Envisioning and Equipping the Church (2)

Coming under the Lordship of Christ

Ephesians 5:22–6:24 NIV84

Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church— for we are members of his body. “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband. Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your father and mother”—which is the first commandment with a promise— “that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.” Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord. Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ. Obey them not only to win their favor when their eye is on you, but like slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart. Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not men, because you know that the Lord will reward everyone for whatever good he does, whether he is slave or free. And masters, treat your slaves in the same way. Do not threaten them, since you know that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no favoritism with him. Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints. Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should. Tychicus, the dear brother and faithful servant in the Lord, will tell you everything, so that you also may know how I am and what I am doing. I am sending him to you for this very purpose, that you may know how we are, and that he may encourage you. Peace to the brothers, and love with faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace to all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with an undying love.

Ephesians 5:21 calls upon Christians who are growing up into Christ to “submt to one another our of reverence for Christ”

Sometimes people are nervous about the language of submission as it suggests sub-serviance, a Master-servant relationship that all too often in the past has been abusive and controling.

But here the submission being called for is willing submission, not forced. A submission that responds to loving-kindness not assertive dominance

Indeed, the submission called for arises from and imitates Christ’s own example of submission to his Father’s will and to the cruel and sacrificial death upon the Christ - Ephesians 5:1-2.

So, here in the rest of Ephesians, we see this submission being worked out with:

all of us submitting to Christ as Lord(Eph 5:21).

wives submitting to their “own husbands, as to the Lord”(Eph 5:22)

husbands loving their wives sacrifically(Eph 5:25)

children obeying their “parents in the Lord”(Eph 6:1).

father not provoking their children to anger(Eph 6:4)

servants being obedient to their masters(Eph 6:5).

masters being kind to their servants - “household slaves”(Bruce) - “in the same way” ‘as to the Lord’ (v. 7), as doing ‘the will of God’ (v. 6), as showing ‘good will’ (v. 7) (Eph 6:9).

Christians serving one another by “praying always...with all kinds of prayers and requests…in the saints”(Eph 6:18).

And the reasons we should do this? Out motivation and incentive for all of this is captured in the final verses of Ephesians 6:23-24

“Peace to the brothers, and love with faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace to all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with an undying love.”

This is part of what it means to “be filled with the Spirit”(Eph 5:18). This filling is expressed in community as we “speak to one another in psalms, hymns and spiritual songs” to encourage and build one another up in our holy faith! (see 1 Corinthians 14:26–33; Phil. 2:1ff. and Phil 4:2).

Submission is essential for maintaining joyful fellowship in the Christian community (cf. Eph. 4:2–3). Pride of position and the authoritarian spirit are destructive of fellowship in the Church.

The concept of submission is so important to Paul that the word appears more than 20 times in his letters. For Paul, Christians must be willing to serve and to learn from any Christian regardless of age, sex, social status, or any other human distinction.

Paul says we submit “out of reverence for Christ”. We Christians, agree with the Old Testament principle of living life ‘in the fear of the Lord’ as the great principle of life enunciated again and again in the Bible. This remains unchanged for New Testament believers (2 Cor. 7:1; 1 Pet. 2:17), who are called to follow Jesus and commit their whole life to be ‘in Christ’. So all human relationships, find their pattern and meaning and ordered expression under the authority of Christ (cf. 2 Cor. 4:5), who established the pattern of making himself the servant of all (Mark 10:45).

WHAT IS SUBMISSION?

The etymology of “ὑποτασσό derives from ὑπο, meaning under and τασσό meaning to place or arrange something or someone. To place someone under someone else is to submit them or subject them to their will. (see 1 Pet 2:18). “ὑποτασσό in its most literal sense means to “subordinate.” It is often used in military contexts showing the relationship between a superior and a lower-ranking soldier.

The Greek word usually translated here as submit is a participle “ὑποτασσόμενοι which extends the verb submit to actively submitting if taken in the Middle Voice or resignedly being submissive if taken in the passive sense. This all forms one continuing idea which began in Ephesians 5:18 as we obey the command to “Be being filled with the Spirit” speaking and singing and submitting to one another is the outworking of this infilling. And obviously there can be no room for harshness and unkindness in relationships if the Spirit in in it!

So, submission represents a willing attitude of heart and mind in which we choose to be considerate to, and give respect to our fellow Christians with whom we develop differing contextual relationship, and as Wayne Grudem has said, “the exact form submission takes, the way it works out in practice, will vary greatly as it applies to soldiers, to children, to servants, to the church, and to wives”, it will however, only be true submission if it is voluntarily offered, out of reverence for Christ and seen as service to Him - “wives submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord”!

WHY IS THIS CONCEPT OF SUBMISSION IMPORTANT?

Paul has spoken of the greatness of the purpose of God in Christ, in ordaining the salvation of the Elect “before the foundation of the world”(Eph 1:4).

He has reminded us of the glory of our high calling in Christ; our sealing with the Spirit as “a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory”(Eph 1:14) , and of the life that should follow from it as we who are “raised with Christ” have “the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe”(Eph 1:18-19) and begin to show the life of Christ as it is worked out in our personal lives, as we “are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do”(Eph 2:10)

He has encouraged us to see that we are “being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.”(Eph 2:22) and he prays that we will have such a revelation of the lvoe of Christ for us so that our church life will be transformed - Eph 3:14-21: “For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom his whole familya in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.”

And finally, taking us back to where we began this series of Bible studies, we are called by Paul to “live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.”(Eph 4:1-3) ensuring that our relationships in the Church are without rancour but are Spirit-filled; mutually submissive; loving and Christ-honouring “out of reverence” for Him!

SUBMISSION TO THE LORDSHIP OF CHRIST - BE STRONG IN THE LORD!

Submission then is not a weak and spineless capitulation of our wills to those who wish to control us, it is our willing sacrifice of our own interests for the sake of others and out of “reverence for Christ!”

This is of course challenging and difficult to accomplish in reality and it is for this reason, that Paul wants us to see that it will be a battle, not easily won unless we are convinced our our need to “be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might”(Eph 6:10) properly clothed with spiritual armour and adopt the attiude of the Christian soldier ready for battle !

“The standards have been set, the standards for personal life, for life in the fellowship of the Christian community, and in the more intimate circle of the home. Yet he wants still to remind his readers that such a life cannot be lived without a spiritual battle, of whose intensity he has become more and more conscious in his own experience.”(Foulkes).

We cannot strengthen ourselves we must be empowered by God and be in the Lord, in union with Jesus and living within His will and by His grace for then we know He hears us! (1 Jo 2:14; 1 Jo 5:13-14).

This “power” is dynamis, (see Eph 1:19 and it has the strength to prevail against all of our enemies, even the greatest of foes, the Evil One, so that we are victorious!

How long our conflict may be, we dare not go out to fight it unarmed or without the Lord!

Even the life of the home, nay perhaps especially there, must be won in the Lord’s armour and by the Lord’s power!

And so Paul introduces us to the “whole armour of God”(Eph 6:11), the panoplia of 1 Thes 5:8. or the “armour of light” or hopla of Rom 13:12 .

Paul undoubtedly had the Roman soldier in mind, as day a by day he was either chained to a Roman soldier or guarded by one. From this he pictured the Lord, the heavenly warrior of Isaiah who was “appalled that there was no one to intervene; so his own arm worked salvation for him, and his own righteousness sustained him. He put on righteousness as his breastplate, and the helmet of salvation on his head; he put on the garments of vengeance and wrapped himself in zeal as in a cloak”(Isa 59:16-17).

As he studied the various pieces of the armour, Paul must have thought about how these would have a metaphorical usage as spiritual weapons, in spiritual conflict so that we “may be able to stand against the devil’s schemes”(Eph 6:11 see Eph 4:14) for, as Moule puts it, ‘the present picture is not of a march, or of an assault, but of the holding of the fortress of the soul and of the Church for the heavenly King’. This is the first indication of the difficulty of the fight. It is not just against the strength of man, but against the stratagems and cunning of Satan himself and we must always bear this in mind, “in order that Satan might not outwit us” (2 Cor 2:11).

The Devil is a real, personal enemy! (see Matt. 4:1–11; Jas 4:7; 1 Pet. 5:8–9; 1 John 5:18) and he has countless “spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” so that “our struggle is not against flesh and blood”(Eph 6:12).

We should never underestimate the power of the evil forces that are against us! The Greek word, kosmokratoras is literally “world rulers” and it can be used for a human emperor or for one whose authority is in the world, and it is used in this way of the Devil, described by Jesus as “the Prince of this world” in John 12:31 (See John 14:30) and by Paul as “the god of this age” in 2 Corinthians 4:4. Indeed, the world is said by John to be under “the control of the evil one”(1 Jo 5:19) and is as a consequence in darkness (cf. Luke 22:53; Rom. 13:12; Col. 1:13).

Those who, under the devil himself, hold such power in the world, and in consequence keep people in darkness, are those against whom Christians have to do battle. They are the spiritual hosts of wickedness and against them Christians are engaged in spiritual conflict, not in this world but above the material world to ‘the heavenly places’ where they live ‘in Christ’ (Eph 2:6), and where both their Saviour and their spiritual possessions are found(Eph 1:3) and of which the powers of evil would try to steal them. Therefore, Paul says, as you realize the grim power and resources of your spiritual foes, take the whole armour of God to withstand this great opposition (cf. Jas 4:7 and 1 Pet. 5:9) and be victorious even in “the day of evil comes”, a time when the conflict will be most severe, due both to persecution from without and trial from within the Christian fellowship. (see on Mark 13:4–23; 2 Thes 2:3; 1 John 2:18–19).

We must be prepared! . There are many things to be done in the Christian’s life, and these need to be done but we must ABOVE ALL BE READY TO FIGHT - “having done EVERYTHING to stand.”

PUT ON THE ARMOUR OF GOD - “with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”(Eph 6:14-17)

the belt of truth buckled around your waist - The order in which the pieces of armour are described is the order in which the soldier would put them on. The belt enables the gatehring or girding up of the loose flowing garments that could trip the soldier up and hinder him in either running or fighting (see Luke 12:35; 1 Pet. 1:13). Isaiah 11:5 speaks of the ‘shoot from the stump of Jesse’ (Isa. 11:1) when ‘Righteousness shall be the girdle of his waist, and faithfulness the girdle of his loins’. This then is not the truth of the gospel that is alluded to, but the undergirding of truth in the sense of ‘integrity’, ‘truth in the inward being’ (Psalm 51:6) for in the moral sense; being true; being honest and a person of integrity, allows you the freedom of movement to be true to God and to love your neighbour as yourself!

the breastplate of righteousness - This description comes from that of the Lord, the heavenly warrior in Isaiah 59:17. Paul speaks of ‘the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left’,(2 Cor 6;7) that refers to the character of the individual who lives a godly life and does not allow the Devil’s accusation to penetrate and hurt us for “To neglect what we know to be righteous action is to leave a gaping hole in our armour. “(Foulkes). see Romans 6:13 and 14:17.

With your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace - We must be ready to go forward with the gospel, taking out the good news of peace to others. We need to be prepared or ready for this(Greek noun hetoimasia, in the sense of a ‘prepared foundation’. see Psalm 89:14). The Gospel that brings peace has brought peace to our hearts and we know it well enough to share it with others. This gives us a firm footing, like the hobnailed sandals of the Roman soldier provided a firm foothold in the battle! Note, also what Harnack called a ‘lofty paradox’, that “the gospel of peace can be spoken of in a context which emphasizes the grim reality of the Christian’s warfare.”

the shield of faith - The reference here is to the large oblong scutum shaped like a door (Here the Greek word thyreos used for shield comes from the word for ‘door’) because it was designed to cover much of the body. The shield is faith, by which which is your personal faith that rests in God alone! Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 5:8 is ‘faith and love’ which acts as the breastplate of reliance on God. ‘The true safeguard in the evil day’, lies ever, not in introspection, but in that look wholly outward, Godward, which is the essence of faith” (Moule). These shields, though wooden were also covered with leather help extinguish all the flaming arrows of the enemy which were made and dipped in pitch and then set on fire. Paul likens these flaming arrows to the weapons of the evil one, as they included things like malicious gossip, impure thoughts, selfishness, doubt, fear, disappointment, bitterness and resentment, all planted in our shields to seek to harm and destroy us! Only faith in God can quench such deadly weapons! It’s also worth noting that the Romans had a system of locking these large shields together for their corporate defence against their enemies and for attack - a fitting metaphor for the Christian fellowship and another reason why Paul enjoins us here to “keep on praying fo all the saints”(Eph 6:19)!

Take the helmet of salvation - Notice the verb “take” which is especially appropriate as salvation as a gift of God that you “take” rather than make! In Isaiah 59:17 the divine warrior wears ‘the helmet of salvation’ as the worker and bringer of salvation. Salvation is a gift but its also protective from the power of sin, as it offers us “hope” and certainty in the midst of lfie’s uncertainty! see 1 Thes 5:8. Without that hope to fortify us in the evil day we would struggle to survive, the enemy would certainly overwhelm us if our confidence were not in Him - If You, Lord, should [a]mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But there is forgiveness with You, That You may be feared.”(Psa 130:3-4). We can say with the Psalmist in Psalm 140:7 “O Sovereign Lord, my strong deliverer, who shields my head in the day of battle.”

The sword of the Spirit - The Old Testament often refers to speech as a sword. The words of the wicked are said to wound as a sword (e.g. Psalm 57:4; Psalm 64:3). But in the Bible God’s own word is also as a sword in his hand, a sword that lays bare, separating the false from the true (Heb 4:12), bringing judgment (Isa. 11:4; Hos. 6:5) but also bringing salvation. So, God’s word can be wielded by his messengers in the lives of others - “Before I was born the Lord called me; from my birth he has made mention of my name. He made my mouth like a sharpened sword”(Isa. 49:1-2). The word of God can be used as offensive or defensive weapon! but here the thought is of the word of God as a defensive weapon for the person who holds it. The word is the Spirit’s sword, because it is given by the Spirit (cf. Eph 3:5; 2 Tim. 3:16; Heb. 3:7; 9:8; 10:15; 1 Pet. 1:11; 2 Pet. 1:21) and it is ‘as He works in the believer as the Spirit of truth (Joh. 14:17) and faith (2 Cor. 4:13). He puts the sword into his grasp and enables him to use it’ (Moule). Think of the Lord’s use of the word of Scripture in his temptations against the Devil (see Matt. 4:1–10) as an illustration and incentive for us to fortify ourselves with the knowledge and understanding of the word of God that we may with similar conviction and power defend ourselves from the onslaughts of the enemy.

And note finally, that though prayer is not here described as a part of the armour, the Christian cannot win the evil day without it - “put on the gospel armour, each piece put on with prayer; where duty calls or danger, be never wanting there.” (George Duffield Hymn: Stand up Stand Up for Jesus).

‘Each piece put on with prayer’, using “all prayer and supplication in the Spirit”.

‘Nothing less is suggested than that the life and strife of the saints be one great prayer to God, that this prayer be offered in ever new forms however good or bad the circumstances, and that this prayer not be self-centred but express the need and hope of all the saints.’ (Barth).

The New Testament frequently exhorts Christians not to cease from prayer (e.g. Luke 18:1; Rom. 12:12; Phil. 4:6; Col. 4:2; 1 Thess. 5:17), that every incident of life is to be dealt with in prayer.

Not easy of course, but as Wescott put it: “The power of prayer is gained by systematic discipline’ We need to train ourselves in this discipline until it becomes a regular habit of life - With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints as Jesus himself exhorted His disciples at Gethsemane in their hour of trial!