The Warrior Way (Ephesians 6:10-18)

Hey everyone! Thank you for reminding me that you are praying for me and for being so supportive during this waiting period! Recently I was video chatting with a friend from college, sharing about what God was teaching us during this season. I mentioned God had led me to study the armor of God. “In fact,” I told her, “one of the reasons I chose to study at Sterling College was because their mascot was a warrior. Obviously that detail was not a top priority, but for me, it additionally felt fitting.” So! I’d love to share with you all what I’ve been learning while studying this passage!

This passage of Ephesians is so rich with multiple layers of meaning. I’m not sure what genre I’ve written this blog post in. It originally was a biblical exegesis for myself, but I wanted to summarize it and share it with you all, so I tried to transform it into a narrative with application so I don’t bore you all with my word studies and history. Haha. I felt motivated to share about this subject because I’ve been going down my list and praying for a couple of you each day, but! What better way for me to communicate how much I care by reminding us of the significance and benefits of putting on God’s armor each day! So, without further ado, this is what I’ve been studying!

Context

In the book of Ephesians, Paul is writing a letter to the church at Ephesus from a prison cell in Rome. He had just spent three years preaching and teaching the Gospel in Ephesus (Acts 20:31), staying until the church grew and was strong enough without him. Though Paul is imprisoned, he strives to deliver instructions to them about how to be successful in abiding in Christ despite uncertain circumstances, and he concludes his letter commanding the church to put on the full armor of God.

Analysis: Ephesians 6:10-18

“¹⁰ Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. ¹¹ Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. ¹² For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. ¹³ Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. ¹⁴ Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, ¹⁵ and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. ¹⁶ In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. ¹⁷ Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.¹⁸ And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.” (NIV)

Verse 10

I can imagine Paul sitting against the wall of a dull prison cell with little light, looking at the chains barred around his hands. His abilities, health, popularity, intelligence, nor his financial security was going to help him endure this. No, instead he writes down verse 10, “be strong IN the Lord & in His might.” Thousands of years later and I’m at my desk thinking: OKAY. I’ve read in scripture about unlikely people doing extraordinary things through God’s might, but how am I supposed to do that? You’re telling me to act yet rely on Your strength? Fortunately for me, my buddy John Piper is alive and wrote an excellent article called “How to Find Strength in the Strength of God,” using the acronym A.P.T.A.T. to practice relying on the Lord:

“Admit that you can do nothing. Pray for God’s help for the task at hand. Trust a particular promise of God’s help. Act. Thank God for the help received.” (Piper)

Piper argues that we too often remember to pray and act, but we don’t trust/rely on God’s promises and power to do the task at hand through us. Piper concludes by activating everyone to memorize God’s promises from scripture, and includes a couple to get us started. Thanks John and Paul : ) Back to the story…

Verse 11

The main idea has been written, so Paul writes a period. He thinks, “Now… the church in Ephesus is going to wonder how and why they should be strong IN the Lord.” A Roman soldier walks by his prison cell. “Aha! The church needs to be equipped! They need to train and wear armor. The armor of God!” *furiously writes down everything* Me sitting at my desk: Ummmmm… how sir? Your writing looks like Greek to me. Thanks to Blue Letter Bible (translation website), the Greek word Paul wrote here is ?νδ?ω (endyo), which means to “sink into” or to “clothe one’s self with.” We are to be surrounded by God’s armor, we cannot just become skilled at using the shield (of faith), and not know how to wield a sword (of the Spirit). If we forget to put on the armor, Paul says we will not be able to “stand” in battle against Satan. Why? Because Satan wants to exploit our weakness, and the text says he has “schemes” (synonyms: deceptions, tricks, cunning methods) that he carefully tailors for each person who knows the Lord, to get them to fall. Satan is not passively waiting for us to stumble, 1 Peter 5:8 says he “walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.” Yikes! I DO NOT want to be unarmed at that hour! That would be a pretty costly mistake!

Verse 12

Paul cannot be with the church of Ephesus and knows he may never see them again, but he loves them. Deeply. He wants them to know what to look for, so in verse 12 Paul tells us our struggle is against non-physical entities (not flesh and blood): rulers, authorities, powers, and spiritual forces of evil. Scattered throughout scripture, we piece together that Satan has an ordered kingdom, with a hierarchy of demonic (fallen angels), which exercise authority and control in locations around the world and in areas of choice. For example, many people in the secular world see terrorism as a clash of cultures—the cultures of Islam versus the Western culture—but Ephesians defines these conflicts as spiritual… spiritual rulers at war. Demonic forces exercise authority also over areas of choice which plague the world and church, such as adultery, pornography, abortion, homosexuality, racial prejudice, violence, etc. Many Christians have fallen prey to Satan by wandering into these areas that are under demonic authority. Thanks AGAIN, Paul, for the insight! It’s nice to know what’s really going on in those situations…

Verse 13

Paul has already given us A LOT of information to think about and put into practice, and we’ve only covered 3 verses! He’s talking about some really serious issues which, speaking of things under demonic authority, may even sound unthinkable… still yet, unfaceable. With these concerns in mind, Paul pens verse 13 to prove when wearing the full armor of God, we CAN “stand our ground.” Yes! God’s armor gives us “dynamite” power! Look! He uses the Greek word δ?ναμαι (dynamai), which the word “dynamite” derived from, to express how we are “of power” or “able” to stand. And not just stand, the idea is of a army of Roman soldiers marching forward. Likewise, we must continue to walk forward, growing in our faith by memorizing God’s word and learning to recognize His voice, to continually be on alert for Satan’s schemes. Putting on and wearing the armor of God is a process, so we need to make a conscious effort to stand up against Satan’s plans so we can keep marching forward through conflict.  

Verse 14

Back to Paul sitting and writing in prison. He probably scratches his beard about now, and thinks, “OKAY. So the church is wearing the complete armor of God now: check. But in the face of adversity, it’s still up to them to decide to fight or flee…” To be passive or distracted is to accept defeat, and the difficulty doesn’t end there. Satan will not stop at knocking you down, because he is ruthless—all sin eventually leads to death. Remember we’re not unaware of when and how he attacks. “SO! If they choose to stand and fight… they’re going to need to understand their equipment…”

Belt of truth, which the sword attaches to, and which keeps the rest of the armor in place >> the same way truth keeps spiritual weapons in place! Truth rests in the identity of Jesus: “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).

Breastplate of righteousness, in Rome was constructed of strips of metal fastened together by leather, weighing 20 to 30 pounds, designed to protect the vital organs from darts or swords which the shield or sword failed to stop. Which makes sense that we should abide by God’s laws in order to protect our heart, integrity, and all the things we hold most dear.

Feet fitted with readiness to share the Gospel, which advances God’s Kingdom. A Roman soldier’s boot was fitted with metals studs, like the spikes under a runner’s shoes, to help him maintain ground in battle. We must be prepared to march onto enemy territory, prepared with the Gospel, which will free the captives from Satan’s control, offering peace to a lost world and changing lives for eternity. Satan’s goal is to keep the lost away from the Gospel. Our job is to spread the Gospel. We are the fulfillment of Isaiah 52:7.

Shield of faith. Faith is a shield which allows us to put an immediate end to many of Satan’s attacks. We are told to “take up” up the shield, so how do we do that? A fiery dart in Roman times was an arrow, dipped in oil then lit on fire and shot at the opposing force. The Roman shield was actually designed and curved to allow the force of the sword or arrow to be deflected to the sides. We can “take up our faith” when people question us about why we believe in God. In response to that dart, if we’ve prepared we will know how to defend our faith but if not their questions could cause us serious doubt.

Helmet of salvation. Satan works on taking the mind captive (2 Corinthians 4:4). Roman soldiers knew that the head is a prime target in warfare, because a direct hit would finish the enemy. God’s promise of salvation to us is REMARKABLE! Whenever Satan throws fiery darts at our mind, we need to remind him where we are spending eternity (1 Thessalonians 5:8-9). God wants us to be sure of our salvation, so we don’t doubt his ability to save us. He gives us two strong pictures of His “down payment” of the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:13-14) and that of a shepherd who does not lose His sheep (John 10:27-29). We need to learn to trust and rejoice in the hope of our eternity.

Sword of the Spirit. Roman soldiers were constantly training with their sword. It was supposed to be like an extension of their arm, and for us the word of God is supposed to be an extension of God representing His kingdom in this fallen world. The spiritual sword is the word of God (Hebrews 4:12). It is eternal and living. The world is subject to God’s word, and Satan and his demons fear it. It has the power to transform (Psalm 19:7-8) and break down spiritual strongholds. In the same way that soldiers in Rome trained for physical battle with physical battle, the warriors of God need to train for battle and become experts in handling the word of God. *Because the kicker is, Satan knows the word of God. But he twists it. Is it possible Satan knows the word of God better than me? I better make sure that’s not true. +On the other hand, the sword is both a defensive AND offensive tool. I can bring the fight to the enemy. Either way, I need to know the word of God REALLY, REALLY WELL.

To conclude, I want to suggest that the armor of God is not yet complete. WHAT ABOUT MY BACK??? There’s nothing covering it! What if, there is no armor listed for our back, because we’re actually supposed to stand back to back with each other! Additionally, according to history, the Roman army moved together (metaphor for the church), and when the enemy would shoot flaming arrows over, they would get into this formation called the “tortoise” (where their shields cover them from every angle) so that no flaming arrow could hit them. Ah. That’s a picture of the church.

We can suit up everyday with the armor of God, but our back is still going to be exposed if we don’t have good mentors and friends who can help us. Just the other day I got to see my mentor Carol in person for the first time since I’ve been back! I owe a lot of my “warrior training” to her. She’s taken so much time to teach me how to read scripture, delight in God, and care for others. We’re about ten years into meeting to study God’s word, and just enjoy time together! Thank you Carol, for everything <3

I hope this analysis inspires you to study that passage further! The passage ends with verse 18, challenging us to pray on all occasion for our brothers and sisters in Christ. That’s what we’re cultivating HERE through this blog! Lastly, imagine what our lives would look like if we were conscious of “surrounding ourselves with the armor of God” each morning, so we’re ready and confident to further God’s Kingdom! I included a video below that greatly inspired me as I began to take Paul’s command more seriously. It always makes me weep to think of what my sin has done to Jesus and how He chose to go to the cross for me anyways. He has given us SO MUCH! He took the penalty for our sin, removed our inability (blindness) to understand the Gospel, gave us an invitation to His presence, adopted us as His sons and daughters, commissions us to represent Him, and arms us for the hardships we’re warned that we will face. All we can do in response is delight in Him and praise Him! 

Life Update

The 2 month waiting period is over, and a couple days ago I received the email about our options moving forward. SOON I’ll be able to write a post explaining our new budget and the options. There is good news and there is sad news. I would really appreciate your prayers as my squad and I seek the Lord for understanding and guidance. I know many of you shared my disappointment about being sent home, and now anticipation of our options moving forward. Thanks for staying near and dear. Don’t forget to say “hello,” share what God is teaching you, or share what you find fascinating about the armor of God–in the comments below! I love hearing from you all! Stay well!

Sources Referenced:

1. Bible Gateway. Web.
2. Blue Letter Bible, 2020. Web.
3. “Ephesus.” Encyclopaedia Britannica, updated February 2020. Web.
4. Piper, John. “How to Find Strength in the Strength of God.” Desiring God, September 2014. Web.
5. “Roman Army.” Wikipedia, updated May 2020. Web.