The armor of God

There's much poor teaching (and some very bad teaching) in the church on the topic of spiritual warfare. Much of it centers on the interpretation of Ephesians chapter 6:

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 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. 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. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 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. Pray also for me, that whenever I speak, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should. (Eph 6:10-20 NIV)

Where interpreters get it wrong here is by focusing too narrowly on the meaning of words like belt, truth, breastplate, righteousness, sword, and so on. It's a case of missing the forest for the trees. For example, is it truth about God that Paul refers to here? Or truth from God i.e. the Bible that He has given us? Or does Paul mean we should be truthful in everything we say and do? And how exactly is truth like a belt? At this point the preacher or commentator will often start describing the way men dressed in Biblical times, the kinds of belts and materials used to make them, and so on. All very edifying I'm sure, but in fact missing the main point of what Paul is saying.

Because what Paul is doing here is using a metaphor to describe the Christian life. He is simply saying that as followers of Jesus, we should consider ourselves soldiers fighting against an enemy who rules over this dark world, an enemy who uses lies, wickedness and fear to keep people under his power. And if we are God's soldiers, then we need to live disciplined lives, strong and courageous, always on the alert. 

As soldiers we also need to always keep our armor on and learn how to effectively wield our weapons. And we need both offensive and defensive equipment and skills if we're going to win these battles. Even more importantly, we need godly character as God's soldiers. For no matter how gifted we are, if our character is deficient then we won't be able to stand our ground. One day we're going to fall, and will likely bring down others with ourselves. Finally, we need to recognize that we are in a war we can't escape from. There is no opt-out clause or room for conscientious objectors in this war we are in. "He who is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters," says our captain. 

This then must be our focus as we read this passage in Ephesians. If we lose focus on the big picture — the image of us as soldiers under attack while boldly proclaiming God's message — and instead get stuck on drilling down into the root meaning of Greek words and obscure customs of Biblical times, we are going to end up arguing with each other while our enemy sits back and laughs. 

So be strong, be bold, be patient and kind. Be like Jesus.

—Mitch