New Testament military metaphors

{{Short description|Christian concepts expressed through military images}}

{{Notability|date=October 2023}}

File:Wells 0706 054.jpg of the 1st century Imperial Roman army.]]

The New Testament uses a number of military metaphors in discussing Christianity, especially in the Pauline epistles.

In Philippians 2:25[http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Philippians+2:25&version=NIV Philippians 2:25, NIV (BibleGateway).] and Philemon 1:2,[http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Philemon+1:2&version=NIV Philemon 1:2, NIV (BibleGateway).] Paul describes fellow Christians as "fellow soldiers" (in Greek, συστρατιώτῃ, sustratiōtē).Peter Thomas O'Brien, [https://books.google.com/books?id=IpbiGkWRKc0C&pg=PA330 The Epistle to the Philippians: A commentary on the Greek text], Eerdmans, 1991, {{ISBN|0-85364-531-0}}, pp. 330–331. The image of a soldier is also used in 2 Timothy 2:3–4[http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20Timothy%202:3-4&version=NIV 2 Timothy 2:3–4, NIV (BibleGateway):] "Endure hardship with us like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No one serving as a soldier gets involved in civilian affairs—he wants to please his commanding officer." as a metaphor for courage, loyalty and dedication;John Norman Davidson Kelly, [https://books.google.com/books?id=t84kfQfTB50C&pg=PA175 A Commentary on the Pastoral Epistles: I Timothy, II Timothy, Titus], Part 1, Continuum International Publishing Group, 1963, {{ISBN|0-7136-1366-1}}, p. 175. this is followed by the metaphor of an athlete, emphasising hard work. In 1 Corinthians 9:7,[http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Corinthians+9:7&version=NIV 1 Corinthians 9:7, NIV (BibleGateway):] "Who serves as a soldier at his own expense?" this image is used in a discussion of church workers receiving payment, with a metaphorical reference to a soldier's rations and expenses.Anthony C. Thiselton, [https://books.google.com/books?id=IHG_DNLpmroC&pg=PA683 The First Epistle to the Corinthians: A Commentary on the Greek text], Eerdmans, 2000, {{ISBN|0-85364-559-0}}, pp. 683–684.

Ephesians 6:10–18[http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ephesians%206:10-18&version=NIV Ephesians 6:10–18, NIV (BibleGateway).] 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,Kathleen M. Swaim, [https://books.google.com/books?id=ZGkcyQCitkYC&pg=PA14 Pilgrim's Progress, Puritan Progress: Discourses and Contexts], University of Illinois Press, 1993, {{ISBN|0-252-01894-X}}, p. 14. and by many other Christian writers.

Related imagery appears in hymns such as "Soldiers of Christ, Arise" and "Onward, Christian Soldiers".Alison G. Sulloway, [https://books.google.com/books?id=IJA9AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA220 Gerard Manley Hopkins and the Victorian temper], Routledge, 1972, {{ISBN|0-7100-7354-2}}, p. 220.