EPHESIANS 6:10-17 EPEHSIANS 6:13-1710 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.11 Put on THE WHOLE ARMOUR OF GOD, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.12 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.13 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.14 Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;15 And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;16 Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
13 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.
14 Stand therefore, having . . . truth, and having . . . righteousness;
15 And . . . with . . . the gospel of peace;
16 Above all, taking . . . faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.
17 And take . . . salvation, and . . . the word of God.
Once most of the soldier symbols are removed, it suddenly becomes apparent that the armor we are to put on is the armor of truth, righteousness, the gospel of peace, faith, salvation, and the Word of God. This epistle was written to people who are already saved. Why would Paul admonish Christians to put on salvation? Paul also encourages us to put on righteousness. Yet righteousness by faith was the gospel that Paul preached throughout his three missionary journeys.
Paul is not instructing saints to put on salvation every day, nor is he encouraging us to put on righteousness every day. If he were, and if you forgot to put them on, then you could go around all day not being saved or not being righteous. And we know that this is not possible for Christians to do.
So then, if we are not to put on our salvation every day, what does Paul mean in this Ephesians passage when he tells us to put on salvation? He is simply instructing us to put on daily what we know about our salvation. He admonishes us to put on what we know about our righteousness. We are to put on what we know about the truth, what we know about the gospel of peace, about our faith, and about the Word of God.
Paul is informing us that if we desire to win in life, we must put on what we know about our salvation. Then we are to use what we know about our salvation against the enemy as he endeavors to destroy us.
In the same way, we are to put on what we know about truth, righteousness, the gospel of peace, and faith. We are to put on what we know about our salvation and the Word of God. When we have put on what we know about these pieces of armor and when we properly use our knowledge of these things, we will not be defeated by the wiles of the devil. His fiery darts will no longer carry out their destructive work in our lives.
If we are to avoid becoming another casualty of this war of the mind, we must put on and properly use what we know. Doing so will enable us to win each conflict that we encounter throughout our day. On the other hand, Paul strongly implies that if we fail to put on and use what we know, we will experience defeat, and we will suffer the consequences of losing.
Therefore, it seems clear: The quality of our life will be determined by how much we know and how well we use what we know. How well we use what we know about our salvation, faith, righteousness, the truth, the gospel of peace, and the Word of God determines whether we win or lose in life.
With all of this in mind, why did Paul use the Roman soldier symbolism in his Ephesians passage? I believe it was to emphasize the severity of this battle, the seriousness of this conflict. Paul wanted us to see that if we choose not to put on the "whole armour of God," we will experience defeat as quickly as a soldier without armor will experience defeat during a battle.
Paul used the image of a soldier to impress upon us that we Christians are not playing some childhood game. The consequences of not putting on the whole armor of God are real, and the quality of our life will diminish significantly should we lose this battle.
The battle within our mind is a serious one, with life or death consequences. We must learn how to fight this battle-and most importantly-how to win.
