One who has had the pleasure of reading or watching the Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, will recall the scene when the fellowship is in Lothlorien and they are bestowed a number of weapons and helps for their journey. Some received cloaks, daggers, bows, rope and even the Phial of Galadriel to give light in dark places. These items were meant to help them on their journey to fulfill their mission and save middle-earth. In Ephesians, the apostle Paul writes of weaponry to help in the Christian’s mission to save the world and ward off the enemy. These are not armaments forged in steel, but those coming from the Holy Spirit with divine power!
The Text
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. (Ephesians 6:10-17)
In the previous segments, all the way back in chapter 4, we are revealed actions and mindsets that are linked back to the realities revealed to us within the first three chapters. The blessings that we’ve received in Jesus are the cause, and the effect is found in the final three chapters. We are to walk in a manner worthy of our calling with which you have been called (4:1). This walk should corporately exemplify itself in our love for one another (4:3), our unity together (4:4-6), growing in all aspects into Him who is the head of the whole body, Christ (4:15). We are to walk in a different manner than the gentiles, who’s mind, and understanding are darkened (4:17-18) and lay aside our former life of sin and become renewed in the spirit of our minds by putting on the new self (4:23-24) which he lays out further in 4:25-32. We are to offer ourselves up as a sacrifice to God (5:1) and forsake immorality, impurity and greed (5:3), and staying away from drunkenness but replacing that cheer with the new cheer of speaking to one another in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, making melody with your heart to the Lord (5:19). Then, Paul deals with the family and the relationship between the husband & wife (5:22-33), the children (6:1-4) and the servants (6:5-9). Now, Paul will turn to another aspect of the mindsets and actions that are affected by the blessings in Christ, our spiritual war and what God has given us in Christ and through the Holy Spirit to fight in this war.
Strong in the Lord
Paul indicates that he’s entering into his closing remarks on the section and the epistle itself with the term “finally”. Paul begins with exhorting them to be strong in the Lord. This expression could be taken as a command for them to be strong or a command to be made strong in allowing their strength to be drawn from the Lord. It seems to me that what it’s referring to is for them to find their strength in God and the means that He has provided to grant that strength. This concept of finding our strength and drawing from God’s power was nothing new. Joshua seems to have found his strength in the Lord (Joshua 1:6-7; 9). After an Amalekite invasion, which resulted in the city being burned and the residents being taken captive, including David’s wives, David found his strength in the Lord (1 Samuel 30:6). We are not to try to fight in this war with our own strength. We are to draw from God’s provisions to stand against the enemy. While the government and other enemies of the church are physically attempting to usurp our faith, there is a spirit behind it all, and it comes in the form of ideologies and idols that are largely hiding the true culprit, which is the trickery of the devil.
The Armour & The Devil
Paul now begins to explain what they are to do to prepare for the war they are expected to fight on behalf of King Jesus. They are expected to obey the imperative to put on the full armour of God. This is to clothes oneself in a habiliment as something we wear everyday as soldiers prepared for battle. The armour that we are to put on is that which God has given us to strengthen us. We are to wear our faith, and that faith needs to be visible. We are to put it on in full, not only in part. We cannot leave out any of the many features of that armour since it will expose a weak spot in our armour of light (Romans 13:12).
The purpose of putting on this armour is so that they will be able to stand firm against the schemes (or wiles -NKJV) of the devil. This is a predominant expression throughout this section (Vs.11, 13, 14,). To stand firm is ultimately to resist and prevail against him. The means of attack from this enemy in this context is the devil’s schemes. To be victorious over these wiles, the full armour needs to be intact and utilized. Previously, those wiles were defined as the devil trying to lead us to uncontrolled anger (v.26), participating in falsehood, stealing, filthy talk and returning to our old gentile living. To counter these, we need to put on truth to counter falsehood, righteousness to counter stealing and filthy talk and, finally, peace to counter anger. Nothing usurps the unity of God’s people more than these things and for them to be unified, they need to fight these things.
The Downfall of the Evil Kingdom
While it can seem crazy to attempt to stand against the devil, we are often told to do so (James 4:7). We do so with the armour of God in the victory of Jesus. We see the victory of His Kingdom over the enemy. The strong man would be bound (Matthew 12:28-29) and his kingdom under attack even in Jesus’ day (Luke 10:17-19). Now is the time that the ruler of this world is cast out through the uplifting of Jesus (John 12:30-32). His Kingdom is already being defeated and plundered (Acts 26:16-18; Colossians 1:13). His power has been disarmed since Jesus has conquered death (Hebrews 2:14-15) and the God of peace was to crush Satan under the feet of believers (Romans 16:20)
The Spiritual War
The reason why the armour described in these verses is not physical battle gear, but spiritual array is because, as Paul states in verse 12, the war we are fighting is not against flesh and blood. The enemy is not necessarily a human being but a supernatural spirit. The term to struggle was used as a wrestling term when two opponents grappled and wrestled to conquer the other. Wrestling was a very popular sport in Asia Minor in the 1st century. It seems to really portray more of a hand-to-hand combat situation.
A List of Enemies
So, who are our opponents in this spiritual wrestling match? The first are authorities and rulers which has already been mentioned in this epistle. These are enemies of Jesus that have been placed under His feet (1:21) and to whom the manifold wisdom of God was made known (3:10).
The second, world-power (world-rulers) is likely referring to monarchs of this evil dark world. O’Brien points out that the expression doesn’t appear in the LXX or except for here in the New Testament but appears in the 2nd century in astrological and magical traditions relating to the planets and their influence on human affairs[1]. This was generally taken to represent pagan gods and perhaps idols who Paul relates to demons (1 Corinthians 10:20).
The third enemy are the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Most commentators agree that these expressions are all defining the same enemy but in different terms. They are all associated with evil and darkness. They are all very powerful but can be resisted through God’s provisions in the armour of God. Our opposition in this world is not primarily from what we see, but what we don’t see. To understand this dynamic is to have clarity on the tactics of the enemy. The battle is against realties that are both spiritual and evil, and in return associated with the wiles of the devil. When Jesus and the apostles were attacking the kingdom of the devil, they did so by casting out demons from people. But in our age, they seem to be more prevalent in anti-Christian philosophies, especially from a social, cultural, political, economic, and religious perspective. Christians are to fight against these things. They are not to be complacent and hiding in their churches while these spiritual powers take over. They must recognize firstly that there is a war, and they are involved in it whether they like it or not.
Verse 13 is almost a verbatim repetition of v.11. The term “therefore” looks back at the two previous verses and then Paul moves to repeat v.11 to emphasize its significance. He brings in one new element, that of resisting in the evil day. While some point to a future evil day right before the end of history, Paul has utilized it in the present tense both in this epistle (5:16) and in Galatians 1:4. He is speaking to believers in the 1st century and admonishing them to resist so, all this to say that, at least to some degree, the apostle expected the recipients of the letter to go through that day.
The Belt of Truth & the Breastplate of Righteousness
In verse 13, the apostle begins to describe the armour in which they are to use to stand firm. As we mentioned, the pieces of the armour are represented by a previous notion in Ephesians. To stand firm meant to put these pieces on before the battle begins.
The first piece of the armour is a belt of truth or to gird your loins with truth (NASB). The Roman soldier’s belt was protective in nature. It hung under the rest of the armour to protect the thighs. This wasn’t the same as the belt that was used to carry his sword. What we don’t want to miss is that this is a quotation from Isaiah 11:4-5 which is a reference to the Messiah:
But with righteousness He shall judge the poor,
And decide with equity for the meek of the earth;
He shall strike the earth with the rod of His mouth,
And with the breath of His lips He shall slay the wicked.
Righteousness shall be the belt of His loins,
And faithfulness the belt of His waist. (NKJV)
The Messianic King will be a conqueror who will bring a kingdom of righteousness and faithfulness. Notice that this conquering is now being associated with His people. It was through the volunteers who would go to war on behalf of Him that would be the means by which He’d invade (Psalm 110:3). The truth spoken of in our passage is the truth of God (4:24; 5:9). So, they are to protect their footing with the truth of God.
The next piece is the breastplate of righteousness. This obviously protected the soldier’s chest against a sword’s blows. Once again, the apostle borrows from Isaiah. In this instance, Isaiah 59:17:
He put on righteousness like a breastplate,
And a helmet of salvation on His head;
And He put on garments of vengeance for clothing
And wrapped Himself with zeal as a mantle. (NASB)
Once more, we get a glimpse of the conquering Messiah who comes as a warrior wearing a breastplate of righteousness and the helmet of salvation. He comes to save His people and to conquer His enemies. The righteousness that will protect us from the enemy is a righteousness founded in the righteousness of Jesus and in return our living out that righteousness through holiness. We are to put on the new man and be something different than the gentiles.
Shod Your Feet
The third on the list of spiritual armours is a command to shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Roman soldiers would wear caligae which was a heavy sandal with a thick sole and small metal spikes for grip. These worked very well in the sand but were treacherous on hard surfaces. Interestingly, the Roman Ceasar Gaius dawned the nickname “Caligula” or “little boot” which was given to him by soldiers after as a small child, he wore the roman war gear with little caligae.
Notice that this text doesn’t say that we should shod our feet but having shod our feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace. It is communicating actions that have happened prior to moving forward towards something.
The text itself is a quotation from Isaiah 52:7:
How lovely on the mountains
Are the feet of him who brings good news,
Who announces peace
And brings good news of happiness,
Who announces salvation,
And says to Zion, “Your God reigns!”
Of course, this is the promise of a time when the gospel would be proclaimed and brought to Jerusalem. A Salvation that would in fact be good news because it would bring about a true and lasting peace between God and men. This good news would come in the announcement of the salvation of God for men and the recognition of God’s reign! In Romans 10:15, we notice that this is speaking of the role of the preacher to bring about this good news. The gospel is what we move forward with in our Christian lives. It is the footing behind the Christian Walk and taking that message out to others. There is movement with the good news that should be taken with them. To preach the gospel is to proclaim the One who has brought peace with God into this world.
The Shield of Faith
This time, Paul exhorts them to pick up the shield of faith. The roman shield was broad roughly 4 feet high and 2.5 feet across. It protected them from the enemies’ arrows and blows from their sword. The shield that Paul is referring to is their faith. It is continuing to believe God in the midst of the attacks of the devil. This is how we are to protect ourselves from the flaming arrows of the evil one. Interestingly, protection from flaming arrows finds a parallel in Psalm 120:4 where he compares the arrows to lying lips and a deceiving tongue. The initial purpose of the entire armour was to stand firm against the wiles or schemes of the devil. Peter compared it to “resisting the devil” (1 Peter 5:8-9). When the devil attacks us verbally through his minions, we are to protect ourselves with continuing to stand firm in our faith.
A Helmet & A Sword
The final two pieces of military equipment mentioned by the apostle are the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit which is the Word of God.
The Roman helmet was called a galea and it took on various forms. The helmet of salvation is once again a quotation from Isaiah 59:17 and the apostle also uses it in his epistle to the Thessalonians (5:8). In Isaiah, Yahweh’s warrior king is said to wear the helmet of salvation in coming to save His people. Believers in Jesus were to dawn this helmet as a means of protecting their head by continuing to relish in the salvation that they’d received.
The final piece of spiritual military equipment afforded to the believer is the sword. This is not meant to be used in a defensive strategy, but as an offensive assault against the enemy. It was a sword used in close combat. What makes this sword deliver strong blows is not the soldier but the Spirit. He is the power behind that sword. But this sword is also identified with its more common expression the word of God (Hebrews 4:12). It is the word that we use to attack the enemy. A word that delivers death blows because it is by nature spiritually charged.
[1] Pillar New Testament Commentaries: The Epistle to the Ephesians, Peter T. O’Brien, Eerdmans, 2013, P.467
The Moncton Herald 