Chapter 6
V1-3 cf Ex 20:12; Deut 5:16. Pro 30:17 gives a more chilling description. We seem to be in the end days as this commandment goes unheeded in society and worryingly so in the churches too cf 2 Tim 3:2. Paul precisely through the Holy Spirit, specifies us to obey our parents IN Yeshua, meaning that provided our parents are following the will of the Messiah our Master, then should they be obeyed. If, however, our parents demand us to do that which is anti-Torah and against the will of our heavenly Father, then are we not to obey such. Honouring differs from obeying in that obeying is but a subset of honouring. Honouring comprises other qualities such as love, respect and reverence.
V4 What is the noutheisa/admonition, exhortation of the master? Let us read Deut 6:1-2,7 and Pro 4:1-4; Ps 78:4-7. It can only be the Torah as there are no other instructions codified in the whole Bible but the 613 Laws given to Moses by Yeshua Himself on Mt Sinai. Fathers must not provoke to anger their children in order not to discourage them from following Yehovah’s Torah cf Col 3:21. Fathers are the ordained head of the family, and their absenteeism in society today bears witness of the rage found in kids raised by their mothers alone, and unruly rebellious behaviour on their parts. Being too harsh to your children as a father may be as detrimental as being too lenient, hence the proverb spare the rod, spoil the child cf Pro 23:13-14, 29:15.
V5-9 Doulos/slave is translated servant in KJV. Slaves in Paul’s time and before, were a normal sector of society. The Torah outlines how one could end up being a slave e.g. to repay debts, or be willingly enslaved altogether cf Ex 21. As with the other groups of societal relationships i.e. wives to husbands representing the ecclesia to Messiah, children to parents, and fathers to children representing the ecclesia to our heavenly father, the relationship of slave to master and master to slave was to represent that between us individual members of the ecclesia, as slaves of Messiah. 7 qualifications were laid out to define obedience:
a. phobos/fear, reverence
b. tromos/trembling, care to not displease to avoid wrath
c. haplotes/singleness, sincerity of heart
d. service as unto Messiah
e. Not as eyeservice
f. Nor as man pleasers
g. With goodwill as unto Messiah cf 1 Pet 2:18-21; Gal 1:10; Phil 2:12, Col 3:23.
V6 note the word translated heart is psuche/soul. The will of Elohim is done from the soul. The soul is the vessel that contains the spirit cf Gen 2:7 breath/spirit of life was breathed into the soul. The soul may either be filled with evil spirits leading to an unregenerate man, or be filled with the life-giving Spirit of Yeshua leading to a regenerate man.
V10 cf 2 Tim 2:3. We cannot wrestle against Satan and his host of evil alone. We, like King David need to encourage ourselves in Yehovah cf 1 Sam 30:6, Phil 4:13
V11 The methodeia/wiles are the trickery, deceit and craft of the devil. The armour of Elohim is erroneously based upon the Roman soldier’s armour. Paul throughout his epistles gives a commentary on the Tanakh/ OT and uses OT language to express his messages. It shall be seen in the following verses that all his imagery is drawn from the Aaronic priestly garments of the high priest of Israel. Physical armour cannot battle against the spiritual realm. The priestly garments had a spiritual picture and meaning embedded within them.
V12 Paul in 1:21 introduced us to supernatural beings. He in addition to arche/origin in rank, principalities and exousia/powers of authority, brings to our attention the existence of kosmokrator/lord of the world, prince of this age i.e. Satan, translated rulers of the darkness of this world, and spiritual depravity in the epouranios/heavens i.e. fallen angels and demons. Many commentaries have speculated and imagined through conjecture all manner of spiritual beings yet the Greek is very precise in identifying what we are up against. The Greek Septuagint LXX uses the same word archon for prince of Persia and for Michael one of the chief princes in Daniel 10;13.
Hence we can with confidence confirm that principalities are beings on the same level as Michael the archangel. They clearly lead empires as the prince of Grecia is mentioned in Daniel 10:20. Daniel 12:1 identifies Michael as the principality for Yehovah’s people Israel, of which is the body of Messiah Isa 41:8. In Dan 3:2,3 exousia/powers of authority is in the KJV translated as sheriffs. A sheriff in England is the chief executive officer of the crown, in Scotland being a judge. Dan 3:30 of the LXX reads: Then the king promoted Shadrach{gr.Sedrach}, Meshach{gr.Misach}, [and] Abednego{gr.Abdenago}, in the province of Babylon, and advanced them, and gave them authority to rule over all the Jews who were in his kingdom. Exousia is the word used for authority. It is quite clear that this authority is for those ruling over nations. Kosmokrator of the darkness of this world is undeniably Satan himself, who supersedes the demonic host of wickedness in the heavenlies.
V13 We are next admonished to take up the complete, not partial, but complete armour of Elohim. We cannot defend ourselves against such powerful evil forces without the complete armour of which Paul is about to list. Additionally, after having withstood the enmity in this all-powerful armour, we must not remove it, but remain standing in it, as the attack from the host of hell is relentless.
V14-18 Before discussing these verses a synopsis of the Aaronic priestly garments is as follows: -Num 31v6-Phineas was the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron. They were all of high priestly lineage and wore the armour of priestly garments to battle. Also, Num 10:8-9 the Aaronic priests led the battlefront in warfare. Josh 6:4-6 further confirms the spiritual role of priests in warfare.
-Exo 28v2-The garments were for glory and beauty, and were to be kept clean. Priests could not conduct the priestly service in stained or ripped garments. Old tunics were used to light the wick of the menorah, the belts and pants used for oil lamps during Sukkot, being kept in the women’s court of the temple. Hence when Yeshua was wrapped in linen, it represented soiled priestly garments with our sins being buried, linen of which He left in the tomb at His resurrection.
-Rev 3v4-those in unstained garments shall walk with Messiah
-Jude v 23-garments are stained by walking in the flesh
-Zeph 1v6-8-all clothed in strange apparel shall be punished. We cannot fight in the heavenlies against Satan and his host if clothed in the wrong armour, which is not the priestly armour of Elohim.
-Matt 22v1-14-those who turned up in wrong garments punished
.-2 Chr 6v41-priests clothed with Yeshua/salvation
Lastly Num 4v30-those 30-50 entering service -in Hebrew referring to those entering war in priestly garments.
Rev 19:8,14-army in priestly garments are us the saints.
Let us piece these verses of Eph 6:14-18 bearing the priestly garments in mind:
a. V14 Girdle Lev 8:7. Note that there were 2 girdles. The first worn over the tunic and the second was part of the ephod. Isa 11v4,5-the girdle of truth is comprised of 2 components too: righteousness and faithfulness. The just/righteous shall live by faith Hab 2:4 Tsaddiyq/just means lawful ones i.e. Torah keepers. Ps 93:1 further establishes that this girdle is of strength. Jn 8:32 promises us that we shall be set free by truth. Torah is truth Ps 119:142. The righteous and faithful shall be strengthened by Torah truth.
b. Breastplate -Ex 28:15 establishes that the breastplate is of mishpat/judgement, justice, ordinance. Hidden in it were the Urim and Thummim which determined the will of Yehovah, which we know from Yeshua’s ministry and the epistles to be to follow His commandments, the Torah, which establishes righteousness. In Eph 6:14 righteousness is Greek dikaiosune also meaning justification. Isa 59v16,17 It is very clear in these verses that GARMENTS not Roman attire are being referred to here. Paul was quoting OT verses to describe the armour.
c. V15 Feet-No mention of shoes or sandals as most commentators erroneously allude to. -Exo 3v5-shoes taken off. Also, Josh 5v15 -shoes removed too. Ex 30:19-21-clearly no shoes worn by the priests in the tabernacle/temple. The temple was holy ground, hence priests had to be barefoot in order not to defile temple nor holiness to be transferred to shoes which would go out to unholy areas. Eph 6:15 feet not shod with shoes but gospel of peace. -Isa 52v7-how beautiful are the feet. good tidings is besorah =gospel, that publishes salvation/Yeshua.
d. V16 Shield-Psa 84v11-shield covers whole body not small Roman shield. This verse states that the shield gives grace and glory to those walking tamiym/complete, upright i.e. in Torah truth. Paul says above all faith-without faith the other weapons are ineffective cf 2 Cor 4:18. This shield protects 3 classes of people Ps 115:9-13
1. House of Israel
2. House of Aaron-priests
3. Those others that fear Yehovah i.e. Gentiles/ger grafted into Israel cf Acts 13:26 for a modification of these classes post Yeshua.
e. V17 Helmet-Ex 28:36-38; Isa 59:17. The perikephalaia/encirclement of the head translated helmet in KJV was a mitre/turban with a gold plate embossed with the words Holiness to YHVH, written 700BC which was well before Rome existed. Salvation as we know in Hebrew is Yeshua who bore our iniquities and atoned for the pride of our countenance over which the turban covers Ps 10:4 Hence the need to wear Yeshua our Saviour so we may be accepted before Yehovah.
f. Sword of the Spirit is explained as the rhema/word, utterance of Elohim. The whole scripture is the utterance of Elohim and Yeshua demonstrated the power of the word when tempted of Satan cf Lk4:4,8,12. The high priest was more than ever required to know the Torah by heart, being the spiritual leader of Israel pre-Messiah.
g. V18 Prayer-we fight best upon our knees in prayer and supplication. The high priest’s clothing was hopelessly ineffective if he did not pray to Yehovah in all the ceremonial rights that he was obligated to carry out. Our only means of engaging the armour of Elohim in battling against the host of hell, is in constant communication with our High commander in heaven through prayer for ourselves and for all saints. Mk 14:38 1 Tim 2:1. Prayer in tongues is most effective as the Holy Spirit prays on our behalf to further demolish Satan’s kingdom Rom 8:26; Jude 20.
In summary our armament against the host of hell comprises of truth, righteousness, gospel of peace, faith, salvation, the word and prayer. They must operate in tandem in order to achieve consistent victory.
V19-20 Paul also petitioned the saints in Ephesus to pray for him to be emboldened ever the more in preaching the mystery of the gospel that he had revealed to them, especially in times of trial and tribulation and imprisonment that he was experiencing. He did not pray for earthly comfort, but for spiritual victory in furthering the gospel Of Messiah
V21-24 Paul concludes by reassuring the Ephesians of conveyance of the gospel to them and his affairs and to be comforted by Tychicus, who was a devoted brother in Messiah of Paul’s cf Acts 20:4; Col 4:7; Tit 3:12; 2 Tim 4:12. Tychicus penned the epistle on Paul’s behalf from Rome. Peace and grace together with love with faith from Elohim are all we need in this evil world that we live in if we are to prove ourselves victorious over Satan’s stratagems. Again, Paul separates his references to Elohim the Father and Yeshua the Son, as he did on countless times. He closes his epistle in the same manner that he opened it wishing for the grace of Elohim upon those that truly love Yeshua our Messiah in true honesty. Amen