The Whole Armor of God 1 - Ephesians 6:11-15

6:11-13 - Now we get to Paul’s iconic command to “Put on the whole armour of God,” lesson. This has been taught to saints starting in childhood since as long as I can remember. One of the things that is amazing about studying the Bible as opposed to the three books of scripture is that with the Bible, you have at your fingertips the whole of Christian scholarship available for insight. Paul starts with telling us why the Armour of God is important, saying that the whole purpose is “that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.” That’s a pretty substantial reason. It’s interesting that Paul says “the wiles of the devil” because that implies that the armour will protect us regardless of whether or not we are aware of the threat. To me, “wiles” means sneaky or stealthy, and me not being that observant, I’m not confident in my ability to not fall victim to a person or animal’s sneaky attacks against me. So it’s comforting to know that I don’t even have to be aware of the danger in order to be protected by the “Armour of God.” That’s part of the whole point, that we can’t usually see the attacks against us. Paul continues, “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.” I think at this point we are all in agreement that Satan is real and that he has very real power to tempt us and influence us, and many times to a remarkably strong degree. How interesting is it that we believe that Satan has this much power, but so often don’t think that God can match that power? I think that Satan has tons of minions around me all the time, trying to get me to do stuff, but I honestly didn’t think that God had the same amount of his own minions around me trying to influence me for good. So this whole time I’ve felt that Satan was more invested in my failure than Jesus was invested in my success, but why died for me? That’s a really interesting way to look at it. There is a short film by the church that reenacted Paul dictating this section to a scribe and it shows him in prison, so he would have constantly been surrounded by Roman soldiers while this analogy came to him. Moreso than even our own day, Paul’s time was filled with violence, bloodshed, and horror but even with all that, Paul message was spiritual. Think about all the times he was beaten up, was bludgeoned to almost death by big frickin rocks, he was whipped 5 times, shipwrecked, bitten by a snake, etc. The vast majority of us don’t encounter that amount of violence in our lifetimes, and this is only what happened to him after he started preaching the gospel, this isn’t including any childhood abuse, spousal abuse, societal oppression, etc. Even if it didn’t happen to him personally, he surely knew about it, certainly he was acutely away of the injustices of this life. Even with all that, Harold B. Lee is quoted as saying, “Note carefully that the Apostle Paul’s declaration implies that our most deadly contest in life is not with human enemies which may come with guns, with army tanks, or bombing places to destroy us, but that our eternal struggle is with enemies which strike out of darkness and maybe not be perceived by human senses.” This all goes back to the concept that nothing physical matters, only the spiritual, and after the spiritual is tended to, then the physical will take care of itself. 6:14- - The armor starts with “having your loins girt about with truth.” The articles that I read about this from outside Christian sources all translate this to be “belt”, which makes sense. The best article I found on this analogy is by April Moti called “What Is the Full Armor of God? How Can I Put On the Whole Armor of God?” She notes, “Loin is an uncommon word in modern vernacular. It refers to the lower back but includes the crotch area. In ancient days, men would wear long robes that would get in the way of work or fighting, so they would wrap up the long, draping material. This was girding up one’s loins.” The whole “girding” process is contingent on a belt around your waist in which to tie the excess cloth into. April Moti says, “The first piece of the armor is the belt of truth. Truth, by its very definition, is exclusive. It means something is true and others things are lies. The evil one if the father of lies, every lie finds its origin in him. Every other piece of the full armor of God is attached to the belt of truth. If you don’t begin with truth, you’ll never defeat the enemy.” It also seems to me that the “belt” or “girding the loins” is the only thing that you start the whole process with, meaning that you don’t have to get it elsewhere. This seems to line up with the “light of Christ” concept, meaning that everyone is born with at least some of it. She suggests that we “pursue the truth on a specific topic, but don’t forget to grab hold of the whole scripture. Don’t just study the parts that come easy for devotional reading. Press into the whole counsel of God’s word.” We have to accept truths that are hard for us to accept and God has promised to help us understand them and bring them into our lives and faith if we ask him to do so. She also notes that truth might be specific to the loin region for other reasons, saying, “Our identity is more than our sexuality, but this is one facet of our lives that we often view as a definer. The first area of life in which the enemy frequently attempts to rattle is our sense of identity. And the things pertaining to sex are easy pickings for him. We need freedom regarding sexuality. We need truth about who we are. And only Jesus is the Truth that sets us free.” Not only does pure, universal truth keep the rest of our spirituality anchored but it keeps our sexuality anchored in a safe and righteous place as well. Paul continues, “Having on the breastplate of righteousness.” The article about this chapter from gospeldoctrine.com says, “A breastplate protects the most vital organs, Similarly, righteousness protects us from Satan’s fatal blows. Hereby, our hearts are protected from the heartbreak of sin, and our lungs are shielded from Lucifer’s poison arrows. His goal is to puncture one of both of our lungs, leaving us spiritually spent and dangerously out of breath. So we are to ‘put on righteousness as a breastplate’ (Isa. 59:17) that we might survive even when Satan has us in his crosshairs. David B. Haight, “If you and your loved ones keep and live the commandments of God, following the counsel of his living prophet to strengthen your homes, this protecting armor of God that Paul referred to will fit comfortably; their shield of righteousness will be sufficient to withstand the evil darts; and your loved ones will find great joy and salvation.” There are so many references to the “heart” being the place where spirituality lives, such as “where your heart is, there your treasure is also,” etc. that if we can keep our hearts protected then we can be successful. And there are so many other vital organs in that area that a breastplate protects, heart, liver, lungs, stomach, intestines, kidneys, etc. that if they are damaged, especially by puncture wounds we can die, easily and quickly. Another article called “Armor of God- What is it and How to Use it) by Debbie McDaniel says, “The enemy wants to attack you not only with lies, but also with impurity. He wants you to read filthy magazines, watch immoral movies, and engage in all temptations of the flesh. The bottom line is that Saran wants to get into your heart and mind. He’s looking for a crack in your armor. And don’t be fooled. Satan knows where that crack is. Is your hart pure before God? If not, then you cannot win the battle.” I was thinking about this is terms of puncture wounds, which in this analogy might be specific events or temptations, but it also might apply in terms of being perpetually tempted and infiltrated with impurity. And I think one of the major messages about this is that even if you were once impure, like me, then Christ can make you pure again. I really hate that word, but just because you lived a life that was contrary to God’s commandments doesn’t mean that it always has to be that way. Putting on the breastplate means repenting of sin and changing your ways. I’ve told the story many times about me telling dirty jokes in high school all the time, but after many years my high school friend came over and said something that years ago I would have found hilarious, but by them I was mortified because that’s not who I was anymore. Jesus can change our hearts and get rid of the wrong that we carry around. He literally makes us “new creatures,” so just because you think you’ve gone far away from the standard is not excuse to not get back in line now. 6:15 – And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace.” Another article notes that ancient Roman soldier sandals had “hobnails” in the bottoms that acted like cleats which would dig into the ground and allow them to be unmovable when going in to battle. But what does it mean to have these shoes on that make you immovable be based on “the gospel of peace?” April Moti suggests, “peace is an attribute of the Lord’s very person and character. In Greek, peace means oneness or wholeness. The gospel, which means good news, is the forgiveness of sins and access to and oneness with God through faith in Christ. This oneness with the Lord produces peace.” Again, Paul of all people would know what it felt like to live a violent and traumatic life, and even with all that, he had peace in his heart. I’ve talked about before the contrast between King Noah and Abinadi, one in political power and one a prisoner who ultimately was murdered by the first, yet one had peace in his heart and one died in agony and terror. April continues, “Ephesians repeatedly reminds us to ‘stand’ and ‘stand firm.’ One of the easiest ways for the enemy to succeed in shaking us loose from standing firm is to tempt us with worry. When we carry anxiousness and worry with us, we are robbed of peace. But the gospel of peace keeps our feet anchored and standing firm.” In a battle, if we are knocked down, then no amount of armor is going matter because we are incredibly vulnerable. We can be knocked down by anxiety, worry, fear, etc. But if we can live with the belief in the eternal perspective, the belief of God’s love for us, that all things will work together for our good, then we can have peace in our hearts based on a knowledge and trust in the gospel. Debbie McDaniel asks in her article, “Unless you have a solid footing of peace, you can never made way. Sounds like a contradiction, doesn’t it? When Satan comes for your tranquility, he throws out stones and brains of doubt and discouragement to cause you to stumble. Do you have peace right now? If not, then you cannot win the battle.” We can ask ourselves if we are at peace right now, and if we are not, then we need to turn to Jesus and figure out why not and how we can get it.