A Militant Metaphor (Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost)

Linn Tonstad and Yii-Jan Lin discuss cosmology, martial imagery, incarceration, and power in Ephesians 6:10-20. The text is appointed for the Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost, in Year B of the Revised Common Lectionary.

More Yale Bible Study resources, including a transcript of this episode, at: https://YaleBibleStudy.org/podcast

Linn Tonstad is Associate Professor of Theology, Religion, and Sexuality at Yale Divinity School. Yii-Jan Lin is Associate Professor of New Testament at Yale Divinity School.

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Transcript

Voiceover Voice:

This passage is like both Onward Christian Soldiers and “ambassador in chains.”

Helena Martin:

This is Chapter, Verse, and Season: a lectionary podcast from Yale Bible Study. Join us each week as two Yale Divinity School professors look at an upcoming text from the Revised Common Lectionary.

This episode, we have Linn Tonstad, Associate Professor of Theology, Religion, and Sexuality, and Yii-Jan Lin, Associate Professor of New Testament.

They’re discussing Ephesians 6:10-20, which is appointed for the Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 16, in Year B. Here’s the text.

[Ephesians 6:10-20]

Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his power; put on the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil, for our struggle is not against blood and flesh but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to withstand on the evil day and, having prevailed against everything, to stand firm. Stand, therefore, and belt your waist with truth and put on the breastplate of righteousness and lace up your sandals in preparation for the gospel of peace. With all of these, take the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Pray in the Spirit at all times in every prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert and always persevere in supplication for all the saints. Pray also for me, so that when I speak a message may be given to me to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it boldly, as I must speak.

Yii-Jan Lin:

So, I remember memorizing this in elementary school for a Bible memorization Sunday School.  And reading it again here, it strikes me how militant, obviously, the metaphors are and obviously a part of saying that we are all going to be a part of battle as part of our spiritual reality.

Linn Tonstad:

Yeah, there's something, you know, I've had some of those memorization moments too. And, you know, that moment, the feeling where one gets to be in the “we” that doesn't wrestle against flesh and blood. WE fight principalities and powers. [Yii-Jan Lin laughs] There's something so seductive about that, right? Because we're against the rulers of darkness and we're taking up the whole armor of God. And I can just feel the exhortatory character of, you know, for me it was Sabbath school, not Sunday school growing up, but the sort of, the times in which I was encouraged to think of myself inside this sort of practice. Taking up all the different tools that,  you know, here we go marching forward into battle, right? There’s something so dangerously alluring about seeing oneself in those terms, I think.  

Yii-Jan Lin:

Yeah. It lifts every struggle that one could identify as spiritual battle.  I mean, it could be anything, right? Temptation to do XYZ, right? As lifting it up to a cosmic realm, right? The cosmic powers in this present darkness. I've read a series, I remember, when I was in my teenage years, called This Present Darkness. I don't know if you know it but it's with demons and personalities like angelic characters working with people in the 20th Century as they go about their office lives, right? And, yeah.

Linn Tonstad:

Oh, I don't know if I read that one exactly, but I definitely read a bunch of those. [laughter]

Yii-Jan Lin:

Highly entertaining and dramatic, yeah.

Linn Tonstad:

Well, you know, I was taught to think that one of the reasons the earthquake in San Francisco back in, was it 1905 or something like that, was so bad was that so many people were in theaters and sort of entertainment houses, and of course your guardian angel doesn't go inside with you when you go to a theater or an entertainment house…

Yii-Jan Lin:

Oh my gosh!

Linn Tonstad:

…so they were standing outside. I didn't get this from my parents, but I definitely picked it up somewhere. [laughs] 

Yii-Jan Lin:

Wow. That is interesting.

Linn Tonstad:

So those principalities and powers, the sort of the side of the light was very much kind of active in my mind. 

Yii-Jan Lin:

Yeah. I mean, what is this writer? There's a cosmology at work here, right? And then whether you're thinking of this in the ancient possibilities or the current, the possibilities are fascinating of what could be alluded to in this. And how we imagine, how do we interpret this?

Linn Tonstad:

Yeah, is there any, I don't know this of course, but is there any sort of, is the structure of the way that, what the breastplate is, what the girdle is, what the, you know, shoes, et cetera. or I guess not technically shoes, but sandals, but anyway, but shod feet. Is he making this up in the sense of how he's connecting each of those pieces to the thing that it's supposed to be symbolizing? Is this a kind of the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit or however, is this a kind of first time of these sorts of images as far as we know?

Yii-Jan Lin:

I think there are other comparanda, but I don't know if they match these perfectly. I think there are different articles of clothing one can put on or armor that are equated to different qualities or virtues. But these are interesting, especially put on your sandals in preparation for what? For the gospel of peace? [laughs]

Linn Tonstad:

Yeah.

Yii-Jan Lin:

Doesn’t seem to match, right? So, pick up your sword for the gospel of peace. 

Linn Tonstad:

Well, one of the first academic papers I ever gave was called Waging Peace by Means of War, and it was about the way that theologians tend to do this with Christianity. They tend to be like, we alone have the message of peace, therefore we conquer all other ways of looking at things. And, you know, to see how deeply that's built in, right? That peace is conquest.

Yii-Jan Lin:

Yeah.

Linn Tonstad:

You know, it's always interesting with theological images, the way that we can read them one way or the other way. We could read that as saying the only form of real conquest is when peace is inhabiting the earth or something like that. But also, much more easily we can say, well, we're even better at conquest than you are because our conquest brings peace. And given the history of empire, it's very hard not to see that as the more near lying reading.

Yii-Jan Lin:

Yeah. And yet so ironic to cloak it in military gear, as you're saying. And then also the last verse, verse 20, in which the person writing in the persona of Paul says, “I am an ambassador in chains.” Right? So then leaning into that captive, imprisoned person for obvious reasons.

Linn Tonstad:

But that line, “I am an ambassador.” I mean, that sexiness of that line is just incredible. But of course, then we see however much determinism we want to put into this. We see the way that a lot of these typical Christian and maybe sometimes typically American motifs or moves get started because, of course, I've often talked about persecution as other American dream.

Yii-Jan Lin:

Right.

Linn Tonstad:

Because persecution is a clear sign that you're a truth teller. And since the world is what it is, a lot of us have the capacity to generate a story or a picture of the world in which we are being persecuted for our bold truth telling. And to use that as evidence for how it is that we are now, you know, boldly speaking truth to power and maybe sometimes that may be a slightly self-indulgent way to view what we're doing. 

Yii-Jan Lin:

Right.  And then this passage is like both Onward Christian Soldiers and ambassador in chains. It’s fascinating. Like, both and at the same time.

Linn Tonstad:

Yeah. And then all the details of how offense and defense are being played here. The shield of faith which quenches the darts. On the other hand, where there's a kind of, there is clearly a bit of aggression here, right? Because again, we have that sword of spirit, which is the word of God and the way that preaching, what is it in this idea of preaching the word of God boldly that makes it so attractive? What is it we're sort of imagining into there? And I say it's attractive, not necessarily that we might be feeling that at this moment, but it's so clearly an image that has had a lot of power in a lot of places and different contexts historically that has led people to do quite extraordinary things sometimes.

Helena Martin:

Thanks for listening; we’re so glad you’re here. We’re here very week with new episodes to help shape your preaching, teaching, and reflection.

Chapter, Verse, and Season is a production of the Center for Continuing Education at Yale Divinity School. It’s produced by: Creator and Managing Editor, Joel Baden; Production Manager, Kelly Morrissey; Associate Producer, Aidan Stoddart; and I’m your Host and Executive Producer, Helena Martin. And our theme music is by Calvin Linderman.

We’ll be back with another conversation from Chapter, Verse, and Season.