Now the call to put on the armour of God for spiritual warfare. We are reminded here of the opposition, the unseen enemy with his demons all actively engaged in a spiritual war against God’s people, seeking to dislodge God’s plan to create a new humanity. We must realize that we are not battling flesh and blood but the principalities and power in the heavenly realms, Satan and his forces. The enemy is not only formidable; he is thoroughly wicked and cunning. To be sure, he has incurred a great defeat at the cross. Nevertheless, he knows that he has limited time and he is determined to cause as much damage as possible to God’s people and God’s kingdom. Thus, he is working twenty four hours a day to achieve his goal. The enemy never retreats; he is always active; and he strikes when God’s people become careless and indifferent.
Hence we hear the call of Paul to be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power. The urgent call is accompanied by the encouragement to put on the full armour of God to stand against the schemes of the evil one. Here Paul takes the picture of the Roman soldier and his armour and brings forth the metaphor of the spiritual parallel in the armour of the soldier of Christ.
The first part of the armour is the belt of truth buckled around the waist. The truth referred here may be referring to God’s revelation in Christ and in His Word; it may also be referring to integrity. It probably refers to both, for one will not do without the other. It is mandatory that God’s truth revealed in the Scriptures should not be compromised; the enemy seeks to constantly distort God’s truth in His Word. Right at the beginning in the garden of Eden, he already queried, “Did God say?” God’s truth revealed in His Word is in fact an expression of the essence of His character, being, and will. So the soldier of the Lord must uphold this truth and guard it rigorously. Truth in the inner being, integrity, is also important and Christians must at all costs be honest and truthful. Failure in this area can stumble many and cause young believers to be disillusioned. The Christian soldier must have the courage to always do the right thing because it is right, no matter what.
We live in a world where many things are ‘broken’ and so we crave community and resist anything that draws a line and excludes one group or another. But we need to realise that truth by its very nature divides right from wrong. The clear teaching of Scriptures divides truth from error, authentic Christianity from seductive substitutes. And it is not that we arrogantly claim to have the truth but that we believe in a God who is true and who has revealed Himself in the truth of His Word. If we deny the primacy of truth, we are in fact denying God Himself. There is no endeavour that is more important than truth – not evangelism, not even unity. At the end of the day, the only thing we really have is the truth about who God is and how He restores sinners to Himself. Core doctrine that reflects the clear teaching of Scriptures about the fundamentals of our faith will distinguish truth from error and this invariably lead to apparent ‘disunity’; real unity cannot be achieved apart from God’s truth, and faithful followers of the Lord know this.Unfortunately, we often quibble more about personal pride, preference, position, or prejudice and these divisive attitudes must be kept out of the lives of believers; let us not however mistake this from upholding the truth of God’s Word and in the process encounter accusations that we are causing disunity and not contributing to unity in God’s Church.
The second item of the armour is the breastplate of righteousness. The Apostle Paul often used righteousness to mean justification, that is being made right with God. it refers to Christ’s righteousness imputed or credited to us so that we are judicially put into a right relationship with God, Justification protects us from the accusation of the evil one. But righteousness may also be referring to moral righteousness, our character and conduct as believers. Our regeneration through the Holy Spirit causes a seed to be planted in our new creation; God expects this seed to grow and mature into a plant. Our justification must invariably lead to our growth in holiness and righteousness. It is difficult for the enemy to find fault with one who is clothed with ‘holiness’ and ‘righteousness’ of God.
Ponder over what J. C. Ryle said in Day by Day with J. C. Ryle: “Where there is no ‘fruit’ of holiness of life and conduct, there is no life…It is a vain notion to suppose that we are living members of Christ, if the example of Christ is not to be seen on our characters and lives…Where there is no fruit of the Spirit to be seen, there is no vital religion in the heart. The Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus will always make Himself known in the daily conduct of those in whom He dwells”.
The Christian soldier’s boots are the equipment of the gospel of peace. This may refer to the steadiness which the gospel gives to the believer, or it might point to the readiness to announce the good news of the gospel. After all, the effective sharing of the gospel leads to peace with God and peace with one another. It brings life from God and freedom from bondage of the enemy, the flesh and the world; the enemy fears the message of this gospel.
The next piece of equipment is the shield of faith. The enemy delights in throwing darts of accusations, doubt, lust, fear and malice. Thus the shield of faith is needed to protect the soldier of the Lord from these attacks. Faith takes hold of the promises of God and His power to quench these fiery darts. We cannot have faith in someone of whom we know nothing, or about whom we know the wrong things. We must surely have enough knowledge to know in whom we believe and what Christ has done for us. Without knowledge, there can be no true faith; we cannot afford to be like little children tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine. We cannot plead ignorance as an excuse if we do not grow in faith. Faith accepts what the Bible teaches as true; it is also manifested by trust, the crowning aspect of faith. The object of our trust is Jesus; we lean wholly on Him for salvation and we rest on His finished work and on all He has done for us. Trust also includes obedience; faith must lead to obedient service in Christ’s kingdom, for faith is active in obedience.
The next item in the armour is the helmet of salvation. Paul has stated earlier that the soldier’s helmet is “the hope of salvation”; it is the assurance of future and final salvation. Wearing the helmet gives him the confidence to fight a good fight, for he knows that his hope is not in vain.
The final weapon listed is the sword which is used for attack and defence. It is in fact the sword of the Spirit which refers to the Word of God. God’s Word, the Scriptures, illuminated and used by the Spirit of God, can cut through the defence of individuals, prick the conscience of such ones and awake them spiritually. The Spirit can put this sword in our hands to ward off temptations and to counter the attacks of the evil one.
Paul adds prayer as another ‘weapon’, for the armour without prayer cannot hope to combat the enemy effectively. Prayer is an expression and indication of our dependence on God in this spiritual warfare. It is our lifeline without which we also lose communication with the ‘Captain’ of the Lord’s army. So important is prayer that the Apostle Paul himself requested specifically for the prayers of the saints. Paul encountered much opposition, particularly spiritual opposition, in his ministry, and he knew that without prayer, he could not prevail against the enemy. Paul asked especially that the believers pray for him to have courage and clarity in his communication as he preached the gospel. Here what was written by John Stott is so helpful:
“Clarity and courage remain two of the most crucial characteristics of authentic Christian preaching. For they relate to the content of the message preached and to the style of its presentation. Some preachers have the gift of lucid teaching, but their sermons lack solid content; their substance has been diluted by fear. Others are bold as lions. They fear nobody, and omit nothing. But what they say is confused and confusing…What is needed at the pulpits of the world today is a combination of clarity and courage”.
Perhaps the most important command for the Christian soldier is to be vigilant and alert. We remember the Lord exhorting HIs disciples to “Watch and pray!” We need to remember that we fight as an army of God; we do not fight alone. The devil never sleeps; the Christian puts himself in grave danger by falling asleep spiritually. A little chink in the armour can spell disaster in mortal combat. The Christian soldier must ensure that his armour is in pristine order. We are to be especially careful to watch ourselves in those areas where we know we are weak.
The Christian soldier must not break rank or flee in battle. If he remains courageously in his place with the rest of the army, then the army, having done all, shall stand. To stand implies to stand as conquerors, defending the ground that the Lord Jesus has secured. The soldier who stands in order is conscientious toward the whole duty that lies on him in regard to both God and man.
Since we have a formidable enemy and we live in a fallen world with the constant struggle between the spirit and the sinful nature, how can we be sure of the perseverance of true believers? We rest on the unchanging faithfulness of God to His promises; this is what we lean on. We rest finally not on our hold of God but on God’s hold of us. We are urged in Scriptures to persevere in the faith – and this is our challenge. We can only persevere through God’s strength and by His grace. But to teach this doctrine in such a way as to present only its comfort and not its challenge, only the security and not the exhortation, is to teach it one-sidedly. And the Bible constantly warns us against this. In 1 Corinthians 9:26-27, the Apostle Paul himself only felt justified in claiming his spiritual security in Christ as he continued to discipline himself. He did not dare to claim this blessing while being careless and indolent in his daily battle against sin. And neither may we. There is no room for presumption. In 1 Corinthians 13:5, Paul said, “Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves.” We can know this only from our continuation in the life of faith, our perseverance, our standing firm to the end. We may entertain the faith of our security in Christ only as we persevere in faith and holiness to the end. The problem is that there are tares among the wheat (Matt. 3:12), and there are non-fruitbearing branches on the vine (John 15:2). There are also those who have only a form of godliness but who deny its power (2 Tim. 3:5), who claim to be apostles but are not (Rev. 2:2), and who have a reputation for being alive but are dead (Rev. 3:1). The problem is, we do not always know who these people are; we cannot read the heart. If some whom we had thought to be a true Christian becomes apostate, we must assume either that the Lord will still bring them back to His fellowship, or that their faith was not genuine. This much we know; those who have true faith will persevere, not in their own strength, but through the power of God, and they will be among those God welcomes into the new humanity in Christ.
The doctrine of the perseverance of true believers, therefore, is both a comfort and a challenge. But the challenge is based on the comfort. We can be certain that we shall persevere to the end only because God has promised to enable us to do so. And so we rest in Him, now and for eternity, knowing that He will never let us go.