Ephesians

What the Bible says about honoring mothers (Eph 6:2-3)

2010-05-09T10:44:00.000-07:00

What the Bible says about honoring mothers!

Introduction

As flour is the main ingredient in bread, so honor should be the main ingredient in our relationships to our mothers.
Cultural environment that encourages honor will encourage the honoring of motherhood.
The cultural environment that encourages the honoring of motherhood will encourage the honoring of mothers.

Honor the King (Romans 13)
Honor your father
Mothers cannot assume they will be honored if they do not encourage a culture of honoring the father in the home
Honor your mother
Fathers cannot assume their children will honor their mother if the father does not honor her.

The church must cultivate a culture of honoring mothers and motherhood.

Honor is not worship
Some have confused honor with ancestral worship.
Honor is not veneration or deification in any way shape or form (Mary is not a recipient of worship or prayers)

In the Bible, honor can include financial support. We must understand the breadth of this command if we are to absorb it into
our daily lives effectively.

Looking today at three concepts
1) What does the Bible mean by honor?

First the Bible says we are to leave our fathers and mothers to cleave to our wives. Somehow we are to maintain honor while
forming our own individual family unit.
Honor has boundaries. You can honor your mother without remaining in her household.

2) What does honoring motherhood have to do with honoring mothers?

ESV Deuteronomy 22:5 "A woman shall not wear a man's garment, nor shall a man put on a woman's cloak, for whoever does these things is an abomination to the LORD your God. 6 "If you come across a bird's nest in any tree or on the ground, with young ones or eggs and the mother sitting on the young or on the eggs, you shall not take the mother with the young. 7 You shall let the mother go, but the young you may take for yourself, that it may go well with you, and that you may live long.

The respect for mothers and their self sacrifice to nurture the young ought to permeate our entire world view.
We believers should advocate the preferential protection for mothers even into the animal kingdom.
This is quite remarkable and teaches me that the commands of Moses are meant to be applied throughout our lives.

3) How do you honor your mother?

ESV Exodus 20:12 "Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land
that the LORD your God is giving you.

Whenever possible seek to please your mother.

ESV Ephesians 6:1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 2 "Honor your father and mother" (this is the first commandment with a promise), 3 "that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land."

The idea of honor carries with it the concept of financial support during as one ages. Children represent protection for their parents when they are unable to provide for themselves in their twilight years.

ESV Acts 28:10 They also honored us greatly, and when we were about to sail, they put on board whatever we needed.

ESV Matthew 15:4 For God commanded, 'Honor your father and your mother,' and, 'Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die

The word for honor here is used three ways in the Bible.

87.8 τιμάω ; δοξάζω: to attribute high status to someone by honoring - 'to honor, to respect.' τιμάω: τίμα τὸν πατέρα καὶ τὴν μητέρα 'honor your father and mother' Mt 15.4; ὁ μὴ τιμῶν τὸν υἱὸν οὐ τιμᾷ τὸν πατέρα 'the one who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father' Jn 5.23. δοξάζω: ἔστιν ὁ πατήρ μου ὁ δοξάζων με 'the one who honors me is my Father' Jn 8.54; ὅπως δοξασθῶσιν ὑπὸ τῶν ἀνθρώπων 'so that they may be honored by the people' Mt 6.2.

57.165 τιμάω: to determine an amount to be used in paying for something - 'to set a price on, to determine the cost.' ἔλαβον τὰ τριάκοντα ἀργύρια, τὴν τιμὴν τοῦ τετιμημένου ὃν ἐτιμήσαντο ἀπὸ υἱῶν Ἰσραήλ 'they took the thirty silver coins, the price set on him by the people of Israel' Mt 27.9. It would also be possible to translate 'the price set on him by the people of Israel' as 'the amount the people of Israel had agreed to pay for him.'

57.117 τιμάω: to provide aid or financial assistance, with the implication that this is an appropriate means of showing respect - 'to give assistance to, to provide for the needs of as a sign of respect, to support and honor.' χήρας τίμα τὰς ὄντως χήρας 'support and honor those widows who really are left alone' 1 Tm 5.3.

ESV 1 Peter 2:17 Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor.

NIV 1 Peter 2:17 Show proper respect to everyone: Love the brotherhood of believers, fear God, honor the king.

Conclusion

As flour is the main ingredient in bread, so honor should be the main ingredient in our relationships to our mothers.

The idea is to show proper respect and to care for your Mom.

Ephesian 5 & Contemporary Scholars Debate

2006-07-06T10:08:00.000-07:00

There is a debate raging among my friends in the evangelical church across the nations today about the biblical role of men and women. This debate has migrated to a debate about the nature of the church and its role in relationship to Christ. Part of this is driven by the exegesis of Ephesians 5 by scholars from both sides of the issue. For more information, I recommend two authors:
Russell D. Moore and his article 'The Surrendered Christ' in the Spring 2006 issue of the Journal for Biblical Manhood and Womanhood. Also, the author Alan Padgett submitted a paper on Christ's submission to the Church as an exegetical view on Ephesians 5. This paper was presented at the 2005 Evangelical Theological Society annual convention. These two scholars present opposing views. Since my own exegesis of this particular part of the NT caused me to move towards the conservative view in this debate, this flare up has caught my eye.

It seems convincing to me that Ephesians 5 creates a serious problem for the Egalitarian position. My own exegesis of this passage has caused me to move towards Dr. Moore's position. However, I feel his conclusions are polarizing...as he calls Padget and his view more feminist than evangelical and more egalitarian than Christian. Harsh, divisive conclusions should only be embraced when necessary.

I think to be honest, there are many instances where Christ submits himself to the body of Christ, leading as a servant. There are many instances where service is submissiveness. That fact does indeed soften the reality of Dr. Moore's position. However, ultimately, Ephesians 5 is clearly giving us a structure for obedience that is based in part on leaders with some level of authority (even if people today do not like the word authority). A word study of the term submit in Ephesians 5 does show that authority is implied in many instances of the word's useage throughout the bible (although not all). It is clearly implied in two of the three cases in question in Ephesians (children must respond to parental authority, and slaves to masters authority). Therefore, it is virtually impossible to hold that husbands have 'no authority' in relating to wives...or that the submission is supposed to be mutual in Ephesians 5:21-22. I recommend Peter O'Brien's commentary on Ephesians for a fuller explanation of the Greek language verbs/participles here and how they relate. He seems to nail the grammar right on the head perfectly. (I have more on the details of this in the archives of this very blogspot if you care to read that).

The essence is that the phrase submit to one another is a title for the following three categories of submission...

1) Wives to husbands
2) Children to parents
3) Slaves to masters

The analogy for wives Paul gives is that of the Church submitting to Christ.

Padgett tries to say that Christ submits to the Church mutually...and that in the Eschaton (future coming age of Christ's reign), the Church will serve as equal friends with Christ. There is a tendency among some Egalitarians to try to go beyond scripture and to postulate what the Eschaton will be like and then to use that as a backdoor approach to interpreting what we need to do today. We must remember that the bible says that all authority has been given to Christ and that every knee will bow to Him and to Him alone. We ultimately all are called to fully submit to Christ without reservation. It's true he calls us friends and no longer servants in the gospels. After that the apostles relished in calling themselves servants of Jesus. We must not water down the submission of the Church to Christ. If anything, we must learn to die to ourselves, pick up our crosses and follow Christ in humility, submission, self-discipline, faith and love. I have to say I find the Egalitarian arguments on Ephesians 5 to be well thought out, but unconvincing. I find the Complementarian arguments to be accurate, but I do not like the tone of the conclusions.

We know that in the Eschaton the gifts of the Spirit will no longer operate, so should we go ahead and abandon them now? Nope. There are problems when we start replacing imperatives of the NT for this age, with 'how it will be in the Eschaton'. This approach is dangerous because it removes us from the present imperatives of scripture and into the land of loose interpretation of scripture where we can almost invent the tone and structure of how we should live based not on what the bible says, but on where the think the bible is moving towards but has not yet arrive at.
Suddenly the imperative of wives submitting to husbands becomes mutual submission because that is how it will be in the Eschaton. Well, in the Eschaton we will not be given in marriage, so should we just abandon marriage now then? No...some things are meant for this age, and some for the next. We mustn't confuse the two. The blurring of these distinctions ultimately confuses and damages the church and her ability to function optimally today.

This blurring of what is for this age and what is for the future, keeps us from interpreting scripture that is for today as if it were for today...and tempts bible teachers to syncretize cultural direction with 'kingdom dynamics'. So we can end up being more influenced by culture than by the clear commands of scripture. Our culture says husbands and wives should equally submit to one another. Re-reading Ephesians to make it say that ends up in reality injecting the feminism of our culture into our biblical interpretation.

The result is that we can end up being discipled by our contemporary culture, rather than us making disciples of all nations as we are commanded to. Ancient Israel regularly battled the influence of the Philistines and Canaanite religions around them. The idol worship of those peoples resulted in frequent mixtures with ancient Judaism...called syncretism. Over and over God sent prophets to pronounce judgment on Israel because of these very errors. Since this is the main error of the Jews throughout the Old Testament, we need to beware of this error for ourselves. We have the records of the Jews throughout the Old Testament to warn us and to help guide us. We should learn from the Old Testament that the tendency to be modified by pagan culture around God's community of believers is a constant danger. Egalitarianism seems to be directly influenced by this tendency.

So I'm concerned about the approach to scripture as well as the conclusions I hear on certain passages of scripture. On the other hand, I am also concerned about the villainizing of egalitarian authors. The syncretism I believe egalitarians are succumbing to is not on the same level as the syncretism of the Jews with Canaanite religions. Egalitarians still worship Jesus...and still believe in the bible. But the approach can lead to graver errors and already seriously adjusts the role of men/women today. I often hear egalitarian pastors/leaders call their position the 'pro women' or 'pro Kingdom' position. Isn't the reality of the matter that whichever view is correct is the best for women and for the Kingdom? Isn't it polarizing when complementarians demonize egalitarians? And when egalitarians proudly say they are for women using their gifts and for women being leaders, don't they summarily dismiss an accurate description of complementarians?

Where do we find loving discussion and debate on these issues?? Help us Lord!!

We must find unifying language and better understand opposing positions if we are to help move God's kingdom forward through this difficult debate. To do this we must respect one another enough to actually listen to the view and understand it. We must find ways to talk to people on both sides of this issue without offending or insulting them.

Suffering & God's Eternal Purpose Ephesians 3:1-13

2006-06-12T22:29:00.000-07:00

Start with the Theban Legion story from 286 A.D.

It is illegal in Brazil to preach the gospel to the Indian tribes in the Amazon river jungle regions.

Imagine Terry & Sharon Zimmerman being thrown in prison for planting churches in the Amazon River basin.

Background
NIV Acts 21:17 When we arrived at Jerusalem, the brothers received us warmly. 18 The next day Paul and the rest of us went to see James, and all the elders were present. 19 Paul greeted them and reported in detail what God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry. 20 When they heard this, they praised God. Then they said to Paul: "You see, brother, how many thousands of Jews have believed, and all of them are zealous for the law. 21 They have been informed that you teach all the Jews who live among the Gentiles to turn away from Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children or live according to our customs. 22 What shall we do? They will certainly hear that you have come, 23 so do what we tell you. There are four men with us who have made a vow. 24 Take these men, join in their purification rites and pay their expenses, so that they can have their heads shaved. Then everybody will know there is no truth in these reports about you, but that you yourself are living in obedience to the law. 25 As for the Gentile believers, we have written to them our decision that they should abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality." 26 The next day Paul took the men and purified himself along with them. Then he went to the temple to give notice of the date when the days of purification would end and the offering would be made for each of them. 27 When the seven days were nearly over, some Jews from the province of Asia saw Paul at the temple. They stirred up the whole crowd and seized him, 28 shouting, "Men of Israel, help us! This is the man who teaches all men everywhere against our people and our law and this place. And besides, he has brought Greeks into the temple area and defiled this holy place." 29 (They had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian in the city with Paul and assumed that Paul had brought him into the temple area.) 30 The whole city was aroused, and the people came running from all directions. Seizing Paul, they dragged him from the temple, and immediately the gates were shut. 31 While they were trying to kill him, news reached the commander of the Roman troops that the whole city of Jerusalem was in an uproar. 32 He at once took some officers and soldiers and ran down to the crowd. When the rioters saw the commander and his soldiers, they stopped beating Paul. 33 The commander came up and arrested him and ordered him to be bound with two chains. Then he asked who he was and what he had done. 34 Some in the crowd shouted one thing and some another, and since the commander could not get at the truth because of the uproar, he ordered that Paul be taken into the barracks. 35 When Paul reached the steps, the violence of the mob was so great he had to be carried by the soldiers. 36 The crowd that followed kept shouting, "Away with him!"

NIV Ephesians 3:1 For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles-- 2 Surely you have heard about the administration of God's grace that was given to me for you, 3 that is, the mystery made known to me by revelation, as I have already written briefly. 4 In reading this, then, you will be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, 5 which was not made known to men in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God's holy apostles and prophets. 6 This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus. 7 I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God's grace given me through the working of his power. 8 Although I am less than the least of all God's people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, 9 and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things. 10 His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, 11 according to his eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord. 12 In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence. 13 I ask you, therefore, not to be discouraged because of my sufferings for you, which are your glory.

VS 1-WHEN HARDSHIP COMES YOUR WAY YOU MUST DISCERN IF IT IS GOD’S PLAN FOR YOUR LIFE…AND THEN IF IT IS PART OF GOD’S PLAN FOR YOUR LIFE IDENTIFY IT AS SUCH. This helps people to stand for God.

WHAT IS GOD’S SECRET & ETERNAL PLAN? TO REMOVE HOSTILITIES BETWEEN PEOPLES AND BETWEEN GOD AND MANKIND.

HAS GOD’S SECRET & ETERNAL PLAN BEEN ACCOMPLISHED? YES

WHEN WAS GOD’S SECRET & ETERNAL PLAN FINISHED? (CRUCIFICTION)

WHAT IS THE VEHICLE FOR GOD TO REVEAL HIS SECRET & ETERNAL PLAN ? IS IT ISRAEL?

WHO IS THE AUDIENCE OF GOD’S ETERNAL PLAN REVEALED THROUGH THE CHURCH?

HOW CAN WE APPROACH GOD IN LIGHT OF THE REVEALED ETERNAL PLAN OF GOD FOR THE CHURCH?
IN Christ and through faith in Christ WITH freedom and confidence…

HOW SHOULD WE RESPOND TO HARD CIRCUMSTANCES THAT COME AS A RESULT OF SERVING GOD?
1) REALIZE THE CONNECTION BETWEEN HARDSHIP AND GOD’S ETERNAL PLAN
2) DECIDE NOT TO BE DISCOURAGED.
3) BEAR IN MIND ETERNAL REWARD FOR SUFFERINGS

NIV Ephesians 3:13 I ask you, therefore, not to be discouraged because of my sufferings for you, which are your glory.

NIV Colossians 1:24 Now I rejoice in what was suffered for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ's afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church. 25 I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness—

NIV 2 Corinthians 4:17 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.

NIV Romans 8:17 Now if we are children, then we are heirs-- heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

Ephesians 5:21 Word Study

2005-10-07T13:24:00.001-07:00

This word for submit is used in the following context:

The word used in Ephesians 5:21 is used 38 times in the NT. It's usage is broad...appearing in a variety of contexts. I did a word study in my Greek software and categorized the appearances in the NT. Here is my overview of what I found.

There are two major entries for this word in BDAG. The first is the main meaning we are dealing with.
1) To cause to be in a submissive relationship (subject or submit).
There are active and passive/middle definitions.
Actives include things like Ephesians 1:22 & Romans 8:20.
The active tends to mean to bring someone into subjection.

There are also passive forms.
In these there are a variety of passages...some dealing with marriages which include various concepts. For Ephesians 5:21 BDAG tilts towards what TL was saying...Of submission in the sense of voluntary yielding in love 1 Cor 16:16; Eph 5:21;

(The second major entry deals with appendages to documents and is irrelevant to this discussion in my view)

However, it also identifies Ephesians 5:22 as referring to "submission involving recognition of an ordered structure, w. dat. of the entity to whom/which appropriate respect is shown". So the implication is that this is a self-initiated submission based in voluntary love (Marriage is entered into voluntarily with love as it's engine).

So the term is explained in BDAG in reference to these very verses in an enlightening way. Further examination of the use of the term throughout the NT sheds more light on the idea that authority may be more than an added concept to hUPOTASSW...it may be implicit in it's core meaning only excluded with an exceptional context here and there...

Ways the term is used....

Kingdom Conflict w/spiritual forces
God/mankind relationships
Church contexts
Government/Civil Authorities

Household/Family Uses
Marriages (Six times)
Parenting (Two times)
Slavery (Two times)

Personal (One time)

It is very easy to see spiritual authority in operation in the verses dealing with Kingdom conflicts. For example in NJB Luke 10:17 The seventy-two came back rejoicing. 'Lord,' they said, 'even the devils submit to us when we use your name.' The disciples discuss spiritual authority and power when dealing with demonic forces in their outreaches. The word here is a form of hUPOTASSW. Another one is in James 4:7 where we are told to 'hUPOTASSW to God and resist the devil'. Here hUPOTASSW is translated submit.

It is used of Christ's authority and supreme rule over all in 1 Peter 3:21 It is the baptism corresponding to this water which saves you now -- not the washing off of physical dirt but the pledge of a good conscience given to God through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 22 who has entered heaven and is at God's right hand, with angels, ruling forces and powers subject [hUPOTASSW] to him.

Parenting
It's used in parent/child relationships when Jesus submits to his mother (Luke 2:51). The term is used in the analogy passage of Hebrews 12 where an analogy between fathers disciplining or punishing their children is compared to God disciplining or training believers in the Church. (Vs 9). There is legal authority involved in parenting as well as spiritual authority.

Slavery
It is used by Paul in Titus 2:9 instead of the other term for obey that he uses in Ephesians 6:5-9. It is also used by Peter to refer to how slaves must obey their masters ....see 1 Peter 2:18. In that context there was a legal authority involved in the relationship.

Government
NJB Romans 13:1 Everyone is to obey [hUPOTASSW] the governing authorities, because there is no authority except from God and so whatever authorities exist have been appointed by God.

Here the term is explicitly identified as an authority issue.
There are other governmental passages closely tied to the Marriage passages [Titus 2 & 3] and 1 Peter 2 & 3. These governmental uses carry a hue of authority that is difficult or impossible in my mind to divorce from the context.

(NJB 1 Peter 2:13 For the sake of the Lord, accept (hUPOTASSW) the authority of every human institution: the emperor, as the supreme authority,}

Marriages
1 Peter 3:5 That was how the holy women of the past dressed themselves attractively -- they hoped in God and were submissive (hUPOTASSW) to their husbands; 6 like Sarah, who was obedient to Abraham, and called him her lord.

Here hUPOTASSW is explained or defined through the Sarah analogy...which is summed up with obedience and respect.

Titus 2 we have the clear implication that men are not supposed to insstruct women on submissiveness personally (Paul does generally...or we wouldn't have had his teaching on it). But the older women are to mentor the younger women. The concept of obedience is so strong is translated that way in some translations! Further Paul uses the exact word (hUPOTASSW) in the next few verses when telling slaves to obey their masters. This reinforces my intensification theory on Ephesians 5:21-6:9 from other posts (at least in my view it does).

These two appearances may not reference authority in any direct way...especially 1 Cor 14:32. The concept is excluded easily by the context.

NJB 1 Corinthians 14:32 The prophetic spirit is to be under the prophets' control (hUPOTASSW),

Here though it is not referencing an external authority, it is referencing the concept of restraint or control!! Interesting eh?

NJB 1 Corinthians 16:16 I ask you in turn to put yourselves at the service of people like this and all that work with them in this arduous task.

This is perhaps the closest of all the uses to what we have in Ephesians 5:21. It is a voluntary self initiated thing he calls for here.

So I think now that I've studied out the use in the NT of the term it's even clearer to me that the concept of authority or some sort of spiritually ordered structure is typically involved with this word when it appears in the NT. It is worth noting that the middle/passive voice is used exclusively when dealing with anything in the NT outside of the universal subjection issues relating to Christ’s triumph over creation. This means that the range of meaning between the other categories of use...like cival authority, God/man relationships, slavery, parenting, marriage, and self-control all share the same voice and therefore share the same basic meaning or at least we are to look at that one sub-entry for our definitions of the term when using the Lexicons. This makes it more difficult in my mind to separate the concepts of authority and/or obedience from the uses found in Ephesians 5. In other words, wives are to voluntarily yield to their husbands spiritual authority, obeying them by their own volition if that is an issue in a marriage. Husbands are not to 'lord it over their wives' but are to focus on their mandate which is another post.

Tidbits on Ephesians 5.21

2005-10-06T08:38:00.000-07:00

I went back and dug out O'Brien's commentary on Ephesians and culled some of his comments and added a few of my own...FWIW.
NIV Ephesians 5:21 Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.

A few perspectives on this verse:

The term here for submission means submit, be subject to, be under the authority of, take a subordinate place. It falls within the semantic domain called ‘control, restrain’ and has stronger terms within that category such as slavery or controlling tightly. There are 32 different terms in the Greek language for control/restraint. This term is one of the gentler terms in the group.

This term came to mean to ‘surrender to God’ in Psalm 36:7, 61:2, 6.
In the Apocryphal books it was used to mean ‘humble oneself before…’ 2 Macc. 9:12 In the NT this term carries an overtone of authority and subjection or submission to it. (See Peter O’Brien pg 399 ‘The Letter To The Ephesians’)

Now looking at the term ‘submit’ here it certainly can be translated ‘obey’. It does include the concept in other places in the NT. For example the first two uses in the NT are:

NIV Luke 2:51 Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. But his mother treasured all these things in her heart.

NIV Luke 10:17 The seventy-two returned with joy and said, "Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name."

The word in Ephesians 5:21 appears in a middle voice, which means that the person who is submitting is called on by Paul to initiate their submission. In other words…people who are in situations where they are called upon to submit to someone’s authority should as Christians be eager to submit to someone’s authority out of reverence for Christ.

The flow of Paul’s logic in Ephesians 5 & 6 essentially transitions in 5:21 when he introduces the new topic of how to submit to one another (those who are called on to submit to one another-in this text he is addressing wives, children & slaves-with qualifiers to those in authority over them).

The major objection to this line of thinking rests with the concept of ‘one another’. It’s believed that because Paul says ‘submit to one another’ that all must submit to all in the Kingdom…equalizing everyone. It’s argued that the term ‘one another’ requires this conclusion because it is used nowhere else in any other way. This is generally true. However, context governs in these things. Most of the ‘one anothers in the NT have to do with forgiveness and love issues. For example…’love one another’ appears in many places. We never see submission commanded in a broad sense of the term – where it means everyone is called to submit to everyone anywhere in the NT. The idea mitigates against the meaning of the term itself. The term here ‘upotassw’ means to ‘be under the authority of’. It can be a synonym ‘upakouw’ (obey). For example-Paul uses ‘upakouw’ when fleshing out what it means to ‘upotassw’ in some situations and also uses the terms synonymously.
NIV Titus 2:9 Teach slaves to be subject to their masters in everything, to try to please them, not to talk back to them…but in Ephesians 6 uses ‘upakouw’ instead of ‘upotassw’ when talking to slaves. So the semantic relationship between these two terms in very strong in this passage…not just because of the ‘Household Table’ form relationship, but also because of the way the terms are used throughout the NT.

It simply does not make sense to ask everyone in these three categories to be under the authority of everyone listed. Can we tell parents to submit to the authority of their children? It does not fit the context to split off the portion to wives/husbands from the rest of the household guidelines. The three passages should be seen as a unit.

So to override the meaning of the phrase ‘submit’ here simply because it is couple with ‘one another’ is unwarranted. Especially when the meaning of ‘one another’ is easily understood as referring to the three categories of people who follow who are given specifics on how to submit. (Wives, Children & Slaves).

Further the following verse 22 does not have a verbal form at all in it. So Vs 22 is so tightly tied to Vs 21 that it is part of the same sentence in Greek. Therefore it is clear to me that Vs.21 is like a section header in the Greek if you will. This section header opens the topic up. So it is not meant to redefine husbands/wives roles. It is meant to introduce a Christian principle which Paul spells out then in detail. Here’s what it means…as he says starting in Vs.22.

To summarize then there is a line of authority established in these verses. It is clear that the apostle is calling on wives to acknowledge and honor their husbands spiritual authority. He calls on children to obey their parents for Christ’s Kingdom & glory. He even calls on slaves to serve with intensity for Christ’s Kingdom & glory. The idea that the phrase ‘one another’ overrides the intrinsic meaning of ‘upotassw’ here cannot make sense when one reads the entire context of the section. Therefore it must be rejected in favor of the distributed sense. So the phrase submit to one another does not refer to all people in the Kingdom in all situations, but rather to those Paul is specifically about to address with some sort of command to submit or obey.

Power: Standing Firm Against The Devil Eph 6:10-24

2005-09-12T11:24:00.000-07:00

Power
Standing against the enemy
Ephesians 6:10-24
September 11, 2005

Introduction:
Trophimus the Ephesian went with Paul to Jerusalem. His presence as a gentile was misconstrued by zealous Jews to be a violation of the Temple policy banning gentiles from the Jewish only area of the Temple. This resulted in Paul being violently attacked and almost killed in Jerusalem. After being saved by the Romans, Paul winds up in jail. Sometime while in jail he writes the Ephesian church a letter, no doubt to encourage them. This letter concludes with details about the warfare all Christians face for their faith.

Isaiah 59:14-21

Questions: Paul’s meditation on Isaiah 59 brought a Holy Spirit revelation about Christian living. What did Isaiah see that Paul left out?
Why?

What did Paul bring? What did Paul add?

Isaiah 59 Ephesians 6
Righteousness as a breastplate Belt of truth
Helmet of salvation Breastplate of righteousness
Garments of vengeance Shoes of peace
Zeal as a cloak Shield of faith
Spirit and the Word Helmet of salvation
Sword of the Spirit
Pray for proclamation

Five challenges from Ephesians 6

Be Strong
Who is the source of your strength?

Be Dressed & Ready
What is your spiritual equipment?
When do you get ready?

Wrestle Well
Attacking the right foes
Successfully defending
Victorious mentality

Stand Firm
Know the enemies tactics
Overcoming: Fight to the finish

Pray for the Gospel to be spoken
It’s about people & the gospel-so pray always!

Happy Slaves (Ephesians 6:5-9)

2005-09-01T14:19:00.000-07:00

Kate Corlley, a member of the Vineyard Christian Fellowship of B/N, works as a maid in a local hotel. Recently I was checking a friend in there who runs a ministry to orphans (he was passing through the area). The lady at the desk was working hard and had a lot on her plate when I asked her if she knew Kate. She stopped working and lit up, saying that she loved Kate. She felt Kate was the most wonderful person she had ever met. At that moment I was so happy to be able to tell her that I was Kate's pastor-what an honor to have someone like Kate in our fellowship! We talked for awhile and then she went back to work. How we do our job, no matter what that job is, reflects Jesus to the world and brings either glory or dishonor to Him. Kate is living out what we are going to study this morning. I urge you to look carefully with me at this passage so we can all be more like Kate in the way we work for the Lord in our jobs, schools or in the things we give ourselves to doing.

Let's pray.

ESV Romans 6

11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal bodies, to make you obey their passions. 13 Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. 14 For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.

The point of this paragraph is that we have been transferred through baptism from the dark Kingdom’s sin, into God’s Kingdom favor. We therefore must see ourselves as dead to sin. Dead to the power of sin, which is the mosaic law, and dead to the power of death. At the same time we are now alive to Christ’s Kingdom favor, Kingdom freedom and Kingdom resurrection life. All this is symbolized in water baptism-that when Christ died, we died with him. When Christ was buried we were buried with him. When he arose we arose with him. So now we are resurrected therefore with him.

The bondage we were in to sin, the law and death was an enslavement. We were enslaved to sin. Sin was our taskmaster and ruled us incessantly. Now we are free!

ESV Romans 6:15 What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! 16 Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? 17 But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, 18 and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. 19 I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification. 20 When you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. 21 But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? The end of those things is death. 22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

We are slaves of God!!!!!

In Scripture, the apostle John calls himself a slave of Jesus Christ.
The apostle James calls himself a slave of Jesus Christ.
Jude calls himself a slave of Jesus.
The apostle Peter calls himself a slave of Jesus.
Paul encourages Timothy to walk as a slave of Jesus.
The apostle Paul labels himself repeatedly as a slave of Jesus.

New Testament Christianity is a paradox. We are free! We are slaves! Our freedom is from slavery to sin. Our slavery is to Jesus Christ and his righteousness.
To rightly understand our passage today we must understand the commonly understood views of the early church. What were they thinking when Paul wrote what he wrote in Ephesians 6? Was Paul stirring up something he had taught them extensively already?

So really, they were following someone who had been publicly executed-been to the death chamber of Jerusalem-Jesus. AND they were announcing to the world that they were slaves of an executed man. Can you get any lower than to be a slave of an executed convict? Can you get any higher than to be a slave of this one and only executed convict? Who really is the king of all kings?

Two concepts then are common in Paul’s teachings all over the Mediterranean coasts west of Italy….for 25 years Paul was teaching that by faith in Christ, through baptism we identify with the death and resurrection of Christ. Through Christ we died to sin, and our enslavement to it. We are now slaves of righteousness. Slaves of God, bound to follow Jesus Christ.

Paul deals with slavery. In their day it was so common that up to a third of the congregation members were slaves. Today-according to anti-slavery organizations, slavery is a larger problem worldwide than ever in history. This is because over 12 million people are held in slavery today.

We are going to extract some principles from this passage and show how they apply today.

NLT Ephesians 6:5 Slaves, obey your earthly masters with deep respect and fear. Serve them sincerely as you would serve Christ. 6 Work hard, but not just to please your masters when they are watching. As slaves of Christ, do the will of God with all your heart. 7 Work with enthusiasm, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people. 8 Remember that the Lord will reward each one of us for the good we do, whether we are slaves or free. 9 And in the same way, you masters must treat your slaves right. Don't threaten them; remember, you both have the same Master in heaven, and he has no favorites.

NIV Matthew 16:27 For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father's glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done.

Two parts of this passage:

A) To slaves

B) To masters

(Going back to the beginning of this section 5:21-6:9)
Paul addresses the ones who are subordinate first, and then the leader second. For example-he addresses wives then husbands and children then parents. Now he addresses slaves and then masters.

A) To slaves
1) Obey your ‘flesh’ masters.
2) Serve them sincerely.
3) Work hard
4) Work with enthusiasm.
5) Remember eternal reward.

Summarized with THREE H’s. Humility, Honesty, and Heartiness!!

B) To masters
1) Treat slaves right.
2) Don’t threaten.
3) Remember you are a slave of the heavenly master.
4) God has no favorites.

Centurian’s request for Jesus to heal:

ESV Matthew 8:5 When he entered Capernaum, a centurion came forward to him, appealing to him, 6 "Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, suffering terribly." 7 And he said to him, "I will come and heal him." 8 But the centurion replied, "Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof, but only say the word, and my servant will be healed. 9 For I too am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. And I say to one, 'Go,' and he goes, and to another, 'Come,' and he comes, and to my servant, 'Do this,' and he does it." 10 When Jesus heard this, he marveled and said to those who followed him, "Truly, I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith. 11 I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, 12 while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." 13 And to the centurion Jesus said, "Go; let it be done for you as you have believed." And the servant was healed at that very moment.
Principle applies to anyone who has authority or power over others in a work or training setting. Any time you have someone who is an authority or boss in your life, these principles should be followed. In this way you will bring glory to Christ in all you do and you will store up a reward for your faith in Christ in action at the end of the age.

NIV 1 Timothy 6:1 All who are under the yoke of slavery should consider their masters worthy of full respect, so that God's name and our teaching may not be slandered.

For jobs in our situation the application is simply this:
A) To employees & students
a. Obey your bosses
b. Serve them sincerely
c. Work hard
d. Work with enthusiasm.
e. Remember your eternal reward.

B) To bosses & teachers/administrators
1) Treat your employees right.
2) Don’t threaten them.
3) Remember you are a slave working for God-your heavenly master.
4) God has no favorites.

If someone who is a slave is to obey their master like this, how much more should we who are simply students or employees even more obey our bosses or teachers from our hearts, sincerely. Applying the three H’s…humility, honesty and heartiness!
Be scrupulously submissive!!
Freed to be enslaved!

Happy slaves!

Bear eternity in mind while you serve

ESV 2 Corinthians 5:9 So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him. 10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.

NIV 1 Corinthians 3:12 If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, 13 his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man's work. 14 If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. 15 If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames.

Intro to letter to Ephesians

2005-06-29T16:08:00.000-07:00

This blog is dedicated to the discussion and study of Ephesians. My recommended commentaries for Ephesians include Stott's "The Message of Ephesians" and F.F. Bruce's NICNT "Colossians, Ephesians & Philemon" commentary. There are many other great commentaries on Ephesians. These two are my favorites.

FF Bruce is great for exegetical commentary. Stott is great for coming up with phrases that can preach well. The combination is excellent.