Key Thought: The spiritual battle is based on God’s offering to fight for our salvation. When we accept Christ, we join in His army and His offer of peace.
September 23, 2023

1. Have a volunteer read Ephesians 6:14, I Peter 4:1, 5:8.

1. Ask class members to share a short thought on what the most important point is in this passage.
2. How does Paul imagine believers preparing for the battle against evil?
3. Personal Application: In what ways have you experienced the idea that goodness, holiness, and truth can be a protection? Share your thoughts..
4. Case Study: One of your relatives states, “How can we be agents of peace in a world so increasingly characterized by oppression and violence?” How would you respond to your relative?

2. Have a volunteer read Ephesians 1:2, 2:14,15,17.

1. Ask class members to share a thought on what the most important point in this text is.
2. Why does Paul use detailed military imagery when he is so interested in peace?
3. Personal Application: How does David refusing Saul’s armor help us understand the whole armor of God? Share your thoughts
4. Case Study: One of your friends states, “How does the shield of faith protect you from the fiery darts hurled in your direction by others?” How would you respond to your friend?

3. Have a volunteer read Ephesians 6:16,17.

1. Ask class members to share a short thought on what the most important point in this text is.
2. When and how should believers as combatants use the shield, the helmet, and the sword?
3. Personal Application: Do the military images teach us just how literal the great controversy really is and how seriously we should take it? Share your thoughts.
4. Case Study: One of your neighbors states: “How do you treat the wounded? In other words, how do you treat those who are facing struggles out of fear or to not give in to their neighbors, family, or bosses over their willingness to follow their faith? What if some do? Is there anything we can do to help them?” How would you respond to your relative?

4. Have a volunteer read Philippians 4:6, Colossians 4:2, I Thessalonians 5:16-18.

1. Ask class members to share a thought on what the most important point in this text is.
2. Review the calls to prayer. Which one inspires you the most? Why?
3. Personal Application: How can we conduct prayer ministry based on these messages? Share your thoughts.
4. Case Study: Think of one person who needs to hear a message from this week’s lesson. Tell the class what you plan to do this week to share with them.

(Truth that is not lived, that is not imparted, loses its life-giving power, its healing virtue. Its blessings can be retained only as it is shared.”Ministry of Healing, p. 148)

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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. Individualism in battle was regarded as a characteristic of barbarian warriors, dooming them to defeat.

Image © Review and Herald Publishing Assn. Goodsalt.com

There are important reasons to support the idea that Paul, in line with this usual military understanding, is primarily addressing the church’s shared battle against evil in Ephesians 6:10-20; 1. The passage is the climax of a letter that is all about the church. It would be strange for Paul to conclude his letter with a picture of a lone Christian warrior doing battle against the foes of darkness; 2. At the end of the passage, Paul highlights Christian camaraderie in his call to prayer “for all the saints” (Ephesians 6:18-20, ESV); 3. Most significant of all, earlier in the letter when Paul discusses the powers of evil, he places them over against the church, not the individual believer: “So that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 3:10, ESV).

Thus, Ephesians 6:10-20 does not portray a solitary, lone warrior confronting evil. Instead, Paul as a general addresses the church as an army. He calls us to take up our full armor and, as a unified army, vigorously and unitedly press the battle. Paul chooses to conclude his thoroughgoing emphasis on the church, which has included sustained descriptions of the church as the body of Christ (Ephesians 1:22-23; Ephesians 4:1-16), the building/temple of God (Ephesians 2:19-22) and the bride of Christ (Ephesians 5:21-33), with a final metaphor, the church as the army of the living God. Since we are approaching “the evil day” (Ephesians 6:13), the final stages of the long-running battle against evil, it is no time to be fuzzy about our commitment to God or our loyalty to one another as fellow soldiers of Christ.

<–Sabbath Monday–>

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