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The Whole Armour of God
Ephesians 6.10-20
Good News Translation (GNT)
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10 Finally, build up your strength in union with
the Lord and by means of his mighty power.
11 Put on all the armour that God gives you,
so that you will be able to stand up against
the Devil's evil tricks.
12 For we are not fighting against human beings
but against the wicked spiritual forces in the
heavenly world, the rulers, authorities, and
cosmic powers of this dark age.
13 So put on God's armour now!
Then when the evil day comes, you will be
able to resist the enemy's attacks; and after
fighting to the end, you will still hold your
ground.
14 So stand ready, with truth as a belt tight
around your waist, with righteousness as your
breastplate,
15 and as your shoes the readiness to
announce the Good News of peace.
16 At all times carry faith as a shield; for with it
you will be able to put out all the burning
arrows shot by the Evil One.
17 And accept salvation as a helmet, and the
word of God as the sword which the Spirit
gives you.
18 Do all this in prayer, asking for God's help.
Pray on every occasion, as the Spirit leads.
For this reason keep alert and never give up;
pray always for all God's people.
19 And pray also for me, that God will give me a
message when I am ready to speak, so that I
may speak boldly and make known the
gospel's secret.
20 For the sake of this gospel I am an
ambassador, though now I am in prison.
Pray that I may be bold in speaking about the
gospel as I should.
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Commentary taken from
'The Applied New Testament Commentary'
(Kingsway)
The Armour of God
Ephesians 6.10-20
Be strong. That is not a suggestion; it is a command.
We can be strong by putting on the full armour of God
God has given to us His spiritual armour, and it will protect us from
our chief spiritual enemy, Satan.
Allied with Satan are rulers, authorities, powers on earth, and spiritual
forces of evil
However, here on earth the power of all these rulers and authorities
is still very great, and thus we need God's armour to stand against them.
By putting on God's armour and standing our ground, we can cause Satan
to flee If even one piece of the armour is missing, Satan will
immediately wound us in that unprotected area.
Paul tells us here to be ready to stand against Satan when the
day of evil comes. The day of evil is the day of temptation,
the day of persecution.
In particular, it is any day when Satan especially attacks us.
Paul wrote this letter while a prisoner in Rome;
he was probably being guarded by a soldier who was wearing just this
kind of armour. Perhaps Paul's description of God's armour was based
on the armour of his guard.
Now let us examine each piece of this armour.
First, Paul mentions the belt of truth. Satan is the father of lies
and only the truth can defeat his lies.
The second piece of armour is the breastplate of righteousness.
God has declared believers in Christ to be righteous.
We must put on the breastplate of righteousness; otherwise, Satan
will accuse us of being unrighteous. Without righteousness, we shall
lose our standing with God. Satan is a great accuser; he is called
the accuser of our brothers.
Satan will try to make us doubt if we are really saved.
We need to put on the "shoes" of readiness that comes from the gospel
of peace. That is, we must be ready to carry the Gospel of Christ to others.
Shoes help us to be ready. With our shoes on, we shall be ready
to carry the Gospel, and we shall not stumble on the way.
The shield is our faith in God.
When we raise our shield, we can have complete confidence in God's power.
In Paul's day, the shield of a soldier was four and a half feet high
and two and a half feet wide; it was big enough to protect the entire body.
Satan's "flaming arrows" are such things as fear, discouragement,
confusion, and doubt. When our shield of faith is raised,
these things will not be able to touch us.
The steel helmet of a soldier protects his head, so that his enemy
cannot kill him. In the same way, the helmet of salvation protects
us from being spiritually "killed" by Satan.
The sixth part of God's armour is the sword of the Spirit.
Notice that the first five pieces of the armour are defensive in nature.
But the sixth part, the sword, is offensive.
It is for attacking Satan. Without the sword, we cannot defeat Satan.
The sword is the word of God. The word of God is effective; it's powerful!
It has far more power that anything on earth.
God intends that we use His word to defeat Satan.
The best example of the use of God's word as a "sword" can be seen
in Jesus' answers to Satan during His temptation.
We must put on all of our armour with prayer.
Our prayers should not only be for ourselves, but for our other
Christian brothers and sisters, that they might be able to stand
against the attacks of Satan and overcome him.
Paul tells us to pray in the Spirit - that is,
with the help and inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
The Spirit inspires our prayers and teaches us what to pray.
Even the greatest Christian leaders and preachers need our prayers.
Paul was able to do the great works he did because of the prayers
of fellow Christians.
Paul calls himself an ambassador.
Yet even Paul has ended up in chains in a Roman prison!
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