seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Ephesians 6:1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 2 “Honor your father and mother”—which is the first commandment with a promise— 3 “so that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.”[a]
4 Fathers,[b] do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.
5 Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ. 6 Obey them not only to win their favor when their eye is on you, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart. 7 Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not people, 8 because you know that the Lord will reward each one for whatever good they do, whether they are slave or free.
9 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.
10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 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. 13 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. 14 Stand firm then, 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.
18 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 Lord’s people. 19 Pray also for me, that whenever I speak, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should.
21 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. 22 I am sending him to you for this very purpose, that you may know how we are, and that he may encourage you.
23 Peace to the brothers and sisters,[c] and love with faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 24 Grace to all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with an undying love.[d]
a. Ephesians 6:3 Deut. 5:16
b. Ephesians 6:4 Or Parents
c. Ephesians 6:23 The Greek word for brothers and sisters (adelphoi) refers here to believers, both men and women, as part of God’s family.
d. Ephesians 6:24 Or Grace and immortality to all who love our Lord Jesus Christ.
This is from the easy English site.
A Roman father could do anything that he wanted with his children. He could make them work in the fields. He could even put chains on them. He could sell them as slaves. He could punish them, as he liked. He could even kill them. When a girl was born, the father might throw her away.
Paul now gives instructions to parents and children. The Christian father must love his children. He should love them as God loves him. Do not make your children angry. Your children will do many wrong things. But most of those things will not be very important. Do not always be telling them that they are wrong. Decide on what is important and what is not. Decide on the things that you should not approve of. Do not be cruel to them. Do not always tell them that they are bad. If you do, they might stop trying to be good. Always try to say good and helpful things to your children.
Parents must help their children. Father’s ‘must look after’ their children. And they ‘must correct’ them. They should train them in the ways of Christ. The Greek word that Paul used here is the same as in 5:29. It referred there to a man who looks after his own body. To look after their children should be the parents’ most important duty.
Sometimes education is hard and difficult. The child may not like this. The book of Proverbs has many words about this. But parents must always remember one thing. They should not be too hard or cruel to their children. A child is a person and not a thing. ‘Train a child in the way that he should go. Then, when he is old, he will not turn from it’ (Proverbs 22:6). Discipline at times may be hard. But we should always praise the child when he or she has done well.
In Bible times many families had slaves. They did all the work in the house. They were the property of their master. They had no rights. Their owner could buy or sell them. He could punish his slave if he wanted to. He could whip him or put him in prison. He could even kill him. A slave might escape. If the master caught him, he would whip him. Or he might kill him. Some slaves would kill themselves. They did this because they were so unhappy.
Paul writes, ‘Slaves, respect and obey your masters in this world. Be loyal to them, as you would be to Christ.’ These instructions are right for any time in history. They are a benefit in the home or at work. A slave or worker should obey his master or manager. He does this as he would obey Christ. He obeys his master on earth. Then he remembers that he has a greater master. His greater master is the Lord.
Masters must remember that ‘you and your slaves have the same master in heaven. God is fair and you are all his slaves. He does not think that masters in this world are more important than their slaves.’ God, who is master of both slaves and servants, is in heaven. There are no favourites with him. All are equal in front of God. But people may not be equal in the world. God has no favourites. He considers everyone the same. Masters must remember that they too are servants. They are under the authority of their master in heaven. It is the same for both masters and servants. They both have the same master and judge in heaven. When they remember this, they will behave well towards other people.
People allowed slavery in those days. But now we believe that slavery is wrong. It is wrong for one person to buy and sell another person. It is wrong to do as you please to another person. This is what the Bible teaches. All people are equal in front of God. Christians are like brothers and sisters in Christ. The letter of Paul to Philemon tells us about a slave called Onesimus. He had escaped from his master, Philemon. He had come to Paul and he had become a Christian. Paul then wanted to return him to Philemon. So Paul writes to Philemon. He asks him to be kind to Onesimus when he returns. He asks Philemon to receive Onesimus both as a man and as a brother (Philemon 16). Paul taught that a slave could become a Christian brother.
For the Jews, there were laws about slaves. These laws were very generous. They are in Exodus chapter 21. Slaves should serve for 6 years. Their masters freed them in the seventh year. They would not need to pay their masters anything (Exodus 21:2). A slave might have a good master. If he did not want to leave him, they had a ceremony. The slave stood by a door. His master would make a hole through the slave’s ear with a sharp tool. The tool would go into the door and fix the slave to the door. After that, there would be a hole in the slave’s ear. This was to show that the slave wanted to stay with his master. He wanted to stay with him always (Exodus 21:6). This is an example of the Christian. He wants to be with his Master Jesus for ever. He will never want to be free from being a servant of Jesus.
This war is different from a war with weapons like guns. This battle is not against people. It is against all kinds of ‘spiritual forces’. They are in a world that you cannot see. ‘We are not fighting a human army, but we are fighting against the powers of this dark world. We are fighting against the rulers, authorities and evil spiritual forces in the heavens.’ These evil forces will use people to do their evil work. The war is against the Devil and his armies. These armies consist of many different kinds of spirits.
The fight is against the evil rulers. They are part of the ‘dark’ world that you cannot see. They are powerful spirits of Satan. They are great evil princes of darkness. They rule this world. We fight against large numbers of wicked spirits. These are in the spirit world. We cannot see them, but they are real. They hate the light. They try to get away from it. Darkness is where they live. They have no rules of right behaviour. They have no kind, pleasant feelings. They know nothing about right. They know only about wrong things.
Then Paul adds, ‘Then you can ask God for anything.’ We should pray with all kinds of prayers and requests. There are many kinds of prayers. In one kind of prayer, we tell God how good and great he is. There is the kind of prayer when we thank God. We thank him for who he is. Or, we thank him for what he does for us. There is the kind of prayer for other people. There is the kind of prayer for ourselves and about the events in our lives. We must ask God to guide us. And there is the kind of prayer for kings and our rulers (1 Timothy 2:1-2).
Ok... nope don't want to write about the full armor of God. The preachers and the Sunday School workers have driven that thought right down into the hole... it's a secure thought in the brains of any church raised Christian.... put on the full armor of God.... but wait... David was better off without the armor.... he just used the tools of his trade... but then again... David thought he was standing up for God when he took on Goliath... David knew that God was always standing up for him.... but in this particular instance... with Goliath badmouthing God's chosen people.... David figured that's what God wanted him to do.David was raised as a shepherd. He was trained to use his staff and his stones to protect the flock. He must have been an excellent shot.... a hungry animal wouldn't give him or his flock a second shot. So David had tools and knowledge..... and he thought he was the one sticking up for God. So the armor that everyone else would use.... that didn't fit him. So he went out with what he could depend on. David didn't need the physical stuff.... he had courage, love and outrage.... and they were all from God.
Back in the days of Paul though.... everyone had a class..... wives were interchangeable.... children were property.... slaves were property.... and the rich man was in charge. People were mean to each other..... babies could be killed for no reason...female babies were of so little value... they were often beaten to death shortly after birth and no one would have lifted a finger. Babies could be sold too.... a rich man could sell his own kid.... into slavery. On top of that.... if a rich man wanted to.... he could do anything he wanted it do... that's the kind of society the first Christians were living in.
People were miserable.... People treated people horribly....
Christians... on the other hand.... they were on a different level. The rich guy may own everything they had... but that didn't matter much to them....at that point... Christians knew that they were going to be with Jesus one day... they had hope. They knew others who had this same hope... and when they shared this hope with others... it grew... so there were a bunch of humans just being kind to one another.... and it was making waves... Christians were smiling.... I bet those Romans thought those Christians were plotting against them... why else could they possibly be so happy..
For the past few days.... all day long... I have been thinking of a song that we teach our kids. In these days of pepper-spray, rubber bullets, and riot gear.... it's hard to wrap my mind around the fact that I think it's important to teach children to sing.... and the song that goes through my mind constantly seems totally from a different world..... as I watch the rioting.... and the crying... and the arguing.... I am hearing in my old brain...... "Jesus loves the little children.... all the children of the world... red and yellow, black and white.... they are precious in His sight... Jesus loves the little children of the world."
Jesus had two rules.... We are to love God with all our heart, mind, and soul. We are to love one another.
Being kind to one another these days... well it seems to be an uncommon event.... it's rather confusing....
Pray and smile.... it will confuse everyone.....
