Welcome to our study of Ephesians 6! I’m really looking forward to studying this chapter with you!
Limiting our study of Ephesians 6 to just thirty days is going to be a challenge! This portion of Scripture is packed with riches! My prayer is that you will want to continue studying the chapter on your own when we reach the end of the month, because we certainly won’t study everything there is to study in this powerful, practical chapter of the Bible.
Before we dive into Chapter 6, however, we need to take a bigger look at Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. If we received a letter from someone near and dear to us and skipped over most of the letter to only read its last few paragraphs, we would miss out on much of what the writer wanted to tell us. Reading just a portion of the letter could also lead to misunderstandings or wrong conclusions. What if the writer closed his letter with a description of the warm tropical weather he was enjoying, and we missed all the details he shared earlier in the letter about his move from the upper regions of Alaska? Or what if he sent us a long list of items he wanted us to purchase, pack up, and send to him, but we neglected to read about the money he was sending to cover expenses or the new address we needed to use?
It’s important to read Scripture in its context, and the context for Ephesians 6 is Ephesians 1-5. So the first thing we’re going to do as we start our study of Ephesians 6 is to read the entire book of Ephesians.
Assignment:
Start, as we always should when we approach God’s Word, by praying, asking the Holy Spirit to teach you as you read today.
Then read Ephesians 1-6. This will take about 20 minutes, which is longer than most of our lessons will be. If you can, try to read (or listen to) it in one sitting. Listen in KJV, ESV, NASB, or NIV. If you’re listening along with your family, you might want to listen to the New Living Translation, since it is easier to understand. (I wouldn’t recommend studying in that translation, however.)
When you have finished listening, try to summarize what Paul wrote to the Ephesians. What was his main message? If you were going to describe the book of Ephesians to someone else, using just twenty words or less, what would you say? Talk about this together with others who listened to the letter with you.
For the family:
Listen to one of the audio versions of Ephesians listed above, or read the entire letter to your children in an easy-to-understand translation.
With older children, take turns reading verses to keep everyone involved. You may want to read just one chapter at each meal time until you finish.
After each chapter, talk about at least one thing that Paul was saying to the Ephesians in that chapter.
If your children are young, you might want to just read and discuss these key verses from each chapter:
- Ephesians 1:1-8
- Ephesians 2:1-9
- Ephesians 3:14-21
- Ephesians 4:20-24
- Ephesians 5:1-2
- Ephesians 6:10-13
To underline the fact that the book of Ephesians is a letter, consider writing or printing out each of these passages (or entire chapters) and sealing them in envelopes to be delivered, opened, and read at each mealtime, at family worship, and at bedtime.
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