HelpFinder Bible - Flipbook - Page 1439
EPHESIANS 6
page 1069
Lord. So live as people of light! 9 For this light
within you produces only what is good and right
and true.
10 Carefully determine what pleases the Lord.
11 Take no part in the worthless deeds of evil and
darkness; instead, expose them. 12 It is shameful even to talk about the things that ungodly
people do in secret. 13 But their evil intentions
will be exposed when the light shines on them,
14 for the light makes everything visible. This is
why it is said,
“Awake, O sleeper,
rise up from the dead,
and Christ will give you light.”
Living by the Spirit’s Power
15 So be careful how you live. Don’t live like
fools, but like those who are wise. 16 Make the
most of every opportunity in these evil days.
17 Don’t act thoughtlessly, but understand what
the Lord wants you to do. 18 Don’t be drunk
with wine, because that will ruin your life. Instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit, 19 singing
psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among
yourselves, and making music to the Lord in
your hearts. 20 And give thanks for everything
to God the Father in the name of our Lord
Jesus Christ.
Spirit-Guided Relationships:
Wives and Husbands
21 And further, submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.
22 For wives, this means submit to your
husbands as to the Lord. 23 For a husband is
the head of his wife as Christ is the head of
the church. He is the Savior of his body, the
church. 24 As the church submits to Christ, so
you wives should submit to your husbands in
everything.
25 For husbands, this means love your wives,
just as Christ loved the church. He gave up
his life for her 26 to make her holy and clean,
washed by the cleansing of God’s word.* 27 He
did this to present her to himself as a glorious church without a spot or wrinkle or any
other blemish. Instead, she will be holy and
without fault. 28 In the same way, husbands
ought to love their wives as they love their own
bodies. For a man who loves his wife actually
shows love for himself. 29 No one hates his own
body but feeds and cares for it, just as Christ
cares for the church. 30 And we are members of
his body.
31 As the Scriptures say, “A man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and
the two are united into one.”* 32 This is a great
5:26 Greek washed by water with the word. 5:31 Gen 2:24.
6:1 Or Children, obey your parents who belong to the Lord;
some manuscripts read simply Children, obey your parents.
6:2-3 Exod 20:12; Deut 5:16. 6:4 Or Parents. 6:12 Some
manuscripts read you.
mystery, but it is an illustration of the way Christ
and the church are one. 33 So again I say, each
man must love his wife as he loves himself, and
the wife must respect her husband.
Children and Parents
Children, obey your parents because you
belong to the Lord,* for this is the right
thing to do. 2 “Honor your father and mother.”
This is the first commandment with a promise:
3 If you honor your father and mother, “things
will go well for you, and you will have a long
life on the earth.”*
4 Fathers,* do not provoke your children to
anger by the way you treat them. Rather, bring
them up with the discipline and instruction that
comes from the Lord.
6
Slaves and Masters
5 Slaves, obey your earthly masters with deep
respect and fear. Serve them sincerely as you
would serve Christ. 6 Try to please them all the
time, not just when they are watching you.
As slaves of Christ, do the will of God with all
your heart. 7 Work with enthusiasm, as though
you were working for the Lord rather than for
people. 8 Remember that the Lord will reward
each one of us for the good we do, whether we
are slaves or free.
9 Masters, treat your slaves in the same way.
Don’t threaten them; remember, you both have
the same Master in heaven, and he has no
favorites.
The Whole Armor of God
10 A final word: Be strong in the Lord and in
his mighty power. 11 Put on all of God’s armor
so that you will be able to stand firm against
all strategies of the devil. 12 For we* are not
fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but
against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark
world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly
places.
• Family
E PHE S I A N S 6:1, 4
Parenting works both ways. To do the best
job of parenting, parents need the child’s
cooperation and obedience. It is extremely
difficult to guide, train, and nurture a
perpetually rebellious child. At the same
time, the child is more able and willing
to respect and obey the parent when the
parent offers security to the child through
love and patience. If we exasperate and
frustrate our children, how can we expect
them to obey and learn?