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 GodĄ¯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 GodĄ and if they believe they have found salvation, let
them exert themselves to evangelize others.