'Put on the whole armour of God so that you may be able to stand against the devil's schemes.' Ephesians 6:11
When we cone to this famous passage, we need to begin with a crucial question. What is the battle which the armour of God is provided for? We often think of evangelism as a battle but, if you read what goes before, it is clear that Ephesians 6 is not about that 'external' battle but the 'internal' battle to keep going in the faith.
The need to persevere in the faith was a constant preoccupation of Paul's in his letters to both churches and individuals. It seems to be a much less prominent theme in Evangelical churches today. We seem afraid to mention it, in case we affect our Reformed credentials by warning people not to fall away from the faith. But it is all over the New Testament and when we ignore it we are like people tiptoeing around a woolly mammoth in the living room. Paul feels no such embarrassment; he gets eyeball to eyeball with the mammoth because he knows it is a great and real threat to his readers. This is the threat for which God provides his divine armoury of Ephesians 6. All its components are given us to enable us to stand fast in the 'evil day', to endure to the end with our Christian profession intact. Even the apparently 'offensive' sword is about enabling us to repel the devil's attacks.
We should note that we are commanded to put on 'the whole armour of God' and it is important we view the armour as a complete set. A soldier cannot pick and choose which bits of armour he fancies wearing or he will leave parts of his body undefended with fatal consequences. Likewise we cannot choose to major on some aspects of Christian character and neglect others, or we will be leaving Satan gaping holes in our defences which he will exploit to the uttermost.
We should also note that this is not ceremonial armour intended to look splendid on special occasions but is intended for daily wear and to be knocked about by the daily realities of life. A Roman soldier would have put on his armour so frequently that he would have been able to do it with his eyes closed. In the same way the application of these items of spiritual armour needs to become second nature. We do not acquire these pieces of armour and then sit back. Each needs to be reapplied each day because we soon lapse back into unbelief and laxness. A careless soldier who lost his armour or let it fall into disrepair would discover that it would not serve its purpose when he was attacked but the good soldier constantly checked his equipment and ensured everything was in good working order. Then he was 'always ready' and would not be caught unawares. We have an enemy who is constantly on the prowl, 'seeking who he may destroy' but if we adopt the whole armour of God we will be equipped to repel his most subtle and varied schemes.
Finally, we should remember that this is not just armour which God gives to us but is the armour in which he attires himself. In Isaiah 59, an important parallel passage to Ephesians 6, God is portrayed coming to the aid of his people in battle garb, including a breastplate of righteousness and a helmet of salvation - sound familiar? So if we want to stand firm against the devil's schemes, we need to acquire the character of God himself - a character of passionate goodness, justice and mercy. That way, we will stand firm in Christ to the last.
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