2 Corinthians 10:3-5

10:3 For though we live ¹  as human beings, ²  we do not wage war according to human standards, ³  10:4 for the weapons of our warfare are not human weapons, ⁴  but are made powerful by God ⁵  for tearing down strongholds. ⁶  We tear down arguments ⁷  10:5 and every arrogant obstacle ⁸  that is raised up against the knowledge of God, and we take every thought captive to make it obey ⁹  Christ.

Ephesians 6:11-18

6:11 Clothe yourselves with the full armor of God so that you may be able to stand against the schemes ¹⁰  of the devil. 6:12 For our struggle ¹¹  is not against flesh and blood, ¹²  but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world rulers of this darkness, ¹³  against the spiritual forces ¹⁴  of evil in the heavens. ¹⁵  6:13 For this reason, take up the full armor of God so that you may be able to stand your ground ¹⁶  on the evil day, and having done everything, to stand. 6:14 Stand firm therefore, by fastening ¹⁷  the belt of truth around your waist, ¹⁸  by putting on the breastplate of righteousness, 6:15 by fitting your ¹⁹  feet with the preparation that comes from the good news ²⁰  of peace, ²¹  6:16 and in all of this, ²²  by taking up the shield ²³  of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 6:17 And take the helmet of salvation ²⁴  and the sword ²⁵  of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 6:18 With every prayer and petition, pray ²⁶  at all times in the Spirit, and to this end ²⁷  be alert, with all perseverance and requests for all the saints.

Ephesians 6:1

6:1 Children, ²⁸  obey your parents in the Lord ²⁹  for this is right.

Ephesians 1:18

1:18 – since the eyes of your ³⁰  heart have been enlightened ³¹  – so that you may know what is the hope of his calling, ³²  what is the wealth of his glorious ³³  inheritance in the saints,

[10:3]  ¹ tn Grk “we walk.”

[10:3]  ² tn Grk “in the flesh.”

[10:3]  ³ tn Grk “according to the flesh.”

[10:4]  ⁴ tn Grk “are not fleshly [weapons].” The repetition of the word “warfare” does not occur in the Greek text, but is supplied for clarity.

[10:4]  ⁵ tn Or “but (are) divinely powerful,” “but they have divine power,” or “but are powerful for God’s [service]”; Grk “but are powerful to God.”

[10:4]  ⁶ sn Ultimately Paul is referring here to the false arguments of his opponents, calling them figuratively “strongholds.” This Greek word (ὀχύρωμα, ocurwma) is used only here in the NT.

[10:4]  ⁷ tn Or “speculations.”

[10:5]  ⁸ tn The phrase “every arrogant obstacle” could be translated simply “all arrogance” (so L&N 88.207).

[10:5]  ⁹ tn Grk “to the obedience of Christ”; but since Χριστοῦ (Cristou) is clearly an objective genitive here, it is better to translate “to make it obey Christ.”

[6:11]  ¹⁰ tn Or “craftiness.” See BDAG 625 s.v. μεθοδεία.

[6:12]  ¹¹ tn BDAG 752 s.v. πάλη says, “struggle against…the opponent is introduced by πρός w. the acc.”

[6:12]  ¹² tn Grk “blood and flesh.”

[6:12]  ¹³ tn BDAG 561 s.v. κοσμοκράτωρ suggests “the rulers of this sinful world” as a gloss.

[6:12]  ¹⁴ tn BDAG 837 s.v. πνευματικός 3 suggests “the spirit-forces of evil” in Ephesians 6:12.

[6:12]  ¹⁵ sn The phrase spiritual forces of evil in the heavens serves to emphasize the nature of the forces which oppose believers as well as to indicate the locality from which they originate.

[6:13]  ¹⁶ tn The term ἀνθίστημι (anqisthmi) carries the idea of resisting or opposing something or someone (BDAG 80 s.v.). In Eph 6:13, when used in combination with στῆναι (sthnai; cf. also στῆτε [sthte] in v. 14) and in a context of battle imagery, it seems to have the idea of resisting, standing firm, and being able to stand your ground.

[6:14]  ¹⁷ sn The four participles fastening… putting on…fitting…taking up… indicate the means by which believers can take their stand against the devil and his schemes. The imperative take in v. 17 communicates another means by which to accomplish the standing, i.e., by the word of God.

[6:14]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “girding your waist with truth.” In this entire section the author is painting a metaphor for his readers based on the attire of a Roman soldier prepared for battle and its similarity to the Christian prepared to do battle against spiritually evil forces. Behind the expression “with truth” is probably the genitive idea “belt of truth.” Since this is an appositional genitive (i.e., belt which is truth), the author simply left unsaid the idea of the belt and mentioned only his real focus, namely, the truth. (The analogy would have been completely understandable to his 1st century readers.) The idea of the belt is supplied in the translation to clarify the sense in English.

[6:15]  ¹⁹ tn The definite article τοῖς (tois) was taken as a possessive pronoun, i.e., “your,” since it refers to a part of the physical body.

[6:15]  ²⁰ tn Grk “gospel.” However, this is not a technical term here.

[6:15]  ²¹ tn Grk “in preparation of the gospel of peace.” The genitive τοῦ εὐαγγελίου (tou euangeliou) was taken as a genitive of source, i.e., “that comes from….”

[6:16]  ²² tn Grk “in everything.”

[6:16]  ²³ sn The Greek word translated shield (θυρεός, qureos) refers to the Roman soldier’s large rectangular wooden shield, called in Latin scutum, about 4 ft (1.2 m) high, covered with leather on the outside. Before a battle in which flaming arrows might be shot at them, the soldiers wet the leather covering with water to extinguish the arrows. The Roman legionaries could close ranks with these shields, the first row holding theirs edge to edge in front, and the rows behind holding the shields above their heads. In this formation they were practically invulnerable to arrows, rocks, and even spears.

[6:17]  ²⁴ sn An allusion to Isa 59:17.

[6:17]  ²⁵ sn The Greek term translated sword (μάχαιρα, macaira) refers to the Roman gladius, a short sword about 2 ft (60 cm) long, used for close hand-to-hand combat. This is the only clearly offensive weapon in the list of armor mentioned by the author (he does not, for example, mention the lance [Latin pilum]).

[6:18]  ²⁶ tn Both “pray” and “be alert” are participles in the Greek text (“praying…being alert”). Both are probably instrumental, loosely connected with all of the preceding instructions. As such, they are not additional commands to do but instead are the means through which the prior instructions are accomplished.

[6:18]  ²⁷ tn Grk “and toward it.”

[6:1]  ²⁸ tn The use of the article τά (ta) with τέκνα (tekna) functions in a generic way to distinguish this group from husbands, wives, fathers and slaves and is left, therefore, untranslated. The generic article is used with γύναῖκες (gunaikes) in 5:22, ἄνδρες (andres) in 5:25, δοῦλοι (douloi) in 6:5, and κύριοι (kurioi) in 6:9.

[6:1]  ²⁹ tc B D* F G as well as a few versional and patristic representatives lack “in the Lord” (ἐν κυρίῳ, en kuriw), while the phrase is well represented in Ì⁴⁶ א A D¹ I^vid Ψ 0278 0285 33 1739 1881 Ï sy co. Scribes may have thought that the phrase could be regarded a qualifier on the kind of parents a child should obey (viz., only Christian parents), and would thus be tempted to delete the phrase to counter such an interpretation. It is unlikely that the phrase would have been added, since the form used to express such sentiment in this Haustafel is ὡς τῷ κυρίῳ/Χριστῷ (Jw" tw kuriw/Cristw, “as to the Lord/Christ”; see 5:22; 6:5). Even though the witnesses for the omission are impressive, it is more likely that the phrase was deleted than added by scribal activity.

[1:18]  ³⁰ tc ‡ Most witnesses, especially of the Byzantine and Western texttypes, though with a few important Alexandrian witnesses (א A D F G Ψ 0278 Ï latt sy), add ὑμῶν (Jumwn, “your”) after καρδίας (kardias, “heart”), though it is clearly implied in the shorter (Alexandrian) reading (found in Ì⁴⁶ B 6 33 1175 1739 1881 pc). The longer reading thus looks to be a clarifying gloss, as is frequently found in the Byzantine and Western traditions. The translation above also uses “your” because of English requirements, not because of textual basis.

[1:18]  ³¹ tn The perfect participle πεφωτισμένους (pefwtismenou") may either be part of the prayer (“that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened”) or part of the basis of the prayer (“since the eyes of your heart have been enlightened”). Although the participle follows the ἵνα (Jina) of v. 17, it is awkward grammatically in the clause. Further, perfect adverbial participles are usually causal in NT Greek. Finally, the context both here and throughout Ephesians seems to emphasize the motif of light as a property belonging to believers. Thus, it seems that the author is saying, “I know that you are saved, that you have had the blinders of the devil removed; because of this, I can now pray that you will fully understand and see the light of God’s glorious revelation.” Hence, the translation takes the participle to form a part of the basis for the prayer.

[1:18]  ³² tn Or “the hope to which he has called you.”

[1:18]  ³³ tn Grk “of the glory of his inheritance.” Here “inheritance” is taken as an attributed genitive and the head noun, “glory,” is thus translated as an adjective, “glorious inheritance.”