Commentary on Ephesians 6.11–6.23

“Therefore take up the arms of faith, that you may be able to resist in the evil day.” Since all the things said above involve great difficulties—against the rulers of this world and of this darkness, and, what is greater, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavens—since, I say, it takes great strength to resist all these, he had to add how this could be done: “take up,” he says, “the arms of faith.” For faith alone in Christ fortifies us, so that no temptation of these powers of the world prevails against us. So what seemed difficult to resist has become easy, if it is in our power to have that with which we resist; and it is in our power: for to have faith in Christ, and to have full faith, is no labor, no difficulty; it is only the will of a mind that is accommodating and believing. So it becomes easy to resist so many evils, if we have faith. Faith alone suffices, alone withstands, alone fortifies; but full faith. Although he himself said: if we have a grain of faith like a grain of mustard seed, we can command even mountains. So a sincere and pure faith, faith, I say, in Christ, and faith in God, will provide us arms against all those powers. “Take up now,” he says, “the arms of faith, that you may be able to resist.” When resist? When temptation comes, when something begins to tempt you. This is what he says: “in the evil day.” And the evil day is when we are tempted.

“And, having done all things, to stand; your loins girded in truth.” He knows that above he admonished many things to be done, whether for particular persons, as for masters and slaves, husbands and wives, fathers and children; or about the things themselves to be done or not done, as “do not get drunk,” and “do all things in the name of the Lord,” and the rest said above. Therefore he says, “and having done all things” that I commanded and enjoined above, “stand,” he says, “with your loins girded,” that is, prepared and equipped. For every effort either falls on the loins, if there is labor, or, that there may be labor and effort, comes from our loins. For from there comes all strength and all the matter for the blood; hence we call the feeble “loinless.” So, that the strength of both body and mind may prepare itself, he says, “your loins girded.” “Stand,” he says, “in truth”: for what we admonish you is truth; the rest in the world is false, what is taught and debated from the wisdom of the world. “And clothed with the breastplate of righteousness.” He adds another precept besides faith, that we keep righteousness. Although what was said above, that is, faith in Christ, is the head of all—for righteousness is not as strong as faith, for “the righteous lives by faith”—yet because this disposition too must be fulfilled, that one be most righteous: for then faith will profit us, and then faith will be true, if one is most righteous; and righteousness will profit if faith is added. So after faith he added, “put on the breastplate of righteousness.” Above he said, “the arms of faith”; here, “put on the breastplate of righteousness”: since in arms is understood both what protects and what resists and overcomes the adversary, while a breastplate is only for our protection; but faith also resists; and therefore he said “the arms of faith.” How does faith resist? Namely, if, when the enemy begins to tempt, we do not follow, and, keeping faith in God and in the Lord Christ, are not moved from our conviction. Resist, then, as one resists who has spears and swords. So “put on,” he says, “the arms of faith,” that you may resist. But righteousness, on the contrary, lies only in deeds: it does not resist the adversary, but shows itself good and gentle. So “the breastplate,” he says, “of righteousness,” by which one who follows the good shows a good mind and a good heart.

“And your feet shod in the preparation of the gospel of peace,” since the gospel is carried abroad and preached among the Gentiles. Wherever, then, it is preached, it must be heard. And that we may hear, we must go, hasten, hurry. So “your feet shod,” he says, “in the preparation of the gospel.” Of what gospel? “Of peace,” he says: since whoever hears the gospel and is prepared in the gospel becomes the Lord’s, believes Christ, receives the promises, has confidence, and is an enemy to no one. So it is the gospel of peace, that is, of the peace that is in souls. That we may grasp this, then, our feet must be shod, that is, ready to run out, to go about, to hear. What, then, is achieved by all these? We shall easily resist the powers, the spiritual rulers of wickedness.

“In all things, taking up the shield of faith.” He returns to that sum which includes everything and fills all things: for otherwise we cannot bravely fight against and resist all those powers, unless we are fortified with a shield, so that we may repel all the blows and assaults of all the powers by the defense of faith. Then he added: “with which you may be able to quench all the fiery arrows of the most wicked one.” We read of arrows very frequently, in the gospel, in Paul, in the prophets, and in David; and we understand them to be arguments, words, and discourses; but the arrows of the most wicked one, that is, those that persuade to evil and wound with evil our understanding, our soul, and our spirits. Therefore he called them fiery, burning, and the shield of faith, that is, faith itself, quenches them all, so that they have no power over us. For when faith is present in souls, that fire which is sent through the tongue, persuading to all wicked worldly things, will be quenched and cool. For all that persuasion of the wicked one, since it speaks in a fleshly way and insinuates in a fleshly way, has its power through the blood: therefore it stirs up the blood itself through new notions; and the blood, once stirred, becomes fiery. So those arrows become fiery, and faith checks and quenches them, because faith takes everything spiritually. And spirit is light, not fire. Hence spirit, while it imitates light, is not fire either; and all fire harms. So spirit does not harm; but while faith is in Christ, it receives light from the light in Christ; so the light of faith conquers fire, because fire has power and works around the flesh, and is itself worldly, matter from matter. But it has no power against the eternal light of God, Jesus Christ. So by that light this fire is quenched: a fire which, I said, is stirred up most by words; and these words, because they run out and fly, are called arrows.

“And the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God.” Since above he said, “clothed with the breastplate of righteousness,” here too we must understand, “put on the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit.” Whether the sword of the spirit is to be taken by itself, and the helmet of salvation added by itself, so that the spirit is saving and is a helmet, and “put on the sword”; but if “sword” is truly and certainly referred to “which is the word of God,” it is separate: “put on the sword of the spirit.” What, then, will “put on the helmet of salvation” be? Christ, in that he came down here and redeemed us by his mystery, is saving: he is our head; for he guards the head of the church; hence he is the helmet of salvation. Moreover the word, by which the hostile powers are conquered and crushed; as it is said, “he will destroy the devil with the spirit of his mouth.” So Christ, who is the word of God, was sent in order to conquer all corruption and all malice and death itself. Therefore it is said: “the sword of the spirit is the word of God.”

“Praying through every prayer and supplication, at every time, in the spirit.” To drive out what was said above, that is, to conquer the powers of the world, the rulers of darkness and the spiritual forces of wickedness, he adds this too: that we pray daily and make supplication, and through every supplication pray at every time in the spirit. How many and how hidden are the precepts here about what we ask! First, that he said “through every prayer”; and prayers are many: now for ourselves, now for others, now for the things of the present life, now for those of the future, now for those of the soul, now for those of the body, that we may wish for certain things. With every prayer, he says, let us pray in the spirit and at every time: let us pray in the spirit, that is, let us not say or bring out or recite certain words, praying as though from something studied, as though from something written; but in the spirit, he says, let us pray at every time: that is, so that we also bring affection to it; and the inner spirit, that is, the inner man, ought to offer and have prayer with full desire at every time, so that even when he is not praying he prays in the spirit. What, then, is that which he says, “through every prayer and supplication”? I think the difference is this: there is prayer both when we speak the praises of God, and when we recount his mighty works, and when we give thanks, and when we do other things of this kind; but supplication is when we beseech God either for pardon and for our sins, or for grace, that he may grant it to us. This, I say, is supplication; and provided these two modes are present when we pray to God, we have both prayer and supplication. “Through every prayer,” then, he says, “and through every supplication.” Let us not be content to bring out certain words as if out of habit, but from the inner mind and from the mind; and, to speak plainly, from the spirit itself and in the spirit itself: so that even when prayer or supplication in words is lacking, we pray in the spirit. “And in it keeping watch always in every prayer.” He added also a definite time: for when he said “at every time,” it could be taken as the time given to man, that is, the day. But to add more fully “at every time,” what did he add? “Keeping watch always.” Yet “keeping watch always” can also be taken of the attention of the mind: that in every prayer we are not as if asleep, which happens to those who recite, or read, or pronounce from memory what they know; they hardly perceive what they are saying and how they are saying it. Therefore he says: “keeping watch always in prayer for all the saints.”

“And for me.” This too is a great admonition, and one we have often touched on and said must be noted: that we ought to ask not only for ourselves but also for others. In this, in many places and here too I remind you, since this precept is twofold: that those saints themselves, and bishops, and apostles, and elders ought to ask for the faithful and the catechumens and for all others who are lower, as this same apostle often records that in every prayer of his he makes mention also of all his own. So here again, those too who are lower should ask in every prayer of theirs both for the saints, and for the bishops, and “for me,” he says: which must be noted and held as a marvel, that he should seek help, as it were, from those whom he himself admonishes, whom he has instructed, to whom he proclaims the gospel, so as to obtain something by their prayer. And what it is that he says is to be asked for him he himself adds: “that speech may be given me in the opening of my mouth with confidence, to make known the mystery.” He admonished the Ephesians both to ask for the saints and above all for himself. And what they should ask for him, that is, for Paul himself, he added: not safety, not any desires, but that this same Paul might have speech and open discourse, that is, confidence in expounding the gospel and the mystery. For truly this must also be asked by the prayer of those whom it can profit: so that, since Paul proclaims the mystery and the gospel, those who are to receive it may pray that his speech may abound, that his mouth may speak out more openly, and that he may have confidence, expounding the mystery without any fear.

“For which I serve as an envoy in chains.” That is, I am an envoy from Christ, and although placed in chains, I nonetheless lay open the mystery and the gospel: in this he shows what he suffers and how he perseveres, so that he is not deterred by adversity nor overcome by pain, but fulfills the office of apostleship laid on him. “That in it I may act boldly.” Well too he says here “boldly,” and “with confidence.” For what else ought he to have prayed for or promised against terrors, against punishments imposed, except that he might have boldness in expounding? “That speech,” he says, “may be given me in the opening of my mouth with confidence”: that is, in acting, “that in it I may act boldly”; “in it,” that is, in the gospel and the mystery. “As I ought to speak”: for this is what it is to act as an evangelist, to speak, and to speak as one ought, that is, boldly; lest I fulfill it too mildly, or the chains have some effect on my mind, and I not fulfill it as I ought in expounding the mystery.

“But that you also may know my affairs, what I am doing, Tychicus, the dearest brother and faithful minister in the Lord, will make known to you.” Well did he wish to commit nothing to the letter about what he suffers, but only through a messenger, so that the Ephesians might know what he commanded, or what he is doing, or what his circumstances are. For there are two things: his circumstances—the chains and the other injuries; and what he is doing—that he perseveres, lays open the mystery, preaches the gospel and discloses it. And he commends the person: “Tychicus,” he says, “the dearest brother, and faithful minister in the Lord”: not a minister to me, but a minister in the Lord, concerning the gospel and the mystery.

“Whom I have sent to you for this very purpose.” For it was not that I gave him a message when he was going anyway; but I sent him for this purpose. So I both take care of you and wish you to know everything. For this very purpose, then, that you might know, I sent him; “that you may know what concerns us.” “And that he may comfort your hearts.” Here now he says more, since of the two things he has here joined one, “what concerns us,” that is, what punishments we endure, what chains; therefore he added, “and that he may comfort your hearts”: so that you may not be troubled by care and anxiety about me, let him be a comfort to you when he has explained in what spirit I am and with what confidence.

“Peace to the brothers and love with faith. Grace be with those who love our Lord Jesus Christ in eternity. Amen.” The last part of the letter is a prayer, and he prays and wishes peace for the brothers; likewise love; then faith. For above he had spoken as though there were discord among them. Then he added grace for those who show faith and love our Lord Jesus Christ. So everything is concluded: peace against discord, love for concord, faith toward God; and from faith grace is bestowed, the grace of the Lord for those who have love and peace among themselves and faith in him. And he added “in eternity” so that the prayers might be not only for the present life but also for the future, which is in hope and promise for Christians. Amen.