4

Peter talks about arming oneself with a thought/attitude:

Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God.—1st Peter 4:1-2 (ESV)

This seems distinct from the different aspects of armor that Paul describes in Ephesians 6:10–20. In that passage, various aspects of the Christian life (righteousness, salvation, Scripture, and so on) are metaphorically associated with equipment a soldier would rely on. Is there a reasonable relationship here?

Alternatively, is there another passage that describes armor in terms of an attitude or approach to take like Peter is?

|improve this question|||||
  • 2
    Welcome to the community from a fellow newcomer! I hope that my response is helpful, feel free to comment and I'll attempt to add/edit as needed. Perhaps an addition of a "armor-of-God" tag? – Jesse Ledbetter Aug 17 '12 at 19:05
  • 1
    @Jesse: Way to jump head first into doing the sorts of things that help our site thrive! We probably won't get enough questions to warrant a new tag, but who knows? Andrew, I echo Jesse's welcome. This is an interesting question. Did my edit help bring out the difficulty you are having reconciling the passages? – Jon Ericson♦ Aug 17 '12 at 19:43
2

The assumption in the question is that the Ephesians text does not refer to thought and attitude. For sake of this post, I do not believe that this assumption is correct and is perhaps birthed from to great a focus on the allegory of the text and not enough on the substance. The "armor of God" allegory is used to extend the idea of a battle, though not one against flesh and blood. If we understand Paul's perspective in using the metaphore we can further disect what the armor of God is, which, it seems, in vast majority matters of thought and attitude.

These are the Armor of God:

Truth - certainly a matter of thought, as well as the willingness to
accept truth being a attitude.  

Righteousness - righteousness as a guard of the heart
(attitude/thoughts) ie breastplate  

Gospel of peace - approaching interaction from the thought/attitude
of the Gospel

Faith - as a guard against accusation  

Salvation - guarding one's mind/thoughts  

Word of God - truth/thoughts  

Prayer and supplication - attitude

We are emplored by I Peter 4:1 to have the same way of thinking as Christ, while Ephesians 6:11-18 may not be an exhaustive list of the type of thinking that was in Christ, it is perhaps a start. Further and most specifically, Christ's thinking in suffering in the flesh is to be a model for us, FOR if we suffer for righteousness sake (I Peter 3) we have the confidence that sin is being put to death. How can we stand in the onslaught of this attack? Ephesians 6.

|improve this answer|||||
  • 1
    Interesting. I think I better provide an alternate answer, since I'm not convinced that Paul and Peter were using the same metaphor here. This is a good answer. (+1) – Jon Ericson♦ Aug 17 '12 at 19:48
  • Same metaphor? Its certainly not the same metaphor, however, I believe that the same purpose could be argued. Eph. 6 speaks to the standing in the midst of the struggle of this dark world (vs 12). I Peter 3-4 concerns itself with overcoming sin in the midst of persecution. The context of both is reasonably comparable. The metaphor, for sake of comparison of relationship of the texts is superfluous, as it simply stands to the emphasize the need. – Jesse Ledbetter Aug 18 '12 at 2:19

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and cookie policy

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.