Ephesians 6:17 - the sword of the Spirit

Matthew Oakley matt at samphire.org.uk
Wed Oct 23 22:39:28 EDT 2002


Hello to all...this is my first post!

Many years ago, I noted that the relative pronoun in this verse is neuter,
agreeing with pneuma, not feminine agreeing with machaira.  'The sword of
the spirit, which is the word of God' would then mean that the spirit (as
the antecedent of the pronoun) is the word of God, not the sword.  This
would also fit the structural sequences of the preceding verses, where the
symbol is mentioned first, then the thing symbolized (e.g. breastplate (1)
of righteousness (2)).

So, we have exhortations to:

put on righteousness (like a breastplate)
put on truth (like a belt)
take up the spirit (like a sword)

What do y'all think of this?



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