Parents and children should behave well and wisely in the Lord
6
📚Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.6:1 Paul is still speaking to believers in Christ (“in the Lord”). Children are not bound to obey parents if those parents give instructions and commands contrary to God’s Word. But in all other matters they should obey. Disobedience to parents is a mark of the sinful and rebellious nature in children and a child who disobeys his parents will not find it difficult to disobey God (Rom 1:30).⚜
2 📚“Honour your father and mother”. This is the first commandment with a promise: 3 📚“That it may be well with you, and that you may live long on the earth”.
6:2-3 Ex 20:12; Deut 5:16. Believers are not under the law (Rom 6:14-15; 7:4; Gal 3:25). But the righteousness of the law is to be fulfilled in them (Rom 8:4). And obedience to parents is “right” (v 1). If Christian children do not obey their parents they have no good reason to expect that things will go well with them or that they will enjoy a long life on earth.⚜
4 📚And you fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.
6:4 Treating children unjustly or too severely, or without sensitivity or sympathy will provoke them. Discipline is absolutely necessary (see Prov 13:24; 19:18; 22:15; 23:13-14; Heb 12:7-8), but it should be discipline with love and the children should be made to see this. God has placed children in the hands of their parents. They belong to God (Ezek 18:4). God has given their parents the duty and privilege of bringing them up for Him. By acts and words parents must help make children what God wants them to be. Compare Deut 6:6-7; Ps 34:11; 78:4-8. If parents neglect this supreme duty should they be surprised if their children turn out badly and bring much sorrow to them?⚜
Masters and servants should do likewise
5 📚Slaves 📖, be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in sincerity of heart, as to Christ, 6 📚not with service because he is watching or as pleasers of men, but as slaves of Christ 📖, doing the will of God from the heart, 7 📚serving with good will, as to the Lord and not to men, 8 📚knowing that whatever good anyone does, he will receive a reward 📖 for it from the Lord, whether he is slave or free.
6:6-8 Paul is saying that there are more important matters than personal freedom. Obeying Christ, doing the will of God, being freed from the slavery of sin, having the right attitude about the condition in which we find ourselves – these are the supreme things whether one is a slave or a free man.⚜
9 📚And you masters, act in the same way toward them, leaving off threatening, knowing that your Master also is in heaven, and there is no favoritism 📖 with him.
6:9 Believing slaves were just as much members of Christ’s body the Church as believing masters, and together they had one Head, one Lord, one Master. So masters had better recognize this and behave accordingly. This is just as true today in regard to hired servants and those who hire them.⚜
Believers must learn to fight the spiritual battle in which they are engaged
10 📚Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord 📖 and in the power of his might. 11 📚Put on 📖 the whole armour 📖 of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles 📖 of the devil. 12 📚For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against rulers, against powers, against the princes of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in the heavenly places.
6:12 The devil is not alone in his fight against believers. Many in the unseen realm of spirits (the “heavenly places” – note at 1:3) are on his side. Satan is the “ruler” and “god” of this world (John 12:31; 2 Cor 4:4), but there are other unseen rulers working with him (see Dan 10:13, 20; 1 Tim 4:1; Rev 16:14). These are evil spirits, demons, angels who rebelled against God. These are the “gods” worshiped by many people (1 Cor 8:5; 10:20; Deut 32:17; Ps 106:37. Of course these “gods” will try to convince people they are good or God Himself or supreme lords and destroyers of demons).⚜
13 📚So take for yourselves the whole armour of God that you may be able to resist them in the evil day 📖 and, having done everything, to stand. 14 📚Stand 📖, therefore 📖, having your waist girded with truth 📖, and having on the breastplate of righteousness 📖, 15 📚and your feet fitted with the preparation of the gospel of peace 📖. 16 📚Above all, take the shield of faith 📖, with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. 17 📚And take the helmet of salvation 📖, and the sword of the Spirit 📖, which is the word of God,
They should be constant in prayer
18 📚praying always in the Spirit with all kinds of prayers and requests, and being alert for this with all perseverance and requests for all saints 📖.
6:18 Paul is still speaking of God’s soldiers. He is still showing the way of victory over spiritual enemies. He knew that to be prayerless is to be defeated already, but that Satan trembles when he sees believers praying, because by praying they are calling God into the struggle. He is telling us that without prayer the armor will fail to protect us, that we should put it on with prayer and stand in it with prayer.
On prayer see references and notes at Gen 18:32; Ps 66:18; Jer 33:3; Dan 10:13; Matt 6:5-13; 7:7-11; 26:41; Mark 11:24-25; Luke 11:5-13; 18:1-14; John 14:13; 15:7; 17:1-26; Acts 1:14; Rom 8:26; 12:12; Phil 4:6; Col 4:2; 1 Thess 5:17; Heb 4:16; 10:19-22; Jam 5:13, 16; 1 Pet 4:7.
Holding right views about the gospel and Christian doctrine, important as this is, is not enough to give us the victory over the devil. Without prayer we will be without spiritual strength in the battle against Satan.
Our praying should be “in the Spirit” – Eph 2:18; Rom 8:26; Jude 20. This means God’s Spirit. We should be yielded to Him and directed by Him in our praying. We are to pray on “all” occasions with “all” kinds of prayer – requests for all sorts of things according to God’s will, intercession for others, thanksgiving and praise (compare 1 Tim 2:1), secret prayer and public prayer, oral prayer and prayer in the heart.⚜
19 📚And pray for me 📖 that it may be given to me to speak, that I may open my mouth boldly 📖 to make known the mystery of the gospel 📖, 20 📚for which I am an ambassador in chains 📖, that in doing so I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.
Closing remarks
21 📚Tychicus 📖, a dear brother and faithful servant in the Lord, will tell you everything, so that you may know my situation and what I am doing. 22 📚I have sent him to you for this very purpose, that you might know our state, and that he might encourage your hearts.
23 📚Peace be to the brethren, and love with faith 📖, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 24 📚Grace be with all those who love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Amen.
6:24 All true believers love Christ and love Him sincerely (1 Cor 16:22; 1 John 4:8). The Greek word translated “sincerity” here means “incorruptness” and is the same word used in 1 Cor 15:42, 50, 53, 54 of the resurrection body believers will have. The love God plants in the hearts of His own people is divine and eternal love (1 Cor 13:1), and so it is sincere, incorruptible, undying.⚜