Ephesians 6:13

take untoyou] Lit., take up, even as Æneas (if the illustration may be reverently offered) took up, and examined, and girt on, the god-wrought panoply brought him by his Mother, on the verge of war (Æn.viii. 608, &c.). The Divine armour, perfect, and perfectly ready, lies at the Christian's feet, and is his own. Let him, by the grace of God, appropriate it in act.

withstand See above on "stand," Ephesians 6:11. The verb here occurs in the same connexion, James 5:6; 1 Peter 5:9. See on the other hand Matthew 5:39, where perhaps render, "withstandnot the Evil One," (represented by evil men). To the cruelty of the Enemy the believer meekly submits;his spiritual stratagems he withstands, in Christ.

the evil day The dark crisis of the campaign, whenever it may be. And this will practically mean anyfelt crisis of the soul's resistance. So in a familiar hymn:

"[We] ask the aid of heavenly power

To help us in theevil hour."

The definite article in such a phrase does not isolate a solitary occasion, but denotes distinct occasions of the one class in question.

Some expositors see here a reference to the final conflict of the Church. But the whole passage is concerned with a present and normal "wrestling" against present enemies. Cp. the words ch. Ephesians 5:16, "the days areevil."

having done More precisely, the verb being compound, "having wrought out," "quitedone." This compound verb is a common one with St Paul, however, and its special etymology must not be greatly pressed (see it, e.g.Romans 7:8; Romans 7:13; Romans 7:15; Romans 7:17). Still, an intensity of meaning is in place in this context: "having accomplished all things, all things demanded for equipment and action." The verb bears the meaning "to subdue," sometimes in the classics, and once or twice in LXX.; but not in other N.T. passages.

to stand unmoved at your post, ready for the next assault of the unseen foe. It is important to bear in mind through the whole context that the central idea is fixity, not progress or conquest; ideas of which the Gospel is full, but which are not present here. The scene is filled with the marshalled hosts of the Evil One, bent upon dislodgingthe soul, and the Church, from the one possible vantage-ground of life and power union and communion with their Lord.