelation 16:16). It's the beginning of the day of judgment that will usher in the end of the age and the Messianic Era.
The book of Revelation speaks about Gog and Magog with reference to "all nations" falling under Satan's deceptions, falling into his schemes, and joining in with his campaign against Israel. The prophecy in the book of Revelation says:
[Satan] will come out to deceive the nations that are at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle; their number is like the sand of the sea. (Revela-tion 20:8)
Paul warned the Gentile disciples about "Satan's schemes" because he knew Satan's endgame. He knew that Satan would deceive the nations. The devil schemes to divide us and fracture us, but his ultimate scheme is to turn the nations, including the Gentile disciples of Yeshua from the nations, against the nation of Israel.
The principalities and powers hope to enlist the Gentile disciples as recruits in their war against the Jewish people. This explains the otherwise baffling history of Jewish-Christian relations. It explains the spiritual significance of the last two thousand years of Christian anti-Semitism. It explains why the nations wage a ceaseless war against Israel and the Jewish people. It explains the Holocaust and where we stand even today with anti-Israel sentiment, rising anti-Semitism, and the shocking rise of anti-Semitic nationalism in our own country. We are careening on the edge of a terrible plunge.
We need to take Paul's warnings seriously, and as disciples, we need to prepare today for the evil day, making sure that we have done all that can be done to stand firm, lest we step into Satan's snares and fall prey to his schemes.
Messiah at War
In the war of Gog and Magog, there are only two sides: the right side and the wrong side. We don't want to be on the wrong side. When this battle finally comes, it will not go well for the nations. Why? Because God is going to fight on behalf of his people in the person of the Mes-siah.
Jewish interpretation considers Psalm 2 to be a prophecy of the final battle. The psalm depicts the nations and the peoples of the earth plotting against the Messiah. The kings of the earth and the ruling principalities conspire together to throw off God's kingdom. The enmity of the nations erupts in the war of Gog and Magog. The LORD installs the Messiah in Zion to fight the nations. He declares to the Messiah, "You are my Son; today I have begotten you. Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel" (Psalm 2:7-9).
The messianic prophecies in Isaiah concur. The Messiah's rod of iron with which he shatters the nations is to be the word of his mouth:
He shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked. Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist, and faithfulness the belt of his loins." (Isaiah 11:4-5)
The Messiah declares that the words of his mouth have become a weapon of war: "He made my mouth like a sharp sword" (Isaiah 49:2).
A prophecy in Isaiah depicts the Messiah entering the land of Israel from the east. He comes like a blood-red sunrise over Edom. His garments are stained red from treading down nations in his wrath. He explains, "Their lifeblood spattered on my garments, and stained all my apparel. For the day of vengeance was in my heart, and my year of redemption had come" (Isaiah 63:3-4). In Zechariah 14, after the Messiah's feet touch the Mount of Olives, he deploys the sword of his mouth and the iron rod by smiting the nations that have come to conquer Jerusalem. The Messiah smites the armies of the nations with a plague.
All these prophecies of Messiah at war with the nations converge in Revelation 19:15:
From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty.
As the Messiah gears up for the epic battle against the enemies of Israel, he armors himself with righteousness, salvation, vengeance, and zeal:
He put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on his head; he put on garments of vengeance for clothing, and wrapped himself in zeal as a cloak. According to their deeds, so will he repay, wrath to his adversaries, repayment to his enemies; to the coastlands he will render repayment. (Isaiah 59:17-18)
Along similar lines, the Wisdom of Solomon depicts the LORD arming himself to go to war against the nations:
He shall take to him his jealousy for complete armour, and make the creature his weapon for the revenge of his ene-mies. He shall put on righteousness as a breastplate, and true judgment instead of an helmet. He shall take holiness for an invincible shield. His severe wrath shall he sharpen for a sword, and the world shall fight with him against the unwise. Then shall the right aiming thunderbolts go abroad; and from the clouds, as from a well-drawn bow, shall they fly to the mark. And hailstones full of wrath shall be cast as out of a stone bow, and the water of the sea shall rage against them, and the floods shall cruelly drown them. Yea, a mighty wind shall stand up against them, and like a storm shall blow them away. (Wisdom of Solomon 5:17-23)
As the Apostle Paul urged his disciples to prepare for the coming evil day, he armed them for the battle with images from these apocalyptic prophecies about the Messiah at war in the last battle:
Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth [Isaiah 11:5] and having put on the breastplate of righteousness Isaiah 59:17] and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace [Isaiah 52:7] ... the shield of faith [Wisdom 5:19] ... the helmet of salvation Isaiah 59:17, and the sword of the Spirit [Isaiah 49:2]. (Ephesians 6:14-17)
The specific function of the various items and the relationship to a particular virtue is probably not as important as the broader theme of identifying oneself with the Messiah as he goes to war. In his first letter to the disciples in Thessalonica, Paul urged them to "put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation." It's the same general idea, but the associations are fluid. Instead of a breastplate of righteousness, it's a breastplate of faith and love, and the shield of faith is absent.
The Flaming Darts
In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one. (Ephesians 6:16)
Satan's attacks come in the form of fiery arrows. The metaphor alludes to the imagery of Psalm 120, which depicts "lying lips" and a "deceitful tongue" as "a warrior's sharp arrows with glowing coals" (Psalm 120:4). Satan's "flaming darts" strike in the form of verbal attacks, evil speech, slander, character assassination, malicious talk, gossip, and abusive language. Words are like fiery arrows launched in a spiritual war. Make sure you aren't the one shooting them.
"The tongue is a fire ... set on fire by hell" (James 3:6). The wise soldier does not attempt to return fire under a barrage of flaming arrows. Rather, he takes shelter under his shield. Paul said that faith in God is the best shield against such assaults. In any case, if we know that the "flaming darts of the evil one" consist chiefly of evil speech, slander, and malicious talk, we should check ourselves to make sure that we are not the ones responsible for shooting the flaming darts on Satan's behalf.
The Sword of the Spirit
The sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. (Ephesians 6:17)
All the aforementioned items of gear from the armory of spiritual warfare are defensive in nature. The only weapon in the kit is the "sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God." The same imagery appears in the Epistle to the Hebrews:
For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12)
This is the sharp sword that issues from the mouth of the Messiah to strike down the nations. There's some wordplay at work in the image of a sword coming out of the Messiah's mouth. In the Hebrew Bible, the cutting edge of a sword is called "the mouth of the sword," and the sword is said to devour flesh as a mouth. The Hebrew word for a two-edged sword could be literally translated as "two-mouthed," and the same holds true in the Greek. The sword that issues from the Messiah is the "word of God, a term that can broadly apply to any message from God, but in the narrow sense, it should be understood as the Torah, the Prophets, the Writings, and the teaching of Yeshua.
Recall that when Satan came out to tempt the Master, Yeshua replied only with quotations from the Torah. The Torah was in his mouth. He wielded the Torah as the sword of the Spirit.
The Scriptures are referred to as a sword issuing out from the mouth because the Word of God, in those days, was memorized. It was supposed to be "in your mouth" as you repeated it for the sake of memorization and discussion. Once memorized, it was "in your heart" or "on your heart" (Deuteronomy 6:6). "What does it say? 'The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart' (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim)" (Romans 10:8, quoting Deuteronomy 30:14).
The Word of God serves as an effective weapon against our enemy so long as it resides in our mouths and in our hearts.
Pray in the Spirit
Praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplica-tion. (Ephesians 6:18)
Paul called upon the disciples in Ephesus to wage a spiritual war against Satan and the principalities, powers, and spiritual authorities in heavenly places. In addition to the spiritual armor that they must gird on, they have the weapon of God's Word in their mouths. Moreover, they have the powerful weapon of prayer in their mouths. Paul reminded them to pray continuously, at all times, and not just at formal times of prayer. In the inner person (the spirit), the disciple should make every effort to maintain a continual ongoing conversation with God. No weapon on earth is more powerful than sincere prayer. In spiritual battles, we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but we prevail by the Word of God and by prayer.
Mystery of the Gospel
To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak. (Ephesians 6:19-20)
In conclusion, Paul reminded his readers to pray also for him and "for all the saints," that is, "the holy ones" —the Jewish disciples and all the brothers and sisters in Messiah. He specifically asked that God might inspire him with a bold spirit and eloquent words to convey the mystery of the gospel to those who would listen. "This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in the Messiah Yeshua through the gospel" (Ephesians 3:6). Paul considered himself the steward and the ambassador of that particular revelation. While under house arrest in Rome and awaiting a trial before Nero, Paul considered himself to be "an ambassador in chains" for the sake of the proclamation of that mystery. After all, it was the message of Gentile inclusion that got him into trouble in the first place, beginning with his arrest in Acts 21.
Mail Call
So that you also may know how I am and what I am doing, Tychicus the beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord will tell you everything. I have sent him to you for this very purpose, that you may know how we are, and that he may encourage your hearts. (Ephesians 6:21-22)
Tychicus of Ephesus carried the letter from Rome along with a stack of Paul's mail to other communities in Asia Minor. Tychicus was one of the Gentile delegates that Paul brought with him to Jerusalem before his arrest (Acts 20:4). When news of his imprisonment in Rome reached them, the Ephesian disciples sent Tychicus to Rome carrying greetings, letters, gifts, and news from the congregations in Ephesus and other communities around Asia Minor.
Tychicus remained with Paul in Rome for a short while before returning to Asia Minor with Onesimus (Colossians 4:7-9). He carried several epistles for the disciples in Ephesus and the Lycus Valley. In the same mailbag, Tychicus carried Paul's letters to the congregations at Colossae and Laodicea and a piece of personal correspondence to a disciple in Colossae named Philemon.
The Epistle to the Ephesians concludes:
Peace be to the brothers, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace be with all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with love incorruptible. (Ephesians 6:23-24)