Paul told the Ephesians to walk in love as God’s dear children. Again he warned against fornication, uncleanness, and covetousness. He said, “You are light in the Lord, so walk as children of light.” Ephesus was known as the “light of the world,” but that light was Diana. People came to her for happiness, instruction, and a good time, but the Christian was to have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness and, instead, was to reprove them. The Christian was not just to take a negative, quiet stance but was to actively reprove at times.

The personal instruction continued. Paul closed out the epistle with the admonition to put on the full armor, the whole armor, of God. This theme is in both Colossians and Ephesians, showing that, just as with us, when letters are written by one individual to others, certain thoughts and phrases are repeated because they are contemporaneous with our thoughts and feelings of the moment. Thus there are similarities between Paul’s letter to the Colossians and his letter to the Ephesians—the language, the thinking, etc.

The considerable detail of putting on the armor reflected that Paul was a prisoner stationed near the Praetorian guard in Rome. Daily he could see the guard marching with their armor paraphernalia, and thus he drew the analogy of how, spiritually speaking, the Christian soldier should also be armored and protected from the enemy. We need all this armor to stand against unseen powers, as well as the wiles of Satan himself.

Among the armor, Paul inserted the admonition to have the “feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace.” Often when one prepares for battle, he assumes the language of the battle, but while the Christian is a soldier, he is to be careful that the combativeness is not unnecessarily used; that is, he should not look for a fight. He is not to be contentious and then try to justify his actions by saying he is standing for the truth. The weaponry of the Spirit, not carnal weapons, is used in fighting the good fight of faith. While the armor application is beautiful for the Christian, it should be used, as far as possible, in peace.

It is profitable to think of this verse in two ways: despise not prophecy and despise not teachings. Especially here in this epistle, which contains a lot about prophecy, that thought should be included in the admonition. “Despise not instruction” is another way of expressing this verse, and the instruction includes heeding times and things in season for the end time. We should be particularly interested in prophecy about the end of the age because of the day in which we are living.

We should not neglect study or hearing the thoughts of elders. Since those who are given to works might neglect study, there is a danger in putting too much emphasis on works.