Both Sets of Armor Ephesians 6:10-20
You all know I love history. I once went to a museum that had dozens of suits of armor, and I learned there are different types depending on what they were used for or when they were made. There are those made of layers of linen and leather and of course the ones we think about when you say armor; those made of metal and perhaps chain mail. And even these have different varieties depending on whether you were riding a horse or what we would call a foot soldier. And let’s not forget all the different weapons we’ve devised. It seems mankind can always find new weapons to wage war and then soldier protection to prevent injury or death from said weapons.
War has been going on since man walked the earth and it is definitely not unknown to Paul and his generation. In this letter to the Ephesians Paul compares our situation in knowing Christ to a war or at least a battle.
Throughout our history some in Christianity took this to mean very physical confrontations; the Inquisition, the Crusades, the forcing of cultures to accept Christ at the point of a sword. All of that is man not Christ. Paul knows very well the motivations and need for power in mankind and he explains to Christians exactly what he means when he likens our struggle to war; verse 11-12, “…Put on the full armor of God so you can stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood…”
The war Christians wage is not against each other it is against the deceiver; and it is against our own nature and desires. Paul talks about putting on the armor of God as protection. Armor is something that is known in Paul’s day, it’s something the population would understand. So how can armor, in particular Roman armor from the first century, be used to help us 2000 years later? How can the illustration of armor protecting our physical body relate to our spiritual protection?
When you think of a suit of armor you can picture it protecting your whole body. Paul tells us the armor of God will protect our whole being spiritually. We start with verse 14, “Stand firm with the belt of truth buckled around your waist.”
First thing to understand, it’s not a belt like we think of it. Our belts are thin leather straps with buckles for our pants, or you may think of it as a strip of cloth that ties your coat closed. Think of a Roman soldier, we’ve all seen depictions of them in movies. The belt of their armor is the wide leather band with heavy strips of thick leather hanging down to their knees. This “belt” is meant to protect their loins, their most vulnerable area.
Truth, God’s truth protects our most vulnerable areas from the devil and his lies. We all have areas we are vulnerable in. Maybe we struggle with drugs or alcohol. The deceiver’s lies tell us we are unlovable, that there is nothing we can do about it. God’s truth tells us we are loved, we are cherished; there is nothing we can’t do if we believe in and trust God.
Maybe someone struggles with theft. The devil says “feel the thrill” or “They charge too much anyway,” or “It’s a big corporation and they’ll never miss a few dollars.” God’s truth tells us we are being deceitful, both to the business we steal from and to ourselves if we think it doesn’t affect us.
God’s truth says to love him. We’re not demonstrating that love by going against what we are told by him, Exodus 20:15, “You shall not steal.” God’s truth says to love your neighbor, are you loving them if you steal from them? God’s truth says “Truly I say to you, as you did to the least of one of my brothers, you did to me.” (Matt 25:40) All blessings in life come from God, if we steal from someone we are stealing a blessing given by God; we are stealing from God.
We are all human, we all have areas in life where we are vulnerable to Satan’s lies and influence; but by keeping God’s truth around us we can be protected in these areas.
Verse 14, “…with the breastplate of righteousness in place.” Armor’s breastplate protects your heart. God’s breastplate protects your righteousness because we can say the heart is the place of residence for our righteousness. Our righteousness is seen in the world by how we treat others, and how we treat others stems from how we feel about them in our heart.
Christian love for our fellow men comes from our heart. When checking out of a store, sincerely wish the cashier a blessed day. There is a woman at my job, each time I ask how her day is she responds with “I’m blessed today, I pray you feel blessed too.” She has God’s love in her heart; she has righteousness in her heart.
But what does Satan throw at us? They’re poor, avoid them. He’s an addict, stay away he’s not worth it. They’re from south of our border, they’re all murders and thieves. Again, we’re human and the devil knows how to work with our fears. FDR said the only thing we have to fear is fear itself. Fear is the devil’s weapon, fear lessens our righteousness. But Paul tells us in this passage it’s not our righteousness we need to rely on, it is God’s righteousness that protects us. We must remember that by our faith we are given the righteousness of Christ, and if we can remember this we can react to things more aligned with him. And we will take away Satan’s weapon. God’s breastplate of righteousness will protect us from the spears and swords of Satan’s lies.
Verse 15, “and as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the Gospel of peace.” So looking at the Roman soldier’s uniform, Paul references their sandals. They were made to be comfortable to help the soldiers make long marches. They were designed to help prevent a soldier from slipping on the battlefield. In both of these ways the sandals helped the Roman’s wage war.
The spiritual shoes of our armor do the same things. God gives us the perseverance to succeed in the long run. Our final victory is not at our conversion, it is at our death that we come into our full victory for only with our earthly death can we fully take possession of heaven.
The truth and righteousness of God helps us from slipping into old habits, old ideas and old fears when the devil comes to tempt us. Satan knows that as believers he can never separate us from God but he can make us suffer in this life by his lies. If we give in to his temptations we will never be able to live the full life God has planned. The shoes of our armor keep us upright in our faith and allow us to stay in faith for the entire journey of our life. The shoes of our armor help us from slipping when Satan comes against us.
Verse 16,”In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.” A soldier’s shield in Paul’s day protected the whole of the soldier. It pushed aside the blows of enemy swords. It blocked the arrows and spears send by the enemy.
Our shield is our faith. Faith protects our heart in sad or hard times. The loss of a loved one can cause us to doubt but our faith gives us comfort knowing our loved one is with Christ and all earthly pain and condition is removed.
Satan tempts us with what we see and what we hear. Our shield of faith tells us that all we see and may desire is not good for us. Our shield of faith keeps the fear and prejudices we hear from taking root in our souls. Our shield of faith deflects those things the devil sends our way to cause trouble and unrest in our lives.
Verse 17, “Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.” Helmets protect our head, our brain. The helmet of salvation protects our thoughts and beliefs from Satan’s influence. Satan tells us to fear those coming from another country. Satan tells us to stay to ourselves, ignore the poor, those in refugee camps; don’t trust someone who was in prison. Satan tells us to hate the same sex couple down the street, or the woman who had an abortion; to walk away from the homeless or the addict. The helmet of salvation protects us from these ungodly beliefs. When we live in our salvation we see that all men and women are equal in God’s eyes. Our salvation is God’s greatest blessing, when we live in it we will work at being a blessing to others.
Last is the sword of God’s Word. The soldier’s sword was a weapon used to kill; our sword of the Spirit is used to give life. When we wield God’s sword we use his Word to bring Christ to others, we use his sword to spread peace and life through Jesus Christ to others.
Paul uses the analogy of a soldier’s armor to represent for us God’s truth, God’s righteousness; his peace and our faith, our salvation and God’s Word. Taken together we can see that God’s armor is his grace; and it is something we should cloak ourselves in.
Now I have come to see that when there is something like this in the New Testament, there usually is something similar in the Old Testament; and there is. In 1 Samuel chapter 17 is the story of David and Goliath. Verse 38, “Then Saul dressed David in his own tunic. He put a coat of armor on him and a bronze helmet on his head.” The armor of God’s army, and what does David do with it? Verse 39, “I cannot go in these.”
David could not function in the armor because it hindered him, it caused him to stumble. Think about this, two sets of armor in two different places in the Bible. Two sets of armor, one hinders its wearer and one protects its user.
What do these two sets of armor represent? The Old Testament armor represents the law, the Commandments and the old covenant. Because of man’s weak flesh it was cumbersome and caused one to stumble, as Paul wrote in Romans 7:7, “I would not have known what sin was if it were not for the law.” With the armor on David could never move freely enough to defeat Goliath.
Here is another example in the Old Testament that the law was given to direct us, but salvation came from trust in the Lord. 1 Samuel 17:45, “…I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty…” And then in verse 47, “All those gathered here will know it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves…” Not the armor, not the law; trust in Almighty God saves.
So if David’s armor represents the old covenant and should be taken off; we can see that the armor in our reading represents God’s grace and should be put on. The armor of God’s grace can and does save. In fact God’s grace is the only thing that does save.
Praise God and may we always worship him; for we were lost and by his grace alone we are saved.
Amen.