- Ephesians 6:10-19 (NIV):
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. 18And 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.
19Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, 20for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should.
Paul describes what is necessary to overcome the devil in this present time of evil. In biblical times, war was much more commonplace than it is today and Paul uses the illustration of battle to push home the use of Gods arsenal of weapons and tactics, in what was then and still is a spiritual battle. Paul calls for the believer to put on the full armour of God, these being:
- Truth
- Righteousness
- Peace
- Faith
- Salvation
- The Spirit
In a battle the best position to hold is the high ground. In this way the enemy must weary himself in constant uphill attack. It is very important to note that Paul’s stance is one primarily of defence, not offence. We know this from his reiteration of “standing firm” and “holding your ground”. The soldier who lives to fight another day is the one who strikes out at the right time and defends at the right time. A soldier who is always attacking can easily be defeated by leaving himself exposed for extended periods of time. By the same token, if the soldier were to adopt a defensive stance for too long, he can easily be pinned down or overrun by mounting numbers of enemy troops.
So when the time comes the Christian soldier must abandon his defensive stance and strike out with the sword of The Spirit, which is God’s word, so that we can strike back with truth when we are personally tempted to evil; to strike back when the church is attacked by false teaching; to strike back with truth when the powers seek to pervade the world around us with alien philosophies and ethnical teachings; and finally to strike vigorous blows for freedom with the fearless proclamation of christian truth such as Paul encourages time and time again. But one thing above all else must be remembered about this “weapon of offence”: what was “the word of wrath”(as described in Isaiah 11:4) has become the gospel of peace, and uniting love in Christ. Our use of the word of God has to reflect these things, otherwise it will become a weapon of darkness, enmity and division instead.
Christ has given us this armour of his so that we may survive the spiritual realm until we are all taken up to be with him, and also to enable us to do the work he has called us to do whilst we are here on earth. This reiterates the biblical theme that Christ is our strength and the perfector of our faith and that through him we can do all things.
Based On the teachings of Ephesians 6 Ch. 10-23 and largely on the comments made in the “New Bible Commentary”.
Take a break and test your knowledge on one of our bible quizzes here.
A little lie is like a little pregnancy - it doesn't take long before everyone knows.
C.S. Lewis
