Ephesians 6:16-24

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. 6:17 And take the helmet of salvation ³  and the sword ⁴  of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 6:18 With every prayer and petition, pray ⁵  at all times in the Spirit, and to this end ⁶  be alert, with all perseverance and requests for all the saints. 6:19 Pray ⁷  for me also, that I may be given the message when I begin to speak ⁸  – that I may confidently make known ⁹  the mystery of the gospel, 6:20 for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may be able to speak boldly as I ought to speak.

Farewell Comments

6:21 Tychicus, my ¹⁰  dear brother and faithful servant in the Lord, will make everything known to you, so that you too may know about my circumstances, ¹¹  how I am doing. 6:22 I have sent him to you for this very purpose, that you may know our circumstances ¹²  and that he may encourage your hearts.

6:23 Peace to the brothers and sisters, ¹³  and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 6:24 Grace be ¹⁴  with all of those who love our Lord Jesus Christ with an undying love. ¹⁵ 

[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.

[6:17]  ³ sn An allusion to Isa 59:17.

[6:17]  ⁴ 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]  ⁵ 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]  ⁶ tn Grk “and toward it.”

[6:19]  ⁷ tn To avoid a lengthy, convoluted sentence in English, the Greek sentence was broken up at this point and the verb “pray” was inserted in the English translation to pick up the participle προσευχόμενοι (proseuxomenoi, “praying”) in v. 18.

[6:19]  ⁸ tn Grk “that a word may be given to me in the opening of my mouth.” Here “word” (λόγος, logo") is used in the sense of “message.”

[6:19]  ⁹ tn The infinitive γνωρίσαι (gnwrisai, “to make known”) is functioning epexegetically to further explain what the author means by the preceding phrase “that I may be given the message when I begin to speak.”

[6:21]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “the.” The Greek article ὁ (Jo) was translated with the possessive pronoun, “my.” See ExSyn 215.

[6:21]  ¹¹ tn Grk “the things according to me.”

[6:22]  ¹² tn Grk “the things concerning us.”

[6:23]  ¹³ tn Grk “brothers,” but the Greek word may be used for “brothers and sisters” or “fellow Christians” as here (cf. BDAG 18 s.v. ἀδελφός 1, where considerable nonbiblical evidence for the plural ἀδελφοί [adelfoi] meaning “brothers and sisters” is cited).

[6:24]  ¹⁴ tn Or “is.”

[6:24]  ¹⁵ tc Most witnesses (א² D Ψ Ï it sy) have ἀμήν (amhn, “amen”) at the end of the letter. Such a conclusion is routinely added by scribes to NT books because a few of these books originally had such an ending (cf. Rom 16:27; Gal 6:18; Jude 25). A majority of Greek witnesses have the concluding ἀμήν in every NT book except Acts, James, and 3 John (and even in these books, ἀμήν is found in some witnesses). It is thus a predictable variant. The earliest and best witnesses (Ì⁴⁶ א* A B F G 0278 6 33 81 1175 1241 1739* 1881 sa) lack the particle, giving firm evidence that Ephesians did not originally conclude with ἀμήν.