Texts in Conversation
Isaiah describes God wearing righteousness and salvation as his armor, preparing for battle. Ephesians reshapes this language, following Jewish traditions such as in the Wisdom of Solomon that teaches believers to wear these virtues themselves.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
LXX Isaiah 59:17
Septuagint
14 And we have turned judgment back, and righteousness has departed afar off: for truth is consumed in their ways, and they could not pass by a straight path. 15 And truth has been taken away, and they have turned aside their mind from understanding. And the Lord saw it, and it did not please him that there was no judgment. 16 And he looked, and there was no man, and he observed, and there was none to help: so he defended them with his arm, and established them with his mercy. 17 And he put on righteousness as a breast-plate, and placed the helmet of salvation on his head; and he clothed himself with the garment of vengeance, and with his cloak, 18 as one about to render a payment, even reproach to his adversaries.
Date: 100–1 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
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).
Date: 90–100 CE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... It is interesting that we find the use of a bit of this imagery applied to ordinary Christian believers in Ephesians 6:13–17 where it is called the armor of God. Much more needs to be said however because in fact there is an abundant use of Isaiah in Ephesians, including in this passage (compare Isaiah 59:17; 52:7), and furthermore, as Frank Thielman says, it would appear that Paul is not drawing directly on Isaiah here, but rather Isaiah as filtered through and used in later Jewish literature. For example, the author of Wisdom of Solomon speaks of the Lord fighting his enemies by taking zeal as his whole armor and putting on righteousness as a breastplate, impartial justice as a helmet, holiness as an invincible shield, and wrath for a sword (Wisdom of Solomon 5:18–20). On one point Paul is closer to Isaiah than to Wisdom of Solomon, namely connecting salvation with the helmet (Isaiah 59:17; Ephesians 6:17) but mostly he is closer to Wisdom of Solomon in his use of these images ..."
Ben Witherington III, Isaiah Old and New: Exegesis, Intertextuality, and Hermeneutics (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2017), 111.
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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