It sounds so awesome, the armour of God: swords, helmets and chest plates. In amongst all those passages of the Bible that talk about mercy, compassion and turning the other cheek here is red-blooded combat. And it is necessary combat. For the devil has his schemes and there are demonic spiritual forces at work, right here, right now in this present darkness.
Paul’s vivid picture in Ephesians 6 is of a Christian in a pitched spiritual battle. Hell is raging; the Christian is on the front line. The war is being waged; the only sure protection is the mighty armour of God. For it is the armour of God that will enable a Christian to stand in the evil day. The onslaught will come; only those with the armour of God will be victorious.
The whole passage stirs our hearts and gets the pulse racing. And so, in our minds, we race to armour up: ready to fight. We’ve seen enough movies with warriors donning their armour to see ourselves doing it. For myself, I can almost hear the stirring music from the final moments of the Battle of Helmsdeep* ‘What can men do against such reckless hate?’ Ride out and meet them!’ And so Theoden donned his armour to face the evil hordes.
And so,
Therefore take up the whole armour of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication.
Ephesians 6:13-18
But, perhaps, before we slip on our chest plates or breast plates we ought to ask, ‘What exactly is the Christian putting on?’ This is where the speculations can start to run pretty wild. While the more restrained writers quickly turn to the Roman military situation to explain each item of armour. Others turn to the wider Scriptures like this article explaining the full armour of God.
However, we don’t need to do that. The book of Ephesians holds the key to understanding the armour of God. Throughout Paul’s letter, the items of armour have already been described. Let me show you:
Belt of Truth
‘having fastened on the belt of Truth’ (6:14)
‘And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. (1:13)’
As you can see from chapter 1 verse 13 above, the belt of truth is the gospel of salvation. It is the gospel of Jesus that he is the Lord who died so a believer will have forgiveness for their sin. In which case, Paul is urging each and every Christian believer to fasten the gospel around themselves. It is the gospel that will keep them standing firm in the spiritual warfare they face.
Chest plate of Righteousness
The idea of righteousness turns up twice before we hit Ephesians 6
'and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. (4:24)
‘for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth’ (5:9)
What is a bit trickier is that though the word is there in Ephesians 4 & 5, an explicit explanation of righteousness is missing. But the concept is certainly there in Ephesians 2.
Those that break God’s holy law are dead in their transgressions and sins (2:1). The very language of transgression puts us in the concept realm of righteousness and unrighteousness. Those who break God’s holy law, that is all of us, are unrighteous.
This is why every person has ‘followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.’ (2:2). But, God changed all that, making each Christian alive in Christ, by his righteousness.
But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, (2:4-6)
You see the same idea even more clearly in Romans 3:21-25. It is Christ’s death that reveals God’s righteousness apart from the law.
In other words, the chest or breast plate of righteousness is Christ’s righteousness. Which is at the very centre of the gospel. Thinking of it in armour terms, a Christian is shielded by Christ’s righteousness. Not their own.
Shoes for your feet
‘as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace’ (1:15)
Again, we discover that Paul has in mind the great work Jesus Christ has already done on the cross. Jesus is the peace of God.
For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility…
thus making peace, and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. (2:14-16)
He brought peace in two dimensions – between the Jews and all the nations and, even more importantly, between humanity and God – horizontal and vertical. Christ created a new humanity, one body, and this body was reconciled to God by his death on the cross. And so, fittingly, the gospel goes out by one former enemy of God sharing it with another enemy of God. As the gospel is received, a new peace is won between the bearer, the receiver and God.
Shield of faith
With the belt on, the chest plate strapped on tight and peace shoes all laced up, the Christian is to ‘take up the shield of faith.’ Earlier in Ephesians, this is directly related to the saving work of Christ.
You can see the pattern I’m talking about. The armour of God is all there in the earlier chapters.
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. (2:8-9)
The shield of faith is knowing that you are saved, as a Christian, through trust in Jesus. A Christian is not saved by anything special about themselves (this is not from yourselves). So, a person’s identity, or their heritage or status contribute nothing. And nor does any action or deed of any kind, whether religious or not (not by works). Rather, salvation from beginning to end is a gift from God. And the gift is received by trusting the gospel. Faith, or better trust, in Jesus saves. Knowing this is a shield.
Can you see how wonderful this shield is? If the shield that keeps us safe from evil spiritual forces was our identity or heritage or something about ourselves all Satan needs to do is have us doubt something about who we are and we’d start to wonder, ‘am I saved’? And, equally destabilising would be if the shield was trusting in our works. Any wicked deed or thought we have would mean our shield would be no more than 2 ply cardboard. As the accusations of Satan come from our failures, the shield will burn. But praise God, the shield is trusting the underserved mercy found in Jesus. This is a shield that cannot be pierced. It extinguishes Satan’s fiery accusations. ‘Yes, I’m a sinner. But I’m not saved because I’m good. I’m saved by God’s mercy. Jesus died for me as a sinner and so though I’m still a sinner and sin even now my salvation is not under threat.
Now, to cap things off (insert groan), we will look at the Helmet of Salvation and the Sword of the Spirit.
Helmet of Salvation
‘and take the helmet of salvation’ (6:17)
For this concept, we could look to almost any chapter of Ephesians. But let’s go to the first to see salvation described in wonderful detail.
In love he (God) predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace. (1:5-7)
This is the salvation a Christian has in Jesus Christ. Forgiveness of sins, redemption and greatest of all, adoption into the very family of God. All because of God’s eternal plan.
This salvation is shared by the shockingly simple method of one person telling another person. And when this message is accepted salvation reigns and a new child of God is born. (1:13 and see Colossians 1:6-7). This brings us to the final piece, which is not armour but a weapon.
Sword of the Spirit
Now, there are some fantastic swords in our mythical stories: Excalibur, Glamdring (wielded by Gandalf), Sword of Peleus (from the Greek myths) but none of them top the sword of the Spirit. We might be tempted to go wandering about for a mystical weapon. I know I wanted to find one as a kid. And similar when it comes to the Holy Spirit, we Christians are very quickly drawn to prophecies, visions, talking in tongues and miracles.
But that’s a bit crazy, isn’t it? Looking for the unavailable Glamdring when there is a fantastic sword available for each and every adopted child of God. For the sword of the Spirit is the word of God.
The word of God can be whispered by a mother to her toddler. The word of God can be shared over a cup of coffee between friends. The word of God is proclaimed in Bible-believing churches. And when this happens the cutting edge of the Holy Spirit is brought to bear. Or putting it another way, the chosen method of the Holy Spirit is to work through the word of God.
And this is no New Testament innovation. This is the pattern throughout all of God’s word. It is the Spirit who hovered over the deep before God spoke his word and creation came into being. It is the Spirit that is poured out on the prophets so that they can speak God’s word (2 Chronicles 24:20, 1 Peter 1:10-11 ). It is the Spirit who will make the suffering servant proclaim the gospel (Isaiah 61:1-4 cf Luke 4:16-20) It is the Spirit who will write God’s law, his word, on the believers’ hearts (Ezekiel 36:26-28). It is the Holy Spirit who preaches the gospel (1 Peter 1:12).
And so, in Ephesians we see the link between the preached gospel and the Holy Spirit.
And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory. (1:13-14)
The word of God is a serious weapon. It is the spiritual power of God himself to save, rescue, protect or slay. But before going all gung-ho, it is important to note that we don’t control the Holy Spirit. He is at work as he chooses (John 3:8). So, we share the word of God knowing it is how the Spirit chooses to work but not determining that he will work.
In summary the armour of God is
In summary, the armour of God is the gospel of Jesus Christ, understood in all its implications and applied to our lives.
Which when you pause to think about it is fantastic! It means we don’t need some extra special spiritual work of God to be safe from Satan and his minions. We don’t need some special sword or special spiritual work to be confident that we can survive the spiritual onslaught of Satan. All we need is the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Oh, the gospel, we say. Letting familiarity breed contempt. But this gospel is no small thing. A Christian has in the gospel of Jesus Christ the full protection of God himself. For God has already fought for us and won the double victory of forgiveness and the defeat of Satan (Colossians 2:14-15).
But there is one more surprise for us. And it takes us to the next level of confidence in our spiritual battles. The Lord is the warrior who fights for his people.
The Lord is the Warrior
Exodus 13 introduced the idea but it is fully armoured in Isaiah 59
Truth is nowhere to be found,
and whoever shuns evil becomes prey.
The LORD looked and was displeased
that there was no justice.
He saw that there was no one,
he was appalled that there was no one to intervene;
so his own arm achieved salvation for him,
and his own righteousness sustained him.
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.
According to what they have done,
so will he repay
wrath to his enemies
and retribution to his foes;
he will repay the islands their due.
(Isaiah 59:16-18)
It is the Lord who fights for his people. Paul’s teaching in Ephesians 6 does not arises from the Roman soldiers guarding his prison but from the Scriptures of Isaiah. It is God who fights. And the gospel reveals that he has won.
And this is why Christians are to pray and why Paul requests prayer to make the gospel known (6:18-20). For God is at work. Christians are to pray in the Spirit all the time about every thing. This is what God wants for he is in the fight.
Yes, it is a fight. Paul calls it a spiritual battle. And if you’re a Christian, and you don’t realise that then I suspect you’ll be shocked and surprised that it is so easy to sin and so hard to do good and love others. And you might start to doubt your standing. But, the reality that it is a spiritual battle assures us that it is not easy to live as God’s person. It’s a fight!
However, this passage also critiques those whose paradigm for the Christian life is them opposed to Satan as a mighty warrior. For the outcome of all this armour is not for the Christian to win! It is for a Christian to stand or withstand (6:13-14). This goal for us comes at then end of the purpose clauses ‘take up the armour so that you can stand.’ It isn’t take up the armour so that you can fight. And the reason is that the fight has been won by Christ already. Satan has been defeated. He is still trying to maul us but he is already defeated. Colossians 2:15.
Brothers and sisters, in the gospel, we have the truth and reality that will enable us to stand and prevail though the gates of hell come against us. So put these gospel truths on, standing firm in the victory we already have in Jesus. If we do this, Satan shall not prevail. You will stand.
*Lord of the Rings, The Two Towers
* Thank you to Richard Coekin, writing in Ephesians for You for this initial insight that all the armour is described in Ephesians.