Sermon Tone Analysis

The Armor of God

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.\

19 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,

20 for which I am an ambassador in chains.

Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should.

Final Greetings

21 Tychicus, the dear brother and faithful servant in the Lord, will tell you everything, so that you also may know how I am and what I am doing.

22 I am sending him to you for this very purpose, that you may know how we are, and that he may encourage you.

23 Peace to the brothers and sisters, and love with faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

24 Grace to all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with an undying love. 1

Who is in the spiritual battle?

Why important?

Who is our enemy?

How to prepare ourselves?

What do to prepare ourselves?

When are we in the battle?

How to be victorious?

1 The New International Version.

(2011).

().

Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

6:11.

The way we are strong in the Lord is to put on the full armor of God.

When we have this armor on, we are able to stand against the wiles and schemes of the devil.

Satan is a deceiver and a destroyer (Rev.

12:9).

He deceives in order to destroy.

Putting on the armor, of course, is a metaphor for following certain instructions from Scripture.

Only he has the mighty power sufficient to win spiritual battles against the demonic enemy.

6:12.

The reason this spiritual armor is needed is that our struggle is not against flesh and blood.

The picture of warfare here implies that we do not face a physical army.

We face a spiritual army.

Therefore our weapons must be spiritual.

Against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms seems to suggest a hierarchy of evil spirit-beings who do the bidding of Satan in opposing the will of God on earth.

The day of evil is anytime during this era in history until Jesus returns.

All days are evil in their potential and become evil in reality when Satan or his demons decide to use that day to attack you.

The clear implication here is that, if the Christian has all his armor on, he has the ability to stand firm against Satan.

At times the spiritual warfare in which we find ourselves may be frightening.

However, the only thing we have to fear, if our armor is in place, is fear itself.

“The one who is in you [Jesus], is greater than the one [Satan] who is in the world” (1 John 4:4).

“Submit yourselves, then, to God.

Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (Jas.

4:7).

“Be self-controlled and alert.

Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.

Resist him, standing firm in the faith” (1 Pet.

5:8–9).

Scripture is utterly consistent.

If we have our armor in place, if we are firm in our faith, we may resist the devil.

If we do, he will flee from us.

6:14.

After instructions to put on the full armor of God and the promise of the power of God in victory over the devil, Paul specifically describes the various pieces of armor.

The belt of truth pictures the large leather belt the Roman soldier wore.

It held other weapons and kept his outer garments in place.

To put on the belt of truth can be understood as accepting the truth of the Bible and choosing to follow it with integrity.

The breastplate of righteousness pictures the metal armor in the shape of a human torso common to the Roman uniform.

To put on the breastplate can be understood as choosing not to harbor and nurture known sin.

It is striving to be like Christ and live according to his ways of righteousness.

6:15.

Feet fitted with the readiness pictures the hobnailed shoes which kept the soldiers footing sure in battle.

To put on these shoes could be understood as believing the promises of God in the gospel and counting on them to be true for you.

Faith in these promises yields peace in the Christian’s life.

6:16.

The shield of faith pictures the small, round shield the Roman soldier used to deflect blows from the sword, arrow, or spear of the enemy.

To take up this shield can be understood as rejecting temptations to doubt, sin or quit, telling yourself the truth and choosing on the basis of the truth to do the right thing.

6:17.

The helmet of salvation pictures the Roman soldier’s metal protective headgear.

It does not refer to our salvation in Christ.

First Thessalonians speaks of the helmet of the “hope of salvation,” which is probably a parallel idea.

That being the case, taking the helmet of salvation could be understood as resting our hope in the future and living in this world according to the value system of the next.

The sword of the Spirit pictures the soldier’s weapon sheathed to his belt and used both for offensive and defensive purposes.

Taking the sword of the Spirit—defined for us as the Word of God—can be understood as using Scripture specifically in life’s situations to fend off attacks of the enemy and put him to flight.

We see the example of Jesus using the Scripture this way in Matthew 4:1–11.

6:18.

Finally, while preparing for and doing battle, we are to be on the alert and always keep on praying.

We petition God for our own needs in the battle, and we pray for the spiritual victory of other saints.

6:19–20.

Paul finishes by asking for prayer for himself in his own ministry, acknowledging the fact that he was a prisoner at the time of this writing.

He sought courage from prayer to proclaim the gospel even to those in his prison.

God wants us to be strong in HIS mighty power

Put on full armor of God- Why?

Struggle not against flesh and blood

But rulers, authorities, powers of this dark world, spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms

Therefore, pt on full armor of God

able to stand our ground

Stand firm

Belt of truth

breastplate of righteousness

your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace

The New International Version.

(2011).

().

Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

6:14b.

Before a Roman soldier put on his armor, he put a belt around his waist.

This held his garments together and served as a place on which to hang his armor.

The belt of truth refers not to the facts of the gospel but to subjective truth, a believer’s integrity and faithfulness.

As a soldier’s belt or sash gave ease and freedom of movement, so truth gives freedom with self, others, and God.

6:14c.

The breastplate of righteousness refers not to justification, obtained at conversion (; ), but to the sanctifying righteousness of Christ () practiced in a believer’s life.

As a soldier’s breastplate protected his chest from an enemy’s attacks, so sanctifying, righteous living (; ) guards a believer’s heart against the assaults of the devil (cf.

; ).

6:15.

This verse does not speak of the spreading of the gospel, for Christians are pictured in vv.