I am pasting in an excerpt of John Calvin’s commentary on Ephesians 6 below; at the end of this post, you will find a link to all of his sermons covering Ephesians that are at the YouTube site, Christian Sermons and Audiobooks. The link is provided for those who would know more about any part of the book of Ephesians.
Sermon highlights [bracketed statements are mine]:
- The forces that oppose the Christian in his walk with God are spiritual and must be resisted by the means which God provided, the armor spoken of in Ephesians 6:10ff
- Human power is useless against these spiritual forces
- If some human provokes you to sin, focusing confronting, defeating… that person is a useless diversion intended to distract you from your own spiritual walk, making you more vulnerable to these spiritual forces
- Paul calls these spiritual enemies formidable; he aimed at putting us in a state of alertness
- Darkness is a reference to unbelief and ignorance of God, and the consequences thereof [scripture calls it wickedness to have no knowledge of God; also, in Amos, God will judge the world by removing knowledge of Himself, 8:11 “Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord GOD, “when I will send a famine on the land—not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD.] [That statement is made along with statements about the dreadful ‘day of the Lord.’]
- The Devil is called the prince of darkness
- Our enemy accosts us from ‘heavenly places’ per God
- Since our enemies are invisible, they are more dangerous [especially when we attribute our difficulties to other humans and to situations]
- However, even though our enemies are powerful, via the armor of God we will stand – we must take up the fight
Link to John Calvin’s sermons on Ephesians, running from last to first in the order they were loaded by the YouTube site, Christian Sermons and Audiobooks:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLzOwqed_gET24HQ3xAi7_woSyMnMNydUH