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This article explores the semantic value of ἀλήθεια in Ephesians with special attention given to its polyvalent nature and its potentiality for communicating the notion of 'faithfulness' rather than 'truth'. First, an examination of instances of where ἀλήθεια indicates faithfulness in the lxx and the nt provides a broad hermeneutical viability for this enterprise. Second, a study of ἀλήθεια in Eph. 1:13; 4:21, 24, 25; 5:9; and 6:14 reveals a semantic shift in 5:9 and 6:14 wherein the author's exhortation centers not on doctrinal truth, but embodying faithfulness as a child of the light and as a defense against the Devil's schemes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Believers are told in Ephesians 6:11 to put on God's armour. In Isaiah 59:17, God himself puts on the breastplate of righteousness and the helmet of salvation to come and fight for his people, and these are among the qualities identified as missing in the indictment against God's people in Isaiah 59:8-15. The article identifies other intertextual allusions to Isaiah in the other four items of armour, and explores the extent to which the other qualities represented by the pieces of equipment also draw on the description of the nation's plight in Isaiah 59. An awareness of these intertextual allusions suggests that putting on God's armour means enlisting in the spiritual struggle and going on the offensive by adopting a lifestyle marked by the qualities listed in Ephesians 6:14-17. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A number of commentators have noted the growth and appeal of spirituality in Western Europe and North America, a development concurrent with a general decline in religious affiliation. Such post-religious spirituality reflects a 'turn to the subject' that sacralises the self, privileges experience, and prizes authenticity. While some approaches to post-religious spirituality seek to reshape Christianity in its image, Paul's vision of spiritual transformation in Ephesians challenges its key features. In particular, Paul's stress on God's grace, his robust ecclesiology, and his call for moral change illustrate that a call to life 'in Christ' is deeply countercultural in today's spiritual age. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Provides a relatively detailed analysis of personhood in the Letter to the Ephesians. General linguistic issues involved in speaking about personhood in the New Testament; Christological focus in the New Testament; Implications of the dynamic/relational model of personhood elicited in Ephesians to the more modern questions about personhood in relation to fetal life and in the diminishments of old age.