Taking up Armour: The challenges of early Christian exegesis of Ephesians

This article concentrates on a scriptural passage especially favoured by exegetes both ancient and modern: Ephesians 6:10–17. With a focus on the early Christian writings of Irenaeus, Tertullian, Origen, and Eusebius, as well as modern interpreters such as Gustav Aulén, Walter Wink, and Thomas Neufeld, questions about divine and human agency and the identity of spiritual forces of wickedness (Eph. 6:12) are engaged. A number of doctrines and ideas emerge from the wide-ranging interpretation and use of this Pauline pericope, including the ideas of the Divine Warrior and Christus Victor. Ultimately, the driving question of this article is whether ante-Nicene use of Ephesians 6 challenges modern interpretation of this same passage and the conclusion is that indeed, it does