Ephesians 6:11

Put on For the word, cp. Romans 13:12; Romans 13:14 (a close parallel); 1 Corinthians 15:53-54; 2 Corinthians 5:3; Galatians 3:27 (a parallel); above, Ephesians 4:24; below, 14; Colossians 3:10; Colossians 3:12; 1 Thessalonians 5:8 (a close parallel). In 1 Thess. and Rom. (just quoted) we have, so to speak, the germs of the developed imagery of this later-written passage. In them, as here, the believer, already (from another point of view, that of covenant and possession) clothed and armed with his Lord, is exhorted so to realize and to use what he has that it shall be like a new clothing and arming.

the whole armour One word in the Gr., panoplia. It occurs in N.T. elsewhere only Luke 11:22 and here Ephesians 6:13. In the Apocrypha it is not infrequent. Cp. esp. Wis 5:17 &c., a very close parallel here as regards the picture: "He (the Lord) shall take His zeal as a panoply, and make the creature His weapon for the defeat of His enemies; He shall put on righteousness as a breastplate, and shall make true judgment His helmet; He shall take sanctity as His invincible shield, and shall whet severe wrath as His sword, &c." These words may very possibly have been in the Apostle's memory. But far more certainly he had present there Isaiah 59:16-17, itself the probable ground of the imagery in Wisdom.

The word panopliaadmits no doubt of a looser application in usage; it may mean armour, complete or not. But its strict meaning, "wholearmour," is precisely in point here, where the stress of thought is on the onesecret of spiritual strength; the need of Divine safeguard, and nothing less, for the whole emergency.

Cp. again 1 Thessalonians 5 and Romans 13 for parallels, or rather germs, of this passage. There, as here, the image of "putting on" is connected with that of "armour." And in Rom. distinctly, and in 1 Thess. implicitly, the armour is seen to be reducible ultimately, as here, to the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. St Jerome says here, "From what we read in the passage following, and from the things said in all the Scriptures concerning the Lord (our) Saviour, it most clearly results that by -all the arms of God" … the Saviour is to be understood."

of God Supplied by Him, having been wrought by Him. For such a conflict nothing less will do than what is wholly His in origin and gift.

that ye may be able It is implied that thus, while only thus, the militant Christian shallbe able. No inadequacy in his equipment is to be feared.

to stand The key-word of the passage. The present picture is not of a march, or of an assault, but of the holding of the fortress of the soul and of the Church for the heavenly King. Bunyan's "Mr Standfast" is a portrait that may illustrate this page. So again below, Ephesians 6:13-14.

wiles Lit, "methods"; stratagems. The Gr. word occurs (in Scripture) only here and above, Ephesians 4:14 (where R.V. "wiles"). For the formidable fact of the deliberate and subtle plansof the great Enemy, carefully concealed but skilfully combined on weak points, cp. 2 Corinthians 2:11; 1 Peter 2:11, (where render "carry on a campaignagainst the soul"). In this respect, as in so many others, the Temptation of the Lord Himself is a picture of that of His followers; a series of veiled attacks, upon points thought weak, by the most subtle of created intellects. In 1 Peter 5:8 the same Enemy appears acting, as he sometimes does, in another way; by violence and terror.

the devil See on Ephesians 2:2 for considerations on his personality as recognized by St Paul. This designation (diabolos, accuser,) appears above, Ephesians 4:27, and elsewhere in St Paul, Acts 13:10; 1Ti 3:6-7, 2 Timothy 2:26; besides Hebrews 2:14. It is frequent with St Matthew, St Luke, and St John. In the LXX. it is the regular equivalent, though not the precise translation, of the Heb. Sâtân(the Adversary); e.g.Job 1-2; Zechariah 3:1-2. One of the terrible characteristics of the Adversary of the Son of God is the aim and effort to bring believing man into condemnation; hence his accusations of the saints. Cp. the Book of Job especially, and Revelation 12:10 (where, however, another word than diabolosis used). Nor let it be forgotten that his first assault on man (Genesis 3:5) was made by means of accusation against God, as grudging a good gift to man.