Living an Empowered Life

In the letter to the Ephesians, Paul spends most of the first three chapters reminding believers of the wonderful things God has done for those who trust Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. He talks to Jewish and non-Jewish Christians about how they both fit into God’s eternal plan. He refers to the big picture of God’s will: to reconcile or re-unite all of creation with Himself. In other words, God is returning the fallen, damaged world to a state of harmony between Himself and His people. But this unity must also extend among all believers in Christ, and one day, this peace will be between God, believers, and a new cosmos. Chapters four through six focus on the lifestyle and actions that should characterize the people of God who are putting His will into practice, especially unity in the church, maturity in Christ-likeness, godly speech, sexual purity, and relationships at home and in the workplace.

The last major section of this letter begins with the word “Finally.” Paul is wrapping up the things he wants to say with one more key point. Because of new life in Christ and the outworking of God’s will to reconcile or unite all things in Christ, Christians may expect life to be one glorious moment after another. But our reality proves that life is a struggle, and taking off the old behaviors and putting on the new ones isn’t always easy. Paul reminds the believers in this final section that we face opposition whenever we are announcing and demonstrating the good news of God’s kingdom. Whenever we proclaim or exhibit the benefits of our new relationship with God, we face opposition from unseen powers of evil (Arnold, p. 41). Many people think of Ephesians 6:10 -20 as the definitive passage on weird or paranormal spiritual warfare. But as Clinton Arnold points out, “These verses describe the common struggle with evil in the day-to-day lives of Christians” (Arnold, p. 37).

Thankfully, Paul does not exhibit fear and anxiety when he instructs the church about facing evil powers. Throughout these verses, he is confident that we can remain steadfast and obedient with God’s help (Page, p. 187). Next time, we will look at the ways God has equipped us to stand our ground against the schemes of the devil so that we won’t fall every time temptations arise or knuckle under when attacked.

1. What hints do we find in Eph. 6:10-15 about the circumstances of these Christians?

The passage discusses how to fight spiritual forces of evil, so it’s obvious they are engaged in a spiritual battle. It is full of exhortations-things Paul urges the believers to do. Thus, we can guess that they were not fighting effectively, or were weary from fighting, and perhaps some were not fighting at all. Lincoln suggests the believers were experiencing “a crisis of confidence” (Lincoln, p. 440). Most likely they were not consistently finding strength in the Lord or utilizing the tools He had given them. We can assume that some were weak (“be strong”); were relying on themselves (“put on the full armor of GOD”); were falling into sinful actions (“stand”); were feeling accused or condemned (“breastplate of righteousness”—Christ’s righteousness accounted to us by faith in Him); believing lies (“the belt of truth”); neglecting to witness to Christ (“the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace”); anxious, fearful, or doubtful (“take up the shield of faith”); or forgetting the promises and doctrines in the Word (“take…the sword of the Spirit, the word of God”). They may have been ignoring or complacent about the devil’s schemes (“be alert”). Some may have felt helpless or disconnected from God and one another (“pray”).

2. What image is Paul using throughout this passage?

Paul pictures Christians as soldiers in God’s army fighting the devil and the powers of the kingdom of darkness. Since he spent a number of years in prison and traveled from one trial to another in the company of Roman soldiers, Paul was very familiar with the armament of these troops. He probably was chained to or writing in the presence of a soldier as he dictated these ideas (Stott, p. 276). Paul refers to some of a Roman legionnaire’s armor although there is not an exhaustive list of a soldier’s equipment in these verses. It seems more important to Paul to use this as a loose analogy, not an item for item representation (Lincoln, pp. 435-436). However, some people have been taught all about the pieces of armor yet don’t recognize that Paul omits some standard equipment and inserts prayer as a final weapon.

3. Where are we told to find our strength (v.10)?

Paul says that the Lord and His mighty power are our source of strength. Scholars point out that this command is actually “be strengthened in the Lord” signifying that believers must turn to the Lord in faith and not be self-reliant (Hughes, p. 219-220). Without God’s power and armor, we won’t be able to stand in the battle. Self-reliance or forgetting God’s provision will lead to certain defeat.

This exhortation sounds like God’s words after Moses’ death to Joshua who had been chosen as the new leader of Israel (Josh.1:6,7,9). Paul also closed his first letter to the Corinthians with similar words, “Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong…” (I Cor.16:13, cited in Lincoln, p. 441). Paul has already mentioned God’s power in Ephesians 1:19-20 when he refers to the power that raised Jesus from the dead and seated Him in heaven at God’s right hand. Paul again mentions God’s power to strengthen the believers as he prays in Ch. 3:16 (Lincoln, p. 442). In this passage, Paul urges the church to receive strength from the Lord Jesus Christ who is called “the power of God and the wisdom of God” in 1 Cor.1:24. Thus Paul is saying that the living, dynamic presence of Jesus in the life of believers and the gathered church is the source of strength for us in spiritual battles (Betz, p. 204).

4. What does Paul mean by “God’s power”?

You may be wondering if God’s power in you is like “the force” in the Star Wars movies. But God is not an impersonal power subject to our thoughts and available for us to control. He is the holy, almighty Creator, Savior and Sustainer who has endured death but also triumphed over it for our sakes. “In the NT [New Testament] it is impossible to separate the power of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, since God the Father empowers Jesus at every point (…John 3:2, 5:19, 30), the Son by nature shares the power of God (Heb. 1:3), and the Holy Spirit is closely identified with the Father and the Son (e.g., Acts 10:38 ; Rom. 1:4)” (Laarman, p. 927).

Jesus living in us by His Spirit is the same Lord who did not succumb to Satan’s lies and fall into sin. He is the same one who relied fully on the Father for life, wisdom, protection, and provision. When we face attacks-outright or subtle—from the devil, we have the same Spirit of Jesus in us and available to us to resist temptations and remain firmly trusting in God. What Paul urges us to do in the heat of battle is to turn our thoughts to the Father, rely on His presence to protect, provide, strengthen, guide and care for us. To bolster our weak faith, we can preach the truth to one another and ourselves. In humility, we can confess our helplessness if we try to fight without Him. In order to alleviate our anxiety, we can request that the Father further His reputation by demonstrating His power and His solutions in our circumstances. And ultimately we can turn our attention and effort to worshipping God rather than continuing to contemplate the sinful choices before us.

Question: Who or what do you usually rely on when you are struggling? The enemy always seems to hit us the most where we have repeated failure. This becomes even more of a struggle due to the root offence digging in deeper – thus causing a vicious cycle take place. To quote Albert Einstein’s definition of insanity: “Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results” (cited by Brainy Quote). Those choices we make when turning to something or someone other than God become areas of repeated sin that the enemy likes us to fall into.

5. What else are we commanded to receive from God and put to use (v. 11)?

Why do we need God’s full armor (vv. 11, 13)?

The word translated “full armor” or “whole armor” designated the offensive and defensive weapons a heavily armed foot soldier would use (Lincoln, p. 442). Actually, Paul doesn’t list every piece of a Roman soldier’s personal armor, but he uses the general idea to convey that God has given us everything we need to battle. It’s up to us to make use of it. Paul describes the benefits of our new relationship with God as “the full armor of God.” Paul has taught earlier that being chosen, redeemed, forgiven, reconciled, and adopted (Eph.1:3-8) unites us with our Heavenly Father. He is the One who has given us salvation, Jesus’ righteousness, peace, faith, the truth, the message of reconciliation, and supplies His Word and Holy Spirit to assist us when we pray. All the pieces of armor in this passage point to saving faith being our relationship with the God who provides protection. He, not merely theological terms of our faith, keeps us safe as we struggle spiritually. In other words, we ought to seek safety not in the armor but in the Provider of our spiritual armor.

6. Why do we need spiritual armor (vv.12-13)?

Paul states that we have an enemy, the devil, who is scheming against the church (v.11). All the verbs/exhortations are addressed to a group, not individuals (Ebert, 6/6/03). The struggle we face is “not against flesh and blood," that is, not against other human beings. Often, however, we are deceived into thinking our enemies are individuals or people groups who “threaten” the church, oppose Christian morals in society, or challenge the way we walk out our faith. Jesus didn’t come to oppose non-religious people; He came to welcome them. His opposition was primarily against good religious folks who were shutting the door to the kingdom so the ungodly didn’t get near to God (Nathan, pp. 27-30). And He fought the powers of darkness that held people in bondage.

Likewise, Paul tells us that our opponents are the rulers, authorities, the powers of this dark world, and the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places (v.12). Page argues that these terms in the New Testament refer to evil supernatural beings that are allied with the devil and share his means of attacking believers. However, because they are finite, created beings (Col.1:16), they are still under God’s control. Jesus has triumphed over them and they will one day be completely destroyed. Many scholars also believe that because the New Testament uses several different lists of words for these powers (e.g. 1 Cor. 15:24; Rom. 8:38-39; Eph.1:21; Col.1:16; etc.), we should not speculate about the way they might be organized by ranks, etc. (Page, pp. 241, 260-261).

You may know people who are interested in the various Greek words used for the forces of evil, but there is nothing to be gained in studying evil in depth. Instead, we need to recognize their assaults, especially temptation and accusation against Christians and affliction and torment of unsaved folks (Page, p. 260), simply so we are not caught off guard. We should realize they are limited by Christ’s rule (Col. 2:10), and stand our ground by God’s grace and provision. Are these forces behind some wicked governments, utilizing evil human agents, and promoting ungodliness in our culture? Undoubtedly, but Paul’s concern is that we look to God, not examine our enemies under a microscope.

7. How many times are we told to stand? What does this repetition tell us about our enemy’s goal?

Our enemy wants us to “fall”—to turn from trusting God to rely on self or anything else. Thus when we doubt, lose our focus on God, or act independently of Him, we sin. This accomplishes Satan’s goal to separate us from God causing us to feel fearful, guilty, or ashamed. He wants to distract us from the battle, or paralyze us, so we don’t feel qualified or capable of standing against him and his forces. Piper says, “…all sin comes from failing to live by faith… (see Romans 1:23) which means the number one aim of Satan is the destruction of faith” (p. 322).

Question: What are some of the devil’s schemes to cause Christians to fall down spiritually or morally?

In the New Testament, Satan’s schemes against believers seem to be tempting to commit sin-most frequently mentioned-as well as inspiring false teaching, tormenting, persecuting, accusing or condemning (Page, pp. 220-221). Many people imagine extreme or bizarre experiences when they hear the term “spiritual warfare” such as depicted in sensational movies or novels. Paul, however, wants us to recognize that spiritual battles are fought in the daily choices of what we think, say, and do, insignificant as they may seem. Our behaviors, based on trust in God or mistrust, either support us in our firm stand against the forces of evil or open a door to give the enemy a foothold in our lives (Eph. 4:27). It may not be obvious, but Paul has just spent chapters four, five and the first part of six describing the behavior that should characterize those who are united with Christ. He also mentions practices that belonged to their former, pagan way of life and tells them to get rid of those sinful attitudes and actions. Some of the evil patterns mentioned in Ephesians four through six include a lack of love, humility, and unity in the church; unwillingness to commit and be accountable to a local body of believers; and resistance to maturing in Christ-likeness.

Other behaviors to discard are lack of perceiving spiritual truth, hard hearts, calloused consciences, sensual indulgence, impurity, lusting for more sinful behavior, lies/deceit, unrighteous anger, long-standing unreconciled relationships, stealing, impure speech, bitterness, rage, fighting, slander, hatred towards others, sexual immorality, greed, obscenity, ignoring Christ’s work and return, drunkenness, self-centered living, insubordination in the church and home, lack of respect for others, dishonoring parents, overly harsh parenting, dishonest work habits, lack of compassion toward employees, etc. Underlying most of these are the three basic temptations from Genesis 3 which humans gave in to even in a perfect world: lack of trust in God’s words/truth; lack of belief that He would protect/care for us; refusal to give Him first place in everything, and relying on self instead.

APPLICATION

• What’s one thing you didn’t understand about spiritual warfare before we studied this passage?

• How will what you learned impact the way you stand your ground against the kingdom of darkness?

• Why is it important to think of the Body and not just the individual engaging in spiritual warfare? Notice all the commands to be strong, put on, stand firm, take up, take, pray, and keep alert are written to a plural audience. In other words, the church body, not individuals, is pictured fighting together. Paul knows the trials that the early believers endured, since he was persecuted more than any other follower of Christ recorded in Scripture (2 Cor. 11:23—28).

• How do our own beliefs and actions impact the whole Body’s safety and health? Our sins of omission and commission, our lack of faith, and our impure inner attitudes can weaken the body, invite demonic attack, and cause harm to the reputation of Christ. Our prideful actions or passive inaction can be battlegrounds for the enemy to exploit in our lives.

• What kind of resistance do you experience when you want to share the gospel? Throughout this passage, we have assumed that the devil and his forces want to stop the gospel from spreading. But he is not alone in his efforts to oppose God’s worldwide reconciliation. Even though this passage does not refer to the sinful pull of our flesh and the values of our world/culture, we do find Scripture telling us that these also influence our choices to sin. It’s also important to note that nowhere in the Bible do we find people excused from their sin because of the devil or his evil associates (Page, pp. 187-190). What frequently hinders our bold proclamation of the gospel is our fear of the opinions of other people. We desire their approval and don’t want to look foolish and have them rush to unfair judgments about us. So we keep our mouths shut or say only what we think is safe. When we discover that we are working for the approval of others rather than God, Jesus’ words cut through our misplaced allegiance:

I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more. But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after the killing of the body, has power to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him…. I tell you, whoever acknowledges me before men, the Son of Man will also acknowledge him before the angels of God. But he who disowns me before men will be disowned before the angels of God.

Luke 12:4-5, 8-9

WRAPPING IT UP

Paul assumes all believers are engaged in spiritual warfare until Christ returns. But he doesn’t want us to be afraid or discouraged when the battle is fierce. In our next study, we will look more specifically, at what the Lord has given to enable us to withstand the enemy’s schemes. As we rely on Him and fight alongside other believers, we will display God’s purpose to overcome evil and reconcile all things on earth under Christ.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Author - Elizabeth B. Crawford

Arnold, Clinton E. Three Crucial Questions about Spiritual Warfare. Grand Rapids : Baker, 1997.

Betz, Otto and C. Blendinger. “Might, Authority, Throne.” The New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology, Vol. 2: G-Pre. 6th ed. Ed. Colin Brown. Grand Rapids : Zondervan, 1980.

Borchert, Gerald L. “ Ephesus .” The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, Vol. 2: E-J. Ed. Geoffrey W. Bromiley. Grand Rapids : William B. Eerdmans, 1982.

Bruce, F. F. The Epistles to the Colossians, to Philemon, and to the Ephesians. The New International Commentary on the New Testament. Ed. F. F. Bruce. Grand Rapids : William B. Eerdmans, 1984.

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Ebert, John. “RE: pronouns in Eph 6 .” E-mail to the author. 9 June 2003 .

Einstein, Albert. “Insanity.” BrainyQuote. 2003. BrainyMedia. 1 Jul. 2003 .

Hughes, R. Kent. Ephesians: The Mystery of the Body of Christ. Preaching the Word series. Wheaton , IL : Crossway, 1990.

Keener, Craig S. The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament. Downer’s Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1993.

Kelly, Robert A. “Righteousness.” The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, Vol. 4:Q-Z. Ed. Geoffrey W. Bromiley. Grand Rapids : William B. Eerdmans, 1988.

Laarman, Edward. “Power; Might.” The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, Vol. 3: K-P. Ed. Geoffrey W. Bromiley. Grand Rapids : William B. Eerdmans, 1979.

Liefeld, Walter L. “Ephesians.” The NIV Study Bible: New International Version. Ed. Kenneth L. Barker. Grand Rapids : Zondervan, 1985.

Lincoln, Andrew T. Ephesians. Word Biblical Commentary, Vol. 42. Ed. David L. Hubbard. Dallas : Word, 1990.

Nathan, Rich. Who Is My Enemy? Welcoming People the Church Rejects. Grand Rapids : Zondervan, 2002.

Oswalt, John N. The Book of Isaiah: Chapters 40-66. The New International Commentary on the Old Testament. Grand Rapids : William B. Eerdmans, 1997.

Page, Sydney H.T. Powers of Evil: A Biblical Study of Satan and Demons. Grand Rapids : Baker, 1995.

Piper, John. The Purifying Power of Living By Faith in Future Grace. Sisters, OR: Multnomah, 1995.

Robertshaw, Andrew. A Soldier’s Life: A Visual History of Soldiers Through the Ages. NY: Lodestar, 1997.

Stott, John R. W. God’s New Society: The Message of Ephesians. The Bible Speaks Today Series. Ed. John R. W. Stott (NT). Downer’s Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1980.