Eph 6.10,14-17 and the Book of Isaiah

Abstract

No-one questions that various texts from Isaiah have heavily influenced Eph 6.14-17. It is partly the aim of this chapter to propose a supplementary understanding and show how it relates to the Old Testament (OT) language characterising the passage that appears at the beginning of the chapter. The assumption that the armoury passage should be treated as a plain encouragement to take the spiritual battle to the forces of evil may well prove to be in need of some modification. New avenues are explored, and the author proposes to re-examine the use of traditional language in this text. The panoply passage has occasionally been used to support the relatively widespread view that the Christian struggle against evil has to be conducted offensively. This may at times have prevented an application of the text more faithful to the author's intention. These and other questions are pursued in the chapter.Keywords: Book of Isaiah; Ephesians (Eph) 6.10,14-17; Old Testament (OT) language