The armour of God. A study from Ephesians 6 - Part 2

Introduction

In part 1 we looked at why we need the armour of God, and began to consider our call to stand firm. Here we are examining the full armour of God. We shall look at each piece of the armour and how it helps us to stand firm as followers of Christ.

The full armour

“He 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.”

Isaiah 59: 17

As Paul talks about the armour of God for us as believers he surely has this passage in mind. In Isaiah 59 we read of God putting on armour and dealing with His foes. In Ephesians 6 we read of armour, though, as we’ve said, it is to enable us to stand. We are to stand against the devil’s schemes and stand when the day of evil of comes. This idea, “the day of evil”, in verse 13 is worth a closer look. It is the concept that launches Paul’s description of the armour of God, so what does he mean by the “day of evil”?

There are two options here. Option one, Paul could be speaking eschatologically, talking about the powers of evil and the final conflict (see 2 Thessalonians 2: 8-10). Option two, Paul has a more immediate timeline in mind, suggesting that the day of evil is now, that such schemes of the devil may trap and ensnare us today and we are to stand firm in resistance.

“... the Christian is here urged to arm himself for immediate battle, not for Armageddon.”

(The Interpreter’s Bible, Volume 8, 1928, p739)

This sense of immediacy makes the most sense in this context, especially as we remember Ephesians 4: 14, or Hebrews 12: 1, or 1 Peter 3: 15. These last two call us to action in the present, while Paul (in 4: 14) explains again the issues we may face today. For this reason I believe the armour of God is for every believer, every day.

Let’s look now at the armour and consider how this helps us:

• Belt of truth

• Breastplate of righteousness

• Shoes of the gospel of peace

• Shield of faith

• Helmet of salvation

• Sword of the Spirit

Paul has clear overlaps with Isaiah 59: 17 - the breastplate of righteousness, and the helmet of salvation. The armour of God is both the armour God himself uses and the armour He provides for us to use. As we reflect on this list we see that we are fully protected, we are called to use all of this armour, not just some of it.

“Make use of all the proper defensitives and weapons for repelling the temptations and stratagems of Satan – get and exercise all the Christian graces, the whole armour, that no part would be exposed to the enemy.”

(Henry, M. Matthew Henry’s Commentary Cor-Phil, p348)

Paul is quite clear in verse 1 and verse 13 that the full armour is needed. I suspect that most of us are not intimately familiar with armour, but each part conveys an important message for us. We will take a closer look at these in the following sections.

Personal Question

• Which parts of the armour do you more readily rely on?

• Ask the Holy Spirit to help you with the rest.

Truth and righteousness

The belt of truth (v14) is more accurately translated as “having girded your loins with truth” according to Francis Foulkes (Tyndale New Testament Commentaries Ephesians 2008, p179). This makes sense when we consider the flowing garments of the time. It is not a picture of a belt to hold your trousers up. Rather the image here is of dealing with flowing garments, an essential step in getting ready for action. The truth here is about the foundation we build upon. As the soldier prepares for battle this first step of girding their loins is vital for their movement, the rest of their preparations are built on top of this.

“Surely you desire truth in the inner parts; you teach me wisdom in the inmost place.”

Psalm 51: 6

Truth must be our foundation. We can also think about the wise and foolish builders in Matthew 7 and Luke 6; we can have truth but we must use it. The truth must be put into practice. The truth of who Jesus is, the truth of God’s love, justice, mercy, and power, the truth of who we are as a result. We must put this on each day. Daily considering the truth as part of our preparations to stand firm.

“Never give up on the sheer truth of the gospel. It’s like the belt which holds everything else together and in place.”

(Wright, T. Paul for Everyone The Prison Letters, 2002, p74)

With the belt of truth in place, with those flowing garments tucked safely and securely out of the way, the breastplate is put on.

“He put on righteousness as his breastplate…”

Isaiah 59:17

As Paul writes about the breastplate of righteousness (Ephesians 6: 14) he likely had this passage from Isaiah in mind.

This image leads us to the question: what is righteousness? Before we look at that we must make sure we understand “breastplate”. Historically this is a pair of bronze plates, worn one over each breast and also known as the heart protector. This gives vital protection while still allowing movement. We can see from this image why the shield is also required, and we’ll look at that later. Now, to our question on righteousness.

In Greek we read ‘dikaiosunē’ which is, according to Vines the “character or quality of being right or just” (Vine, W.E. Vine’s Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words, 1997, p970)

“This meaning of dikaiosunē, right action, is frequent in Paul’s writings as in all five of its occurrences in Rom 6; Eph 6: 14, etc. But for the most part he uses it of that gracious gift of God to men whereby all who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ are brought into right relationship with God.”

(Vine, W.E. Vine’s Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words, 1997, p970)

So, in this context righteousness is not so much about the gift from God, it is more about actions and character as we stand.

“... as Calvin, Westcott, Moule and many others take it, uprightness of character, ‘loyalty in principle and action to the holy law of God (Moule CB). To neglect what we know to be righteous action is to leave a gaping hole in our armour.”

(Foulkes, F. Tyndale New Testament Commentaries, Ephesians, 2008, p180

Moule, CB: Moule H.C.G Commentary on Ephesians 1884)

Considering this definition, of right character and living, leaves me with the question of how, how can I know and do that?

“How can a young man keep his way pure?

By living according to your word.”

Psalm 119: 9

The psalmist has the same question and in verse 9-16 he expands on this opening. In short we are to read and meditate on the word of God, this is how we discern righteous action. Truth and righteousness go hand in hand in the armour of God.

Personal Question

• Ask God to reveal His truth to you, that you may make it your foundation.

• Ask the Holy Spirit to guide you in right character and living.

Gospel of peace

The imagery here, of shoes (verse 16), may seem a little odd to us as we don’t often consider our footwear. If we pause for a moment and consider different shoes we use for different purposes we may gain some insight. For example, I have road running shoes, hiking boots, smart shoes, football trainers, and trail running shoes. I have sandals, crocs, water shoes, slippers, and wellies. Each shoe serves a distinct purpose. I don’t go running in hiking boots, I don’t wear trail running shoes with a suit. We can start to see the importance of different shoes, this leads us to the question of the shoes here.

Some commentators think that Paul has switched from Isaiah 59 to 52: 7, moving to that passage changes the tone here. It would move from an encouragement to stand to one of forward motion. I don’t think that Paul is making that shift here.

“Another meaning of the Greek noun hetoimasia, however, is ‘preparation’ in the sense of ‘prepared foundation’, and thus it appears to be used in the Greek of Psalm 89: 14”

(Foulkes, F Tyndale New Testament Commentaries Ephesians, 2008, p180)

English translations may have “readiness” (NIV, ESV), “ready for battle” (Wright, T. Bible for Everyone), “preparation” (New King James). All of this is interesting and Foulkes has given a useful insight, but what does this mean practically, for our daily lives?

The image of shoes is one that conveys a sense of sure-footedness, a sense of good grip and an ability to stay in place.

“The enemy will do all he can to knock you off your feet. Holding fast to this message of peace will make you ready, like good shoes or boots would do, to stay upright.”

(Wright, T. Paul for Everyone The Prison Letters, 2002, p74)

The gospel of peace is foundation to our stand as Christians, much like our choice of footwear is foundational to the activity we might partake in – running, hiking, attending a wedding. This peace is a message Paul has expounded in Ephesians 2: 1-11, a peace born of unity. As we are called to stand we are called to do so together, not alone or in isolation. We are united in and through Jesus.

“Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another – and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”

Hebrews 10: 25

We stand together and unity which comes from Christ, we have peace with him and peace with one another. This is foundational to our stand.

Personal Question

• Give thanks to God for your local community of believers, if you are not part of one then ask God to lead you to such a place.

• Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal where you may have let unity slip and commit to resolve that with His help.

Faith and salvation

“In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish the flaming arrows of the evil one.”

Ephesians 6: 16

Paul has already instructed us to “put on the full armour” (verses 11 and 13). Here he is telling us that the shield is not an optional extra, nor does this large protective cover render the other components redundant or unnecessary. We are to take up our faith in addition to truth, righteousness, and the gospel of peace.

The shield of faith is as important a part of the full armour of God as everything else. A truth that would have been known of military armour. Roman forces relied heavily on their large shields often bringing them together to form a nearly indestructible unit. The shields were so large the soldier could, if need be, shelter entirely behind it. With such clear imagery we are left asking what is faith?

In his first letter to the Thessalonians Paul outlines the armour of God, and faith is a key part there too (1 Thessalonians 5: 8). In both passages “faith” can be taken to mean reliance on God. We are to rely on God as we stand against the flaming arrows.

“The ‘wiles of the devil’ (v. 11) Paul knew to include such flaming darts, people’s arrow tongues, the shafts of impurity, selfishness, doubt, fear, disappointment, that are planned by the enemy to burn and destroy. The apostle knew only faith’s reliance on God could quench and deflect such weapons whenever they were hurled at the Christian.”

(Foulkes, F. Tyndale New Testament Commentaries Ephesians, 2008, p181)

“Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.”

Hebrews 11: 1

This is possibly the most famous verse on faith. It opens, what is possibly, the most preached passage when it comes to faith. Yet it is still somewhat mysterious. Faith is a word often used that can be very powerful and encouraging while also lacking an obvious concrete meaning. It is a certainty in God, a complete trust in Him. Only as we trust in God are we able to deflect and extinguish the flaming arrows of lies and deceit the devil fires at us.

“Faith is itself a gift. No works-gospel can produce it. Faith required the mediation of a structure of faith, a fellowship of trust in obedience…

…Faith is the supreme treasure entrusted to the people of God, the church.”

(The Interpreter’s Bible Volume 10, 1978, p743)

The beauty of faith is that it’s not something we simply work at, as Paul has already pointed out faith is a gift.

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and that not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.”

Ephesians 2: 8

Faith then is reliance on God. The shield we are given is the truth that we can rely on God.

With the armour listed so far the only thing left exposed is the head. This is where salvation comes in.

“Take the helmet of salvation…”

Ephesians 6: 17

We will look at the sword of the Spirit in the next section. For now we will focus on the helmet of salvation.

“Fifth, the helmet of salvation. Knowing you already belong to the family of the risen Messiah, and that you therefore already have been rescued from the ultimate enemy, enables you to face all secondary enemies. Wear this helmet always.”

(Wright, T. Paul for Everyone The Prison Letters, 2002, p75)

We have already seen that Paul is most likely referencing Isaiah 59 where the divine warrior wears the helmet of salvation. Foulkes suggests this is as the bringer of salvation, which is a different meaning to our passage here, in Ephesians, where we put the helmet of salvation on as something we have received. Perhaps more in keeping with Psalm 140.

“O Sovereign LORD, my strong deliverer, who shields my head in the day of battle”

Psalm 140: 7

Our Salvation, our rescue that God has performed is a protection for us, shielding our heads, our minds, from attack. Here in Ephesians we see that salvation, the rescue, and its protection are for the here and now. When we consider also 1 Thessalonians with “the hope of salvation as a helmet” (5: 8), we see there is also a sense of future hope. We are saved now, and we are saved for the future. Focussing our mind on these truths helps us to tear down the lies we can so easily allow to build up in our thoughts. Against all such lies salvation speaks the truth of rescue, love, hope, acceptance, and freedom. Be sure to wear this helmet always.

Personal Question

• Take time to ask God for an increased measure of faith

• Do you find it easy to accept the truth of your salvation? Ask God to help you grow in that today – to put on this helmet of salvation.

Word and prayer

“... and the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.”

Ephesians 6: 17-18

We now come to the only weapon in the full armour of God; the word. This is the weapon Jesus used to stand against the devil in the wilderness. In Matthew 4: 1-11 the devil tempts Jesus three times. Each time Jesus quotes from Deuteronomy; He uses scripture to resist the devil. The result was the devil left Jesus; much like James tells us.

“Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”

James 4: 7

When we are tempted and troubled, the word of God, packed full of truth about who God is, who we are in God, and loaded with God’s promises is our weapon. We can use this to resist, to stand firm, and the devil will flee.

My wife has created a simple but effective poster that lists out some of the promises of God. This is up by the side of the bed. Whenever either of us is feeling troubled we can easily spend time meditating on these promises. I think this is a great example of how to wield the sword of the Spirit. One key thing we all must do, if we are to use the word of God in this way, is read and meditate on scripture. We can only call to mind the things we have put in there in the first place.

As we read the word of God we are cleansed by it, and made pure as Paul says in Ephesians 5: 26. This washing and purifying helps us to stand as it shows up the attacks for what they are. Attacks can be large scale and obvious, civic powers closing church communities, gangs attacking churches – buildings and people. They can also be more subtle, distractions that pull us away from truth, side issues that seem of significance but really ensnare us and take us away from really following God. Being able to recognise these attacks means we can stand and wield the sword of the Spirit, the word of God.

The final part of this passage is prayer. Not listed with an armour image but no less significant in our stand. Paul lays a challenge before us here; pray on all occasions, keep praying for all the saints (verse 18). According to Foulkes (ibid, p182) the Greek has a participle, ‘praying’, so we can consider all the armour of God just described and read the instructions as put on each piece with prayer and now continue praying.

We see many calls to persistent prayer in the New Testament.

• Luke 18: 1 - pray and never give up

• Romans 12: 12 - faithful in prayer

• Philippians 4: 6 - in everything pray

• Colossians 4: 2 - devote yourselves to prayer

• 1 Thessalonians 5: 17 - pray continually

Prayer is a vital component of the Christian life, a key component in our ability to stand. From these verses it is easy to see the importance of prayer, in our current passage we are called to “be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints” (Ephesians 6: 18). These phrases, “continually”, “on all occasions”, “faithfully”, “be devoted to” can lead us to imagine that we must be praying non-stop with no time for anything else. This is not the case. The heart of these exhortations is really that prayer becomes our first response. When things are good we give thanks, when there is trouble we seek God. In every circumstance of life we pray and prayer is our default response.

Paul, in Ephesians 6: 18, uses the Greek word `kairos`, which we have translated as `at all times` or `on all occasions`. This word, unlike `chronos` which refers to the passage of time, is really about particular times. So it is that we are to pray in all life's moments, not every second of the day.

If I’m being honest even this lower level can be difficult. I think we can all find prayer hard. It requires stopping and turning our attention to God. What Paul says is encouraging.

“And pray in the Spirit on all occasions, with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.”

Ephesians 6: 18

The Spirit helps us to pray, God has given us His Spirit, and Paul tells us in Ephesians 5: 18 we can go on being filled with the Spirit. So, within us is the Spirit helping us to pray. We don’t need to muster up the passion, enthusiasm, or energy for prayer; we have the Spirit, and we can always ask for more – being continually filled.

Further, there are no restrictions on prayer. At all times, with every kind of prayer and request. Nothing is off limits. There are certain things we are told to pray for; all the saints, that is all those who believe (6: 18), our rulers and leaders (1 Timothy 2: 1-2), but nothing is ruled out.

I often start my prayers by looking out of my window and giving thanks for what I see. This leads me through thanks and praise and onto my requests; requests for my family, my friends, and the world around me. Prayer can be hard, but we have the help of the Spirit, and God wants to hear whatever is on our hearts.

Personal Question

• Spend some time thinking about the promises of God and give thanks for each of them.

• Do you find prayer hard? Ask the Holy Spirit to help you.

• Consider what you have coming up, give thanks for the good things, ask for God’s help with the hard things.