Ephesians 6

CHAPTER 6THEME: The church is a soldier; the soldier’s relationships; the soldier’s enemy; the soldier’s protection; the soldier’s examplePaul was a good soldier of Christ; benedictionIn the preceding chapter the church was designated as the bride of Christ. Now in this chapter it is to be a good soldier of Jesus Christ. I have told you that my humorous friend says this sequence is to be expectedafter a couple gets married, the war begins. Therefore, the church should be a good soldier. He was being facetious, of course. In the future the church is to be presented as the bride of Christ. This is the expectation of the church. Today is the period of the engagement and exhibition of the church before the world. Now the chapter before us presents another side of the life of a believer. In the world today the church is to be a good soldier of Jesus Christ. In Ephesus there stood the great temple of Diana, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. It stood for all that was pagan and heathen; it was grossly immoral. It was time for the believers in Ephesus to recognize that they had an enemy. Not only did the Christians in Ephesus have an enemy, but we have an enemy today. Our enemy is not the worship at the temple of Diana. I think we have something infinitely worse than that. We are seeing immorality and heathenism not only in the name of religion but actually in the name of Christianitywhen it is not Christian at all! The first part of the chapter opens with instructions to children, parents, servants, and masters. This may seem foreign to the life of a soldier. However, a soldier’s training does not start in boot camp; it begins when he is a child in the home. In World War II they had a saying in the navy that in the early days of our nation we had wooden ships and iron men, but now we have iron ships and paper-doll men. That is probably not entirely accurate, but a report from the Great Lakes Naval Training Station tells us that a shocking percentage of all young men in the United States attaining the age of navy enlistment years must be rejected because of previous criminal records and because of personality, psychological, or health problems; also an alarming number of all enlistees fail to measure up to recruit training. Severe problems are faced in the training of young men who must be trained in the simple things that should have been learned at home. At seventeen a young man ought to be ready to launch into the training program. The navy finds that they can easily put a uniform on the man. It is putting a man into the uniform that is causing such problems. This same type of breakdown is attested to by foreign mission boards. A survey reveals that a very small percentage of students graduating from Christian Bible schools and colleges go into foreign missions, and a startling number return after the first term as casualities. Training is essential if the soldier is to fight properly and be victorious over the enemy. The preparation of a soldier must begin in the home when he is a childnot in the church or in the Sunday school but in the home. Every child who doesn’t get that first lesson is handicapped. One of the great problems of our young people today, and some older ones too, is that they were not properly trained in the home. Proper training means discipline.

Ephesians 6:1

THE SOLDIER’S RELATIONSHIPSIt is right because it is according to the will of God. It is actually more than right; it is just. It is a righteous thing to do because it is God’s way. The first lesson that a soldier must learn is obedience to those in authority. He must follow orders. This basic training is learned in the home. After the soldier has learned to obey, then he is in a position to be promoted to the rank of an officer where he gives commands to others. To know how to give orders depends largely on how the soldier learned to obey. This basic training is found in the home with the parent-child relationship, and then with the master-servant relationship. The victories of the Christian life are won in the home and in the place of business. You will remember that it is said of the Lord Jesus that as a boy He went down to Nazareth, and He was subject to Joseph and Mary. There are two essential factors which must be taken into account in this verse and in this section:

1. It is assumed that Paul is talking about a Christian home, a home such as he had been discussing in chapter 5 regarding the marriage relationship. Obedience of children to parents is confined to the circumference of “in the Lord.” Christian parents have the privilege of claiming their children for the Lord. I think we all should do that. Even where only one parent is a believer, he may claim his children for God. “For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband: else were your children unclean; but now are they holy” (1Co_7:14). This, of course, does not mean that the child is a believer just because he has a Christian parent. It does mean that the parent has a right to claim that child. Notice that it says, “Obey your parents in the Lord.” I have great sympathy for a boy who accepts the Lord and has an unsaved father or mother. There may be times when such a child must obey God rather than men.
2. The word for “obey” here is different from the word found in verse Eph_6:22 of chapter 5. The wife is to submit. The wife occupies a place of equality with the husband, and submission is merely a question of headship. Here the child is to obey as the servant is to obeythe same word is used in verse Eph_6:5. Disobedience to parents is the last and lowest form of lawlessness to occur on this earth. “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy” (2Ti_3:1-2). Disobedience to parents is one of the characteristics of the last days. Today we hear of many cases of children rejecting parental authority and even killing their parents! This is indicative of the times in which we live. Of course there will come a time in a boy’s life when he begins to rebel against his parents because it is time for him to move out and get married and start a home of his own. God has given him a nature that rebels against being a mama’s boy, tied to his mama’s apron strings for the rest of his life. God wants him to stand on his own two feet. This kind of rebellion, this struggle for independence, is different from disobedience. When I was a pastor, I remember visiting in a home in which the father and I couldn’t even carry on a conversation because his little boy occupied the center ring of the circus. He was a little circus himself, and if you ask me, the dear little fellow was a brat. The father said, “I just can’t make that child obey me.” The father weighed about two hundred pounds, and the boy weighed about thirty pounds. Yet the father said, “I just can’t make him obey me.” Well, I think he could have, and I think he should have. God intended for the father to make him obey at that age.

Ephesians 6:2

We have learned that the Ten Commandments are not the norm for Christian livingbut that doesn’t mean you can break them. A youngster in the home is to honor father and mother, and as we grow older we are to continue to honor them by the life that we live. (It is interesting that all the Ten Commandments are repeated in the New Testament with the exception of the commandment concerning the Sabbath day.) Honoring your father and mother carries with it a promise of long life to those who keep it (see Exo_20:12), and that promise is repeated here. It is the first commandment with promise. The other commandments promised something if they were not kept, but they didn’t promise anything if they were kept. Samson and Absalom are two examples in Scripture of boys who did not follow this commandment, and their lives were short. Samson, a judge, died when he was a young man. Absalom rebelled against his father David, and he was killed when he was a young man.

Ephesians 6:4

“Nurture” means discipline, and “admonition” means instruction. Bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. No such commandment was given to parents under the Law. Under grace there are always mutual responsibilities and interactive duties. The parent is not to vent a bad disposition on a child or punish him in a fit of rage. It is the parents’ duty to teach the child the truths of the Scriptures and then to live them before the child. Don’t provoke your children to wrath. As a believer, you are to live at home like a believer. “Fathers” includes the mothers also. However, the emphasis, I think, is on the father because the disciplining and training of the child is actually his responsibility, but it does include the mother also. Children are not to be provoked to anger. This doesn’t mean that they are to be treated as if they were a cross between an orchid and a piece of Dresden china. I think that the board of education should be applied to the seat of learning whenever it is needed. The writer of Proverbs had a great deal to say about this: “He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes” (Pro_13:24). “Chasten thy son while there is hope, and let not thy soul spare for his crying” (Pro_19:18). “Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child; but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him” (Pro_22:15). “Withhold not correction from the child: for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die. Thou shalt beat him with the rod and shalt deliver his soul from hell” (Pro_23:13-14). “The rod and reproof give wisdom: but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame…. Correct thy son, and he shall give thee rest; yea, he shall give delight unto thy soul” (Pro_29:15, Pro_29:17). There is the story of the father whipping the little boy and saying, “Son, this hurts me more than it hurts you.” The boy replied, “Yeah, but not in the same place!” These little ones who simply will not obey need to be spanked. They need a trip to the woodshed. A child should never be whipped while the parent is angry; this is stated very clearly. We are never to provoke our children to wrath, which will happen if they see that we are simply venting a mean disposition on them. They should be disciplined. In Proverbs 23 we are told that when we spank our children they won’t die. I can remember that my mother whipped me a great deal more than my father did. She was the one at home with us, so she would get a switch and she could make it hurt. I was such a good boy I don’t know why it was that I got such a number of switchings! I did learn that if I would yell at the top of my voice, “You’re killing me, you’re killing me,” she would always let up because she didn’t want the neighbors to hear and say, “My, that poor boy’s mother is killing him!” I found out it sort of softened the punishment. Of course, she wasn’t trying to kill me. She was giving me the punishment I needed. “Correct thy son, and he shall give thee rest …[and] delight unto thy soul"a child in a Christian home should be given Christian instruction so that he might come to a vital relationship with Christ and be fortified when he comes in contact with the world. Every parent ought to have the privilege of leading his child to a saving knowledge of Christ. My wife was never my assistant pastorI insisted on that. I never let her become president of the missionary society or hold any office in any women’s organization in any church that I served. When I accepted a pastorate, I told my board. “My wife is my wife. She is not the assistant pastor. Her business is to take care of the home and the child.” I think that is important. My wife had the privilege that I’m afraid very few parents have today.

I was out on a trip and my wife was visiting with her mother. Our daughter was about seven or eight years old at the time. She came in and said, “Mama, I want to accept Jesus.” My wife took her into the bedroom and got down on her knees with her and had the privilege of leading her own little girl to the Lord. I always felt that this was much more important than to try to be a personal worker in the church. I know a great number of personal workers in the church who have lost their own children. My friend, your first responsibility is to your own child.

You had better concentrate on that childdo that instead of tending to everyone else’s business and trying to raise everyone else’s children. I realize it won’t make me popular to make such a statement, but God’s Word makes it clear that He gives us the responsibility for our own children. “Bring them up in the nurture [discipline] …of the Lord.” Notice again that the discipline is to be of the Lord. The discipline and instruction are to be administered in the name of the Lord. That is important. Paul has taken the subject of submission first into the home with the husband and wife relationship, then with the parent-child relationship. Now he moves out of the home into the street, the workshop, the marts of trade. It is a different situation here, for there are no bonds of love such as are found in a home; yet children of God who are filled with the Holy Spirit will be submissive one to another.

Ephesians 6:5

Servants (lit., slaves) are to be obedient to masters according to the flesh, meaning the masters down here on earth. Servants are not to serve with eyeservicewith one eye on the clock or working only when the boss is looking. They are not to serve as “men-pleasers.” In other words, they are not to butter up the boss. Service is to be done as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the soul. There is a responsibility put upon a believer who is a laborer and also a responsibility put upon one who is a capitalist or an employer. This is the employer-employee relationship. In Paul’s day it was an even sharper division than it is nowit was really master and slave. Remember that this entire section began in chapter 5, verse Eph_5:21, which says, “Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.” That sounds all right for Sunday, for the church service, but what about Monday morning when we go to work? Christian workers working for Christian owners of the factory will not need a labor boss to go to the capitalist and tell him what to do. I know of several businesses run by dedicated Christians.

They have chapel service on company time, and they pay their workers while they are attending chapel. They are prosperousGod has blessed them. They don’t need a union. An employee in one of these companies told me, “If we were under a union, we wouldn’t be making what we are making right here.” We are talking about Christians, Christian workers and Christian owners. There are both sides to the coin. This gets right down to the nitty-gritty. It is estimated that half of the 120 millions of people living in the Roman Empire were slaves. Christianity never attacked the evil of slavery. Rather it reached down to the slave in his degradation and lifted him up, assuring him of his liberty in Christ. The very nature of the gospel condemned slavery. It eventually broke the shackles of slavery from the bodies of men and cut the fetters from their minds and souls. Multitudes of slaves came to Christ, as we learn in Romans 16many of those named there were slaves or members of the Praetorian guard. In the United States of America the South had to lose the Civil War. I am a southerner, but I recognize the South had to lose because slavery was wrong. That doesn’t mean that the North was right in the method used, but it does mean that the principle of slavery was wrong. “Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters.” Notice the Word of God says to “be obedient.” This reveals that Christianity did not instigate revolution against the evil practice of slavery. It preached a gospel which was more revolutionary than revolution has ever been. Revolution has always had bad side effects, leaving bitterness and hatred which has lasted through the centuries. The gospel of Christ will break down the middle wall of partitionwhich in our day is prejudice and discrimination of one race against anotherand will replace it with real brotherly love. If the Word of God were preached as it was in the early days of these United States, and if those who profess to be Christian were obedient and loyal to those to whom they owe obedience and loyalty, it would change the entire complexion of American life today. A man is not a Christian just because he has made a profession of Christianity and calls himself a child of God on Sunday. Whether or not he is a genuine Christian is revealed by his loyalty to his employer, to his family, to his home, to his church, and to his pastor. When a professing Christian is disloyal in these areas of his life, the chances are he will also be disloyal to Christ. He certainly has no effective witness for Christ. “Servants, be obedient to …your masters according to the flesh” makes it clear that slavery applied only to the bodies of men and not to their souls. This obedience was to be with “fear and trembling.” This does not mean abject and base cringing before a master, but it does mean treating him with respect and dignity. “In singleness of your heart” means there should not be any taint of duplicity. There should be no two-facedness. There should not be the licking of the boots of the employer when he is around and then stabbing him in the back when he is away. Such action should never be in the life of a Christian. The servant’s obedience is to be done “as unto Christ.” This shows that the slave has been lifted from the base position of degradation where he sullenly worked as little as possible and only when his master was watching. Now he is the slave of Christ, and Christ has made him free. He is to look above the earthly master in his attempt to please his Master in heaven. An earthly master could control only the bodies of the slaves. The slaves of Christ have yielded their souls to Him, even their total personalities. Remember that Paul called himself the bondslave of Jesus Christ. “With good will doing service” shows that their attitudes should reflect their Christian service. When a child of Godwhether a slave or a master, employer or employeegets to the place where the motive of his life is to please Christ, then the hurdles posed by capital and labor are easily passed over. In our day there is a new kind of slavery, and it is sweeping over the nations of the world. In our own land there is a slavery that is not only of the body but of the mind. Such slavery is far more pernicious and deadly than that of the Roman Empire. Multiplied thousands are willing to make any sacrifice today to foreign ideology, and you can call it any name you choose. I had the privilege of speaking to a group of university students from Berkeley, California. These young men, who are majoring in political economy, have turned to the Lord. There was a time when they were slaves to a particular system of political economy, but now they are delivered from that. One young man told me, “One time I thought we could manipulate the economy and that we could make everyone prosperous and happy. I see now that only Christ will be able to bring in that kind of a society. That doesn’t mean we are not going to work for it, but it does mean that we know our goal is limited and only Christ can do it.” What can break a man’s shackles? Only the power of the gospel of Christ. He will make you free. “If the Son therefore, shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed” (Joh_8:36). It is Christ who offers freedom. Think of the thousands today who are trapped by drugs and by alcohol. There is slavery on every side of us. We should be slaves to Christ and to no one or nothing else. Saul of Tarsus was a slave to an ideology. He was a Pharisee. When he came to Christ, he was made free. However, immediately he yielded to a new Master and said, “…Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? …” (Act_9:6). He had become a bondslave to Jesus Christ. The Lord has lifted the employee to a high position; He has dignified labor. It doesn’t make any difference whether a man is working at a bench or digging a ditch or working in an office or mining down in the bowels of the earth or farming the land on the top of the earth. If he is a child of God, he can say, “I serve the Lord Christ.” William Carey was a shoemaker who applied to go as a foreign missionary. Someone asked him, “What is your business?” meaning to humiliate him, because he was not an ordained minister. Carey answered, “My business is serving the Lord, and I make shoes to pay expenses.” He was a servant of Christ. Oh, that men were that kind of worker todayit would change the whole labor scene.

Ephesians 6:9

Something is also said to the masters. If you are an employer, before Christ you are just another man. God is no respecter of persons. What He has said to labor also applies to you. You come under the same category since you also have a Master, and your Master is Christ. This is the Christian relationship of capital and labor. The responsibilities are mutual. Masters are not to take advantage of their position as master. They are not to abuse their power. They are not to threaten. In the presence of Christ, the master and the servant stand on the same footing. They are brothers in Christ. We find a very practical demonstration of this in the Epistle to Philemon. Philemon was a master who had a slave named Onesimus. Onesimus ran away from his master, and according to the law of that day, his master could have put him to death. However, after Onesimus trusted Christ, Paul sent him back to his master with the letter to Philemon. This is what Paul wrote: “For perhaps he therefore departed for a season, that thou shouldest receive him for ever; not now as a servant, but above a servant, a brother beloved, specially to me, but how much more unto thee, both in the flesh, and in the Lord?” (Phm_1:15-16). When both capital and labor are believers, they are brothers. Don’t tell me Christianity is not practical. It is practical, and it will work. A great Chinese Christian, who had attended college here in the United States and knew America pretty well, said, “It is not that in America Christianity has been tried and found wanting. The problem over there is it never has been tried.” That is still the problem todaywe have kept it behind stained glass windows. My friend, if Christianity cannot move out of the sanctuary and get down into the secular, there is something radically wrong. It will work if it is tried. It will work in this capital-labor relationship.

Ephesians 6:10

THE SOLDIER’S ENEMYNow we come to the theme of this chapter, which is “the church is a good soldier of Jesus Christ.” We have seen the Christian in his relationships: God begins with him in the home. Then God has something to say to him as he moves out into the world where he is either an employee or an employerhe has to be one or the other, and as a child of God he has to contribute to the welfare of contemporary society. He needs to be a producer one way or the other. Now we learn of the soldier’s enemy. There is a battle to be fought. One of the things that is commonly misunderstood today is that the child of God is in a battle, and the battle is being fought along spiritual lines. If the duties which relate to the commonplace are not faithfully followed, there can be no great spiritual victories in the high realm of Christian attainments. It is pretty well known that I represent the fundamental position. I am premillennial, pretribulational, and a dispensationalist in my belief. I get a little weary and a little bored with folk who so insistently hold these same views, yet whose lives are lived in a very careless manner, not commensurate with this exalted, high position that we have. We are seated in the heavenlies! How wonderful.

My friend, we are walking right down here on this earth, and our theology has to walk in shoeleather. If you are not living a life that pleases Christ, you are wasting your time attending Keswick conferences and Bible classes. Often in Christian circles we see a display of bitterness, vitriol, and hatred, which hurts the cause of Christ a great deal. Why is it that we can have so much exalted teaching and such low living? There are too many who are fundamental in their heads but liberal in their feet. There is a great danger in thinking that all we need is a head knowledge and a vocabulary so that we can spout out our position lucidly and fluently but can lead careless Christian lives.

To do this is to misunderstand where the battle is being fought. I do not think the devil is concentrating in the nightclubs or on skid row or in the underworld or in the Mafia. I think he is concentrating on the church on Sunday morning. He is working on the spiritual front, and too many sleepy Christians seem to be totally unaware of that. Too many Christians are concerned about closing up the cocktail parlors when they need to be closing their mouths from gossiping and criticizing. The devil is working in an area where we least expect to find him. He is not out on the town on Saturday night.

He has gone to bed early so he can get up and go to church on Sunday morning. The spiritual battle is being fought wherever a man is giving out the Word of God, where a church is standing for the Word of God. That is the place the devil wants to destroy, and that is the place of the spiritual battle. Sometimes the most dangerous place you can be is in church on Sunday morning. Where was the most dangerous place in Jerusalem the night Jesus was arrested? Was it with the Pharisees? Was it with the cutthroats of the underworld? No. The most dangerous place was in the Upper Room with Jesus. Do you know why? That is where the devil was that night. It is said that he entered into Judas Iscariot to betray Him. The devil was there. I believe both Judas Iscariot and Simon Peter would testify to the fact that that was the most dangerous place to have been that night in Jerusalem. We need to recognize where the battle is being fought. You may remember that at the beginning of our study in this Epistle to the Ephesians I compared it to the Book of Joshua. What Joshua is to the Old Testament, Ephesians is to the New Testament. Joshua led the children of Israel across the Jordan River into the land of Canaan, and there were enemies in the land. There were battles to be fought, and there were victories to be won. The Jordan River is not a picture of our death, and the Promised Land is not a picture of heaven. If you want to sing “On Jordan’s stormy banks I stand and cast a wistful eye,” you may, but that does not speak of our death. It actually speaks of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and you and I cross overthrough the death and resurrection of Christout of the wilderness of this world into Canaan. The child of God should be living today in Canaan. Remember that Canaan does not represent heavenit could not because there were enemies in Canaan and battles to be fought. You and I as believers are in the place of soldier service. The soldier’s enemy is identified, and the battle is before us. When Joshua entered the Promised Land, there were three enemies that confronted him. First there was the city of Jericho, standing right in the way. Jericho represents the world today. What Jericho was to Joshua, the world is to the Christian. Joshua was told to march around the citynot fight it. We cannot overcome the world by fighting the world.

It is a mistake if we try that method. “For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?” (1Jn_5:4-5). The only way we can overcome the world is by our faith and trust in God. “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him” (1Jn_2:15). The things of the world are passing away, and the child of God is not to love them. Our experience here is to be a Canaan experience. The second enemy confronted by Joshua was the little town of Ai. Ai represents the flesh. Joshua thought it would be easy to overcome Ai, so he sent up a small detachment, and they were really whipped. When they came back, Joshua got down on his face and began to whimper and cry before God. God told him, “…Get thee up; wherefore liest thou thus upon thy face? Israel hath sinned …” (Jos_7:10-11). And that sin had to be confessed and put away before God would give Israel the victory. And this is what you and I must do if we are to overcome the flesh. Many Christians have a victory over the world; they are marching around Jericho, tooting a horn as the children of Israel blew their trumpets, saying, “I don’t do this and I don’t do that.” But they are being defeated by the flesh. They are overcome by temper. They are overcome by gossiping. One Christian man came to me and said, “Why in the world is it that I just continue to lie about everything?” Well, that’s what the flesh will do. The flesh is getting the victory over many of us, my friend. Ai represents the flesh. Then thirdly, Joshua had to contend with the Gibeonites. They were clever, sly rascals. They lived just over the hill, but they took old, moldy bread and wore worn-out shoes and made everything look as if they had come on a long journey. They came into the camp where Joshua was and said, “Brother, we have heard about you. My, we’ve heard how God delivered you from Egypt and gave you victories over Sihon and Og, and we want to make a treaty with you. We want to be your friends” (see Jos_9:4-11). That is the way the devil approaches us. He is the deceiver, and he makes his ministers seem like angels of light. Someone described a leader of a cult by saying, “I listen to that man. He is so attractive, so personable. He is really wonderful, and what he says thrills me.” Now listen to this and remember it: “…for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works” (2Co_11:14-15). Do you think that the devil is going to knock at your door and say, “Look, I’m the devil; I’m here to take you in; I’m here to fool you”? Obviously, that is not the way the devil will approach you.

He will use every possible way to deceive you. He may send someone to knock at your door and offer you literature that will “explain” the Bible. Or, he may approach you this way if you are in a church that is going liberal: “Remember, grandpa had a pew in the church and that window over there is named for grandma. You can’t afford to leave this church because you have so much invested here.” The Word of God says, “Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord …” (2Co_6:17). And the devil says, “But we really need you here, so why don’t you just stick around?” You see, he is subtle. The Gibeonites represent the devil. They fooled Joshua, and he made a treaty with them. They were the ones who got him into trouble. At Ai the sin had to be confessed and dealt with severely before God would give them the victory, and that is the way we overcome the flesh. But what about the Gibeonites? Joshua made an alliance with them, and they gave him trouble. If we line up with Satan, we will find ourselves defeated. What can we do? Listen: We cannot overcome him ourselves. You and I are no match for the devil. We are not even told to fight the devil. We are told that God will fight for us. Allow me to again use my translation: “Finally (in conclusion) be strengthened in the Lord, and in the power of His might. Put on the armor (panoplian) of God in order that ye may be able to stand against the strategems (methodias) of the devil. For our wrestling is not against blood and flesh, but against the principalities, against powers, against the world rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual hosts of evil in the heavenly (places and things).”

Ephesians 6:11

What in the world is Paul talking about? He is talking about spiritual wickedness, about that which is satanic. Notice that he is coming to the end of the epistle and says, “In conclusion be strengthened in the Lord, and in the power of His might.” You cannot overcome the devil in your own strength and your own power. Paul is definitely making a play upon two Greek words: The panoplian of God is needed and available to meet the methodias of the devil. “Be strengthened in the Lord"that is the only place you and I get power.

Ephesians 6:12

The enemy whom the Christian is to fight is not flesh and blood. The enemy is spiritual, and the warfare is spiritual. That is why we need spiritual power. It is well to note that the flesh of the believer is not the enemy to be fought. The believer is to reckon the flesh dead and to yield to God. The way of victory over the flesh is outlined in Romans 6. Fighting the old nature will lead to defeat, and Paul records such an experience in Romans 7. It is only God’s armor which can withstand the strategy and onslaught of Satan who has all kinds of weapons (spiritual missiles). We need an antimissile system if we are going to overcome him. That is why it is so important for the Christian soldier to recognize that he does not fight an enemy who is flesh and blood. We are not to fight other men. The enemy is spiritual, and the warfare is spiritual. The devil is the enemy of every believer and the one here whom we are told we fight. The way to victory over the devil is to obey the commands to “put on the whole armour of God” and “to stand” (v. Eph_6:11). We are in a spiritual battle. The devil has in battle array his minions arranged by ranks. It says that we wrestle against them. This speaks of the hand-to-hand encounter with the spiritual forces of wickedness. The translation of verse twelve is not as strong as it should be. It should actually read, “For our wrestling is not against blood and flesh, but against the principalities, against powers, against the world rulers of this darkness [and these are all spiritual], against the spiritual hosts of evil in the heavenly places.” This is our warfare, and it’s in progress now. There is a demonic world around us and it is manifesting itself at the present hour. If I had said this when I was a young preacher, many would not have believed it. Or they would have said as did one dear lady, “Dr. McGee, you sound positively spooky.” Today, however, demonism is a popular subject and is plainly exhibited. We have the Church of Satan in many of our cities. There are strange things happening to certain of these weird, way-out groups.

A man said to me recently, “Dr. McGee, this thing is real today.” Who said it wasn’t real? If you are an unbeliever in this area, open your eyes and see what is happening about us. People are being ensnared and led into all kinds of demonism. There are spiritual forces working in the world, evil forces working against the church. They are working against the believer, against God, against Christ.

Don’t try to pooh pooh these things. It is happening, and you and I alone are no match for it. The fact that there is a spiritual enemy to overcome is well illustrated in the tenth chapter of the Book of Daniel. Daniel had been praying, and he didn’t get any answer. He had been praying for three weeks. “In those days I Daniel was mourning three full weeks. I ate no pleasant bread, neither came flesh nor wine in my mouth, neither did I anoint myself at all, till three whole weeks were fulfilled” (Dan_10:2-3). Finally, an angel came and touched him and said, “…O Daniel, a man greatly beloved, understand the words that I speak unto thee, and stand upright: for unto thee am I now sent. And when he had spoken this word unto me, I stood trembling.

Then said he unto me, Fear not, Daniel: for from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand, and to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard, and I am come for thy words” (Dan_10:11-12). If that was true, then Daniel had every right to ask, “Then where in the world have you been for three weeks?” Listen to the angel continue, “But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days: but, lo, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me; and I remained there with the kings of Persia” (Dan_10:13). He was in conflict with a demon, and he had to go back for reinforcement. This was a spiritual battle that was going on, and we likewise have one today. We have said that these powers are organized. Principalities are the demons who have the oversight of nations. They would correspond to the rank of generals. Powers are the privates who are the demons wanting to possess human beings. The rulers of the darkness of this world are those demons who have charge of Satan’s worldly business. Spiritual wickedness in high places are the demons in the heavenlies who have charge of religion. Satan has a well-organized group, and his organization is manipulating in this world right now. The heartbreak, the heartache, the suffering, the tragedies of life are the work of Satan in the background. He is the cause of the great problems that are in the world today. We have the enemy located and identified. That enemy is spiritual. It is Satan who heads up his demonic forces. Now we need to recognize where the battle is. I think the church has largely lost sight of the spiritual battle. We feel that if we have a lovely church building and are attracting crowds and if the finances are coming in, everything is going nicely.

The financial condition of a church, however, is not where the battle is. I will grant that, if a church which has been supporting itself begins to get into debt, it is an indication that something is wrong: actually, it means the battle is being lost in the spiritual realm. There should be questions such as: Are the members of the church being built up in Christ? Is the Word of God being taught? Is there a spirit of love and cooperation among the members? Is gossip reduced to a minimum?

There must not be an exercise in legalism but an exercise in right relationships among those who are the brethren in Christ. Where there is a spirit of criticism and of bitterness and of hatred, the Spirit of God cannot work. Churches like to talk about the numbers who come to Christ. They like to talk about how many decisions they have had. Yet when the facts are really boiled down and examined and you look for the so-called converts two years later, you often find that they have disappeared. We don’t seem to realize that there is a spiritual warfare being carried on today and that people need to be grounded in the Word of God. It is a manifestation of demonic power that people are being blinded and carried away into all kinds of cults and religions and “isms” with false beliefs. As a result of all this, the Word of God sinks into insignificance in such churches and organizations. This is the work of the enemy, Satan and his demonic hosts.

Ephesians 6:13

THE SOLDIER’S PROTECTIONWe have identified the enemy. Now Paul begins to identify the arsenal which is available for defense. Nowhere is the believer urged to attack and advance. The key to this entire section is the phrase to stand. The Bible speaks of believers as pilgrims. As pilgrims we are to walk through the world. The Bible speaks of us as witnesses, and we are to go to the ends of the earth. As athletes we are to run. We are to run with our eyes fixed upon the Lord Jesus Christ: “…and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith …” (Heb_12:1-2). However, when the Bible speaks of us as fighters, it says we are to stand. Very frankly, I would rather do a great deal of old-fashioned standing than fighting. Many years ago Billy Sunday, the evangelist, attracted a great deal of attention by saying that up on the speaker’s platform he was fighting the devil. I think that there was a great element of truth in that, because it was a spiritual battle. The battle is carried on wherever the Word of God is preached and the gospel is given out. That’s the battle line today. That is where the enemy is working. The enemy is not working down on skid row or partying it up on Saturday night. Years ago when I was active in Youth for Christ as a young preacher, I was out every Saturday night. We used to say at that time that Saturday night was the devil’s night and we were making it the Lord’s night. Well, now that I have had many more years to observe the situation, I think the devil was at home in bed. I think he was resting up so he could come to church the next morning. Why should he want to fight his own crowd? They belong to him. I’m not sure he’s proud of them. In fact, I think he’s ashamed of a lot of these alcoholics and these down-and-outers and these up-and-outers. He could take no pride in them. He would rather be out fighting where the spiritual battle is. Personally, I never felt that I should carry on that battle. That is, I never felt I should make the attack. The command is to stand. It is the devil who will make the attack. Our command is, “Having done all, to stand.” I have never been enthusiastic about a group of defeated Christians singing, “Onward, Christian soldiers, marching as to war.” I think it is more scriptural for the believer to sing, “Stand up, stand up for Jesus, ye soldiers of the cross.” Just to be able to stand in an evil day is a victory for the believer. This is an hour when my heart is sad as I look at a great many churches. I love the local church and the local pastors. There are a great number of wonderful pastors fighting the battle. They are the men who are really on the battlefront today. I go to so many Bible conferences as a speaker because I want to help them. I have been a pastor long enough to know how wonderful it felt and how I always appreciated it when others came to me and stood shoulder to shoulder with me. My heart is sick when I see the attendance way down and the interest gone in churches that at one time were great churches. The members were blind to the fact that a battle was being fought there, a spiritual battle. Do you pray for your pastor on Saturday night? Don’t criticize him, but rather pray for him. He needs your prayers. The devil gives him enough opposition. You don’t need to join the crowd that crucifies the man who is preaching the Word of God. You ought to uphold his hands as Aaron and Hur upheld the hands of Moses on behalf of Israel. My heart goes out to pastors who are in need of congregations who will stand with them.

Ephesians 6:14

“Stand therefore.” This is the fourth time he gives this exhortation to the believer. This is the only place that I find Paul laying it on the line and speaking like a sergeant. Earlier he said, “I beseech you,” but now he gives the command to stand. Not only are we to be in a standing position, but we are also to have on certain armor to protect ourselves. We are not to be outwitted by the wiles of the devil; we are to be ready for his attacks. “Having your loins girt about with truth.” In the ancient garment of that day, the girdle about the loins held in place every other part of the uniform of the soldier. It was essential. To tell you the truth, if the girdle was lost, you lost everything. The garments would fly open and the pants would fall down. We see this routine in comedies, and the people laugh to see a man trying to run or fight with his trousers drooping down. It looks funny in a comedy routine, but it is not funny in a battle.

A great battle in the past, we are told, was won by a clever general who told his men to cut the belts of their enemy while they were sleeping. The next morning the enemy troops were so busy holding up their trousers that they weren’t able to shoot their guns and, therefore, they lost the battle. We are told to be girded with truth in the face of the enemy. Truth is that which holds everything together. What is that truth? It is the Word of God. We need people to give out the Word of God and to give it out just as it is written. Today we have many people giving testimonies. We have football players, baseball players, movie stars, television stars, all giving testimonies. Many of them do not know any more Bible than does a goat grazing grass on a hillside. We need people whose loins are girt about with truth. They need to know the Word of God. (I could give you the names of a dozen peronalities who have gone off on all sorts of tangents, into cults and “isms.”) I admit that some testimonies are thrilling to hear, but they are coming from folk who are standing there about to lose all their spiritual garments! They are not girded about with truth, which is the Word of God. Every piece of this armor really speaks of Christ. We are in Christ in the heavenlies, and we should put on Christ down here in our earthly walk. Paul has already told us to put on Christ. He is the One who is the truth, and we should put Him on in our lives. Any testimony that does not glorify Jesus Christ should not be given. There are too many testimonies that glorify the individual, such as, “I was a great athlete,” or “I was a great performer, and now I am turning over my wonderful talent to Jesus.” The implication is: Believe me, He is lucky to have me in His crowd! Friend, you are lucky if you have Him. He didn’t get very much when He got you, and He didn’t get very much when He got me. This is a day when the little fellow really doesn’t have very much to say. We get the impression that we need to be someone great in the eyes of the world. No, what we need is to have our loins girt about with truth so that we can give a testimony that glorifies Christ. Christ is the truth. Truth alone can meet error. “Having on the breastplate of righteousness.” Christ is the righteousness of the believer. I do think, however, that it includes the practical righteousness of the believer. Let’s be clear that the filthy rags of self-righteousness are useless as a breastplate, but I do think that underneath there should be a heart and a conscience that is right with God. Only the righteousness of Christ can enable the believer to stand before men and before God, but the heart that is to be protected should be a heart that is not condemning the believer. It is an awful condition to have sin in the life while we are trying to carry on the battle. We can never win it that way. “Your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace.” Shoes are necessary for standing. They speak of the foundation. We need a good, solid foundation, and preparation is foundational. I remember in hand-to-hand combat we were taught to make sure our feet were anchored. Are your feet anchored on the Rock? Christ is your foundation in this world. No other foundation can any man lay but the one that is laid, Jesus Christ (see 1Co_3:11). We are to put on Christ. Oh, how we need Him today as we face a gainsaying world and also spiritual wickedness in the darkness of this world!

Ephesians 6:16

The armor of the believer is a spiritual armor because we fight against a spiritual enemy. We are to stand in that armor, and that armor is Christ, the living Christ. Satan himself, in the Book of Job, describes how God protects His own. He said, “Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? …” (Job_1:10). God has provided protection for us today in the armor He supplies. “Above all, taking the shield of faith.” The shield covered all of the armor. The shield referred to is a large shield the size of a door. It was the shield of the heavy infantry. A soldier stood behind it and was fully protected. Christ is both the door to salvation and the door that protects the believer from the enemy without. This is the picture in John, chapter 10. Christ is both salvation and security. “Faith” enables us to enter the door: “I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture” (Joh_10:9). That is salvation. What about security? Faith places us securely in His hands: “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: and I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand” (Joh_10:27-28). Faith enables us to lay hold of the Lord Jesus Christ. Faith also enables us to stand behind that shield which will quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. “The fiery darts of the wicked.” He is shooting them fast and furiously. I remember that when I was in college, I had a brilliant philosophy professor who had studied in Germany. I respected his intellect, although I didn’t realize at that time he was intellectually dishonest. I looked up to him but, very frankly, he was taking my feet out from under me. I would try to answer him in class when I probably should have kept my mouth shut. But we became friends, and we used to walk together across the campus after class and discuss the questions I had raised.

I came to the place where I went to the Lord in prayer and said, “Lord, if I can’t believe Your Word, I don’t want to go into the ministry.” Then the Lord in a very miraculous way sent me to hear a man who was the most brilliant man, I think, whom I have ever heard. He gave me the answer to my questions. Then I began to learn that when a fiery dart comes my way and I don’t have the answer, I am to put up the shield of faith. And this is what I have been doing ever since. I have found that the shield of faith has batted down the fiery darts of the wicked one. I remember that I was upset about questions concerning the Genesis record of creation. I was ready to get out of the ministry because I couldn’t accept certain things. The problem was not with my pygmy intellect, although I thought it was at the time; I just didn’t know enough. So I put up the shield of faith. Someone was walking with me in Israel as we were observing some excavations. He asked me, “Suppose they dig up something down there that looks like it disproves the Bible. What position would you take?” I answered, “I would put up the shield of faith, and that would bat down the fiery darts of the wicked one. I have learned that when a fiery dart is batted down, I will get the correct answer later on.” I remember a time when the authorship of John was being questionedwas the Gospel of John written by John? Today it is pretty well established that John was the writer, but at one time I had questions about it. The fiery darts of the wicked one come fast and furiously, and they are going to continue to come. The only thing that will bat them down is this shield of faith. It is like a big door. The hoplites, the heavily armed soldiers in the Greek infantry, could move with those tremendous shields, put them out in front of them, and stand protected shoulder to shoulder, while the enemy shot everything they had at them. When the enemy was out of ammunition, they would move in, certain of victory. That is the way to stand against the fiery darts of the evil one. “And take the helmet of salvation.” The helmet protects the head, and God does appeal to the mind of man. I recognize that He appeals to the heart, but God also appeals to the intellect. Throughout the Scriptures God uses reason with man. “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool” (Isa_1:18). “And as he reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come, Felix trembled, and answered, Go thy way for this time; when I have a convenient season, I will call for thee” (Act_24:25). Paul reasoned with Felix; he appealed to the mind of the man as well as to his heart. “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Rom_10:17). A theology professor who was a liberal said many years ago when I was a student, “Faith is a leap in the dark.” That is not true. God does not ask you to take a leap into the dark. In fact, God says if it is a leap in the dark, don’t take it. God wants you to leap into the light. God has a solid foundation for you, and how wonderful it is! Christ is the salvation of the sinner. He is the One to receive the glory in it all. That plume on the top of the helmet is Christ. He has been made unto us salvation. “And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins” (Mat_1:21). Even before His birth in Bethlehem He was marked out as the Savior. Paul mentions this helmet in connection with salvation again in another epistle. “But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation” (1Th_5:8). All the parts of the armor mentioned so far have been for defense. Have you noticed that? Everything is for the front of the individual. There is no protection for his back; nothing is provided for retreat. Believe me, a retreating Christian is certainly open season for the enemy; the enemy can get through to him. Now we have two weapons for offense. The first one is the Word of God, called the sword of the Spirit. “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart” (Heb_4:12). Christ is the living Word of God. He used the Word of God to meet Satan in the hour of His temptation. Out of His mouth goeth a sharp two-edged sword in the battle of Armageddon (see Rev_1:16; Rev_19:21). He gains the victory with that sword. What is it? It is the Word of God. We need that sharp sword going out of our mouths today. The Word of God is a powerful weapon of offense. You and I are to use it. Our second weapon of offense is prayer"praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit.” Praying in the Holy Spirit is not turning in a grocery list to God. It means that you and I recognize our enemy and that we lay hold of God for spiritual resources. We lay hold of God for that which is spiritual that we might be filled with all the fullness of God. Paul here distinguishes between prayer and supplication. Prayer is general; supplication is specific. All effective prayer must be in the Spirit.

Ephesians 6:19

THE SOLDIER’S EXAMPLEPAUL WAS A GOOD SOLDIER OF JESUS CHRISTHere is Paul’s example for us from his own experience: “And for me.” Paul now asks for prayer on behalf of himself. As he comes to the conclusion of this epistle, he moves into the area of the personal. He was a prisoner in Rome, and he suffered from a thorn in the flesh. Yet he does not ask for prayer that these physical handicaps be removed, but that he might proclaim courageously the mystery of the gospel. “To make known the mystery of the gospel.” The gospel is a mystery that was not revealed in the Old Testament as it is now. The New Testament reveals that Christ died for all sins, was buried, rose again on the third day. This is the gospel and the message Paul was preaching. “I am an ambassador in bonds.” Paul had just written about the spiritual warfare, and now we see that he was experiencing the onslaught of the enemy at the very moment he was writing. “That therein I may speak boldly.” Paul asks for prayer that he may speak the gospel with boldness. We need that same prayer. We need a boldness to declare the Word of God.

Ephesians 6:21

Tychicus not only carried the epistle to the Ephesian believers, but he also gave a personal account of the conditions of and the prospects for the apostle Paul. Tychicus, the pastor of the Ephesian church, is an example of the many faithful servants of Christ in the early church. The apostle Paul had great confidence in him. “That he might comfort your hearts.” Tychicus would allay any fears that the Ephesians might have about the condition of the apostle Paul. The brotherly love exhibited in the early church is the undertone of all of Paul’s epistles. Paul had a real concern for the brethren.

Ephesians 6:23

BENEDICTIONGeneral Douglas MacArthur said that old soldiers do not die; they just fade away. Listen to Paul’s farewell. Paul’s own swan song is found in 2Ti_4:6-8: “For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.” Paul reflected what a good soldier of Christ should be and what rewards awaited him. He closes with a twofold benediction. Most of the great words of the gospel are contained in it: peace, love, faith, grace. Hope is absent, for the believer is in the heavenly places where all is realized. “Peace” was the form of greeting of the Jewish world. A sinner must know the grace of God before he can experience the peace of God. This is the peace of God which passes all understanding. “Love” in verse Eph_6:23 means love for the other believers. This is a fruit of the Holy Spirit. In verse Eph_6:24 the “love” is of the believer for the Lord Jesus Christ, and this love is in incorruptness (a better translation than “in sincerity”). “Faith” means faith in Christ which produces active love. These flow from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. “Grace” is the key word of the epistle. It opened the epistle (Eph_1:2) and is the subject of the epistle (Eph_2:7-8). It now concludes the epistle. It is a fitting word because it is God’s grace which saved us and which sustains us today.