EPHESIANS: ETERNALLY ENCLOSED IN GOD’S PLAN

Part XX: The Angelic Conflict In The Christian Walk

(Ephesians 6:10-13)

I. Introduction

A. Paul wrote Ephesians to encourage believers of God’s work to edify the Church regardless what happened to him in his imprisonment (Ryrie St. Bible, KJV, 1978, p. 1672: “Intro. to the Letter of Paul to the Ephesians”).

B. Ephesians 6:10-13 in its context reveals that the angelic conflict affects the believer’s entire Christian walk, so we view the passage in view of its broad context in the epistle for our insight, application and edification:

II. The Angelic Conflict In The Christian Walk, Ephesians 6:10-13.

A. Paul directed that we believers must be strong in the Lord and in “the power that overcomes resistance” (kratei) of God’s “inherent strength” (ischuos), and that we achieve this equipping by putting on the whole armor of God that we might be able to stand against the schemes, stratagems (methodeias) of Satan, Ephesians 6:10-11. (Bible Know. Com., N. T., p. 642-643)

B. Our need to put on that divine armor is caused by our need to “withstand or stand against” (antistenai) Satan’s schemes (Ephesians 6:13), for our “wrestling, fight, contest” (pale) is not against flesh and blood, that is, it is not primarily against other people, but against evil spiritual forces of the world and even in heavenly realms that greatly influence human thinking, actions and relationships, Ephesians 6:12. (op. cit., p. 643) Satan has access to the heavens until he is cast out in the middle of the Tribulation Period so until that time arrives, he will try to rob us believers of blessing by always bringing charges of sin against us. (cf. Revelation 12:9-10)

C. This information is quite revealing in view of the wide context of the Ephesian epistle (as follows):

1. After presenting the theological background for the Christian walk in Ephesians chapters 1-3, Paul applied that theology to the Christian walk in Ephesians chapters 4-6.

2. In doing so, he mention a host of realms where Christians can “wrestle, fight, contest” in their experience:

a. Paul noted that believers were to try to keep the unity the Holy Spirit created in the body in the bond of peace, Ephesians 4:1-6. Thus, one can “wrestle, fight, contest” in unbiblical disunity with fellow believers in the Church. Sadly, this is a great problem today in Christendom due to wide divergences from Biblical truth and spirituality that afflicts many factions and denominations, not to mention splits in local churches. All such problems have been fueled by Satan, and although Scripture demands that we withdraw from disobedient believers (2 Thessalonians 3:14-15) and apostates (2 John 9-10) in second and first degree separations respectively, we should still rely on God to preserve the unity of the body.

b. Paul noted that we believers were to exercise the spiritual gifts God has given each of us to minister to the spiritual needs of each other in the Church (Ephesians 4:7-16). Satan can try to create conflicts in the use of these gifts that hinders them from being used to edify, requiring our need for God’s armor.

c. Paul noted in the extensive section of Ephesians 4:17-5:17 the need for the individual believer to avoid living by his sin nature by relying on the Lord to live in his new nature given him at salvation and by the Holy Spirit’s power (Ephesians 5:18) to avoid the ungodly lifestyles of the unsaved world. Struggles in this realm are also influenced by Satan, requiring our need to put on God’s full armor of protection.

d. Paul noted our need to be “filled,” or better, “controlled” by the Holy Spirit to edify one another, to praise and thank God (Ephesians 5:18-20), and to function in our proper roles in marriage (Ephesians 5:21 with 5:22-33), in the family (Ephesians 6:1-4) and in the workplace (Ephesians 6:5-9). Satan can cause conflicts, wrestling and fights in each realm of worship (Ephesians 5:18-20) or relationships (Ephesians 5:20-6:9), making it imperative that we put on God’s full spiritual armor for victory!

D. Because of all this, Paul repeated his Ephesians 6:11 call that we put on the “full armor” (panoplian) of God that we might be able to “withstand, stand against” the schemes of Satan, Ephesians 6:13. (Ibid.)

E. Then, to show the importance of this order, Paul repeated the need that having done all we believers can do in taking and putting on the full armor of God, that we then stand (against Satan’s schemes), Ephesians 6:13b.

F. [Paul told us how to put on that armor in Ephesians 6:14-20 with 5:18, what we will view in our next lesson.]

Lesson: Each realm of our earthly lives is always vulnerable to Satanic attack, and thus to our spiritual defeat, so we must put on the entire spiritual armor of God to withstand spiritual defeat in our entire Christian experience.

Application: Due to the angelic conflict that always rages all around us, to avoid spiritual defeat that can occur in any realm at any time, may we put on and keep on God’s spiritual armor in all realms of our Christian walk.