Eph 6:10–17 — The Armor of Christ, Part 2

Last week we began to look at this wonderful concluding paragraph on the armor of God. We saw that this passage must be understood as the capstone of Paul’s exhortations in the preceding three chapters. Spiritual warfare isn’t a spectacular thing having to do with going out and slaying demons and whatever else passes for spiritual warfare today. It’s about living for Christ in the common areas of our lives: in our relationships with one another in the body, in our marriages and families, and in our personal pursuit of godliness.

We also saw that this discussion of our conflict with the spiritual forces of wickedness must be understood against the backdrop of Paul’s two-age eschatology. As the church of Jesus Christ, we live with a certain eschatological tension. On the one hand, Christ, by his death and resurrection has already defeated Satan at his first coming. As Paul so powerfully affirms at the end of chapter 1, God has seated Jesus Christ at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in the one to come, and God put all things in subjection under his Son’s feet, and made him Head over all things. By means of this decisive victory over the principalities and the powers, Christ now exercises sovereign dominion over all realms of creation, for the advantage of the church. Beloved, you are the church of Jesus Christ. You are the direct beneficiaries of Christ’s victory and dominion. This is the realized dimension of our eschatological position.

But, on the other hand, there is also a future, unrealized dimension of eschatology. For although the victory of Christ is totally certain, and there is nothing that can undo or take away from that victory, yet our spiritual enemies are not totally annihilated. They are still active in the world. Satan goes about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. And although he cannot harm believers, yet he still tries to take shots at us with his flaming arrows.

And so there is this eschatological tension, the already and the not-yet. And it is absolutely essential that we read this text about the armor of God in light of that eschatological backdrop. Otherwise, what will happen? We will think that it is really up to us to defeat Satan, that the ultimate outcome of the battle rests on our shoulders. And O what a disaster that would be, if we went out into the battle thinking that it is all up to us. If that were the case, we would be doomed to fail. The very thought that God would let his glory hang on the feeble efforts of his people ought to strike terror in our hearts. We would be defeated before the battle has even started.

No, brothers and sisters! The outcome is not up to us. It doesn’t hang in the balances. We already know the outcome, and we know it because Jesus Christ has already triumphed over all the powers of hell, by his mighty death and resurrection and exaltation to the right hand of God in heaven. And you see, this is why Paul never once commands us to go on the attack, to go out and defeat the enemy. Instead, he exhorts us to stand firm, to stand in the victory that Christ has already won.

Notice that this verb, “to stand” occurs four times in this passage:

Verse 11: “Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil.”

Verse 13: “Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day [literally, the word resist is the same word in Greek with the prefix anti- added, and so it means to anti-stand, to withstand, that is, to stand your ground while under attack]

Verse 13 again, at the end: “… and having done everything, to stand firm.”

Verse 14: “Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins,” etc.

You see, the victory has already been won. We are not being called to secure the victory. We are merely being urged to stand fast in the victory that Christ has already achieved, to stand fast in this time of eschatological tension while we wait for the second coming of Christ, when our already-defeated enemies will be totally be removed.

So how are we going to do this? What spiritual weapons have we been given in order to stand in Christ’s victory? In verses 14 through 17 Paul answers that question explicitly as he lays out the six pieces of our spiritual armor in Christ. The belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the sandals or boots of the gospel of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit. Together, these six pieces of armor constitute the whole armor of God.

This is not a haphazard or random list. The text is carefully organized. The first three pieces belong together and are grouped under the imperative “Stand firm!” (v. 14). Each of the three pieces are introduced by participles grammatically subordinate to and thus explanatory of the imperative. You don’t need to be able to read Greek to see this: each of the four pieces of armor begins with a participle - “having girded your loins with the truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace.”

Then, in verse 16, the parallelism is broken by the insertion of the phrase: “in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith.” With the fourth piece of armor, we come to a turning point in the sentence structure. It is further set apart from the other pieces of armor in that it is the only one that includes an explanatory phrase, “the shield of faith, with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the wicked one.”

Then we come in verse 17 to the last two pieces, the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit. Since the parallel structure has been broken in verse 16, Paul must begin a new sentence with a new main verb: “And take up the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit.”

So verses 14-17 divides into three parts:

Verses 14-15, which detail the first three aspects of our armor.

Verse 16, in which we are urged to take up the shield of faith.

Verse 17, in which we are called to take up the last two pieces of our armor.

This morning we will examine the first three participles in verses 14-15. Remember, these are participial phrases subordinate to the imperative to stand firm. As such these three phrases answer the question: how do we stand firm? We stand firm by having our loins girded with the belt of truth, by putting on the breastplate of righteousness, and by having our feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace.

Now right at the beginning we are confronted with a debate. Many interpreters and preachers argue that the call to put on the belt of truth and the breastplate of righteousness is a call to possess the ethical qualities of truthfulness or integrity, and of righteousness. As Christians, we must be men and women who are characterized by the truth and by righteousness. We can only stand firm against the enemy when our moral house is in order, when we are walking in integrity and righteousness.

The preparation of the gospel of peace is interpreted in a similar manner. We must be prepared, ready to share the gospel with others. Having an evangelistic heart for the lost is a key component of spiritual warfare.

On the other side of the debate are those who argue that in the present context, Paul is not calling us to have certain ethical or moral qualities, as if our victory in this spiritual warfare depends on our sanctification or obedience. Rather, Paul is reminding us that our victory depends totally and completely on the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ. I believe this second view best fits the context. In other words, Paul isn’t talking about sanctification but about justification. Not about imparted righteousness, but imputed righteousness.

Just look at the key terms in this passage. Ignore for a moment the metaphor of the armor, and consider the terms Paul uses to define each one. Truth, righteousness, gospel, faith, salvation, and the Word of God. In a list like that, relentlessly focused on the objective activity of God on our behalf, how could truth and righteousness refer to something that we do?

The decisive consideration, though, is the Old Testament background behind each of the pieces of the armor. When we look at the original context of these military metaphors in Isaiah, the objective reference is clear.

(1) The belt of truth

Let’s begin by turning in our Bibles to Isaiah 11:1-5 in order to see the original context from which Paul derived the first piece of our spiritual armor, the belt of truth. This passage is clearly a Messianic prophecy. This is evident right from the start.

Read Isaiah 11, verse 1.

Jesse of course was the father of King David. From the lineage of Jesse God had caused a royal dynasty to sprout, first in David, then Solomon and his descendants. However, the royal tree of the house of Jesse had been cut down during the Babylonian exile. The last king of the royal line was Zedekiah. In 586 B.C. the Nebuchadnezzar came and killed his sons before his eyes, then put out Zedekiah’s eyes, bound him in fetters and carried him to Babylon. And so that was the end of the royal line of Jesse.

And why was the Davidic dynasty brought to such a terrible end? Because it was God’s judgment against the house of Judah for its sin and apostasy. The kings of Judah were corrupt. They judged unrighteously. They oppressed the poor, the widow, and the afflicted. Rather than leading God’s people in the way of obedience to God’s Law, they lead Israel into idolatry, corruption, and the exploitation of the weak.

Thus, the royal tree of Jesse had to be cut down. All that was left was a mere stump. It seemed lifeless and dead. But here in Isaiah 11 we are told that the stump of Jesse will sprout again. That in the future, a new royal shoot or branch will spring forth from the root of Jesse. And this branch is none other than the ultimate son of David, even Jesus Christ our Lord. Unlike his predecessors, however, this Davidic king will not abuse his authority to oppress the needy. He will judge fairly and righteously.

Read Isaiah 11:3-5.

This then is the context from which Paul quotes in our text. The Messiah will fasten the belt of faithfulness, or truth, about his waist. When he exercises his kingly authority, when he reigns upon the throne of David, he will do so with perfect equity, justice, and fairness. He will not judge by what his eyes see, or what his ears hear. In other words, he won’t be deceived by mere appearances. He will judge according to the reality of the situation.

In a word, his rule will be characterized by truth. He will not use his royal prerogative to issue edicts crammed full of lies, half-truths, distortions, and misrepresentations. He will judge righteously, that is, according to the truth. In Hebrew the word is emunah. It can be translated either faithfulness or truth, but the context supports the translation truth. Notice the contrast with verse 3: “He will not judge by what his eyes see [that is, by mere appearances] nor make a decision by what his ears hear [that is, on the basis of mere rumor].” The translators of the Septuagint apparently saw this contrast, and so they translated emunah using the same Greek for truth, aletheia, that Paul uses in Ephesians 6.

In its original context, Isaiah’s prophecy that the Messiah will judge, not by mere appearances or rumors, but according to the truth, was a great encouragement to the Jews during their captivity in Babylon. Here they were, the chosen people of God. The possessors of the divine promises to Abraham. And yet they are in exile, harassed and oppressed by the enemy. And so this oracle of the Messiah encouraged the exiles with the hope and the prospect that the Messiah is going to come, and that he is going to decide for the poor and the afflicted. He is going to exercise his Messianic royal and judicial power on behalf of the suffering remnant. Conversely, he is going to slay the enemies of God’s people, the wicked, who are oppressing them. He will strike them with the rod of his mouth, and slay them with the breath of his lips. He is going to decide for the oppressed, for the remnant, and against their enemies, their oppressors.

(2) The breastplate of righteousness

We have a similar picture in Isaiah 59:17, the text from which Paul has mined his second image, the breastplate of righteousness. The context is similar to that Isaiah 11. It is another prophetic oracle concerning the Messiah. In Isaiah 11, the Messiah is pictured as a righteous judge, dispensing justice and ruling in equity. In Isaiah 59, the Messiah is pictured as putting on his armor as he prepares to enter the eschatological battle on behalf of his people. The metaphors of Messiah as judge and as warrior are integrally connected. Both are functions of his kingly office as the eschatological son of David.

But in spite of the similarity between the two passages, there is one important difference. The breastplate of righteousness that the Messiah wears is contrasted with the unrighteousness of the people of God.

Read verses 14-17.

Israel is unrighteous. There is no justice to be found among the Old Covenant people of God. Justice is turned back, righteousness stands far away. In such a desperate situation, the Messiah steps in. He saw that there was no man, no one righteous who could intercede on behalf of God’s people as their champion against the enemy. Therefore, he puts on righteousness like a breastplate and prepares to step into the battle.

You see, then, that the breastplate of righteousness is nothing less than the righteousness of the Messiah himself. Among a nation of apostates and wicked kings, the Messiah is the one and only faithful Israelite, the only righteous king, who keeps the whole Law of God. He alone is Jehovah’s “Righteousness Servant” (Isa. 53:11).

The coming of the Messianic warrior brings judgment on his foes and that act of judgment is at the same time the vindication, deliverance, and justification of his people. In other words, the Messiah straps on the breastplate of righteousness, not only to bring judgment upon the enemies, but in order to render a decision in favor of the remnant. He renders a positive verdict in favor of the people of God. But notice how this people is described. In Isaiah 11 we are told that they are afflicted and oppressed by their enemies, but in Isaiah 59 we see another dimension: they are full of sin and iniquity.

Paul interprets these pictures in Isaiah of the Messiah’s belt of truth and his breastplate of righteousness, as prophetic announcements of the gospel ahead of time. According to Paul, Isaiah is looking ahead to the era of the new covenant, and describing a judicial transaction yet to occur. Inspired by the Spirit of the Messiah who is yet to come, Isaiah is speaking of the Messiah’s act of rendering the verdict of justification on behalf of his people.

Therefore, when Paul calls us to put on breastplate of righteousness, he is calling us to nothing less than putting on the righteousness of Christ!

We must now haste on to the third part of our armament.

(3) Feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace

The reference here is to the boots that a Roman soldier would wear to protect his feet and give him a firm footing in battle. Paul says that we need to get a firm footing, to have a solid stance, so that we may stand firm when we are attacked by the enemy.

There is translation problem. The NAS says, “having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace.” The debate centers on the word “preparation.” In Greek it is hetoimasia. It can be translated either “readiness” or “firmness.” If readiness is chosen, the verse would be saying that we need to be ready to share the gospel of peace with others. If firmness is chosen it means that we need to have a firm footing that comes from the gospel of peace. It is hard to decide between these translations, but I lean toward the second view. Of course, it is possible that both meanings are in view. For when we have the firm footing that comes from the gospel of peace, then we will be eager and ready to share that gospel of peace with others.

But the second view is best in view of the context. Paul is further explaining how we may “stand firm” against the schemes and attacks of the devil. And so you see what Paul is saying, then. We can stand firm because of the firm footing that comes from the gospel of peace. This fits perfectly with our objective interpretation of the previous two pieces of the armor. For the gospel is the means by which we enjoy our judicial standing in Christ as justified sinners, as those who have been declared righteous in his sight only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us and received by faith alone.

The fact that this third piece of armor is a quotation from Isaiah 52:7 supports this. The context of Isaiah 52 is the suffering and the glory of the Messiah. Isaiah 52 describes the glory of Christ in his exaltation, Isaiah then goes on to explain the basis of that glory, namely, the suffering. Having accomplished this atonement on behalf of his people, the Messiah, we are told in Isaiah 52:13, will be high and lifted up and greatly exalted. And from that position of exalted glory, he will proclaim the good news of peace, announcing to Zion, Your God reigns! In Ephesians 2:17, Paul identifies the exalted Messiah himself as the messenger of peace.

So when Paul urges us to fasten our boots with the firmness of the gospel of peace, he is urging us to find the firm footing of assurance of peace with God through Jesus Christ.

And so by examining the Isaiah references in their original context, we have seen that the objective interpretation of the armor is decisively proved. It is not the subjective armor of the believer’s own obedience and sanctification that we are to put on, but the objective armor of Christ himself. We are to clothe ourselves in Christ’s truth and Christ’s righteousness. We are to have our feet shot with the firm footing of Christ’s proclamation of the gospel of peace. Thus, armed with the armor, not of our own righteousness, but of Christ himself, we will be enabled to stand firm against all the wiles of the devil.