Armor of God (Eph 6:10-18) - Introduction

We have begun to discuss spiritual warfare at 1Peter3 and of course these verses have popped up as part of our conversations.  A few years back my house church went through the book of Ephesians together and we spent a good deal of time on these verses.  I've dug up my notes from my studies on the verses back then and thought I would share them in a series of three posts.

Introduction  - my prelminary notes regarding things that stood out while reading the verses

The Armor - when this example was given to the Ephesian Church they would have been very familar with the Roman soldiers of the day and the armor that they wore.  There is a lot to learn and understand about the Armor of God when we better understand the different pieces of the Roman soldiers armor and the reasons behind each piece.

The Establishment of the Armor - not only is it important to understand the purpose of the armor, it is important to understand how we obtain each of these pieces of armor.

Armor of God - Introduction

Ephesians 6:10-18

The first verse regarding the armor of God says "be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power".  We are being told that we are not strong on our own, we are to take action (be strong), but we are not to do it ourselves.  Our strength comes from God and His power, not ours.

Verse 11 continues by telling us to "put on the full armor".  We need to put it ALL on, not just certain items.  The words "full armor" are repeated again in verse 13.

We need to remember through all of this that people are NOT our enemies.  This is very easy to forget.  Verse 12 tells us that our struggle is not against flesh and blood but against spiritual forces.  We've heard this many times, but we often loose sight of this as we go about our daily lives.  This is exactly what the enemy wants.  If we are busy fighting other people, hating them and becoming bitter towards them, we won't be able to effectively use God's strength and power to fight him and his forces.

Ephesians 6:10-18

10Finally, be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power.  11Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes.  12For 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.  13Therefore, 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.  14Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.  16In addition, to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.  17Take 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 praying for all the saints.