Ephesians 2 10

2 Corinthians 10: The Real Battle

There are the battles of life–wars, revolution, civil uprisings–and then there is the battle Paul speaks of–spiritual battle. His teaching regarding the unseen world is just as deadly as any bomb or army, yet its hidden nature causes many believers to downplay the importance of what is called spiritual warfare.

This is not Paul’s only mention of this issue either.Ephesians 6:12 says, "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. "It was always clear that Christianity was not a political party but rather a spiritual struggle to live for Christ in a world of evil.

Jesus commanded demons and his apostles did the same. Prayer changes the course of the battle with those who praise Jesus and pray in the Spirit. We rarely glimpse the supernatural explosions that take place among us, but they are. They are real. They are the real battle.

Today, rather than ignore or avoid the spiritual battles you face, take a moment to tap into the power who can conquer them all. We are more than conquerers through Christ Jesus. Let’s live like it.

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Dillon Burroughs is the author and coauthor of numerous books and is handwriting a copy of all 31,173 verses of the Bible at  HolyWritProject.com . Find out more about Dillon at  Facebook.com/readdB or  readdB.com .

Ephesians Commentary, Summary, and Key Verses

Ephesians is one of the most encouraging books in the New Testament. Paul writes about predestination in the first two chapters.  Predestination is a comfort for Christians who are steeped in the secular world, like the church at Ephesus was.  The purpose of the book of Ephesians was to warn the church elders about the false teachers that were teaching a false gospel and to maintain their first love that they held when they first became believers.  Paul doesn’t specify a specific heresy but does seem to want them to be identified with Christ and one in a sense of purpose.  Love is an often repeated verb that Paul uses in Ephesians and he expresses it as an action verb. 

There is also Paul’s emphasis that Jew and Gentile are one in the same in Jesus Christ and so this ought to be expressed in their love for one another.  Paul is also interested in the practical implications of Christian behavior.  And the Christian needs to put on the whole armor of God to be protected from spiritual warfare.  There is also the importance of the marital relationship and that of the entire family but that is not said to be one of the primary purposes (Eph. 5:22 – 6:1-4). 

The recipients of Ephesians were the resident of Ephesus which was the capital of the Roman province of Asia Minor.  Their city was a center of pagan worship and was home of theTemple of Diana (or Artemis).  The residents lived in an important commercial center that ranked close to Alexandria in Egypt in importance and as an educational and political base.  The Ephesians letter may have been circulated and read by churches in Laodicea and in Colossae. 

Part of the calling of the church is to be giving praise to God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.  Ephesians is an amazing descriptive letter about God’s election and His predestining of believers that describes God‘s calling of us before the earth even existed.  That He predestined us before the earth was even created is just too awesome to consider in all its implications.  This call from God is entirely from His good pleasure and His own call alone (Eph 1:4).  His call of believers and our salvation is God’s doing alone.  We simply have to throw ourselves on the mercy of God and accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.  That is the only thing that the believer contributes to their salvation. 

Even though we are saved by grace alone, by faith alone, in Christ alone, a believer is nonetheless called to become holy and blameless in His sight.  Our obedience is an expression of our love for Him.  God’s goal of our election is that we will be a praise of His glorious grace.  Christians are chosen so that they will praise God and the Father and this is part of the great purpose of God in calling men, women, and children to Him. The Westminster Catechism is along this same line that our purpose is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.

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