The Ephesians' writer has moved from opening texts of praise and blessing through a long section of urgent exhortations. The verses read today mark the conclusion of this exhortative material, but in typical Ephesians' style the writer first crashes to a great crescendo of powerful images before closing. Interlocking pictures are stacked one upon another, increasing the drama of challenges confronting the believer.

The author opens this section with a revealing "finally" denoting the beginning of this ending. There is a slight, but significant linguistic subtlety at the beginning of this text that must be clarified in order to get the rest right. The exhortation to "be strong" carries with it in English a fairly active connotation, inferring a "shape up" or even "get strong" admonition. Th…