Walk worthy: unity, new life, the household and the armour of God

Ephesians 4-6 is the second half of the letter that Paul, a prisoner (4:1; 6:20), sent to Gentile believers, probably in the province of Asia centred on Ephesus.

• The first half (chapters 1-3) told what God has done in Christ: chosen, redeemed and united Jew and Gentile in one body.
• The second half asks how such a community is to live.

The background is the church's surroundings. Ephesus was a centre of the cult of Artemis, of magic (Acts 19:19) and of civic religion, and the Gentile believers had come from lives marked by what the letter calls the futility of their thinking (4:17). Sexual immorality, anger, theft and drunkenness were commonplace, and the letter names them directly. The household, as in Colossians, was the basic unit of Roman society, and the instructions in 5:21-6:9 use a form familiar from the culture. They are closely parallel to Colossians 3:18-4:1, which has led many scholars to see a literary link between the two letters. Whether Paul wrote Ephesians himself or a follower did after him is debated, and the class reads the letter as Paul's (see the previous class). Tychicus carries it (6:21-22), as he carried Colossians (Colossians 4:7-8).

The date, on the traditional view, is about AD 60-62 from Rome. If the letter was a circular for the churches of Asia, as some think from the manuscript evidence in 1:1, the practical commands would suit a group of congregations that shared a culture and its temptations.

The letter turns at 4:1 with 'therefore'. As in Colossians and Romans, Paul's pattern is that doctrine leads to life: the commands rest on what God has done. The word 'walk' (peripateo) governs this half, appearing at 4:1, 4:17, 5:2, 5:8 and 5:15, and it organises the commands into five ways of walking: worthily, no longer as the Gentiles, in love, as children of light and carefully.

Paul's use of the Old Testament deserves attention. In 4:8 he quotes Psalm 68:18 in a form that differs from the Hebrew, which has the victor 'receiving' gifts among men while Paul says he 'gave' gifts. Explanations include that Paul is following an interpretive tradition (some point to an Aramaic rendering of the psalm that reads 'gave') or that he is applying the sense of the psalm, in which a conqueror distributes spoils. In 6:10-17 the armour comes from Isaiah 59:17 and 11:5, where the LORD himself puts on righteousness and a helmet of salvation. The principle is to read Paul as applying those texts to Christ and the church, not as quoting them by chance.

The household section is the most debated. The rule here is to begin with the setting. Roman households were ordered under the head. Paul's version addresses everyone, not only the head, begins with a call for all to submit to one another in the fear of Christ (5:21), and grounds the husband's role in the self-giving love of Christ. Readers disagree about whether he affirms the structure, reforms it, or begins to transform it, and the tradition note names the main views.

4:1-6. Paul begs them to walk worthy of the calling to which they were called, with humility, gentleness and patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Then comes the sevenfold unity: one body and one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all. The unity is not created by the church; it is given and to be kept.

4:7-16. Grace is given to each according to the measure of Christ's gift. Paul quotes Psalm 68:18: when he ascended on high he led a host of captives and gave gifts to men. The statement that he also descended to the lower parts of the earth is read in three ways: as the incarnation, as Christ's descent to the dead, or as his descent to earth in the Spirit at Pentecost. The ascended Christ gave apostles, prophets, evangelists, and shepherds and teachers (a single group in the Greek) to equip the saints for the work of ministry, to build up the body, until all attain unity of faith and knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. Then they will no longer be tossed to and fro by waves of false teaching, but speaking the truth in love will grow up in every way into him who is the head, from whom the whole body, joined and held together, builds itself up in love as each part does its work.

4:17-5:2. They must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking, darkened in understanding, alienated from the life of God, hardened in heart. That is not the way they learned Christ. They were taught to put off the old self, corrupt through deceitful desires, to be renewed in the spirit of the mind, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. Specific commands follow: speak truth, for we are members of one another; be angry but do not sin and do not let the sun go down on your anger; the thief must steal no more but work, so as to have something to share; no corrupting talk but what builds up; do not grieve the Holy Spirit, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Put away bitterness, be kind and forgiving as God in Christ forgave you, and be imitators of God, walking in love as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

5:3-21. Sexual immorality, impurity and covetousness are not to be named among them. They were once darkness but now are light in the Lord; they are to walk as children of light and take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness. The call to the sleeper to wake, rise from the dead and receive Christ's light (5:14) is probably a fragment of an early hymn or baptismal song. They are to look carefully how they walk, making the best use of the time. Instead of being drunk with wine, they are to be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms, hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord, giving thanks always, and submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.

5:22-6:9. Wives are to submit to their own husbands as to the Lord, for the husband is head of the wife as Christ is head of the church. The word 'head' (kephale) is read as authority or as source, and the choice is argued in the tradition note. Husbands are to love their wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, to sanctify her, cleansing her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present her in splendour. Husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. Paul quotes Genesis 2:24 about the two becoming one flesh and calls it a profound mystery that refers to Christ and the church. Children are to obey their parents in the Lord, citing the fifth commandment with its promise, and fathers are not to provoke their children but to bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. Slaves are to obey earthly masters with fear and trembling, as to Christ, doing the will of God from the heart. Masters are to treat them in the same way and stop threatening, knowing that their Master is in heaven and that there is no partiality with him.

6:10-20. Paul calls them to be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. The struggle is not against flesh and blood but against rulers, authorities, cosmic powers over this present darkness and spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. They are to take up the whole armour of God: the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes of readiness given by the gospel of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Of these only the sword attacks; the rest are defensive. Prayer in the Spirit at all times is joined to it, and Paul asks prayer for himself, an ambassador in chains, to speak boldly. The letter ends with Tychicus and a blessing of peace, love with faith, and grace.

Four doctrinal themes stand out.

• First, the unity and diversity of the church: one body, one Spirit, one Lord, and many gifts given by the ascended Christ.
• Second, sanctification: the new self is the believer's identity, and the specific commands about speech, anger, work and sexuality are the shape of that new self.
• Third, marriage as a picture of Christ and the church. Paul grounds the husband's love in what Christ did for the church, and gives the church's relation to Christ a pattern in marriage, while the Old Testament prophets had spoken of God as husband of his people (Hosea 2; Isaiah 54:5).
• Fourth, spiritual warfare. The struggle is against powers, the defences are the gifts of God, and the weapon is the word of God and prayer.

The Spirit's part in the church's life is stressed: the unity of the Spirit (4:3), grieving the Spirit (4:30), being filled with the Spirit (5:18) and the sword of the Spirit (6:17). Pentecostal and charismatic traditions emphasise the continuing gifts in 4:11; Reformed and others read the offices as the permanent equipping ministries of the church. Both agree on their purpose: to build up the body.

Christ appears as the ascended conqueror in 4:8-10. The psalm describes a king who goes up in triumph and shares the spoils, and Paul applies it to Christ's ascension, which is the basis of the gifts in the church. He is the head who gives growth to the body (4:15-16). He is the pattern for forgiveness, for love and for self-giving: God in Christ forgave, and Christ loved us and gave himself as a fragrant offering (4:32-5:2). This sacrificial language recalls the offerings of Leviticus and the servant of Isaiah 53.

In 5:25-32 Christ is the husband of the church. He gave himself for her, cleanses her by the washing of water with the word, and presents her radiant. The picture draws on the Old Testament marriage imagery of God and Israel (Isaiah 62:5; Hosea 2:19-20) and the church as bride in Revelation 19:7 and 21:2. Paul calls it a profound mystery, and what he says about marriage is shaped by what he sees in Christ.

In 6:10-17 the armour is Christ's own. In Isaiah 59:17 the LORD puts on righteousness as a breastplate and salvation as a helmet, and in Isaiah 11:5 the Messiah is girded with righteousness and faithfulness. Believers put on what the Lord himself wears. The church is described as standing in the strength of the exalted Lord who already rules above all powers (1:20-22).