Paul writes again about Christ-like family relationships in Ephesians 5-6, reminding wives to submit to their own husbands and reminding husbands to love their wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her (5:22-33). Sometimes I say to young women – if you find a young man who understands that Jesus’ instructions to him are to give up his life for his wife, then you’ll have a whole lot less problems with following his leadership. I’ve previously touched on mutual submission in the parallel passage in Colossians 4 (here).

It’s Ephesians 6 – let’s talk about armor! My husband is a student of military history, so I have seen quite a few ancient weapons, forts, battlefields, etc. Some of the best armor collections from the Middle Ages are in the Royal Armory of Madrid, Spain and in the Palace Armory in Valetta, Malta. Here’s the thing about armor – it’s metal, it’s extraordinarily heavy, and it covers most of your body so there are no weaknesses exposed. I am sure you have all seen a movie where one knight is trying to exploit the weak spot in another knight’s armor; or where the archer is trying to put his special arrow into the one weak spot in the dragon’s armor plating (so many Hobbit and Lord of the Rings references coming to mind! I bet elvish armor is not heavy! If we only had the equivalent of mithril to protect us…).

What are we fighting against according to Ephesians 6? The schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places (6:12). Did you get that? We are not fighting other people. We are in a battle with spiritual forces and the schemes of the devil. These are unseen, intangible threats.

How are we to fight according to Ephesians 6? What are the command verbs in this passage? Be strong in the Lord (6:10). Good news, our strength is not found in ourselves (whew!) but in the Lord. Put on the whole armor of God (6:11). This is our primary task, to get properly dressed for battle every single day. Great! Then what do we do?

Stand firm. Stand. Pray. Keep alert. Hmmm. These were not the verbs I was expecting. Where is the marching out to battle? Where is the command to fight? Where is the command to go take the city? The commands are defensive – stand, pray, be alert. The purpose of the armor is to protect us and to strengthen our defensive posture. It’s not for marching out to conquer anything, it’s about holding the ground we are already standing on!

What kind of threats might we expect from these invisible, intangible enemies? What do we learn from the pieces of the armor of God? We need a belt of truth – lies are a tactic of the enemy. We need a breastplate the righteousness of Christ – the temptation to unrighteous behavior is a threat and so is relying on your own righteousness. We need shoes of peace – the desire to create or prolong conflict is a threat. We need a shield of faith – discouragement and disbelief are threats, flaming darts of the evil one. We need a helmet of salvation – to protect our minds from deception. Finally, we need to sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God – to bring truth and power into every battle with spiritual forces.

There is an ongoing spiritual battle in the unseen realm every day – put on the armor of God and stand firm. Keep alert, so the enemy does not target your weaknesses. Pray at all times in the Spirit. He hears us and will answer.