Wednesday Bible study: Ephesians revisited finale

 

Eph 5:31  "Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh."
Eph 5:32  This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.

Here is the key to this final section of Paul's letter to the Ephesian church; that a marriage, a family, any earthly relationship should be a reflection of what Christ and His church need to have.  So he is teaching a double lesson- how to act towards those in your life, and your part in the body of believers.

He starts with the wives. Why? Because in this new life of freedom, they had the most to change for them and had the most questions, for one.  For another, as he goes on, we see it is the man (in this case, himself) to teach and protect the "weaker vessel". Third, the man also has a lot to learn- most of them lessons his culture told him he had no need to learn- and it was to make him at last question his own place in the proceedings.

And the first thing that that wives are told is "submit".  Let's be clear on the definition here:  putting the translation together, it gives an air of "arrange in an orderly manner under".  Does that sound like, "Be dominated?" Not at all.  Then comes the key to this submission- "...as to the Lord".  The submission is to be a reflection of our submission to the Lord.  And at this point, the man should be saying to himself, "But I am to submit to the Lord as well!"  Exactly. BOTH partners are partners in submission to the Lord; but the man is to lead.  The last thing that Paul adds to this is, "In everything." Now something like that comes up, I'm sure you have a lot of "buts".  To my mind, Abigail and Nabal comes up.  And Abigail is a good example.  She didn't try to usurp the "fool's" charge- she just calmly dealt with the consequences.  I think this is a matter of control- Paul is trying to get across the idea of giving up CONTROL in a situation.

He wastes no time in bringing the men to heel, though.

Eph 5:25  Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her,
Eph 5:26  that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word,
Eph 5:27  so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.

Now, chop this up, and see that while the wife was given ONE charge, the man is given several.  First is to love his wife- not just a casual feeling, or a lust, but just like Christ loves him. He is to put himself up as a ransom for her- that's the way Christ loved His church, after all, protecting her to the death.  He is to be the one instructing her in the word- a big failing, as even in Paul's letters we see a LOT of evidence of women coming to faith and their men later, if at all.  He is to see her "without blemish"- overlooking the petty flaws and shaping the marriage into something that BOTH enjoy.  To men used to being merely a boss (a subject Paul gets to in a moment), and marriages as something easily discarded (sound familiar?), this had to be a bomb thrown at them.

Next comes the children.  And Paul is brief and common sense to them- obey.  But, a further bomb is tossed to the gentlemen...

Eph 6:4  Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

In a world where children were basically slaves, or 'little breadwinners', looking into their feelings- and their instruction in the faith- marked another blow against that traditional conception of authority.  By now, the man- who had to be feeling pretty good after the start of this- is wondering what kind of authority he'd have left.  Answer, plenty- but it was authority based on respect.

Then Paul goes into the worker/boss relationship. When we apply "as to the Lord" in this circumstance, we can see two things.  One, a workplace where everyone is respected according to their place is a happy one- and I can testify that the reverse is just as true. Two, even at the workplace, relations with others should be reflections of that relationship with Christ.

Here, most people would say the subject of respect ends- Paul goes on to explain putting on the armor of God.  But I submit to you (see what I did there?) that putting on that armor IS submission to Christ! Follow me here...

Eph 6:10  Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.
Eph 6:11  Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.
Eph 6:12  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.
Eph 6:13  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.
Eph 6:14  Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness,
Eph 6:15  and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace.
Eph 6:16  In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one;
Eph 6:17  and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God,

Think about this:  By putting on the Helmet of Salvation, we are accepting that nothing we conceived in our mind can save us- but Christ did, and we have to wear that in our thoughts. The shield of faith tells us we have no protection from the array of powers against us without Christ. We can't surmount the path the world is on without God's supernatural peace in our hearts as we walk. Our righteousness is not able to stand against anything (filthy rags, remember?), we have to accept the righteousness Christ bought us.  It is all submission to Christ- and if that submission is slavery or oppression, surely it is a more joyous one than what man had conceived of to this point.

 

In closing out our whole revisiting of this letter, you might be tempted to say, "This is all well and good, and we have people who can study and parse this out for us.  But those people had to be wondering what just hit them!"  Guess what? Paul had that covered too!  In one of the many things in this book that I never noticed before...

Eph 6:19  And pray for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel,
Eph 6:20  for which I am an ambassador in bonds; so that in it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.
Eph 6:21  But, so that you also may know my affairs and how I do, Tychicus, a beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord, shall make known to you all things,
Eph 6:22  whom I have sent to you for the same purpose, that you might know our affairs and that he might comfort your hearts.

Paul ALWAYS sent these letters by someone who was prepped to EXPLAIN things (as with Tychicus here). He recognized some things he wrote needed further explaining, and no doubt he had walked Tychicus through everything he needed to get the gist of the message.  And being in prison, he gave them the best example he could of how to model all this submission.