Put on the Armour

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Sunday Scripture Reading: Ephesians 6:10-20 (NRSV)

10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his power. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. Read more…

Looking to Sunday: Preparing to Hear From God

by Elaine Poproski

New Testament scholar, Peter O’Brien, writes in his commentary on Ephesians: “The very existence of the church, comprising Jews and Gentiles reconciled through the death of Christ to God and to one another in the same body, is evidence that the purposes of God are moving triumphantly to their climax.”[1] This is the hope presented in Ephesians. It’s our hope. Despite the dark realities of our world, God conquered sin, death, and the devil himself when Jesus died and rose again. The end is assured. The time for which all creation has been yearning since Adam and Eve were expelled from the Garden is a foregone conclusion.

And yet, even though the end is known, it has not yet been fully realized. The enemies of God are determined to fight to the bitter end and to take as many of us with them as possible. They continue to tempt us away from God, to lull us into apathetic acquiescence of the status quo, to knock us off our feet and silence the witness of the church locally and globally. This is not new. The Apostle Paul and his contemporaries faced the same challenges and dangers. Their (and our) best efforts to faithfully live the gospel are not sufficient. If we are to withstand the death throes of evil, we will do so only empowered by God’s own Spirit. This is the reminder of Paul’s final words to the Ephesians, which will be our focus in Sunday’s sermon.

As you prepare for Sunday, which marks the end of our journey through Ephesians, I encourage you to take the time to read through the whole letter from beginning to end. Remind yourself of the glorious words of hope and the beautiful descriptors of the church presented in chapters 1–3. Reconsider the exhortations to faithful living presented in chapters 4–6. And take heart in the promise of this week’s text (6:10–20), that God is in it all with us.

[1] The Pillar New Testament Commentary: The Letter to the Ephesians. (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans, 1999), 464.