Ἡ Πανοπλία τοῦ Θεοῦ

PROJECT N°01 · 2026 — CURRENT

SOURCE REGISTER · 17 CITED · 8 IN CONSULTATION

WHAT THE
WORK STANDS ON.

Every work the study leans on, named in full, with what it is and why it is here. Works still being read are listed too, and marked as such.

SEARCH THE REGISTER

25 OF 25 ENTRIES SHOWN

WHAT IT IS
The standard scholarly edition of the Greek New Testament, presenting a reconstructed text with an apparatus recording the readings of the manuscripts, versions, and early citations behind it.
EDITION
28th revised edition · 2012
WHY IT MATTERS HERE
Every Greek form quoted in this study is taken from NA28 rather than from a later printed tradition. It is the control on what the passage actually says before anything is interpreted, and its apparatus is where the project will go whenever a reading is disputed.
WHERE IT IS USED
- ἐνδυναμοῦσθεv10
FULL CITATION
Nestle–Aland, Novum Testamentum Graece, 28th revised edition (Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 2012).
WHAT IT IS
A critical edition of the ancient Greek translation of the Hebrew scriptures, used here for Isaiah 11:5; 49:2; 52:7; 59:17 and for the Maccabean occurrences of πανοπλία.
EDITION
editio altera · 2006
WHY IT MATTERS HERE
Ephesians 6 does not reach for Roman armour first; it reaches for Isaiah, and it does so in Greek. The Septuagint is where the breastplate of righteousness and the helmet of salvation are already worn by God. This edition is treated as an ancient witness to the imagery, not as a second original.
WHERE IT IS USED
FULL CITATION
Rahlfs–Hanhart, Septuaginta, editio altera (Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 2006).
WHAT IT IS
The principal lexicon for the Greek of the New Testament and its contemporary literature, giving attested senses with documentary and literary evidence for each.
EDITION
3rd edition · 2000
WHY IT MATTERS HERE
BDAG is the default authority for the sense of a word inside this passage. It is cited most often here because it distinguishes what a word meant in first-century usage from what later theology made of it — the distinction the whole study depends on.
WHERE IT IS USED
FULL CITATION
Frederick W. Danker (ed.), A Greek–English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd ed. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000).
WHAT IT IS
The comprehensive lexicon of ancient Greek across the whole literature, from Homer to the later empire, rather than of the New Testament alone.
EDITION
9th edition with revised supplement · 1996
WHY IT MATTERS HERE
LSJ is used wherever the word belongs to the wider world before it belongs to the letter — θυρεός, πάλη, μάχαιρα, παρρησία. It keeps the military and civic vocabulary of the passage attached to the culture that used it.
WHERE IT IS USED
FULL CITATION
Liddell, Scott & Jones, A Greek–English Lexicon, 9th ed. with revised supplement (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1996).
WHAT IT IS
A nineteenth-century New Testament lexicon, long superseded by BDAG but still widely reproduced in freely available tools.
EDITION
corrected edition · 1889
WHY IT MATTERS HERE
Cited sparingly and always alongside a current lexicon. It is included openly because it stands behind a great deal of popular word study, and naming it lets a reader see where an older definition is being repeated rather than verified.
WHERE IT IS USED
- ἐνδύσασθεv11
FULL CITATION
Joseph Henry Thayer, A Greek–English Lexicon of the New Testament (New York: American Book Company, 1889).
WHAT IT IS
A Greek historian's detailed description of the equipment of the Roman soldier, including the dimensions and construction of the door-shaped shield.
EDITION
Loeb Classical Library, trans. W. R. Paton · 2nd century BC
WHY IT MATTERS HERE
This is the closest thing the project has to a specification for the θυρεός: laminated wood, hide, iron boss, body length. It supplies weight and construction where the letter supplies only a name, and it is a Greek writer describing Roman gear — exactly the cultural position Ephesians occupies.
WHERE IT IS USED
- θυρεόςv16
FULL CITATION
Polybius, Histories 6.23, Loeb Classical Library (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press).
WHAT IT IS
The account of the siege of Plataea, including the use of fire as a siege weapon and the measures taken against it.
EDITION
Loeb Classical Library, trans. C. F. Smith · 5th century BC
WHY IT MATTERS HERE
It establishes that βέλη πεπυρωμένα are ordnance, not metaphor. Incendiary missiles were a real tactical problem with a real counter-measure, and the shield of faith is answering a described battlefield condition.
WHERE IT IS USED
- βέλη πεπυρωμέναv16
FULL CITATION
Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 2.75–77, Loeb Classical Library (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press).
WHAT IT IS
The English translation used for every reading surface in this project, in the standardised text that modern printings follow.
EDITION
1769 Blayney standard text · 1611 / 1769
WHY IT MATTERS HERE
Chosen for the weight and rhythm of its prose, and kept visibly separate from the Greek. Where the study marks a word, it is usually because the English has settled something the Greek leaves open — the KJV is read as a great translation, never as the text itself.
WHERE IT IS USED
Underlies every verse of the reading; the Greek register exists to show where its choices are decisions.
FULL CITATION
The Holy Bible, Authorised (King James) Version (1611; 1769 Blayney standard text).
WHAT IT IS
Museum record for a short infantry sword with surviving decorated scabbard plate, recovered from the Thames at Fulham.
EDITION
Collection record 1883,0407.1 · early 1st century CE
WHY IT MATTERS HERE
The near-contemporary object behind μάχαιρα in the dossier. It is cited as the historical analogue for an infantry blade of the period, never as the thing the Greek noun names.
WHERE IT IS USED
Material dossier: μάχαιρα.
FULL CITATION
British Museum, sword and scabbard ('the Fulham Sword'), museum number 1883,0407.1, Romano-British, early 1st century CE.
WHAT IT IS
Museum record giving material, dimensions and weight for a single-piece bronze bowl and neck guard with crest knob; cheek-pieces missing.
EDITION
Collection record 1813,0313.1 · 1st century CE
WHY IT MATTERS HERE
Supplies the construction and weight of a helmet an infantryman of the period could be wearing, against a Greek word (περικεφαλαία) that specifies no type at all.
WHERE IT IS USED
Material dossier: περικεφαλαία.
FULL CITATION
British Museum, bronze helmet of Coolus type E, museum number 1813,0313.1, 1st century CE, found at Norcott Hill, Hertfordshire.
WHAT IT IS
The oldest and most nearly complete segmented Roman cuirass known, lifted as a soil block and scanned by large-volume computed tomography.
EDITION
Museum publication and CT imaging with Fraunhofer IIS · 9 CE (excavated 2018)
WHY IT MATTERS HERE
It shows how plates, hinges and internal leather straps actually worked, which is why the dossier can say that no waist belt held the armour together. Half a century earlier than the letter, and labelled as such wherever it appears.
WHERE IT IS USED
Material dossier: θώραξ.
FULL CITATION
Museum und Park Kalkriese, Roman segmented cuirass (Schienenpanzer), Augustan, 9 CE, excavated 2018; three-dimensional imaging by Fraunhofer IIS.
WHAT IT IS
Record for a rare surviving mail fragment, each iron ring 7 mm across passing through the two rings above and the two below.
EDITION
Collections Online record 32.60/4.1 · Roman; excavated 1927–29
WHY IT MATTERS HERE
Mail is one of the three forms θώραξ can cover. This record supplies ring size and linkage where literary sources give only a name.
WHERE IT IS USED
Material dossier: θώραξ.
FULL CITATION
Amgueddfa Cymru — Museum Wales, Roman iron lorica hamata, item number 32.60/4.1, Prysg Field, Caerleon, excavated 1927–29.
WHAT IT IS
Record describing five rows of overlapping perforated scales secured by coiled wire ties, with scale measurements.
EDITION
Collection record 1928,0709.4 · early 2nd century CE
WHY IT MATTERS HERE
Shown for how scale armour was assembled. It postdates the letter, and the dossier prints that gap on the record rather than quietly absorbing it.
WHERE IT IS USED
Material dossier: θώραξ.
FULL CITATION
British Museum, iron lorica squamata fragment, museum number 1928,0709.4, Romano-British, early 2nd century CE, Hunter Street, Chester.
WHAT IT IS
The only surviving semi-cylindrical Roman shield: painted wood and rawhide, 105.5 × 41 × 30 cm, found flattened in thirteen pieces, boss missing.
EDITION
Collection record 1933.715, Yale-French Excavations at Dura-Europos · mid-3rd century CE
WHY IT MATTERS HERE
The dossier uses it for construction only. It is roughly two centuries later than Ephesians and is never called the shield of faith.
WHERE IT IS USED
Material dossier: θυρεός.
FULL CITATION
Yale University Art Gallery, Scutum, accession number 1933.715, Yale-French Excavations at Dura-Europos (Tower 19), mid-3rd century CE.
WHAT IT IS
Documentation of a limestone stele showing a serving legionary in tunic, paenula and two belts, with sword, dagger and spear, and giving the full funerary inscription.
EDITION
Ubi Erat Lupa, record 15518; CIL 13, 08079 · Neronian
WHY IT MATTERS HERE
A dated portrait of an infantryman from the decade of the traditional Ephesians date. It is the evidence for what a soldier's belts actually carried — and for how little the passage's girding language depends on them.
WHERE IT IS USED
Material dossier: πανοπλία, περιζωσάμενοι τὴν ὀσφύν.
FULL CITATION
Ubi Erat Lupa 15518, funerary stele of Quintus Petilius Secundus, miles legionis XV Primigeniae, Rheinisches Landesmuseum Bonn, Inv. U 86; CIL 13, 08079.
WHAT IT IS
An account of some 3,500 waterlogged Roman organic finds from the Thames waterfront and Walbrook valley, 89 per cent of them footwear, including a first-century caliga.
EDITION
London Museum collections feature · 2020
WHY IT MATTERS HERE
It supplies the construction of military footwear — vegetable-tanned leather, layered sole, iron hobnails — and the fact that the caliga went out of use within about fifty years, which is why the dossier will not fix Ephesians 6:15 to it.
WHERE IT IS USED
Material dossier: ὑποδησάμενοι τοὺς πόδας.
FULL CITATION
Owen Humphreys, 'These boots were made for Romans', London Museum, 29 April 2020, on the museum's collection of Roman leatherwork.
WHAT IT IS
The standard archaeological survey of Roman arms and armour, working from excavated finds, sculpture, and reconstruction rather than from literary description alone.
EDITION
2nd edition · 2006
WHY IT MATTERS HERE
This is the spine of the object study scheduled next: weight distribution, fastening, wear, failure. Nothing will be built or filmed for the armour until its findings can answer for each piece on screen.
WHERE IT IS USED
Not yet cited in the reading. It enters this register when it first carries a claim.
FULL CITATION
M. C. Bishop and J. C. N. Coulston, Roman Military Equipment from the Punic Wars to the Fall of Rome, 2nd ed. (Oxford: Oxbow Books, 2006).
WHAT IT IS
A study of how Roman units actually fought: formation, cohesion, endurance, and the behaviour of men holding a line.
EDITION
Oxford Classical Monographs · 1996
WHY IT MATTERS HERE
The passage commands a body to stand together, not an individual to advance. This is the source for what holding a line physically demanded, which is the bodily fact the corporate reading rests on.
WHERE IT IS USED
Not yet cited in the reading. It enters this register when it first carries a claim.
FULL CITATION
Adrian Goldsworthy, The Roman Army at War 100 BC – AD 200 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1996).
WHAT IT IS
A first-century description of Roman arms, marching order, and discipline written by a Jewish observer of the army.
EDITION
Loeb Classical Library, trans. H. St. J. Thackeray · 1st century AD
WHY IT MATTERS HERE
Nearly contemporary with Ephesians and written from outside Rome looking in. It is the strongest contemporary witness the project has: describing the infantry on the march, Josephus calls the foot soldier's long shield a θυρεός — the same noun Ephesians 6:16 uses.
WHERE IT IS USED
Cited throughout the material dossier for θυρεός and for what an infantryman carried.
FULL CITATION
Josephus, The Jewish War 3.93–97, Loeb Classical Library (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press); text consulted in the Whiston translation, Perseus Digital Library, Tufts University.
WHAT IT IS
A late-antique manual of Roman military practice, including training, equipment, and drill.
EDITION
trans. N. P. Milner, Translated Texts for Historians · late 4th century AD
WHY IT MATTERS HERE
Useful and dangerous in equal measure: it is three centuries later than the letter and often describes an idealised army. Held here as a comparison, never as evidence for first-century equipment.
WHERE IT IS USED
Not yet cited in the reading. It enters this register when it first carries a claim.
FULL CITATION
Vegetius, Epitoma rei militaris, trans. N. P. Milner, Translated Texts for Historians (Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 1993).
WHAT IT IS
A study of the language of powers in Ephesians against the religious and magical environment of Roman Asia Minor.
EDITION
Society for New Testament Studies Monograph Series 63 · 1989
WHY IT MATTERS HERE
The ruler-terms of verse 12 are civic and cosmic vocabulary, not vague names for evil. This is the work being read to keep that vocabulary attached to Ephesus rather than projected from the present.
WHERE IT IS USED
Not yet cited in the reading. It enters this register when it first carries a claim.
FULL CITATION
Clinton E. Arnold, Ephesians: Power and Magic (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989).
WHAT IT IS
A technical verse-by-verse commentary on the Greek text, weighing grammatical options and the history of interpretation.
EDITION
International Critical Commentary · 1998
WHY IT MATTERS HERE
Where this study leaves a reading unresolved — ἑτοιμασία above all — Best is the check on whether the ambiguity is real or whether the scholarship has already settled it.
WHERE IT IS USED
Not yet cited in the reading. It enters this register when it first carries a claim.
FULL CITATION
Ernest Best, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on Ephesians, International Critical Commentary (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1998).
WHAT IT IS
A recent full-length commentary attentive to the letter's social setting, household language, and rhetorical shape.
EDITION
New International Commentary on the New Testament · 2020
WHY IT MATTERS HERE
Read as the current voice beside the older technical work, particularly on how the armour passage lands on the whole community the letter addresses rather than on a solitary reader.
WHERE IT IS USED
Not yet cited in the reading. It enters this register when it first carries a claim.
FULL CITATION
Lynn H. Cohick, The Letter to the Ephesians, NICNT (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2020).
WHAT IT IS
A critical commentary on the closing chapters of Isaiah, including the divine warrior of chapter 59.
EDITION
Anchor Yale Bible 19B · 2003
WHY IT MATTERS HERE
Isaiah 59:17 is the passage's first armour, and it is God's. This commentary is the route into what that image meant in its own setting before Ephesians handed it to a congregation.
WHERE IT IS USED
Not yet cited in the reading. It enters this register when it first carries a claim.
FULL CITATION
Joseph Blenkinsopp, Isaiah 56–66, Anchor Yale Bible 19B (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2003).
WHAT IT IS
A semantic-domain dictionary tracing word groups through classical Greek, the Septuagint, and the New Testament.
EDITION
2nd edition, 5 vols. · 2014
WHY IT MATTERS HERE
Being consulted for the history of the θώραξ and σωτήριον word groups across the Septuagint, where a single lexicon entry cannot show the movement from Isaiah into Ephesians.
WHERE IT IS USED
Not yet cited in the reading. It enters this register when it first carries a claim.
FULL CITATION
Moisés Silva (ed.), New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology and Exegesis, 2nd ed., 5 vols. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2014).

CREDITS

WHO MADE IT.

No credits are recorded for this project yet. Contributors, permissions, and tools will be named here as the work draws on them.

SOURCES ARE ADDED AS THE WORK USES THEM · CONSULTED WORKS BECOME CITED ONLY WHEN THEY CARRY A CLAIM
PAGE-LEVEL CITATION IS BEING ADDED THROUGHOUT; WHERE IT IS MISSING, THE ENTRY SAYS SO.

01 / NA28Novum Testamentum GraeceNestle, Eberhard & Erwin; Aland, Barbara & Kurt (eds.) · 2012CRITICAL EDITIONCITED IN THE STUDY

02 / LXXSeptuagintaRahlfs, Alfred; Hanhart, Robert (eds.) · 2006CRITICAL EDITIONCITED IN THE STUDY

03 / BDAGA Greek–English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian LiteratureDanker, Frederick William (ed.); Bauer, Walter · 2000LEXICONCITED IN THE STUDY

04 / LSJA Greek–English LexiconLiddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart · 1996LEXICONCITED IN THE STUDY

05 / ThayerA Greek–English Lexicon of the New TestamentThayer, Joseph Henry · 1889LEXICONCITED IN THE STUDY

06 / PolybiusHistories, Book 6.23Polybius · 2nd century BCANCIENT AUTHORCITED IN THE STUDY

07 / ThucydidesHistory of the Peloponnesian War, 2.75–77Thucydides · 5th century BCANCIENT AUTHORCITED IN THE STUDY

08 / KJVThe Holy Bible, Authorised (King James) VersionTranslators appointed by King James VI and I · 1611 / 1769TRANSLATIONCITED IN THE STUDY

09 / BM 1883,0407.1The Fulham Sword — iron sword and decorated scabbardBritish Museum · early 1st century CEMATERIAL CULTURECITED IN THE STUDY

10 / BM 1813,0313.1Roman legionary helmet, Coolus type EBritish Museum · 1st century CEMATERIAL CULTURECITED IN THE STUDY

11 / KalkrieseDer römische Schienenpanzer — segmented cuirass from the Kalkriese battlefieldMuseum und Park Kalkriese · 9 CE (excavated 2018)MATERIAL CULTURECITED IN THE STUDY

12 / AC 32.60/4.1Fragment of iron mail (lorica hamata), Prysg Field, CaerleonAmgueddfa Cymru — Museum Wales · Roman; excavated 1927–29MATERIAL CULTURECITED IN THE STUDY

13 / BM 1928,0709.4Fragment of iron scale armour (lorica squamata), Hunter Street, ChesterBritish Museum · early 2nd century CEMATERIAL CULTURECITED IN THE STUDY

14 / YUAG 1933.715Scutum (shield) from Dura-EuroposYale University Art Gallery · mid-3rd century CEMATERIAL CULTURECITED IN THE STUDY

15 / Lupa 15518Porträtstele des Quintus Petilius Secundus, Rheinisches Landesmuseum Bonn, Inv. U 86Harl, Friederike & Ortolf (eds.) · NeronianMATERIAL CULTURECITED IN THE STUDY

16 / London MuseumThese boots were made for Romans — Roman leatherwork from LondonHumphreys, Owen · 2020MATERIAL CULTURECITED IN THE STUDY

17 / Bishop & CoulstonRoman Military Equipment from the Punic Wars to the Fall of RomeBishop, M. C.; Coulston, J. C. N. · 2006MATERIAL CULTURECONSULTED · NOT YET CITED

18 / GoldsworthyThe Roman Army at War 100 BC – AD 200Goldsworthy, Adrian · 1996MATERIAL CULTURECONSULTED · NOT YET CITED

19 / JosephusThe Jewish War, 3.93–97Josephus, Flavius · 1st century ADANCIENT AUTHORCITED IN THE STUDY

20 / VegetiusEpitoma rei militarisVegetius Renatus, Publius Flavius · late 4th century ADANCIENT AUTHORCONSULTED · NOT YET CITED

21 / ArnoldEphesians: Power and MagicArnold, Clinton E. · 1989COMMENTARYCONSULTED · NOT YET CITED

22 / BestA Critical and Exegetical Commentary on EphesiansBest, Ernest · 1998COMMENTARYCONSULTED · NOT YET CITED

23 / CohickThe Letter to the EphesiansCohick, Lynn H. · 2020COMMENTARYCONSULTED · NOT YET CITED

24 / BlenkinsoppIsaiah 56–66Blenkinsopp, Joseph · 2003COMMENTARYCONSULTED · NOT YET CITED

25 / NIDNTTENew International Dictionary of New Testament Theology and ExegesisSilva, Moisés (ed.) · 2014LEXICONCONSULTED · NOT YET CITED

WHO MADE IT.