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In Ephesians, believers are told to put on the full armor of God to stand against the devil. The Shepherd of Hermas uses similar military language, but its enemy is evil desire, described as fleeing anyone armed with the fear of God.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Ephesians 6:13
New Testament
10 Finally, be strengthened in the Lord and in the strength of his power. 11 Clothe yourselves with the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavens. 13 For this reason, take up the full armor of God so that you may be able to stand your ground on the evil day, and having done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm therefore, by fastening the belt of truth around your waist, by putting on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 by fitting your feet with the preparation that comes from the good news of peace, 16 and in all of this, by taking up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit (which is the word of God).
Shepherd of Hermas 45:4
Early Christian
1 “First of all is the desire for someone else’s wife or husband, for extravagance of wealth, for many needless delicacies, for drunkenness and other foolish luxuries. For even luxury is pointless and futile for the servants of God. 2 These desires then are evil, and bring death on God’s servants. For this evil desire is a daughter of the devil. So you must abstain from evil desires, so that in abstaining you may live for God. 3 But all who are overpowered by them, and do not resist them, are utterly destroyed; for these desires are deadly. 4 But you—clothe yourself in the desire for righteousness, and, having armed yourself with the fear of the Lord, resist them. For the fear of God lives in the good desire. If the evil desire sees you armed with the fear of God, resisting it, it will flee far from you, and will never appear to you again, for fear of your armor. 5 So when you are crowned for your victory over it, go to the desire for righteousness and give it the victor’s crown that you have received, and serve it as it desires. If you serve the good desire and submit to it, you will have power to master and subdue the evil desire as you please.”
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Notes and References
“... In this passage, via the figure of the Shepherd, Hermas twice calls his audience to fully arm itself with fear. [...] Hermas contends that fear of the divine corresponds to a weapon that he suggests wicked desire itself fears. Properly arming oneself with that fear ensures that a person obtains victory over wicked desire by making it submit. Such military descriptions of arming oneself, weapons, and obtaining victory and thus the crown are, of course, ubiquitous in the literature of the period prior to the Shepherd’s composition. However, Hermas employs that imagery in ways strikingly similar to Paul and his pseudepigraphers. [...] Eph 6:10–17 is even more relevant. There the Pauline pseudepigrapher expands the notion of arming oneself for the eschatological battle that the apostle articulated in 1 Thess 5:8 and Rom 13:12. ...”
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