{"id":1945,"date":"2016-06-30T09:00:36","date_gmt":"2016-06-30T13:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.danielgoepfrich.com\/?p=1945"},"modified":"2022-08-29T19:09:38","modified_gmt":"2022-08-29T23:09:38","slug":"ephesians-6","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theologyisforeveryone.com\/ephesians-6\/","title":{"rendered":"Ephesians 6"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chapter six<\/strong> starts a new section with verse ten. As noted previously, Ephesians 6:1-9 continue Paul\u2019s list of example relationships that he started in Ephesians 5:22. Thus, this chapter contains only one final section of application followed by Paul\u2019s closing greetings.<\/p>

Ephesians 6:10-20 contains the famous armor of God passage. This is a favorite by people who like to \u201cpray on the armor\u201d<\/em> as if it were theirs to wear and use as they wish. However, that would be like David trying to wear Saul\u2019s armor (see 1 Samuel 17:38-39). In order to \u201cstand against the schemes of the devil\u201d<\/em> and fight the spiritual battles \u201cagainst the rulers, against the powers, against the world rulers of this darkness, [and] against the spiritual forces of evil,\u201d<\/em> Paul\u2019s solution was the same as in Ephesians 5:18 \u2013 submit ourselves to the Holy Spirit and hid in God. Although he obviously had the picture of a solider in his mind, Paul did not call this the \u201cChristian\u2019s armor\u201d but \u201cthe full armor of God.\u201d<\/em> God wears this armor, and we are can be protected only when we are submitted to him. While each item of the armor is related back to God \u2013 truth, righteousness, faith \u2013 \u201cthe helmet of salvation\u201d<\/em> is an allusion to Isaiah 59:17, and \u201cthe sword of the Spirit\u201d<\/em> is the word of God spoken. This is why Paul commanded that we should \u201cpray at all times,\u201d<\/em> especially in reference to those who are on the front lines preaching the gospel. This was true for Paul, even though he was \u201can ambassador in chains.\u201d<\/em><\/p>

As noted in the introduction, the letter concludes with no personal greetings at all, only a note that Paul had sent the letter and personal updates with Tychicus (Ephesians 6:21-24). If this was meant to be a circular letter, Tychicus probably carried the personal greetings (possibly under a separate cover) to Ephesus, then sent the generic letter along its way.<\/p>

It is interesting to note, however, the last line of the letter. \u201cGrace be with all of those who love our Lord Jesus Christ with an undying love.\u201d<\/em> On its own, this could be simply a general appeal. However, when combined with Jesus\u2019 letter to Ephesus, in which he rebukes them for leaving their \u201cfirst love\u201d<\/em> (Revelation 2:4), this final exhortation seems to take on a more urgent plea.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Chapter six starts a new section with verse ten. As noted previously, Ephesians 6:1-9 continue Paul\u2019s list of example relationships that he started in Ephesians 5:22. Thus, this chapter contains only one final section of application followed by Paul\u2019s closing greetings. Ephesians 6:10-20 contains the famous armor of God passage. This is a favorite by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_eb_attr":"","_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[99],"tags":[60,31,13],"class_list":["post-1945","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bible-studies","tag-1samuel","tag-ephesians","tag-revelation"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"gutentor_comment":0,"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":false,"thumbnail":false,"medium":false,"medium_large":false,"large":false,"1536x1536":false,"2048x2048":false,"widget-thumbnail":false,"rpwe-thumbnail":false,"woocommerce_thumbnail":false,"woocommerce_single":false,"woocommerce_gallery_thumbnail":false},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Daniel Goepfrich","author_link":"https:\/\/www.theologyisforeveryone.com\/author\/dgoepfrich\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Chapter six starts a new section with verse ten. As noted previously, Ephesians 6:1-9 continue Paul\u2019s list of example relationships that he started in Ephesians 5:22. Thus, this chapter contains only one final section of application followed by Paul\u2019s closing greetings. Ephesians 6:10-20 contains the famous armor of God passage. This is a favorite by…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologyisforeveryone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1945","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologyisforeveryone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologyisforeveryone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologyisforeveryone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologyisforeveryone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1945"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologyisforeveryone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1945\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologyisforeveryone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1945"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologyisforeveryone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1945"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologyisforeveryone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1945"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}