Thursday, October 11, 2018 – Ephesians 6

Summary of the Book, Pt. 2, Eph 4, 5, 6

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUNhL0C3U2o

Grace Fellowship Church

Pastor/Teacher, Jim Rickard

www.GraceDoctrine.org

www.facebook.com/GraceDoctrine

Book of Ephesians Conclusion and Summary, Pt. 2

In our outline of this book, we noted that the first half of the book is the “Theological” Section:

Chapter 1, “God’s Plan for Salvation.”
Chapter 2, “God’s Way of Salvation.”
Chapter 3, “Paul’s Revelation of God’s Plan.”

Now, in the second half of the book, Chapters 4-6, speaks to, “The Believer’s Walk:”

Chapter 4 - Outline:

The main theme was, “The Believer’s Walk Based on His High Calling.”

We broke this down into two segments:

A. The Believer’s Walk in Unity; God’s Plan for Faithful Living in the Church to Build the Church, Eph 4:1-16.

  1. The Appeal to Preserve Unity, The walking worthy of the calling by which we have been called, Eph 4:1-3.

  2. The Basis for Unity: The seven unities given to us by God, Eph 4:4-6.

  3. The Means of Unity: The ministry gifts of Christ given to His body, Eph 4:7-16.

    a. Christ’s death, resurrection, and ascension proclaimed, as well as being the giver of gifts, vs. 8-10.

    b. The purpose of our gifts; building up of the body of Christ, individually and collectively, vs. 12-16.

B. The Believer’s Walk in Righteousness; God’s Pattern and Principles for Members of the Church and His Standards for Faithfulness in the Church, Eph 4:17-32.

  1. The Previous Walk of the Old Life, Eph 4:17-19.

  2. The Present Walk of the New Life, Eph 4:20-32.

    a. The Regenerated New Man in Christ Jesus, vs. 20-24.

    b. Principles of Conduct for the New Man, vs. 25-32

Chapter 5 - Outline:

The main theme of this chapter was, “The Suitable Behavior of Believers.”

In Chapter 5, we continued the outline from Chapter 4 with two more segments that also ran into Chapter 6:

C. The Believer’s Walk in Love; The conclusion of God’s Pattern and Principles for Members of the Church from Chapter 4, and His Standards for Faithfulness in the Church, Eph 5:1-17.

  1. The Pattern for Our Walk, Walking in Love as God’s Dear Child, Eph 5:1-7.

  2. The Proof and Reason for Our Walk, Walking in Light, Eph 5:8-14.

  3. The Power and Provision for Our Walk, Walking in Wisdom, Eph 5:15-17.

D. The Believer’s Walk in the World; God’s Standards for Authority and Submission in the Church, Eph 5:18-6:9.

  1. As to One’s Self and the Church, Be Filled with God’s Spirit, Eph 5:18-21.

  2. As to One’s Home, Eph 5:22-6:4. w/ the 10 Commandments Doctrine.

    a. Husbands and Wives, Eph 5:22-33.

    b. Parents and Children, Eph 6:1-4.

  3. As to One’s Profession, Employers and Employees, Eph 6:5-9.

Chapter 6 - Outline:

The main theme was, “Conclusion to the Believers Walk, vs. 1-9, and The Warfare of Believers, vs. 10-24, Their Stand!”

Therefore, the first part of Chapter 6 followed the theme from Chapter 5, “The Believer’s Walk in the World; God’s Standards for Authority and Submission in the Church,” with the last few points, and the 10 Commandments Doctrine: 

    1. Parents and Children, Eph 6:1-4.

    2. As to One’s Profession, Employers and Employees, Eph 6:5-9.

E. The Believer’s Walk in Warfare; God’s Provision for His Children’s Spiritual Battles, Eph 6:10-20.

  1. The Exhortation to Arms, The Believer’s Warfare, Eph 6:10-13.

    a. The warrior’s power, Eph 6:10.

    b. The warrior’s armor, Eph 6:11.

    c. The warrior’s foes, Eph 6:12.

   d. The Warrior’s Resource, The Explanation of Our Armor, Eph 6:13–17.

  2. God’s Appeal for Prayer in the Church, Eph 6:18-20.

F. Conclusion; Benediction, God’s Encouragement to Carry on, Eph 6:21-24.

As we review the overall book from its theological and application perspective, we can summarize the message of the letter in terms of the three verbs “sit,” “walk,” and “stand.” The first part of the letter has dealt with believers’ identity in terms of our status and position. Our participation in Christ’s victory over the “powers” is expressed in the assertion that we have been “seated with Christ in the heavenly realms.” The second part of the letter with its repeated use of the verb “to walk” pleads with us to live out our lives in the status and calling God has given to us while in this world. And finally, the concluding exhortation to “stand” combines both of these earlier emphases in its call for us to maintain and appropriate our position of strength and victory as we live out our lives in the world in the face of the opposition of evil cosmic powers.

In this way, we are reminded of our distinctive calling as members of the Church in the world. The battle imagery we noted in Chapter 6, recapitulates the earlier exposition of this book in a new and powerful fashion. It conveys the urgency and challenge of our task as we are called to have courage, firm resolve, prayerfulness, alertness, and perseverance. At the same time, our focus on Christ’s strength and God’s full armor enables us to have a sense of security and confidence. Our confidence and firm resolve are further strengthened by Paul’s parting picture of the open proclamation of the gospel by the imprisoned apostle to whom, humanly speaking, we owe our Christian existence and who now serves as a model for our own bold witness in the world in the face of intense opposition.

As we now conclude the Book of Ephesians, I want to share a few facts: We began the book on May 12, 2015 and concluded it on October 11, 2018; almost 3 1/2 years. In that time we have taught 460 lessons on this book. In addition to the direct subject matter found in the Book of Ephesians, we have noted 155 Doctrines, which in total adds up to 931 pages of Bible study notes. Congratulations to all who have followed along as we conducted this study. My prayer is that through the teaching of the Holy Spirit, you have grown in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ to the point where our Lord will say to you, “Well done My good and faithful servant!”