Ephesians 6:16

6:16 and in all of this, ¹  by taking up the shield ²  of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.

Ephesians 2:2

2:2 in which ³  you formerly lived ⁴  according to this world’s present path, ⁵  according to the ruler of the kingdom ⁶  of the air, the ruler of ⁷  the spirit ⁸  that is now energizing ⁹  the sons of disobedience, ¹⁰ 

[6:16]  ¹ tn Grk “in everything.”

[6:16]  ² 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.

[2:2]  ³ sn The relative pronoun which is feminine as is sins, indicating that sins is the antecedent.

[2:2]  ⁴ tn Grk “walked.”

[2:2]  ⁵ tn Or possibly “Aeon.”

[2:2]  ⁶ tn Grk “domain, [place of] authority.”

[2:2]  ⁷ tn Grk “of” (but see the note on the word “spirit” later in this verse).

[2:2]  ⁸ sn The ruler of the kingdom of the air is also the ruler of the spirit that is now energizing the sons of disobedience. Although several translations regard the ruler to be the same as the spirit, this is unlikely since the cases in Greek are different (ruler is accusative and spirit is genitive). To get around this, some have suggested that the genitive for spirit is a genitive of apposition. However, the semantics of the genitive of apposition are against such an interpretation (cf. ExSyn 100).

[2:2]  ⁹ tn Grk “working in.”

[2:2]  ¹⁰ sn Sons of disobedience is a Semitic idiom that means “people characterized by disobedience.” However, it also contains a subtle allusion to vv. 4-10: Some of those sons of disobedience have become sons of God.