Walking In the New Life

Ephesians: Walking In the New Life

1. The Foundation: _____________________ to a ___________________ head.  

[^18b Instead, be filled with the Spirit …] ²¹ and by submitting to one another in reverence for Christ. (Eph 5:21)

Head is a high and holy calling from God in which he ________________ a bit of his ___________________ to someone who is to exercise that calling in a spirit of _____________ servant love for those under the head's __________.

In Ephesians 5:21, Paul is speaking of the kind of _____________________ that Christians are to show in _______ the places where God has given someone to be their _________.

The verb "to submit" is used _____ times in the New Testament. When used about _____________________, it is always used in the New Testament for situations where someone is to ___________________ another as a God-given _________.

_______________ in the New Testament is the verb "to submit" or the noun that comes from it "submission" used to speak about the _____________ _______________Christians are called to give to one another. Scripture has other terms and phrases it uses for such mutual service.

²⁶ In fact, you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. ²⁷ Indeed, as many of you as were baptized into Christ have been clothed with Christ. ²⁸ There is not Jew or Greek, slave or free, male or female, for you are all one and the same in Christ Jesus. ²⁹ And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants and heirs according to the promise. (Ga 3:26–29)

2. The _______________________________ of the Wife: respectful ______________________.

²² Wives, submit to your own husbands as to the Lord. ²³ For the husband is the head of the wife, just as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he himself is the Savior. ²⁴ Moreover, as the church submits to Christ, so also wives are to submit to their husbands in everything. (Eph 5:22–24)

The LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper who is a suitable partner for him.” (Ge 2:18)

To the woman he said: I will greatly increase your pain in childbearing. With painful labor you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, but he will rule over you. (Ge 3:16)

Helpers are responsible to God for the __________________ use of their ___________ and _______________. Helpers work in partnership with the head(s) God has given to equip them to accomplish the God-appointed _________.

⁵ Indeed, let this attitude be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. ⁶ Though he was by nature God, he did not consider equality with God as a prize to be displayed, ⁷ but he emptied himself by taking the nature of a servant. When he was born in human likeness, and his appearance was like that of any other man, ⁸ he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death—even death on a cross. (Php 2:5–8)

3. The _______________________________ of the Husband: _____________________ love.

²⁵ Husbands, love your wives, in the same way as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her ²⁶ to make her holy, by cleansing her with the washing of water in connection with the Word. ²⁷ He did this so that he could present her to himself as a glorious church, having no stain or wrinkle or any such thing, but so that she would be holy and blameless. (Eph 5:25–27)

φιλέω (phi-le-ō) — is love between _______________

ἔρως (é-rōs) — is _________________ love between husband and wife

ἀγάπη (a-ga-pē) — is _______________________ love (love for the unlovable)

²⁵ But Jesus summoned them and said, “You know that the rulers of the nations lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. ²⁶ It will not be that way among you. Instead whoever wants to become great among you will be your servant, ²⁷ and whoever wants to be first among you will be your slave— (Mt 20:25–27)

In fact, it is God who is working in you, both to will and to work, for the sake of his good pleasure. (Php 2:13)

²⁸ In the same way, husbands have an obligation to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. ²⁹ To be sure, no one has ever hated his own body, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, ³⁰ because we are members of his body, of his flesh and of his bones. ³¹ “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two will be one flesh.” (Eph 5:28–31)

The church is his [Christ’s] body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way. (Eph 1:23)

For this reason a man will leave his father and his mother and will remain united with his wife, and they will become one flesh. (Ge 2:24)

4. The Mystery: Christ’s _______________ love.

This is a great mystery, but I am talking about Christ and the church. (Eph 5:32)

In any case, each one of you also is to love his wife as himself, and each wife is to respect her husband. (Eph 5:33)

Points to Ponder

1. What is one thing that stood out for you from this week’s message?
2. What challenges or misunderstandings do people often have with the word “submit”? How can we recapture its meaning in a healthy, biblical sense?
3. How does the husband’s call to love mirror Christ’s love for the Church? What does that look like practically?
4. What does this passage teach us about the purpose of marriage beyond personal happiness?
5. How can single individuals or those not currently married still live in light of this passage’s message?
6. How can our marriages—or our support of others’ marriages—point others to Jesus?

Homework: Ephesians 5