We Christians are most likely well-acquainted with the armor of God. We learned about it in VBS, Bible school, and heck, Christian film producers made a superhero out of the concept: Bible Man. Not gonna lie though, I watched it as a kid, and I loved it–well, at least much more than the show of talking vegetables anyways. In fact, in one healthy episode, Larry the cucumber took on the role of a superhero, but he sadly got himself into a major pickle with the new responsibility and just flopped. At least that’s how I remember it, for the sake of the forced pun.
Regardless, I want to provide a different angle of “the armor of God” that you have probably never heard before. But before we go into the different interpretation, let’s first go over the passage once more:
11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. 12 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. 13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. 14 Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. 16 In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; 17 and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, -Ephesians 6
I bolded the different pieces of this armor to draw emphasis on what the weapons and defense actually are. It’s important to note that the ‘belt’, ‘breastplate’, ‘shoes’, ‘shield’, ‘helmet’, and ‘sword’ are simply metaphors for these bolded words. Of course, the call is not to put on physical armor, but spiritual armor. Otherwise, it would be pretty awkward: showing up to work every day looking like a misplaced soldier in a Roman garrison, or looking like Bible Man well past Halloween (I mean, October 31st, since Christians don’t like candy). Light fun, really.
But the most important thing about this passage is what you think of when you mull over “truth”, “righteousness”, “gospel of peace”, “faith”, “salvation”, and “word of God”. This is the pivotal moment of whether or not you are interpreting this passage correctly.
Here’s the litmus test:
Do you think about how honest you must be when you think of “truth”? Do you think about how moral you must be when you think of “righteousness”? Do you think about how peaceful you must be, gentle you must be, faithful you must be, how much belief you must have in order to acquire a strong armor? Do you think of “salvation” and being a Christian as, of course, the prerequisite for all armor in the first place, and the “word of God” as what you must use to fight Satan’s luring temptations and sin?
For starters, look how many times I just used the word, “you”: 13 to be exact. And that is the #1 sign of a wrong way to read Scripture; yet, that is the only approach we have ever taken–for our whole Christian lives.
Here is the thing that blew my mind, shattering to pieces my prior understanding of the armor of God passage:
JESUS IS THE ARMOR OF GOD
JESUS is the truth and the standard by which all things hold together (Jn 14:6). // belt
JESUS is the righteousness, humanity’s only hope before God for acquittal of sin, protecting our spiritual vitals from the wages of sin: death (2 Cor 5:21; Rom 3:23-24). // breastplate
JESUS is the gospel of peace, who from heaven ventured to earth to reconcile humanity to God by absorbing the hostility of sin that once divided the two (Eph 2:14). // shoes
JESUS is the object of our faith, which gives us highest defense of our acquittal before God. Our faith is not measured by by how much faith we exert, but in whom we place our faith in (1 Jn 5:10-12). // shield
JESUS is salvation, the only way to God (Acts 4:12), in whom our entire worldview is conceived, by whom we understand reality, and from whom we receive every life application. // helmet
JESUS is the Word of God (Jn 1:1), the Word literally made flesh (Jn 1:14), the exact imprint of God’s nature (Heb 1:3), the message incarnated for our behalf, to see, hear, feel, and know, and whose message is sharper than any “two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and of marrow” (Heb 4:12). // sword
Jesus is the armor of God. In Him, we have the strongest defense against the enemy: right standing before God. In Him, we have the best mediator, strongest leader, and most powerful judge. In Him, we have peace with God. In Him, we have the word of God, the standard of truth, despite the relative and changing world. We fight Satan and temptation well when we trust in and relish in who Jesus is and what He has done for us. When we taste the sweetness of Him, the bitterness of sin will set in. And we’d rather choose chocolate over poop every day.
Indeed, you will never fight against sin and win until you first make a general out of the One who has fought sin and won.
Besides, what a silly thought that the “armor OF GOD” was something we could muster up in our own spirituality. No, Paul says it’s from God for a reason. Jesus is from God, to be our armor of God, for the purpose of our being effective ambassadors for God.
So, then, “put on” Jesus Christ. //Romans 13:12-14; Galatians 3:27; Ephesians 4:24; Colossians 3:9-14; 1 Corinthians 15:50-54; 2 Corinthians 1:22; 5:2-3; 1 Thessalonians 5:8; Hebrews 8:10, 10:16
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“Jesus is the armor of God” // tweet from @PastorTullian
