Ephesians 6 explained: Household Duties and God's Armor

Children and parents (vv. 1-4)

Children are told to obey their parents, backed by the command to honor father and mother, which comes with a promise of a good, long life. Fathers, who held sweeping legal power in Roman homes, are told not to push their children into anger but to raise them with patient training and guidance shaped by the Lord.

Slaves and masters (vv. 5-9)

Enslaved people in Roman households (some older translations say 'servants') are told to serve sincerely, as if serving Christ, and masters are told to stop threatening them, since both answer to one Master in heaven who plays no favorites. The text does not challenge slavery itself, and slaveholders, including in the American South, later quoted it to defend slavery, while many Christians see that one impartial Master as undermining it.

The real struggle (vv. 10-13)

Paul pictures his readers as soldiers holding their ground in strength that comes from God, not from themselves. He says the real enemy is not people but unseen evil powers, which readers understand as personal spiritual beings, as evil working through human systems, or both.

Each piece of armor (vv. 14-17)

The image draws on a Roman soldier's gear, which Paul probably saw daily as a prisoner, and on Isaiah 59, where God himself puts on righteousness and salvation as armor. Truth is the belt, righteousness is the breastplate (readers differ on whether this means right living or being made right with God), readiness from the good news of peace is the footwear, trust is the shield, the hope of being saved is the helmet, and God's message is the sword.

Prayer and courage (vv. 18-20)

Paul links the armor to constant prayer for all God's people, and asks them to pray that he will have courage to share the 'mystery' of the good news, which some read as the whole message once hidden and now revealed, and others read more narrowly as Jews and non-Jews joined as one people, the way the letter describes the mystery in 3:6. He calls himself an ambassador in chains, a striking pairing, since envoys were normally protected from arrest.

Final news and blessing (vv. 21-24)

Tychicus, a coworker from the province of Asia who likely carried this letter, will bring news of Paul and encourage the readers, in words nearly identical to Colossians 4:7-8. The letter ends by wishing peace, love, faith and grace on all who love Jesus with a lasting love, which translations render as 'undying' or 'incorruptible.'

Key verse: Ephesians 6:11

Where Christians differ

Christians differ on whether the household instructions here set a lasting pattern for family and social order or reflect Roman household customs that the letter's teaching about one Master with no favorites was meant to transform.

Something to think about

When you have faced something that felt bigger than any one person, what helped you keep standing?