The captives taken are the 'thoughts' brought into obedience to Christ.

There is nothing here approaching warfare in the military sense.  The words

of Proverbs 16:32 are still true and can be applied to our present theme:

'He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth

his spirit than he that taketh a city'.

When we examine the one remaining reference to hopla, translated

'armour' or 'weapons', we shall have further grounds for avoiding the

military figure:

'Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey

it in the lusts thereof.  Neither yield ye your members as instruments

(weapons, armour) of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves

unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as

instruments (weapons, armour) of righteousness unto God' (Rom.

These references provide conclusive evidence as to what the apostle

intended by the word 'armour'.  Ephesians 6 is the last occurrence of the

word, which is therefore adequately explained by its earlier usage.

Another important fact, parallel to that concerning the 'armour' is the

way in which the figure of the soldier and the fight merges into that of the

athlete and the race, strengthening our conclusion that the fight is

concerned with the prize, and is not so much a question of a campaign or

conquest of enemies.

In 2 Timothy 2:4,5 the transition is most clear.  'Strive for

masteries' (Authorized Version) becomes, 'contend in the games' in the

Revised Version; the verb athleo giving us the word athlete and athletics.

The soldier is mentioned in connection with 'endurance'; the figure is then

set aside for that of the athlete and the crown.  Again, in 2 Timothy 4:7,8,

we have the fight and the crown; as we have already seen, the word 'fight' is

agon which is translated 'race' in Hebrews 12:1.  It is impossible to

translate 2 Timothy 4:7: 'I have fought a good race'.  Perhaps the best

rendering is: 'I have contested a good contest'.  This keeps the figure

within the bounds of athletics -- its true setting.

We can now come to some definite conclusions:

The apostle's use of the word 'armour' must be our guide as to

its meaning; and not our own ideas drawn from military figures.

His use of the word 'armour' is consistent.  It concerns the

putting on of the Lord Jesus Christ, and so makes Ephesians 6

echo Ephesians 4, where we 'put on the new man'.

The figure of the athlete striving for the crown involves the

keeping under of the flesh.  The flesh, as Ephesians 2:2,3 has

already made plain, is acted upon by the prince of the power of

the air, and so brings the believer into conflict with 'spiritual

wickednesses' who are the 'rulers of the darkness of this world'.

The attack of these spiritual foes is not directed against our

salvation, our membership of the church or our standing, for

these are outside all possible attack.  The attack is against the

believer's possibility of winning a prize, a crown, or a reward.