New Testament military metaphors explained
The New Testament uses a number of military metaphors in discussing Christianity, especially in the Pauline epistles.
In Philippians 2:25[1] and Philemon 1:2,[2] Paul describes fellow Christians as "fellow soldiers" (in Greek, συστρατιώτῃ, sustratiōtē).[3] The image of a soldier is also used in 2 Timothy 2:3–4[4] as a metaphor for courage, loyalty and dedication;[5] this is followed by the metaphor of an athlete, emphasising hard work. In 1 Corinthians 9:7,[6] this image is used in a discussion of church workers receiving payment, with a metaphorical reference to a soldier's rations and expenses.[7]
Ephesians 6:10–18[8] discusses faith, righteousness, and other elements of Christianity as the armour of God, and this imagery is replicated by John Bunyan in The Pilgrim's Progress,[9] and by many other Christian writers.
Related imagery appears in hymns such as "Soldiers of Christ, Arise" and "Onward, Christian Soldiers".[10]
See also
Notes and References
- http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Philippians+2:25&version=NIV Philippians 2:25, NIV (BibleGateway).
- http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Philemon+1:2&version=NIV Philemon 1:2, NIV (BibleGateway).
- [Peter Thomas O'Brien]
- http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20Timothy%202:3-4&version=NIV 2 Timothy 2:3–4, NIV (BibleGateway):
- John Norman Davidson Kelly, A Commentary on the Pastoral Epistles: I Timothy, II Timothy, Titus, Part 1, Continuum International Publishing Group, 1963,, p. 175.
- http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Corinthians+9:7&version=NIV 1 Corinthians 9:7, NIV (BibleGateway):
- [Anthony Thiselton|Anthony C. Thiselton]
- http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ephesians%206:10-18&version=NIV Ephesians 6:10–18, NIV (BibleGateway).
- Kathleen M. Swaim, Pilgrim's Progress, Puritan Progress: Discourses and Contexts, University of Illinois Press, 1993,, p. 14.
- Alison G. Sulloway, Gerard Manley Hopkins and the Victorian temper, Routledge, 1972,, p. 220.
