Week 12 Assignments: Read pages 345-373 in MacArthur and Eph 6:14-17 . Read Parts 4-7 and comment on them. This week we continue with Paul’s instructions on how to resist the Devil.
I think it was Andrew Bonar who first imagined a situation in which a Christian dies and goes to heaven and there meets some of the authors of the biblical books: Ezekiel, for example, and next to him Malachi and Amos and Habakkuk, and maybe Isaiah. They manage to strike up a conversation, and the Christian is glad to meet these men God used to write the Bible. “Ah, Ezekiel, what a pleasure to met you!” he says.
“I am pleased you are glad to meet me,” Ezekiel replies. “Tell me, what did you think of my book?”
The Christian has to answer, “I’m afraid I didn’t really read it.”
Malachi is there, so he chimes in. “Well, my book is a lot shorter than Ezekiel’s. Certainly you read it! What do you think of what I said.”
Again the Christian has to admit that he has not read it. “Malachi? Is that in the Old Testament or the New Testament” (James Montgomery Boice. Ephesians: An Expositional Commentary. Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1988, 245).
Paul has given us three battlefield strategies for standing firm against the attacks of the Devil:
1. By Depending on God’s Strength (Ephesians 6:10-11a)
2. By Knowing our Enemy (Ephesians 6:11b-13)
3. By Putting on God’s Spiritual Armor (Ephesians 6:14-20)
Paul begins by describing the pieces of armor attached to the Roman soldier’s body.
The First Piece of Armor the Christina Soldier must put on is the Belt of Truth.
Jesus said to His Father in prayer, “Your Word is truth. Sanctify them through your Word” (John 17:17).
The first piece of armor the Roman soldier put on was his belt. Roman soldiers wore a tunic as an outer garment with a hole for the head and two holes for the arms. The tunic was like a dress. The belt kept the tunic from flying around and making it easy for the enemy to grab and defeat the soldier. The belt made the soldier’s armor like the football running back’s skin tight uniform that protects him from easily being brought down.
Paul in Ephesians makes much of both the objective truth of God’s Word in 1:13; 4;15, 21; 6:14 and subjective truthfulness in 4:24, 25; 5:9; 6:14. Today’s postmodernism’s rejects absolute truth. The preacher or teacher with a hermeneutic of humility says, “I am to humble to claim to have the right interpretation or that your interpretation might be wrong.” Paul was not so humble. He told the Galatian heretics if they misinterpreted the gospel God would judge them (Galatians 1:6).
The Next Piece of Armor the Christian Soldier must put on is the Breastplate of Righteousness.
Roman soldiers wore woven chain interlinked rings of metal to protect the most vulnerable portion and his vital organs. The breastplate was called “The heart protector.”
Paul was not talking about imputed righteousness but practical righteousness. Of course there can be no personal righteousness without justification or imputed righteousness. Sin puts a clink in this armor thus making us more unprotected against the attacks of hand to hand combat with Satan.
Confession of sin, however, can immediately repair the defective breastplate.
The Last Piece of Armor the Christian Soldier must put on is his Feet Shod with the Preparation of the Gospel of Peace.
Roman citizens normally wore lightweight sandals. Roman soldiers, however, wore thick soled, boot like sandals studded with hobnails like football cleats.
Christian soldiers have prepared before the battle by receiving the gospel that gives them peace with God (Romans 5:1). The gospel gives you peace in the battle because you are saved and sealed or kept by God as Paul discussed in 1:13.
This piece of armor is not the preaching of the gospel but the preparation of the gospel that enables us to stand our ground in Christ. Paul in Ephesians 6:15 is not talking about going into all the world to preach the gospel as he did in Romans 10:15, but rather being prepared by the gospel to stand firm against the attacks of Satan.
Have you put on the belt of truth? If not receive Christ who is “the way, the truth, and the life” and be saved. Child of God do you need to tighten the belt of truth a notch or two and get more serious about studying and hiding God’s Word in your heart that you might not sin against God when Satan comes tempting?
In the next post, we will explain the shield of faith. Did you know that the shield of faith could be used offensively?
