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Practical Truth in EPHESIANS
No.1.
"Be strong in the Lord" (6: 10).
pp. 109 - 113
In this series we do not pretend to cover the whole of our subject in detail. We hope
to be able to pick out some features of the subject which will encourage our readers to
engage in a more complete and detailed study. Of course, there is a tremendous amount
of material in In Heavenly Places by Charles H. Welch, and there is the exposition by
Stuart Allen in Letters From Prison. Stuart Allen deals with Practical Truth of Ephesians
in pages 71-96 (chapter 4:), pages 97-105 (5:), and in pages 106-114 (6:). As the author
has a lucid style, we recommend his book Letters From Prison.
The first three chapters of Ephesians are devoted to Doctrine and the final three to
Practice. In Charles Welch's book there is a chart which demonstrates that in the
structure of the epistle, Practice is shown to be the outworking of the Doctrine, so making
a perfect balance. As Stuart Allen says in his book:
". . . . . but the truth of God is nothing if it is not balance from start to finish: not all
doctrine and little or no practice: or all practice and little or no doctrine. By themselves,
each of these would lead to lopsidedness."
He goes on to explain that it is important to base Christian practice on sound doctrine.
We shall take Ephesians chapter 6: first because this balances with Eph. 1: 1 - 2: 7.
Actually, the balancing section is Eph. 6: 10-20. At the moment we are looking at
Eph. 6: 10, but the reader may like to read Eph. 1: 1 - 2: 7 as an introduction to our
study.
In Eph. 1: 19 there is the reference to the mighty power which was wrought in Christ
when He was raised from the dead. We will quote part of verse 18 and verses 19 & 20:
". . . that ye may know what is the hope of His calling, and what the riches of the glory of
His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power to us-ward
who believe, according to the working of His mighty power, which He wrought in Christ
when He raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly
places."
In Eph. 1: 19 we have the "greatness of His power to us-ward", and the "working of
His mighty power", while Eph. 6: 10 reads:
"Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might."
These are not words that would be addressed to children. Indeed, the Scriptures tell us
of the growth that should take place. Eph. 4: 14 says ". . . . . that we henceforth be no
longer children . . . . .", while Philippians expresses the growth in terms of a race or
contest. Phil. 3: 12-14 read "Not as though I had already attained, either were already