Bible Study - Sabbath School Podcast

Read Ephesians 6:10–20. What is Paul saying about the kind of warfare the church is engaged in? Is Paul primarily depicting just an individual believer’s spiritual battle against evil, or the church’s corporate war against evil? Victory in Greek and Roman warfare was dependent on the cooperation of the soldiers in a military unit and especially in their support for each other in the heat of battle...

Read for This Week’s StudyEph. 6:10–20, 1 Pet. 4:1, 1 Pet. 5:8, Isa. 59:17, Isa. 52:8–10, 1 Thess. 5:16–18.Memory Text:“In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Ephesians 6:16, 17, ESV).In John Bunyan’s devotional classic, The Pilgr...

“Our work is an aggressive one, and as faithful soldiers of Jesus, we must bear the blood-stained banner into the very strongholds of the enemy. ‘We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.’ If we will consent to lay down our arms, to lower the blood-stained banner...

What do you judge to be Paul’s purpose in listing a variety of titles for the evil spiritual powers depicted in Ephesians 1:21, Ephesians 3:10, and Ephesians 6:10–20?Paul describes “our struggle” (Eph. 6:12, NRSV), using a Greek word for the competition between wrestlers (palé). Since wrestling was regarded as excellent preparation for battle, this is an appropriate description of the weapon-again...

Read through Ephesians 6:10–20, noting each time Paul uses some form of the verb stand. Why is this idea so important to him? We must understand Paul’s military metaphor in the context of the ancient battlefield. What did it mean to “stand” (Eph. 6:11, 13, 14)? Does the verb suggest a defensive-only posture? Battle speeches included in the writings of Thucydides, one of the great classical authors...

Read Romans 13:11–14, 1 Thessalonians 5:6–8, and 2 Corinthians 10:3–6. How do these verses compare with Ephesians 6:10–20? Why do you think Paul uses this kind of imagery? In his letters, Paul frequently employs military language and imagery, inviting believers to mimic exemplary, soldierly behavior. While Ephesians 6:10–20 represents his longest and most concentrated use, military language exhibi...

Paul ends his letter with a powerful call to battle that draws together themes and ideas important to the letter as a whole. He begins by announcing the overarching theme of the conclusion, offered in the tone of a commander’s battle cry: “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might” (Eph. 6:10, ESV). The rest of the passage (Ephesians 6:11–20) illustrates and unpacks this larg...

Study Paul’s ringing conclusion to his letter, Ephesians 6:10–20. What does Paul’s battle cry mean to us today, as combatants in the great controversy? Paul concludes Ephesians with a call to battle, urging believers to take their stand in the church’s war against evil (Eph. 6:10–20). He begins with an overarching exhortation to “be strong in the Lord” (Eph. 6:10), which he repeats as a call to “p...

Read for This Week’s StudyEph. 6:10–20; Deut. 20:2–4; Rom. 13:11–14; 1 Thess. 5:6–8; 1 Cor. 15:23, 24.Memory Text:“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil” (Ephesians 6:10, 11, ESV).Bleary-eyed, the servant stumbles out of his lodgings and sees an alarming sight—a large, well-equi...

Paul’s respect for children as fellow believers (Eph. 6:1–3) heightens our concern for the ways in which children are treated in our world today. His word to fathers (Eph. 6:4) invites us to consider parental responsibilities. Applying Paul’s counsel to slaves (Eph. 6:5–8), and, especially, his counsel to slave masters (Eph. 6:9), is more challenging, since the social setting is distant for many o...

In Paul’s final words to slaves, “whether he is a slave or free” (Eph. 6:8, NKJV), the word “free” refers to slave masters, allowing Paul to transition to his counsel to them while imagining slaves and slave masters standing on an equal footing before Christ in the judgment (compare 2 Cor. 5:10; Col. 3:24, 25).Assuming that you are a Christian slave master who is listening to Ephesians being read...

What does Paul require of Christian slaves in his detailed instructions to them? Eph. 6:5–8.Paul asks Christian slaves to obey their masters, offering heartfelt, excellent service. What is notable is his repeated reference to a grand substitution that he asks them to make. They are not to place their slave master in the place of Christ, offering to him the allegiance that belongs only to Christ. R...

Read through the counsel to slaves and slave masters in the following passages: Eph. 6:5–9; Col. 3:22–4:1; 1 Cor. 7:20–24; 1 Tim. 6:1, 2; 1 Pet. 2:18–25. How would you summarize this advice? It is startling to hear Paul address Christian slave masters and to imagine Christian slaves and their Christian slave master seated together in the house churches of Ephesus. Slavery in the Greco-Roman world...

Compare Ephesians 6:4 and Colossians 3:21. What motivation does Colossians 3:21 provide for avoiding irritating one’s children? Sirach, a Jewish document available in Paul’s day, advises fathers about the treatment of their sons: “He who loves his son will whip him often. . . . Pamper a child, and he will terrorize you; play with him, and he will grieve you. . . . Discipline your son and make his...

What advice does Paul give to children, and how does he support that counsel from the Old Testament? Eph. 6:1–3. (See also Matt. 18:1–5, 10; Mark 10:13–16.)To appreciate fully Paul’s counsel to children, we must imagine it being read out in the house churches of the thriving metropolis of Ephesus. The word “children” (Greek, ta tekna) could refer to a wide range of ages, since children remained un...

Read for This Week’s StudyEph. 6:1–9; Mark 10:13–16; Col. 3:21; 1 Pet. 2:18–25; 2 Cor. 5:10; Col. 3:24, 25.Memory Text:“And masters, treat your slaves in the same way. Do not threaten them, since you know that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no favoritism with him” (Ephesians 6:9, NIV).In 2018, an artifact at the Museum of the Bible in Washington, DC, attracted muc...

Ellen G. White, “Responsibilities of Married Life,” Testimonies for the Church, vol. 7, pp. 45–50, and “Mutual Obligations,” The Adventist Home, pp. 114–120.Ellen G. White consistently urges marriage partners to turn away from efforts to control the other: “Do not try to compel each other to yield to your wishes. You cannot do this and retain each other’s love. Be kind, patient, and forbearing, co...

What new argument does Paul use to encourage husbands to practice tender love toward their wives? Eph. 5:28–30.Paul’s rules for the Christian household (Eph. 5:21–6:9) disclose a challenging social context. In Ephesians 5:28–30, Paul addresses husbands who, following the all-too-frequent pattern of the time, may choose to “hate their own flesh” (see Eph. 5:28, 29), abusing and beating their wives....

Study the Creation narrative of Genesis 2:15–25. What happens in the story before the statement concerning a husband and wife being “one flesh” (Gen. 2:24)?A key to applying Paul’s counsel to wives and husbands is to see his citation of Genesis 2:24 (in Ephesians 5:31) as the culmination of it. As he meditates on the Creation story of Genesis, Paul considers the needs of Christian congregations an...

Compare Ephesians 5:25–27, 29 with the foundling story of Ezekiel 16:1–14. What elements of that story does Paul reflect in his own sketch? As Paul, in Ephesians 5:25–27, 29, shapes his wedding-marriage metaphor for the church and its relationship with Christ, he draws creatively on the customs and roles of an ancient wedding. In relationship to the church as bride, Christ is the divine Bridegroom...

How does Paul use elements of the ancient wedding in appealing to Christians in Corinth? When does the presentation occur? (2 Cor. 11:1–4).Using one final element of the ancient wedding, in Ephesians 5:25–27 Paul portrays Christ as the One who: (6) presents the bride (to Himself!). In ancient times the bride would be given away by the best man, best men, or her father. Never by her groom! Here, th...

Paul begins with a hinge passage (Ephesians 5:21) connecting Ephesians 5:1–20 and Ephesians 5:22–33, in which he advocates for church members to submit to each other (compare Mark 10:42–45; Rom. 12:10; Phil. 2:3, 4). Believers are to do so “out of reverence for Christ” (Eph. 5:21, ESV), the first of several times Paul will identify the relationship with Christ as the most important and defining on...

Bonus song: Household of Faith by Steve Green Album: Top 5 Hits Here we are at the start committing to each other By His word and from our hearts We will be a family in a house that will be a home And with faith we'll build it strong CHORUS: We'll build a household of faith That together we can make And when the strong winds blow it won't fall down As one in Him we'll grow and the whole world will...

Read for This Week’s StudyEph. 5:21–33; Phil. 2:3, 4; Ezek. 16:1–14; 2 Cor. 11:1–4; Gen. 2:15–25.Memory Text:“Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should...

Looking back at Ephesians 5:1–20 as a whole, we watch Paul take a strong stance against sin and evil, especially in the form of sexual immorality and crude speech. He is unwilling to accept the presence of corrupt behavior among the people of God. Instead, he calls the believers in Ephesus to a high standard of conduct and to embrace their identity as the “beloved children” of God and as “saints,”...