482 b Ch. iv. 24 "ἰσχύος αὐτοῦ.
22 only;
2 Kings ii. 21. d= Matt. ν. 28 al.
1ενδνσ. upas FG.
ἒεις το DEFG.
Vi.
11. ἢ ἐνδύσασθε] τὴν “ πανοπλίαν τοῦ θεοῦ, * πρὸς ἘΠ, ε« « - c Luke xi τὸ 2 δύνασθαι ὑμᾶς στῆναι 3
πρὸς τὰς “μεθοδείας ὁ τοῦ διαβόλου.
e Ch. iv. 14 reff.
Sor. up. DE; αντιστ. Κ.
4 μεθοδειας Β ΟΡ, etc.; μεθοδιας NAB*FGKL 37, etc.
be strengthened,” as in Acts ix. 22; Rom. iv. 10; 2 Tim. ii. 1; Heb. xi. 34. The év Κυρίῳ (ἐν τῷ Κυρίῳ in Ν”) defines the strengthening as Christian strengthening, such as can take effect only in union with Christ.—xal ἐν τῷ κράτει τῆς ἰσχύος αὐτοῦ: and in the power of his might. On the distinction between the various words for strength, etc., cf. on chap. i. 19 above. The phrase is not to be reduced to “in his mighty power,” but has the full force of ‘‘ in the active efficacy of the might that is inherent inhim”. Meyer takes the ἐν as instrumental =“ by means of the might of his strength”. But it has its proper force of “in,” the efficient, energetic power of the Lord’s inherent might being the principle or element in which the increase of strength which is possible only where there is union with Christ is to realise itself. By the καί, therefore, this clause adds something to the preceding and does more than merely explain it. In 2 Cor. xii. 9, ἵνα ἐπι- σκηνώσῃ ἐπ᾽ ἐμὲ ἡ δύναμις τοῦ Χριστοῦ, the idea is that of the strength of Christ descending to rest on one.
Ver. σι. ἐνδύσασθε τὴν πανοπλίαν τοῦ Θεοῦ: put on the whole armour of God. Further explanation of what has to be done in order to become strong enough to meet all enemies, even the devil. τοῦ Θεοῦ is the gen. of origin or source, = the panoply which comes from God or is provided by Him. To put the emphasis on the Θεοῦ (Harl.) is to miss the point and to suppose a contrast which there is nothing here to suggest, viz., with some other kind of panoply. The emphatic thing, as most exegetes notice, is the πανοπλίαν, the idea being that we need not only a Divine equipment, but that equipment in its completeness, with- out the lack of any single part. The fact that, in order to meet our spiritual foe, we need to take to ourselves all that God
rovides for living and for overcoming, is expressed in a telling figure drawn from the world of soldiery. The figure of the Christian as a warrior with his arms, wages, etc. (ὅπλα, ὄψωνια, etc.), occurs repeatedly in the Pauline writ- ings (Rom, vi. 13, 23, xiii. 12; 2 Cor. x. 4; 1 Thess. ν. 8; 1 Tim. i. 18, vi. 12; 2 Tim.
iv. 7). In briefer form the figure of the armour appears in 1 Thess. v. 8, and in its rudiments also in Isa. lix. 17; cf. also Wisd. v.17, etc. πανοπλία is not armour simply (Vulg. armatura, Harl., etc.), but whole armour, the complete equipment of the Roman ὁπλίτης or “man of arms,” consisting of shield, helmet, breastplate, greaves, sword and lance; cf. Thuc., iii., 14; Isocr., 352 Ὁ; Herod., 1., 60; Plato, Laws, vii., p. 796 B; and especially Poly- bius, vi., 23,2, etc. The word occurs only once again in the NT (Luke xi, ον No doubt the Roman soldier is particularly in view. Paul, the Roman citizen, would think of him, and it was the Roman mili- tary power that filled the eye where Paul laboured and wrote.—mpds τὸ δύνασθαι ὑμᾶς στῆναι πρὸς τὰς μεθοδείας τοῦ δια- βόλου: that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. State- ment of the object of the putting on of this panoply. The general sense of direction conveyed by the flexible prep. πρός when followed by the acc. takes a wide variety of applications. In this short sentence it expresses mental direc- tion, aim or object, and local direction, against. The phrase στῆναι πρός be- longs to the soldier’s language, being used for standing one’s ground, in oppo- sition to taking to flight (Thuc., v., 104, and cf. Raphel., Annot., ii., p. 493). In Jas. iv. 7 we have ἀντιστῆναι with the dat. For μεθοδείας TWH prefer μεθοδίας. On this rare term, found neither in profane Greek nor in the OT, and in the NT only in the two occurrences in this Epistle, see on chap. iv. 14 above. The plural de- notes the various forms which the pe- θοδεία, the craftiness, takes, and is tly rendered either stratagems (which brings out the fundamental idea of method or plan in the deceit) or wiles, The Rhem.