July 23, 2001
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August 19 Lesson
Relationships should reflect Christ's redemption
___Ephesians 5:15-6:9
___15Be very careful, then, how you live--not as unwise but as wise, 16making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. 17Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is. 18Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit. 19Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, 20always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
___21Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.
___22Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. 23For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. 24Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.
___25Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, 27and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. 28In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church--30for we are members of his body. 31For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh." 32This is a profound mystery--but I am talking about Christ and the church. 33However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.
___6:1Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 2"Honor your father and mother"--which is the first commandment with a promise--3that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth."
___4Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.
___5Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ. 6Obey them not only to win their favor when their eye is on you, but like slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart. 7Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not men, 8because you know that the Lord will reward everyone for whatever good he does, whether he is slave or free.
___9And 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.
___By Terry Cosby
___When grace changes the heart, submission out of fear changes to submission out of love, and true humility is born.
___William Hendriksen, "Exposition of Philippians"
___The implications of the redeeming work of Christ in the lives of believers continue. For the good news of salvation in Christ to continue to spread, the church must become like her Savior in character, one in her purpose and heart like the Trinity and mature toward those ideals.
___Flowing from these truths will come wisdom for living, which makes proper or prudent use of the limited resource of time. Wise living that seeks purity, maturity and unity sees time as a precious commodity requiring wise stewardship in a world contrary to the kingdom of God (vs. 15-16).
___Paul is now set to spring four revolutionary thoughts on the church at Ephesus. These thoughts don't strike us as revolutionary because our culture has lived with the benefits of their truths for years. Everything the teacher from Tarsus has imparted in this epistle has taught the Christian about God's will. His will involves unity, maturity and purity.
___First, in verse 17, he encourages the saints to "understand" what the will of God is, and it is very personal. "Understand" is used to give the mind something to grasp. A Christian can grasp the very will of God! God's revelation moves from tablets of stone or rituals to the very heart of man.
___The next verse contains a command for believers to "be filled with the Spirit." This personifies God's will. God's will is not merely dealing with dos and don'ts. It's God's desire to move and direct lives from within. This is the enabling part of God's will. The Spirit imparts wisdom and strength for united, mature and moral living rather than the type of living characterized by being filled with wine and the "riotous" living it brings.
___Even more gloriously, the verb signifies continuous action. God's will is that the Spirit continue filling us, and since the command is in the passive voice, it means to "let the Spirit keep on filling you." What "fills" you will direct or control you. The Christian's command is to let the Spirit fill him.
___When this filling happens, something else happens (v. 19)--speech patterns are changed to encouragements from the Bible, the hymnal and the chorus screen; the heart's melody is changed to joy, and thanksgiving is offered to God.
___Chuck Swindoll tells a Jack Hayford story in his "Tale of the Tardy Oxcart" that illustrates the revolutionary nature of Paul's next teaching. "A married couple attended a marriage seminar taught by a male demagogue teaching that the man is in charge. It was the kind of teaching that turns women into lowly doormats. The husband loved it. When they got home and went into the house he said, 'Wait right there--just stand right there!' She stood tight lipped, and stared at him. 'I think that man was right. I want you to know that from now on that's the way it's gonna be around here. You got it? That's the way things are gonna run in this house!' Having said that, he didn't see her for two weeks. After about two weeks, he could start to see her just a little bit out of one eye."
___If the husband missed something, his wife didn't. We too easily miss the revolutionary tone of these truths. Flowing from knowing God's will and being filled with the Spirit comes the transitional verse 21, which defines God's will for believers' lives. It is transitional in linking the previous verses about being filled with God's spirit to the following verses about relationships and institutions. God's will touches relationships in ways that were not only revolutionary but many may have been considered blasphemous.
___God's will is that Christians be filled with the Spirit and believers be subject to another in the Lord. This places all believers on equal footing in God's kingdom, welcome news in a society with more than one-third of its people slaves. Every one of God's children is subject to another in relationship with Christ.
___As Christ gave new meaning to the term "humble" (4:2 and Philippians 2:8), now a fresh meaning to submission is in 5:21-22. Submission, according to A.T. Robertson, is from an old military word meaning to "line up under." The military lined up under its commander. The commander is clearly the Lord for the Christian. Paul shows how this mutual submission is lived out in life's most foundational relationships--marriage, family and workplace.
___How radical were these teachings? In Jewish society women had very few legal rights. Even in "advanced" Rome, women were more adorned than adored. Divorce was rampant. To these cultures came God's word teaching equal submission with its liberating voice.
___How is the phrase "wives, be subject to your husbands" in 5:22 so liberating? First, Paul addressed the women directly just as Christ often did. In that culture, women were rarely acknowledged much less spoken to. Christian "submission" is mutual with the women addressed as equals in the kingdom if not in the empire.
___Second, there is no command in the Greek text, although its interpretation in English appears that way. "Wives, submit to your husbands" in verse 22 gets its force from verse 21. According to Dennis Rainey, submission means to voluntarily "line up in an orderly fashion, to fill out a pattern that presents a complete whole." The Christian wife makes the choice, in fact now has the choice, to follow her husband's headship in recognition of God's will and response to the husband doing his part (v. 25). In doing so, the unity, maturity and purity called for find fertile ground in the Christian home for growth.
___Third, Paul's teaching limits the submission to the husband only. First century women were required to answer to all men in most social situations.
___Finally, the submission is "as to the Lord." The teaching is radical in its understanding of "headship" in verse 23. The meaning is defined by Christ's headship of the church. He leads by sacrificial love. It is management by love and nurture, not control or suppression. The church follows Christ in response to his sacrificial love shown on the cross. The church responds with thankfulness, joy and a desire to please so magnificent a Savior. No resolution or human command makes that kind of following possible. In that fashion, the wife is subject to the husband "as to the Lord." But watch as another of God's fresh breezes blows across what was a desert landscape for many marriages.
___Paul shifts to the husband's responsibility in mutual submission. In verse 25, husbands are commanded to love their wives as Christ loved the church. He reminded husbands of the manner in which Christ loved his church. He set the church apart for God's purpose. He provided what she needed--cleansing from sin. He will present her to himself radiant, without stain, wrinkle or blemish. The church responds to the love of Christ and becomes all she was intended to be. As the Christian husband grows in Christlikeness, he loves his wife in such a way that he helps her become all God intends her to be. Her response to that love supports her husband in a way that helps him become what God intends for him to be.
___The apostle speaks of this relationship as a great mystery. He was speaking of Christ and his church, but he could have spoken of the husband and wife as well. He finishes in verse 33 with a summary note reminding the husband and wife of their mutual duties. The husband's is to love. The wife's call is to respect. Why not "love your husbands"? It is no less a high call. It is the word often used for honor and reverence for the Lord. In that kind of respect, there is love.
___The Apostle Paul now addresses a third area where a revolution of love and respect is needed. This is in the relationship of parents to children. As with his addressing the wives directly, he shockingly addresses the children. Children are to obey, literally "listen to" or follow their parents. Moreover, reasons for the obedience are given to the children, showing the respect God's word has for them. The first reason is that they, too, are "in the Lord." Following the Lord's will means following the people he gives to guide and instruct us. Second, they are to obey "for this is right." With their call and their respect comes the responsibility to do the right thing. Third, Paul quotes the fifth commandment, "honor your father and mother... ." God has commanded it. The second commandment also has a promise, so the idea is children will learn to obey God by first obeying their parents. The last reason to obey is that it brings about good results. The promise is not just for individual's length of life. The word for long also means "well" or "level and true."
___Fathers are instructed in the manner of child rearing. It is to be without exasperation or goading. Fathers aren't to nag or nit-pick at children. Teasing and pettiness are not the norm; love and respect are. Instruction and reproof are implied in verse 4, but so are advice and encouragement.
___The last area treated with this shocking respect is that of a master-slave relationship. The institution is not condoned at all. The attitudes and actions of the many Christian slaves and the fewer Christian owners are addressed. Again, it is mutual submission to the Lord that sets the tone. Slave or freeman answer to the Lord. All that is said or done should honor him in whom there is no favoritism. Had these ideals been followed fully, slavery would have had its endings much sooner. One doesn't enslave other human beings made in God's image sharing equal standing in the kingdom.
___Our closest institution to apply these teachings is no doubt that of employer-employees. The golden rule of Matthew 7:12 is still golden but is not yet the rule in too many of society's institutions. This revolution of Christ's redemptive love still has many needed areas of application.
For thought and discussion
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___struggles over music in our churches?
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___respect and love that Paul taught? How does the biblical concept of justice enter in? Name three areas of your life in which you could be more respective, caring and agreeable?
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