13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.
14 Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness,
15 and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace.
16 In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one;
17 and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God,
The whole armor of God is very beautifully described here by Paul. He takes the various pieces of physical armor and matches them up to the most powerful themes of the Christian life, so listed: truth, righteousness, the gospel, faith, salvation, and the Word of God. We will discuss the individual pieces in the next several contemplations, but we need to focus at first on the whole armor itself.
Because Paul uses the words "whole armor," he is not, then, referring to the individual pieces by themselves, as if any one of these by itself could properly defend the soul. The medieval knights wore a suit of armor, describing their head to foot battle attire. A suit of armor covers the whole man, especially covering those places most vulnerable to mortal blows. The sections of the "soul" here covered by Paul are described as the midsection, the chest, the feet, the back (or any other part of the body that would be exposed to arrows), and the head.
It is difficult to place these parts of the soul into perspective, if that is Paul's meaning. If there are parts to the soul, Paul probably would have defined them here. Rather, he is matching up these great themes of the Christian life to the places the enemy might choose to attack. Does the enemy attack truth? Does the devil try to tear down righteousness? Does he attempt to thwart the gospel? Does he not constantly barrage our faith? Will he not try to destroy our salvation? And does he not, above all, hate and fear the Word of God? This whole armor, then, as Calvin puts it, prepares us on all sides and gives us arms to repel every kind of attack.
But let us look at this a bit closer. How is the truth like our midsection? The most intimate parts of our selves are housed in what the King James Version translated as our loins. Paul also talks about the bowels of mercy in Colossians 3:12, or to that which we might refer crudely as guts, the innermost and intimate parts of the soul; the place were we are known only to ourselves. The enemy would obviously like to shake us here. He would like us to think that no one knows or sees our most inward thoughts and motives. Here is where the truth is most important. If we believe a lie here, it will be the most destructive. Jeremiah says the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked (Jer 17:9). Therefore the truth about ourselves, the truth about God, the truth about everything in the world, must ever be before us - a light shining brighter every day - so that by this, we may protect ourselves from the lies of the enemy.
How does righteousness refer to our chest? It may in this way. When a man is proud, he often puffs out his chest. Perhaps he may even beat it and let everyone know how great he is. Paul here is saying that righteousness must cover our "chest", but to whose righteousness is he referring? Isaiah says that our righteousness is like filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6). So why would we want to put on filthy rags with otherwise glorious and beautiful armor? He would not. He is referring to the righteousness of Christ. The righteousness of Christ is the only garment that can keep us from puffing out our chests and being proud of our own actions in the faith. It will also keep us from putting on the filthy rags which will not stop a single mortal blow from the enemy.
How does the gospel refer to our feet? Here Paul is most likely thinking, as he quoted in his letter to the Romans (10:15), about the prophecy of Isaiah. "How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion 'Your God reigns.'" (Isaiah 52:7) In Romans 10, Paul is talking about how faith in Christ comes. He ends by saying that faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. But how does that word come? It comes by the preaching of the gospel. We will talk about the Word-Sword later on, but what he is undoubtedly saying about this piece of armor is that the gospel must go with us constantly when we engage in battle with the evil one. Your feet go everywhere with you, so must the gospel of peace as shoes you put on.
When talking about the shield of faith, we are speaking of a defensive weapon that can be used actively and passively to protect us from various attacks. The shield could be worn in such a way as to protect the back from arrows, thus it would be passive. The shield could also be placed in front, normally attached to the hand or forearm to protect the body from frontal assaults. It could be at our side or over our head. It should be thought of, then, as a 360 degree protection from all sorts of attacks. Paul is here referring to the way faith is attacked from all sides by the flaming arrows of the devil. He comes at us from behind, beside, before, and above. There is no place from whence he will not try. Attacking our faith means that he is trying to get us to disbelieve God. We know he has been doing that from the beginning. So faith protects us from arrows of doubt and disbelief.
The helmet and the head go together next, and it is associated with salvation. Perhaps here Paul is referring to our knowing what is going on in the battle. The head, or the brain, is the seat of knowledge. It carries the eyes, ears, and speech of the body. With it we can see, hear, and communicate on the field of battle. The head is then quite important when it comes to knowing where to go, hearing the commands from the battle generals, and acknowledging those commands and passing them along. So what does this have to do with salvation. First, we see salvation. We see our own sinfulness and need of a savior. We see a savior who has died for us and risen again. We see these things by faith, but we also have sensible signs given to us in the sacraments of the Church. Second, we hear with our ears the gospel. And third, we speak with our mouths the confession of our hearts of belief in the Lord Jesus Christ. The helmet of salvation, then, is knowing on whose side we are fighting, and to whom we owe allegiance and fealty. With this helmet, we will never be swayed to join forces with the enemy, or desert our Lord on the field of battle.
All of these parts of our soul must be protected and kept ready at all times. We will look further to each separate piece of armor in the coming weeks.
Assignment:
1. Memorize the Scripture passage.
2. Look at each of these aspects of armor and what is being protected. Journal about how you believe the enemy has attacked you, or the Christian world in general, at every point.
3. Find a picture of a warrior or even draw one with these elements of armor. Let that picture come to mind when you memorize the passage.
