Ephesians 6:23 Commentary and Bible Study

Finally, the closing benediction. Who are these blessings from? They are from the Lord. We have seen the strength of the Lord is to be put on. We draw this from the armoury of God. These blessings come from heaven; they are perfect in the form in which God provides them. All that we can do is fail to use them, or spoil them. It is God’s will that every church should be characterised by peace, love, faith, and grace. If this is not our experience then it is because we are obstructing the blessing, because this is the norm for Christ’s disciples living in obedience to him. We do not even have to work up to it, if only we do not spoil it. Notice that all these blessings are the opposite to the experiences of those in the world. The world is full of ill temper, contention, gossip, competitiveness, rivalry, promotion of number one.The order of these blessings is significant. Some turn it round to make it more theologically correct, but practically this order is right. Peace is a very active thing. William Hendriksen says it is ‘not the peace of the graveyard’; rather, it means the opposite of war. The Greek word means ‘to join’, that is, there is a restoration after war is ended. Lines of communication are opened. It is peace that brings interaction between heaven and earth in both directions. Of course it all rests on Christ’s atoning death. He has saved us in order to take away the offence of our sins and the enmity of God towards sinners. His grace has conquered our hearts and overcome our prejudice against the Lord.Love, peace, harmony, with faith: trust in God, in the gospel, in his word, in his promises. We trust in God’s pattern, what his word says about church officers, their appointment, procedures for evangelism; we are to trust in God-given church polity. We do not invent our own elements of worship or our own rules for marriage. We trust the methods of the Bible. Someone says, ‘No we want a jazz band’, but no, that is the way not to reach people; we can’t trust that. Faith in the Lord, his word, his methods: that is what brings revival and awakening.These blessings are to individuals and to the whole fellowship. As individuals we experience peace with God at conversion, but by the Spirit’s illumination we have an expanding understanding of how great that peace is. As a fellowship we express peace and love to one another as we believe what Scripture says about our eternal future together.