Ephesians 6 - Introduction

Ephesians

Chapter Ephesians 6:1-9

Outline:

I. The duty of children: Ephesians 6:1-3

II. The duty of parents: Ephesians 6:4

III. The duty of servants: Ephesians 6:5-8

IV. The duty of masters: Ephesians 6:9

I. Walking worthily in reference to evil: Ephesians 6:10-20

A. Make use of the armor God has provided: Ephesians 6:10-11

B. The strength of the enemy: Ephesians 6:12-13

A detailed description of the armor: Ephesians 6:14-17

D. The need for prayer: Ephesians 6:18-20

II. The coming of Tychicus and final exhortations: Ephesians 6:21-24

These verses continue the previously stated themes of walking in. manner worthy of your calling and the mutual submission that is to exist in the church (Ephesians 5:21). Again we find that the teachings delivered by the Apostles were at variance with the culture in which they lived. Barclay points out that the instruction given to fathers (Ephesians 6:4) and the high value that this section places upon children presents. much higher ethical standard than the standard then present in Roman society. “If the Christian faith did much for women, it did even more for children. In Roman civilization contemporary with Paul there existed certain features which made life perilous for the child. There was the Roman patria potestas the father's absolute power over his family. He could sell them as slaves, he could make them work in his fields even in chains, he could punish as he liked and could even inflict the death penalty. Further, the power of the Roman father extended over the child's whole life, so long as the father lived.. Roman son never came of age. There was the custom of child exposure. When. child was born, it was placed before its father's feet, and, if the father stooped and lifted the child that meant that he acknowledged it and wished it to be kept. If he turned and walked away, it meant that he refused to acknowledge it and the child could quite literally be thrown out. Unwanted children were commonly left in the Roman forum. There they became the property of anyone who cared to pick them up. Ancient civilization was merciless to the sickly or deformed child. Seneca writes, ‘We slaughter. fierce ox; we strangle. mad dog; we plunge the knife into sickly cattle lest they taint the herd; children who are born weakly and deformed we drown. It was against this situation that Paul wrote. If ever we are asked what good Christianity has done to the world, we need but point to the change effected in the status of women and of children'” (pp. 175-177).

“It was. radical change from the callous cruelty which prevailed in the Roman Empire, in which unwanted babies were abandoned, weak and deformed ones killed, and even healthy children were regarded by many as. partial nuisance because they inhibited sexual promiscuity and complicated easy divorce” (Stott p. 238).. modern application needs to be made from the above quotations. Our society considers itself “enlightened” and educated. We hear people talking about the "rights of children” and the “year of the child". But many of these same people advocate abortion and place their own careers far ahead of their children. We cannot depend upon society to lead us in the right way when it comes to even the most basic of human relationships. People outside of Christ are blind (Acts 26:18). Mere human wisdom does fail, even in the most basic areas (Jeremiah 2:23; Proverbs 16:25; 1 Corinthians 1:21), and secular education can never be. substitute for the instruction that comes from the Word of God.