Clothed in Spiritual Armor. Ephesians 6.

"Finally, be strengthened in the Lord and in the strength of his power. Clothe yourselves with the full armor of God so that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil." (Ephesians 6:10,11 NET)

This is one of the classic passages in the New Testament, frequently quoted, prayed through, used and sometimes even abused. Paul likes the clothing metaphor, and if you remember just a couple of weeks ago we read in Romans about clothing ourselves in Christ. Treat this metaphor the same way in your understanding of what it means to "put on" clothes.

I want to make just a couple of points about this passage and encourage you to do the heavy thinking. The first point is to acknowledge the source of inspiration for Paul's thinking here. In part it comes from imagery of the Old Testament. The helmet of salvation, for example, is from Isaiah 59:17. But Paul's primary inspiration was the Roman soldier he was chained to during his confinement. No doubt Paul had ample opportunity to reflect on those articles of armor the soldier relied on.

The second point, is to notice that four times Paul talks about standing in the full passage: Ephesians 6:10-20. Standing firm against something is not the same as marching off and attacking. (In verse 13, Paul's meaning is something like stand up and stand your ground, so that you'll remain standing.) In fact, all the pieces of armor listed are for defense and protection, with the possible exception of the sword. Even there, this sword was for close-in, hand-to-hand combat, and there was a longer sword, and the lance to be used when attacking. When considering the spiritual forces that are allied against us, it's important to understand that we're called to resist them, not go out looking for them.

A third point is that prayer and alertness are equally valuable in this warfare as the rest of the armor. And that this prayer should be continuous and be for all the saints, including Paul. The armor of a Roman soldier had one weakness -- the back was somewhat unprotected. Protection for the back came from all the other soldiers one fought with. "I've got your back," was something these soldiers would understand. Paul points out that we need to be that protection for one another, through prayer and watching out.

Here's a final point from which you can consider the rest of the passage. Think about the role and function of each piece of armor when looking at the spiritual capability Paul compares it to. What is a shield for, and how is faith like a shield?

If you aren't already, get dressed!