Be strong in the Lord, using the protections God has provided to arm ourselves in this challenging world.
Paul continues his letter: children obey and honor their parents. Parents are not to provoke your children. Servants and masters respect each other with good will. God’s reward is not affected by a Christian’s station in life. Be strong in the Lord, he writes, using the protections He has provided to arm and defend you in this challenging world. Cover yourselves with God’s armor and the word of God, so you can overcome the darkness. Paul ends by asking for prayers for all the saints and for himself and for all Christians to have the courage and boldness in speaking the Gospel.
Imitate God by walking in love, Paul writes. Don’t be mislead by the disobedient ones living in darkness.
As children of the light, find what is acceptable to God — be known for goodness, righteousness, and truth. Be wise; understand God’s will and what pleases Him. Be filled with the Spirit thanking God always for everything. Husbands, treasure your wives as Christ treasures His Church. Wives respect your husbands. Out of love and reverence for Christ, we are to be subordinate to one another, which leads to unity and oneness with Christ.
Paul writes of unity and oneness. God has provided different ministries to build the body of Christ.
Paul asks the Ephesians to walk worthy of their calling, in the unity of the Spirit. There is one body, spirit, Lord, faith, baptism and one God above all, living in all. God has provided different ministries to build the body of Christ so the Church will be uplifted in love until it achieves the stature of Christ. Their minds must be renewed in Christ and they need to “put on” the new self that God created.
Paul affirms that God’s power is at work in the Ephesians for the glory of Jesus Christ and the Church.
Paul writes from prison having been arrested for his bold preaching to the Ephesians. He tells them not to be discouraged about his trouble, because he knows his suffering is meant for their glory. Paul prays that God will strengthen them so they will know the infinite love of Christ for them and that Christ will dwell in their hearts.
All believers are God’s “chosen” people. Once, they were strangers without hope, but now they are included in God’s family by the blood of Christ.
Paul reminds the Ephesians that their God who is rich in mercy and infinite in love, loved them even when they were dead in sin. Now, He has made them alive with Christ and raised them up together with Him in heavenly places — Jews and Gentiles alike. By grace they have been saved through God’s gift of faith, a faith impossible to achieve through their own strengths or abilities.
Paul reminds the Ephesian believers that they have every spiritual blessing through Christ’s blood and God’s grace.
Writing in his authority as an “apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God,” Paul reminds the
Ephesian believers that they have every spiritual blessing through Christ’s blood and the infinite
grace of God. They are chosen, adopted, forgiven, redeemed, and made holy; therefore, they owe
it to God to live holy and blameless lives.
