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"Giving thanks always for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even
the Father" (5: 20 R.V.).
"Always for all things" covers all time and all experience for the believer which is
covered by the will of the Lord. Sometimes we may not know how to pray, but we can
always praise and this never wearies the Lord! Not only this, but it will have a preserving
effect on us, for we cannot truly praise and backslide at the same time.
"Subjecting yourselves one to another in the fear of Christ" (5: 21 R.V.).
"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge" the O.T. asserts (Prov. 1: 7), and
this reverential attitude is brought over to this dispensation in the verse before us. This
leads us to give Him His rightful place as Lord and Controller of all we have and are, and
to give, too, the rightful place to other believers. This we shall do as we seek to serve
them in whatever way we can, always bearing in mind the example of the greatest
Servant of all, our Saviour, Who took a towel and girded Himself so that He, though Lord
of all, could perform the lowliest of service for each of His disciples (John 13: 4, 5).
Verse 21 closes this section and now the Apostle turns to daily life in the home. Here
is where truth in practice starts and this is what so many believers forget. It is sometimes
easier to shine for Christ in the world than in the home, but it is here that the fragrance of
Christ should first be experienced.
No.32.
The Epistle to the Ephesians (12).
pp. 155 - 159
The Apostle Paul now turns from Christian practice in general to the home, for it is
here that the `worthy walk' should began. We should remember that in century one there
were no special buildings for Christian worship. God's children met in the home, hence
the importance of the practical out-working of the truth here. It is for this reason that
leaders (bishops or overseers) had to have special domestic qualifications (I Tim. 3: 1-5),
for it is quite obvious that an unruly home, or one that was un-Christian in any way,
would have been a most unsuitable meeting place for believers.
The Apostle first deals with Christian husbands and wives, urging the wives to take
their relationship to their husbands that Christ has ordained. The word `subjection' does
not carry with it any abject idea of slavery. In 5: 21 Paul had shown that it was the
Lord's will that all should be "subjecting yourselves one to another in the fear of Christ"
(R.V.). The basic idea is to take the place assigned by God. There is a divinely ordained
position of men and women to each other in creation; but this does not mean that there is
inferiority, either naturally or spiritually, of women to men. In I Cor. 11: 3 Paul had
written: