Ephesians Chapters 5 and 6

Ephesians 5:21-6:9

So, I’m going to delve into one of the more controversial texts in scripture. Anytime you talk about submission, it’s going to rub people the wrong way, especially most Americans. We don’t like the idea of submitting much. We have freedoms and rights. Then when you add marriage into the mix, it becomes very personal. The definition of submission is the action or fact of accepting or yielding to a superior force or to the will or authority of another person. What I really like about this definition is that the first word is action. Submission is all about you taking the action to yield. Submission is about humility. I Peter 5:5-7 says, “in the same way, you younger men, be subject to the elders. And all of you clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, so that He may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your care on Him, because He cares about you.” When you humble yourself, God will exalt you at the proper time. With this in mind, let’s delve.

Vs. 5:21-33 submitting to one another in the fear of Christ. Wives submit to your own husbands as to the Lord, for the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church. He is the Savior of the body. Now as the church submits to Christ, so wives are to submit to their husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself for her to make her holy, cleansing her with the washing of water by the word. He did this to present the church to Himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or anything like that, but holy and blameless. In the same way, husbands are to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hates his own flesh but provides and cares for it, just as Christ does for the church, since we are members of His body. For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two will become on flesh. This mystery is profound, but I am talking about Christ and the church. To sum up, each one of you is to love his wife as himself, and the wife is to respect her husband.

Often times, we read Paul’s letters like they were originally written in verse and chapter. I don’t know about you, but when I write letters, that’s not how I do it. And neither did Paul. He wrote the church a letter that was meant to, one, be read in one sitting, and two, be a continuous thought. He didn’t separate it out into various sections and put headers on them. I say all of this to explain why I am backing up one verse. In order to really understand the next several verses, you have to go back and understand all that Paul has been trying to say in his letter. Unity of the body of Christ is the theme. In this section of his letter, Paul explores our most intimate relationships with one another. He addresses family and servant relationships and verse 21 is pivotal in this discussion. Submit to one another in the fear of Christ.

Now to the “controversial” part. The next line in most translations says “wives submit to your husbands as to the Lord…” Here is where looking at the Greek gets interesting. The Greek does not actually use the term submit in verse 22. The idea of the wife submitting comes from verse 21 as a continued idea. This is not to say that wives should not submit to their husbands, which will come up again in verse 24. It means the wife is not the only one who needs to submit. Verse 21 says we need to submit to one another in the fear of Christ. This means that both wives and husbands need to submit to one another. Not only that, they submit to each other because they fear the Lord. They have such a reverence and awe for the Lord, they willingly submit to each other. This was a radical idea for the people in Ephesus, or I should say the men of Ephesus. It came as no surprise for the wife that she was called to submit. This was typical for women in that day. It was the word to the husband that would have been shocking. The husband here is actually asked to relinquish some of his control and power. So, the wife is to submit to the husband as the head, as Christ is the head of the church. Christ is the head of the body and in the same way, the husband is the head. In turn, the husband is to love his wife as Christ loves the church. The word for love is agapate, which is the word used for the love God has for us. A complete, unconditional, all encompassing love. God’s love, which led to Christ laying His life down for us. Christ, who submitted to God as Father and said not my will but Thine, is the example of the type of submission the husband is to have for his wife. This would have been a shocking concept for the husbands reading this letter. Submission, in it’s nature, is the surrender of power. The husband is being asked to say “not my will but Thine.” He is surrendering his power and authority to Christ. The relationship Paul is advocating is one of love and respect for one another. And it is one that is first, and foremost submitted to Christ as the head of the body.

Vs. 6:1-4 Children, obey your parents as you would the Lord, because this is right. Honor your father and mother, which is the first commandment with a promise, so that it may go well with you and that you may have a long life in the land. Fathers, don’t stir up anger in your children, but bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.

Paul goes on to address relationships between children and their parents, and in particular their fathers. It’s one of the 10 commandments and Paul directly quotes Exodus 20:12. Children obey your parents as you would the Lord. Why? Because it is the right thing to do. And then there is the promise. If you do this it will go well with you. It’s pretty straight forward, but the next part is the shocking part for the church at Ephesus. Fathers do not stir up anger in your children but bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord. For a man living in Ephesus it is the second blow to his ultimate authority. Once again, the man of the house is asked to relinquish more power. Now it is his sole power over his children. He is asked to submit to the Lord and surrender his personal training and instruction for that of the Lord’s. Moreover, he is directed not to stir up anger in his children. Some translations say don’t exasperate your children to the point of anger. The word in Greek is parorgizete and means not to provoke to anger. Several years ago, I went to visit a friend of mine. He had always said he didn’t have the greatest relationship with his father. After that visit, I knew why. As the evening went on, I watched as the father continually went after his son. He knew all the buttons to push and took pleasure in pushing them. We finally left before my friend literally blew up at his dad. As I watched the interaction, these verses came to mind. Do not provoke your children to anger. In a family situation, we know which buttons to push. Here Paul is saying, “don’t push them.” Then there are the families where fathers (and mothers) abuse their children physically, emotionally and sexually. These are the things Paul warns against. We are to love our children and our families as Christ loves the body of believers. Submit to one another in the fear of Christ. If we do this, we would find our families in a better place. And then we would find our country in a better place. It all has to do with submission to God, who is our authority.

Vs. 6:5-9 Slaves, obey your human masters with fear and trembling, in the sincerity of your heart, as to Christ. Don’t work only while being watched, in order to please men, but as slaves of Christ, do God’s will from your heart. Serve with a good attitude, as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that whatever good each one does, slave or free, he will receive this back from the Lord. And masters, treat your slaves the same way, without threatening them, because you know that both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no favoritism with Him.

Slavery and the Bible. This is where many questions start. Yes, there were slaves in the Bible. Many have even tried to justify slavery in early America by taking several verses out of context. So, just who were slaves in biblical times? There are a few different categories: what we would call traditional slaves, servants, and bond-servants. Traditional slaves would be those people, such as Joseph in Genesis, who were sold into slavery. Then there were bond-servants. These were people who sold themselves to servitude for a particular time period to perhaps pay a debt. Then there are servants who are employees of a household. Each would have been paid a wage, the smallest wage going to the traditional slave. The Greek word used in this passage is doulos, which has been translated as both slave and bond-servant. Slavery in Ephesus, and across the region, was quite common place. In fact, in the 1^st century, out of 250,000 people in Ephesus, 60,000 were slaves. They were paid a wage, albeit very small, and had a few rights. One was marriage with permission and they could have their own belief system. This is not to say that slavery was without problems and hardship. The penalties for fleeing were harsh and there was little hope for freedom. With the introduction of Christianity in Ephesus things begin to change slowly. Because of Christianity’s influence, by the 6^th century, slaves gained more rights, could buy their freedom, purchase real estate and some even became bankers and merchants later in their life. The real thing to focus on in this portion of Paul’s letter is the radical call to both slave and master to be submissive. The slave is to be submissive to the master and the master to be submissive to the Lord. Why? Because, ultimately, the real master is God himself, and He does not show favoritism. Both slave and master are to submit to God’s authority. The slave in their work ethic and the master in how they treat those under his care and employee. Once again the radical teaching here is for the master. He is asked to give up some of his authority and come under the authority of Christ. You may recall the letter to Philemon about his runaway slave Onesimus. In the letter Paul reaches out to Philemon on behalf of Onesimus asking him to reconcile with one who is now a brother in Christ. Philemon, who is the master, has the authority to have Onesimus punished or even killed for his actions. Paul reminds Philemon that he is first and foremost a child of God and subject to Him. Because of this, his response to Onesimus must be different than what society would demand. And this is the point that Paul is making. We are the body of Christ and we must act accordingly. We must learn to humble ourselves and submit to His authority in our lives. We should not act as society would have us act, but as the Lord, who is Father of all, would have us act.

So, to conclude, whether you are a wife, mother, father, husband, child, employee or employer, God has a word for you: submit to each other in the fear of Christ. We are all a part of the body of Christ and must respect and love one another. It doesn’t matter what we do, who we are, how much money we have, or how important we might seem in society. God does not show favoritism. If we are a part of the body of Christ, all of us have the same master. The question is, are we going to take action by choosing to submit and yield our authority to God’s authority. When we humble ourselves before the Almighty King of Glory, then we will be exalted.