Children, parents, servants and masters
1 Children, obey your parents for this is right:
2 Honor your father and your mother. And this is the first commandment that has promise:
3 that you may be happy and enjoy long life in the land.
4 And you, fathers, do not make rebels of your children, but educate them by correction and instruction which the Lord may inspire.
5 Servants, obey your masters of this world with fear and respect, with simplicity of heart, as if obeying Christ.
6 Do not serve only when you are watched or in order to please others, but become servants of Christ who do God’s will with all your heart.
7 Work willingly, for the Lord and not for humans, mindful that the good each one has done,
8 whether servant or free, will be rewarded by the Lord.
9 And you, masters, deal with your servants in the same way, and do not threaten them, since you know that they and you have the same Lord who is in heaven, and he treats all fairly.
Be strong in the Lord
10 Finally, be strong in the Lord with his energy and strength.
11 Put on the whole armor of God to be able to resist the cunning of the devil.
12 Our battle is not against human forces but against the rulers and authorities and their dark powers that govern this world. We are struggling against the spirits and supernatural forces of evil.
13 Therefore put on the whole armor of God, that in the evil day, you may resist and stand your ground, making use of all your wea pons.
14 Take truth as your belt, justice as your breastplate,
15 and zeal as your shoes to propagate the Gospel of peace.
16 Always hold in your hand the shield of faith to repel the flaming arrows of the devil.
17 Final ly, use the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, that is, the Word of God.
18 Pray at all times as the Spirit in spires you. Keep watch, together with sustained prayer and supplication for all the holy ones.
19 Pray also for me, so that when I speak, I may be given words to proclaim bravely the mystery of the Gospel.
20 Even when in chains I am an ambassador of God; may he give me the strength to speak as I should.
21 I also want you to know how I am and what I am doing. Tychicus, our beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord, will tell you everything.
22 I am sending him precisely to give you news of us and comfort you all.
23 May peace and love with faith from God the Father and from Christ Jesus the Lord, be with the brothers and sisters.
24 And may his blessing be with all who love Christ Jesus, our Lord, with undying love.
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Comments Letter to the Ephesians, Chapter 6
• 6.1 Paul reminds children that God asks for obedience, and parents that they must not neglect their duty as educators (see commentary on Sirac 30:1-2). Parents have the difficult task of leading their children to true freedom, teaching them first to obey a law, to serve rather than be served, to share rather than demand. Later, they will show them how to follow the calls of the Spirit, well beyond what is considered good or bad all around them.
Paul reminds the slave of his nobility. Let him live without servility: this is the first step toward genuine liberation.
• 10. Paul has said what he had to say. What does his invitation to be strong mean, when he takes his examples from military life? Is it because he feels the Christians of Ephesus are not sufficiently strong? See verses 18-20: Paul invites them, without saying it, to compare their situation with his. Free or slaves, most of them were people of modest means of the cities near Ephesus. Subjected for a long time to the Roman Empire that imposed peace on them, they were free of serious problems. They were not rich but they were able to content themselves with little. Under a Mediterranean sky they had abundant light and a friendly, natural environment. They found the faith at a time when it cost them little; what would they do the day the Empire became an obstacle and when suddenly they would be classed a bad lot, responsible for all that was wrong?
This is why Paul warns them: peace is only provisional, for the demon is waiting for his hour (11 and 16). Paul asks them to persevere in prayer: the only effective arms against evil are those that Christ has left us: truth, faith, the word of God… and if they believe they have found salvation, let them exert themselves to evangelize others.