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NASB | Ephesians 6:17 And take THE HELMET OF SALVATION, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Ephesians 6:17 And take THE HELMET OF SALVATION, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. [Is 59:17] |
Subject: Two swords:is the love of God enough |
Bible Note: Greetings Terrib! Thanks for the kind words. Your approach would make sense in that Judas is said to have carried the purse. But, the context of v. 35 is clearly addressed to all of them. In fact, 'you' is plural and the pronoun 'to them' is used. So, in v. 36, Jesus would seem to be contrasting their former condition with a coming future condition. This has been a very difficult passage for many because of our cultural view of weapons. But, I think that two things are apparent. 1) Jesus never forbade the disciples from carrying a sword. It was pretty much general practice in those days. Two of the Gospels even proclaim that the sword was Peter's sword. 2) It is also clear that Jesus was not speaking literally, but figuratively of the change about to occur in the disciples lives as a result of His impending death. I think this is why Jesus said 'it is enough' in an almost dismissive manner. He seemed to have been frustrated that they did not understand that He was talking about their future conditions, but took Him to mean that they needed a sword now. :-) Regardless, it is clearly a difficult passage. Some of even tried to explain it away by saying that 'sword' was added to the text at a latter time, but there isn't an textual evidence of that. Your Brother in Christ, Tim Moran |