Before jumping into this passage, I do want to make a quick note about its nature. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to include this passage in my thesis, because it may actually fall outside of its scope. If you’ll recall, the aim of this study is really geared toward men and women’s roles in the Church. This section of Ephesians however, actually has no bearing on Church leadership, but is 100% aimed at life in the home. Nonetheless, I’ve decided to include it in this thesis, because I think it is relevant to the overarching conversation regarding the sexes in Christian life; and it is a passage that complementarians point to in support of their argument.
The letter from Paul to the Ephesians deserves as much literary context time that a pastor can give to their congregation during each sermon. It is artfully crafted and, because of Paul’s deliberate combination of poetry and prose, must be sufficiently cared for when working through it exegetically. So, we will attempt to do precisely that.
Chapter 1’s main thrust is a poem proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ who fulfills the Father’s promised plan to bring all things into unity under His name. Paul says that God is now reaping the first-fruits of this reality through the Holy Spirit’s work of uniting Jew and gentile alike to be “one” in the family of God. And the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead now lives in the body of believers.
Chapters 2 and 3 unpack this good news for gentiles specifically by showing how it is by God’s grace that they have been saved from their death and exile away from God and are now raised to resurrection life that, in Jesus, brings a new way of living and a new family to belong to. So, Paul writes about experiencing all of this first hand, giving glory to God for such an honor, and praying that the Ephesian church would see the honor they now have to know God’s love for them.
So chapters 1-3 together create this amazing picture of Paul’s theology and comprehension of the gospel as it is affecting the unity of the Church. Chapters 4-6 are then the applications he sees that will blossom out of such a resurrection life and worldview. In these chapters then, we see Paul doing homiletics for the Ephesian church! We should pay close attention to how he does this and allow it to form our approach as well.
Paul begins by building on the “unity” aspect of the gospel stated in chapter one, which he emphasized by pointing out the Church’s place as a new family that’s composed of both Jew and gentile. Paul concludes that the Church is to be “one”. But the beauty of this is that the unity of Abraham’s family is not through appropriation or cultural replacement, but something more like infusion. Said differently, the Church is to be a family where everyone brings their unique diversity with them, and is so specially able to contribute; but no distinction of value should occur based on the individual’s gifts. They are all to be “one” in Christ.
So after unpacking the Church’s “oneness” Paul explains what it should look like practically. The reality is, no society has ever lived with this sort of sociological value-system. What’s more, because the Church is to function as a community within a larger “secular” society, the Ephesians will have to be “one” in a way that is prophetically counter-cultural but not rebelliously so. This is a difficult line to walk, so Paul spends the rest of his letter giving help and guidance on what it looks like for the Ephesians to live in such a sub-community that considers one another to be equal all while embodying Christ’s humility. For Jesus, though having equality with God, used His authority for the building up of others rather than Himself.
So that’s the buildup to our passage, and we should keep that with us as we seek to understand and correctly interpret 5:21-33. But another very important piece to interpreting this section is to ensure that we do not detach it from the rest of the argument. What I mean is, Ephesians 6:1-9 is clearly a continuation of Paul’s argument that he began in chapter 5. We’ve been done a great disservice by well-meaning biblical organizers who put a chapter break in the middle of this argument, because it makes it seem as though we ought to stop at the end of chapter 5 and consider the implications of such a section apart from what follows. However, when we continue Paul’s argument into chapter 6, it becomes clear that he is using a rhetorical strategy where he bounces back and forth between addressing a party with little-to-no social influence and then to those who would have been culturally considered their superiors. Paul addresses wives and then their husbands, children and then their fathers, slaves and then their masters.
This observation leads us straight into historical background, because there is a social hierarchy implied here that Paul is speaking directly into. 1st Century Roman society was patriarchal; the father held the authority (was “the head” as Paul puts it) in his household. One PBS article says this “Defined by the men in their lives, women in ancient Rome were valued mainly as wives and mothers. Although some were allowed more freedom than others, there was always a limit, even for the daughter of an emperor. Not much information exists about Roman women in the first century. Women were not allowed to be active in politics, so nobody wrote about them. Neither were they taught how to write, so they could not tell their own stories.”17
So, women in 1st century Rome had essentially no political influence and, since Rome staked its identity on political life, therefore considered to have very little social value at all. The same was true for children and slaves at the time. When we recognize this, we’ll notice a pattern in Paul’s letters of specifically addressing these three marginalized populations. This is intentional and thus vital for correct interpretation of Paul’s thought in those sections. But along with socio-historical context, there is one historical event recorded in the Bible that is also valuable to include.
Acts 19 tells a story about a wild riot that took place in Ephesus. Paul was preaching the gospel in the city and hundreds of people were turning from sorcerous practices to faith in Jesus. As a result, the craftsmen of Ephesus who specialized in crafting house-hold and temple idols were losing a lot of business. So one of those businessmen rallied the other tradesmen to stir up the town and make a public statement that Jesus is no match for their god, Artemis. After stirring up a crowd, the whole town was spun into an uproar with an hours-long chanting session to exalt Artemis and perhaps drown out the gospel of Jesus.
This story is an important piece of background because it shows that there is some imminent hostility toward Christians in Ephesus. They were seen as a group that was 1) directly opposed to the chief god of the city and 2) economy ruiners. In 1st century Rome, any group associated with those two identifying factors would have been considered a band of treasonous rebels. So that will be an important piece of historical context to understand the atmosphere Paul is writing into when he writes to the Ephesian church; it underpins the way he speaks to them and the directions he gives for public church assembly and practice.
Finally, one piece of Biblical context, that is most plainly stated in Paul’s letter to the Galatians, is again vital for our understanding. As Paul says in chapter 3, he sees everyone who believes in Jesus as someone whose old identity (the one that society would give them) is gone and their new identity is that as a “son of God,” because they are baptized into and now “clothed” with Christ. So Paul has this idea that, in the church, there is no social hierarchy because we all share in Christ’s identity. With this statement he is making a direct attempt at shattering the social structure that the early church lives in, but here in the letter to the Ephesians he speaks practically. Paul recognizes that, in the context we’ve already seen in Ephesus, there could be some very unwise results of a church that publicly practices (and outwardly wields) “oneness” and disregards the social hierarchy that they live in.
The Ephesian church has already been given the distinction of treasonous rebels, now they could be in danger of bringing an even greater violent reaction upon themselves, if they were to publicly defy the social order as well. So, what should the church do? Paul gives some guidance in this section, which we will now see has a clear structure that must too be noted.
Verse 21 stands apart as a sort of transition and thesis hermeneutic for the whole following section ‘submit to one another in the fear of Christ.’ What does that mean exactly? Well, Paul will spell it out practically: verses 22-33 address the Ephesian wives and husbands, with the first 3 verses directly addressing the wives and the following 9 verses directly addressing the husbands. Notice that he starts by addressing the wives who, in the cultural context, would have had no political influence but spends only a small section aimed toward them, simply asking them to submit to their husbands. But the bulk of this first section is addressing how men ought to use their inherent cultural power in the relationship; they should give up their privileged lives in love for their wives, like Christ does for the Church.
Verse 32 is perhaps the most important piece of the whole section as Paul lays out his true intention - a Christian marriage should give us a glimpse into the love and sacrifice that Jesus has for the Church. How so? When we combine the cultural context with the context of the passage, it becomes clear. It would take every bit of sacrificial love, a Christlike amount, for a husband to raise up his wife to the level of an equal in every respect. This is the level of equality that God had designed in Genesis 1. So to get over all the cultural and systemic barriers, to sacrifice image, time, and effort, to love a wife so selflessly that she would be brought up to equality in the Church and before the world…it would look like a shadowy picture of what Jesus had to do to raise a Church out of a world of dead sinners and give them equality with the Son of Heaven. And this is precisely what Paul sees that Jesus has done for us, he only just said so in Ephesians 2:6-7.
Paul continues his argument into chapter 6, where verses 1-4 address children and their parents. Verse 1 asks that children submit to (obey) their parents, then he gives a little incentive that any child would cling to in verses 2-3. Verse 4 then addresses fathers and directs their attitudes toward their children; moving them away from wielding their household power authoritatively in the home, and directing them instead to the fear of the Lord.
Finally, Paul uses the same logic to address slaves and masters. 6:5-8 ask slaves to submit (be obedient) to their masters sincerely, because ultimately they serve God. Then, he addresses masters with the same exact theology; saying ‘don’t wield your authority over them, as if you don’t both ultimately serve the same God.’
So with this structure and context before us, it becomes much clearer what Paul is doing. Paul is helping the church navigate the dual-reality that they live in. On the one hand, they do live in a social context where there is a hierarchy of power/headship that must be carefully navigated, given the hostility that’s already aimed at the Ephesian church. But on the other hand, all believers are one in Christ so there is no power to wield in the church when they place their identities in Him. So how should they all act? Well, those without socio-political power shouldn’t be social anarchists. They should live peaceably in public and not attempt to undermine their Roman context and bring further hostility upon the church. On the other hand, those with socio-political power/cultural roles of headship ought to live prophetically in their society, in such a way that they publicly treat their political “subjects” as their equals. Why? Because they are equals in the Lord, and that is how Jesus loves the Church. So the socially privileged in the Church should serve each other in love at the expense of their status.
Ultimately, Paul believes that Jesus has all the power, because all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to him...but with that, Paul sees something incredible and formative; it’s what Jesus does with his power and status as God. He laid it all down to save the weak. We are all actually powerless until Jesus saves us. But Jesus also gives us the adoption as sons by which we all cry Abba, Father. Meaning, when we’re adopted into His family, we all put on the identity of Christ; so, in the Church, there ought to be no political hierarchy.
Once again, when we have the exegesis correct, this section transforms before our eyes from something that can sound marginalizing or, at best simply “instructive,” to a section that is filled with practical theology and finds its “yes” in the good news about Jesus. Preaching the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus becomes so accessible now: God is so loving, that He gave up his royal throne on high to not only dwell among us, but to serve us and ultimately give up his life entirely so that we might be with Him in a loving and intimate relationship. Through His resurrection, He has raised us to new life in Him; one that calls God “Father” and those in the church “brother.”
So for the homiletics of this sermon, I would begin off of the back of the context, theology, and gospel and then address the same two parties as Paul but in umbrella categories: those with socio-economic/political power in my context, and those without.
I would begin, like Paul, addressing those without socio-economic/political power in my context and let them know that their marginalized social identity is not what defines them in the eyes of God. Jesus came to save them and to give them a new identity as a child of God. Be careful though that you don’t get puffed up with pride because of that. Lashing out at your culture because of your marginalization is a good way to get shut down. Instead, diligently love those around you even when they do wield their authority over you. Remember, ultimately they have to answer to a God who gave up all of His power and still reigns victorious over the authorities of darkness, so put your hope in Him. And remember, you’re not doing this alone, you have the Church family!
And as for those that do have privilege and status in my context: live like Jesus! Your identity is found in Him as well, not your privilege. So, live prophetically in the world and go out of your way to serve those who are marginalized, even at the expense of your own comforts and status. And remember, you will account to the Lord for what you do with the social status you have, so be humbled and know that when you do love those around you in the love of Christ, it is to His glory.