The Armor of God
10Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. 12For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
Dig Deeper
One thing that every coach knows is that there is a time for action. Every team must be prepared, that is indispensable. During the time for preparation, the team is drilled and practiced so that they can know what they are truly capable of and what they want to accomplish. That way all the players understand what they want to do and can work together to achieve their goals. Players are also taught about their opponent. The most difficult type of game in a team sport is one in which you know nothing about your opponent and what they are up to. When the preparation is well done, though, and everything is put together and ready, you don’t just sit around and continue to practice. It is time to suit up and play the game.
This isn’t a perfect analogy, because when it comes to the Christian life, there is no pre-season time, where new converts get to practice and prepare for the time when the forces of evil will begin to attack. Yet, this is still somewhat the mentality that Paul takes at the close of his letter. He has explained what sort of power believers have available to them in the life of Christ, and has described practical examples where the forces of darkness will bubble up in their life. Now it is time to take up their armor and get into the fight with all of the tools available to them.
Paul has stressed the subject of power throughout this letter and has, since chapter 4, been urging his readers to stand apart from the pagan lifestyle that surrounds them. Here he brings those ideas together as he lays out a summary of the whole letter, while at the same time introducing a new image for this letter, that of a well armed soldier. These verses constitute a call to action, but also recapitulate many of the ideas that have already been described earlier in the letter: power (1:19-20; 3:7, 16, 20); put on (4:24); the devil’s scheming and footholds (4:14; 27); evil spiritual (1:27; 3:10); heavenly realms (1:3, 20; 2:6; 3:10); evil days (5:16); darkness (5:8, 11); truth (1:13; 4:15, 21, 24, 25; 5:9); righteousness (4:24; 5:9); the gospel (1:13; 3:6); peace (1:2; 2:14-17; 4:3); faith (1:15; 2:8; 3:12, 17; 4:5, 13); salvation (1:13); the Spirit 1:13-14, 17; 2:18, 22; 3:5, 16; 4:3-4, 30; 5:18); the word (5:26); prayer 1:15-19; 3:14-20); saints (1:1, 15, 18; 2:19; 3:8, 18; 4:12; 5:3); mystery (1:19; 3:3-4, 9; 5:32).
In 1:19, Paul prayed that his readers might become enlightened as to the greatness of God’s power, now he calls for them to put it on and take advantage of it. Paul probably uses two sources for the prevailing image in this passage. The first comes from the everyday image, for his first readers, of a roman soldier, fully armed and dressed, and ready for battle. The second comes from the Old Testament Scriptures such as Isaiah 59:17, which describes God as the armed warrior who has put "on righteousness as his breastplate, and the helmet of salvation on his head; he put on the garments of vengeance and wrapped himself in zeal as in a cloak"; and Isaiah 11:5, which describes the Messiah as the one who comes prepared for war and judgment: "Righteousness will be his belt and faithfulness the sash around his waist. "
What is true of the Messiah is true of his people, so if the Messiah is the one dressed and ready for battle against evil, then his people must also be dressed and ready because the battle with evil will come. We are, as 5:1 has already stated, to be imitators of God. Verse 10, however, literally says to "be made strong in the Lord," indicating that the spiritual armor is given to us by Christ in his mighty power, not anything we do of our own power. The tense used in verse 11, which urges believers to put on the full armor of God, indicates that it was a specific action taken at a specific time in the past, which would seem to fit with the baptismal theology that is present throughout this letter; in other words, Paul may be thinking of baptism as the specific moment when the armor is put on, and is now calling these young Christians to realize what they have available to them.
Why does the armor need to be put on? Because we are in a battle not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. We are engaged in battle, but we have already learned in 1:21 that Christ has defeated these spiritual powers. Paul’s point is that we are already victors in Christ, thus the call is to be what we already are. Even though they have been subjugated by Christ, the evil forces are still a constant threat to one’s spiritual life. Paul here describes that the battle is basically against one force, the evil powers, which he describes in many different ways for impact and emphasis (any attempt to find a specific hierarchy of evil forces here is more speculation and fancy than anything else). The fact is that there are evil powers in the spiritual realm that can effect believers that are not prepared, so we must all be prepared when the day of evil comes, or more literally "any time evil is encountered."
Paul makes no attempt here to give a complete list of everything that a Christian needs, but he does stress the essential items. The first item is truth. The Christian message is only worth anything if it is true. It works because it’s true, and the truth of Christianity must never be compromised. The second item is righteousness. This has to do with the fact that God, the true judge of the world, has promised to put the whole world to rights, and that is exactly what He will do. In fact, in Christ, God has already done that for us and allows us to stand ‘in the right’ (the technical meaning of righteousness) before Him. This is our breastplate against attacks of the evil one. The third item is the gospel of peace. The imagery here comes from Isaiah 52:7, as those who bring good news and proclaim peace are declared to have beautiful feet. Paul indicates the immediacy and reality of the spiritual battle and the readiness needed to proclaim the message that God has defeated the evil forces of darkness and reconciled the world to Himself in Christ. The fourth item is the shield of faith. Loyal obedience to the life of Christ will protect us against the enemy when he hurls his fiery darts at us. Truly living the life of Christ will quench everything the enemy can throw our way.
The fifth item is the helmet of salvation. In Isaiah 59, salvation is the helmet that God wears into battle; it is His power and readiness to save, not protection as it is here. We should note that the previous items were "put on" but the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit are "taken" or "received." A fully dressed soldier would be handed the helmet and sword as he could not bend over to pick them up. Salvation and the word of God are thus pictured as gifts to be given to us by God. Although we cannot enact things such as truth or righteousness, it is the duty of the believer to stand firm in those things. Salvation and the word, however, are gifts that can only be received. The word of God here is not the New Testament, which was not completed yet, but refers to the word of the gospel (Eph. 5:26) through which God reconciles the world, including people, to Himself.
The attack of the evil one may take different forms, but we can be sure that it will come. It might be a full frontal attack trying to prevent us from spreading the gospel, something Paul seemed to be familiar with. Or the fiery darts might come more in the form of age-old temptations such as being distracted by the things of the world or false teaching, or perhaps the most common attack of the enemy that comes in the form of thoughts, ideas, and suggestions, which come into our mind, tempting us to dwell on evil thoughts which will eventually lead to sinful actions. In whatever form the battle comes to us we must first recognize the ground on which the battle is being fought. Second, we must put on the full armor of God so that we can withstand the attack. Finally, we must learn how to stand our ground and trust that the armor God has given us is sufficient.
Devotional Thought
When Satan attacks, and he will, what is your defense? Do you turn to the armor of God or do you have other items that provide comfort? What we turn to when the hard times come reveal a lot about our character.
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