The Christian’s Armour
Ephesians 6:10-18
The story has been told of a mental hospital that many years ago came up with an unusual test to determine when their patients were ready to go back into the world. They brought the patient who was ready for release into a room where a water faucet was left on so that the sink overflowed and was pouring water all over the floor. Then they handed the patient a mop and told them to mop up the water. If the patient had enough sense to turn off the faucet before mopping up the water, they were ready to be released. But if, as in the case of many, the patient started mopping while the water was still flowing over the sink, they kept that patient for more treatment.
As Christians, all of us face the world in which we live and are confronted with the need to do battle with the evil that dominates it. But, like the patients in the mental hospital, until we realize where the source of that evil is, we will not make any real contributions to its defeat. To see less evil in the world means that we must conquer the evil that pouring from our own heart, this happened when we undergo a true conversion. Then, to deal with the evil around us, we need a “mop, ” which is the spiritual armor that God has provided for us.
“Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;”
By a graphic figure the apostle Paul shows that the Christian’s life is lived on the battlefield, for we are not only pilgrims but soldiers; we are not only in a foreign country, but in the enemy’s land. Although as a Christian we have been redeemed by the Lord so that our life can be free and full, yet between the moments of our conversion until the final full sanctification of our souls, there is a terrible and drawn out conflict through which we have to pass. This is not a figure of speech, but a grim reality. Though salvation is free, yet it is not obtained without great effort. The fight to which God calls us to is one in which Christians receive many sore wounds, and thousands of those who claim to be Christians are slain. In our Scripture of the day Paul warns us that the conflict has to do with more than human foes; the enemies we have to meet are superhuman ones, and therefore in order to fight successfully against them we need supernatural strength. So let us get the idea out of our mind that we can stomp on the devil’s head…that with our human strength we can defeat him. If that we the case we not have any need for God’s armor. So remember that our fight is spiritual and not physical.
We must remember that the Christian belongs to the spiritual realm as well as the natural, and so we have spiritual as well as natural enemies; hence we need spiritual strength as well as physical. Therefore we have started our Scripture of the day with verse 10, “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might.”
“I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.” John 15:5
So for us to “be strong,” to gather up enough strength for the conflicts that are ahead of us, we need to “be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might.” This tells us that we need to go to the only source from which we can obtain it to combat the spiritual forces that want to drag us down. Please note, it is not “be strong from the Lord,” nor is it “be strengthened by the Lord.” No, it is “be strong in the Lord.” And if I may use an example: just as a thumb that is amputated from the hand is useless, and just as a branch cut off from the vine withers, so will be our fate when our fellowship with the Lord has been broken, we are in a strength less, fruitless, and useless state. Thus, “be strong in the Lord” means, first of all, see to it that we maintain a live practical relationship to and remain in constant communion with the Lord. If we fail to keep this communion through prayer and the study of His Word we will not have any strength for the conflict. A soldier needs strength of the body; he also needs courage, and that is what is in view here in verse 10 when we are told to “be strong”: in faith, in hope, in wisdom, in patience, in fortitude, in every Christian grace. To be strong in grace is to be weak in sin. So we need to have our strength and courage renewed daily. Seek His strength at the beginning of every day.
“Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil” from verses 11. Our first need is to stir up ourselves to resist temptation by a believing reliance upon God’s all-sufficient grace. Our second greatest need is to be well armed for the conflict into which we daily enter. Here is where we see the relationship between verses 10 and 11: “be strong in the Lord” and “Put on the whole armour of God”: first stir up yourselves to resist temptation, seeking strength at the beginning of the day for the conflict. Please notice that it is called the “armour of God”: just as the strength we need comes not from ourselves, but is supplied by the Lord, so our means of defense lie not in our own powers, but only as they are quickened by God. It is called the “armour of God” because He both provides and gives it to us, because we have none of our own; and yet, while this armour is provided by God, we have to put it on! God does not fit it on us; He places it before us and it is our responsibility, duty, task, to put on the whole armour of God.
It is important for us to understand that the term armour is a figurative one and refers to armour that is not material or carnal. It is a figurative expression of the Christian graces given to us by God. And when we are told to “put on” the armour it simply means that we are to call into exercise and action those graces. We are told to “put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.” There is no standing against Satan if we are not armoured. On the other hand, there is no failing or falling before Satan if our armour is intact and active.
“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places” (verse 12). In this verse the apostle Paul tells us who we are fighting against in our Christian walk. He lets us know that we are not wrestling against puny human beings no stronger than ourselves, but the powers and rulers of the darkness of this world…for this, the power of God is necessary. Keep in mind that our enemy is bent on destroying our faith and producing doubt. They seek to destroy hope and produce despair. They seek to destroy humility and produce pride. They seek to destroy peace and produce bitterness and malice. They seek to prevent our enjoyment of heavenly things by getting us over occupied with earthly things. Their attack is not upon our body, but upon our souls.
“Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand” (verse 13). The opening word “wherefore” in this verse, means that, in view of the fact that we wrestle against these powerful superhuman, invisible enemies, who hate us with a deadly hatred and are seeking to destroy us, it is a necessity that we take on the provisions of God so that we can not only stand, but withstand their attacks. And note that we are to withstand, which is the opposite of yielding, of being tripped up, thrown down, by the Devil’s temptations: it means that we are to stand our ground and resist the Devil. And when we resist the Devil we are promised this by God from James 4:7.
“Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”
When we stand our ground and not give way to the Devil God tells us that for a season he will leave us alone.
I want you to notice that we are not told to advance or to fight. We are only ordered to “stand.” God has not called us to an aggressive war upon Satan, nor to invade his territory, and nor to wrestle from him what is God’s; we are only told to occupy the ground that God has allotted to us.
“Stand, therefore, having your loins girt about with truth.” Now this verse brings us to the first of the seven pieces of the Christian’s armour mentioned in our passage of the day. First let us not think of this item as something that is external, visible, or touchable. The figure of the “girdle” is taken from a well-known custom in Asian countries, where the people all wear long flowing outer garments reaching to the feet, which most times gets in the way of walking, working, or fighting. So when the garment is not girded and hanging down it means that the person is at rest. To “gird up” is the opposite of rest and is a call to action. And you have watched any karate movies you will see this happen when a character is being attacked, how they would open their outer garment at the waist and whip it around their back and then move into a defensive position.
The breastplate is for the heart, the helmet for the head; what then, is the “girdle” for? In our verse the reference is to the waist or loins, which are at the center of our body. And remember that we are not taking about any material thing, but to a spiritual or invisible thing. In this case it speaks about the center of our activity, the mainspring of our action, which is the mind; first it has the thought, then it works about carrying out that thought. And looking at 1 Peter 1:13 verifies this very idea.
“Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;”
So we are told to girdle our minds with truth. Now it is not so much as us taking hold of the truth, but allowing the truth to take hold of us. Therefore, “having your loins girt about with truth” speaks of a spiritual reference to the holiness in and the regulation of the thoughts of the mind. The mind girded up means a mind which is disciplined; the opposite of a mind where the thoughts are allowed to run loose and wild. Again, the loins are a place of strength, so is the mind, If we allow our thoughts and imagination to run wild, we will have no communion with God, and no power against Satan. And one of the things that help to keep our minds girdled with truth is the Word of God. John 17:17 says:
“Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.”
That is what must regulate the mind, control the thoughts, and subdue the imagination: there must be knowledge of, faith in, love for, and subjection to God’s Word. So we need to have our minds girdled with truth because Satan is a liar and we can only meet him with the Truth. Anything less and we are doomed.
The second piece of the Christian’s armour is mentioned in verse 14: “and having on the breastplate of righteous.” First of all, notice the connecting word “and,” which speaks of a very close relation between the mind being girdled with truth and the heart being protected with the breastplate of righteousness. All of the seven pieces of armour are not so connected, but here we see that the mind and heart are united. And we can all see how connected they are when we our mind says to do one thing, but our heart says to do another. The heart in this case speaks of our affections and conscience. So the breastplate of righteousness calls upon us to have a holiness of heart. And reading Acts 14:16 should give us a better understanding of this idea.
“And herein do I exercise myself, to have always a conscience void to offence toward God, and toward men.”
Guard the heart against any hatred toward God and man. Satan would love to build hatred in your hearts toward God and man. But when we put on the Christian’s armour we guard ourselves against this kind of attack.
The third piece of armour involves the feet. “And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace” (verse 15). If we hold on to the first thought of this Scripture, that it is a figure of speech for the spiritual we can come to the conclusion that this verse is speaking of our will. What the feet are to the body the will is to the soul. The feet carry the body from place to place, and the will is that which directs the activities of the soul; what the way decides, that is what we do.
Now the will is to be regulated by the peace of the Gospel. What does that mean? This: in becoming reconciled to God and in having good will to our fellow man the Gospel is the means that God uses. The Gospel is not only a message of good news, but a Divine commandment and rule of conduct:
“For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?” 1 Peter 4:17
The Gospel requires us to deny ourselves and take up our cross daily, and follow Christ in the path of obedience to God revealed will. So we need to have our will moving in the direction God’s will as revealed in the Gospel.
“Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all fiery darts of the wicked” (verse 16). The fourth piece of armour is the shield, and again we are talking spiritually. So this is a spiritual shield that is a covering for the mind, heart, and will. For us to stand there must be faith in exercise for the inner man to stand in these days of wickedness. We need to be fully persuaded by the Divine nature of the Gospel and follow in its teachings if we are to shield the mind, heart, and will from the attacks of Satan. The whole victory is ascribed to faith, without it all other parts are open to the fiery darts of the wicked.
“And take the helmet of salvation” (verse 17). This is the fifth piece of the Christian’s armour and is linked to faith, the fourth piece of armour. If we read 1 Thessalonians 5:8 we can get a picture of what the spiritual meaning of the helmet of salvation is.
“But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation.”
The helmet of salvation speaks of the hope of the promise of the things to come. Hope always looks forward, having to do with the promise of living eternally with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Now I said that this piece of armour is linked with faith, the fourth piece of armour. Faith is that trust that God will make good to His people those things He has presented in His Word. And hope that that patience that waits for the promise. Without faith hope is dead.
“And the sword of the spirit, which is the Word of God” (verse 17). God has provided us with offensive as well as defensive ones. Now you may be thinking that I said earlier that God does not call us to be aggressive against Satan, seeking to invade his territory, and take it from him. This verse does not clash with the thoughts and ideas of the other pieces of armour at all. And to give you a clear picture of this let us look at 2 Corinthians 7:1.
“Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.”
The sword of the spirit is not meant for you to go in hand-to-hand combat with Satan, but to be used to cut out and overtake the lusts and sins that rage within us. We are not only to resist our lusts but also to subdue and overtake them.
“For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” Hebrews 4:12
It is interesting to note that how late the sword of the spirit is mentioned in the list. Why was it not the first in the list? Well the answer is quite simple. All of the other graces are needed first for us to make a right use of the Word of God. If there is not a sincere mind, a holy heart, and a will obedient to God then we would handle the Word of God dishonestly. If there is no faith and hope then we would misuse it. And it is next to last because it shows that even if we think that we have reached the highest point possible in our Christian life, we still need the Word.
The last piece of armour is given to us in verse 18: “Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints.” Prayer is that point which the Christian soldier has taken unto himself the armour of God, fitted for victory, that point at which we turn to our General for the help that is needed for the day. In wearing the armour of God we are told to stand, to stand on our knees! Only prayer can keep alive the different spiritual graces that are figured by the various pieces of armour. “Praying always”: in every season-in times of joy as well as sorrow, in days of adversity, as well as prosperity. Not only so, but watching thereunto with perseverance”: that is one of the essential elements in powerful prayer-persistence. Think not only of yourself, but of all people, those who are also engaged in the fight and those that need to be engaged in the fight.
