EPHESIANS: LIVING IN ALIGNMENT WITH OUR HIGH CALLING

Part II: Walking Worthy Of Our High Calling In Christ, Ephesians 4:1-6:20

E. Walking Worthy Of Our Calling By Relating Properly To The Holy Spirit

2. Walking Worthy Of Our Calling By Relying On The Holy Spirit In The Family

(Ephesians 6:1-4)

I. Introduction

A. Having written extensively in Ephesians 1:1-3:21 about the high calling we believers in Christ have in our Lord, clarifying the great extent to which God's grace in Christ has been administered in our behalf, Paul applied that truth to the Christian walk in Ephesians 4:1-6:20.

B. In Ephesians 6:1-4, Paul addressed a seventh realm of walking worthy of our calling, that of relating well to the Holy Spirit to live righteously in the institution of the human family. This subject is very important right now due to extra pressures the pandemic has put on relationships in the home, and reports abound worldwide of increased spousal and child abuse due to the lockdown and enhanced emotional and mental pressures produced by the pandemic. We thus view this important passage for our insight and edification (as follows):

II. Walking Worthy Of Our Calling By Relating Properly To The Holy Spirit In The Family, Eph. 6:1-4.

A. When Paul directed believers to be filled with the Holy Spirit in Ephesians 5:18, he followed that admonition with a series of Greek participles directing how that filling was to be displayed in one's conduct, the last participle of that series in Ephesians 5:21 being that of "submitting" (hupotassomenoi) to one another in reverence to Christ. (U. B. S. Grk. N. T., 1966, p. 675-676)

B. Paul then applied this practice of "submitting" to a series of human institutions in Ephesians 5:22-6:9, focusing on the family in Ephesians 6:1-4. We then apply his directive for that institution (as follows):

1. By means of the filling or control by the Holy Spirit, what occurs when one relies as an act of faith on the Holy Spirit, children are to obey their parents in the Lord, for this is right, Ephesians 6:1-3 KJV:

a. The word rendered "right" (KJV) in verse 1 is actually dikaios, "righteous" (U. B. S. Grk. N. T., 1966, p. 677; Arndt & Gingrich, A Grk-Eng. Lex. of the N. T., 1967, p. 194-195), meaning "obedience to parents is part of a child's obligation to Christ," cf. Luke 2:51; Ryrie Study Bible, KJV, 1978, ftn. to Ephesians 6:1.

b. Paul then mentioned that this directive was the first command of the Ten Commandments with a promise, what is found in Exodus 20:21 and expanded in Ephesians 6:2-3 (as follows):

i. If a child who believed in Christ honored his parents as evidenced by his obedience to them, God would see that things went well for him in his earthly life, Ephesians 6:1a, 2-3a.

ii. If a child who believed in Christ honored his parents as evidenced by his obedience of them, God would see that he also lived long earthly life, Ephesians 6:1a, 2, 3b.

2. By means of the filling or control by the Holy Spirit, what occurs when one relies on the indwelling Holy Spirit, parents are to relate righteously to their children in the Lord, Ephesians 6:4:

a. Though parents are not to "submit" to their children, we still infer from the extended context where Paul is discussing "submitting" in various human institutions that parents are also to achieve the dictates of God regarding their roles in family oversight by means of the filling or control of the Holy Spirit!

b. In addressing parents in Ephesians 6:4a, Paul used the term "fathers," what includes the mothers because Ephesians 5:22 shows wives were to be subject to their husbands so that the husbands or fathers were the head of the family, Henry Alford, The Greek Test., 1856, vol. III, p. 135.

c. Parents are thus not to parorgizete, not to "exasperate, provoke to anger" their children "by unreasonable demands, petty rules, or favoritism," Bible Know. Com., N. T., p. 642; Ephesians 6:4b.

d. "Rather," the meaning of the adversative particle alla (Ibid., U. B. S. Grk. N. T., p. 678; Ibid., Arndt & Gingrich, p. 37-38), parents are to "rear or nourish (ektrephete, 'provide for physical and spiritual needs')" of their children "in the paideia, 'child discipline,' including directing and correcting" and "instruction (nouthesia)" of the Lord, Ibid., Bible Know. Com., N. T.; Ephesians 6:4c.

Lesson: By relying on the Holy Spirit, believing children must honor so as to obey their parents as their righteous duty unto the Lord with God's promise of a good and long life on earth, and believing parents must not exasperate their children by making unreasonable demands, setting petty rules or showing favoritism, but provide for their children's physical and spiritual needs and direct and correct them in the Biblical instruction of the Lord.

Application: May all believers in the home rely on the Holy Spirit to heed the Lord in their God-assigned roles.