The passage Ephesians 6:10-20 is Paul’s concluding remarks for the entire book of Ephesians, which Paul wrote while in Roman prison. The passage highlights the necessary provisions that a Christian ought to prepare for spiritual warfare against the devil and his evil temptations. These things include being confident in one’s salvation, living a righteous life of truth, being prepared at any time to defend the faith, and proclaiming the Gospel. Through Paul’s detailed metaphor of a Roman soldier’s armor, it is evident what is essential to fight both defensively and offensively against Satan as a Christian.
The genre of the book of Ephesians is an Epistle, as it is a letter written by Paul for the church in Ephesus. When reading through an epistle, as Fee and Stuart write, “there is theology implied, but it is always “task theology,” theology being written for or brought to bear on the task at hand” (53). So, when interpreting an epistle, one must be aware that the author wrote the letter for a specific issue, and one must first recognize the issue before the exegesis process may begin. Likewise, it is often essential to research the historical context of an epistle in order to understand what task theology the author is writing about, and understand the passage in its literary context. It is best to read the whole…show more content… (254 Brisco) During this time, Paul was imprisoned in Rome, and the fact that Paul had plenty of free time to write while he was in prison is the most probable explanation for him to pen this letter. The only explicit occasion for the epistle that Paul writes in his letter is that he wishes for a man named Tychius to spread the letter throughout Asia. So, Paul did not have the intentions to write to one single church, rather a wide range of churches (1015 Davidson, Stibbs,