Call of Duty: Spiritual Warfare
This is a picture of the most famous fighter pilot in history. Fighting in a time when winning five air battles was considered impressive, he has been credited with 80 confirmed air combat victories, with several others suspected but unable to be proven. In fact, he shot down more planes than anyone else -- on either side -- during World War I. His was a household name for decades, and is the subject of multiple books and movies both here and in his home country of Germany.
His name is Manfred Albrecht Freiherr von Richtofen, but he is much better known as the Red Baron thanks to his bright red Fokker triplane. On April 21st, 1918, the Red Baron was flying over northern France when he saw a Canadian plane flying at a low altitude. Immediately starting a pursuit, the Red Baron began chasing this poor Canadian across the French countryside trying to shoot him down. At one point the Red Baron himself was briefly attacked by a second Canadian, but he was able to shake him off and resumed his pursuit.
While the Red Baron was distracted with this second plane, a single 7.7mm bullet -- the same type used by the British -- hit him, severely damaging his heart and lungs. The Red Baron barely managed to make a rough crash landing in a field before dying in his plane. He was so respected -- even by his enemies -- that he was given a full funeral, complete with honor guards and a rifle salute, by the Allied troops in the area.
We don’t know where the shot came from -- was it from a Canadian plane? An anti-aircraft gun on the ground? No one knows for sure. We do know, though, that the Red Baron came to his end because he made the mistake of pursuing that Canadian plane too long, too far, and too low into enemy territory. This, ironically, violated one of the Red Baron’s most important principles -- don’t fly too low, because ground fire can be dangerous. He thought that he was safe; because he had so many other victories under his belt he thought he couldn’t be killed.
Too many times believers fall into this same trap. We too are soldiers, but we know before the war ends that our side wins -- after all, the Bible says so repeatedly -- so we feel invincible. When this happens we get caught off guard when we’re too long, too far, and too low into enemy territory.
Spiritual warfare, like the traditional sort practiced by militaries around the world, has its own special set of rules. We have weapons, armor, and tactics to use against our enemy. In Ephesians 6:10-18, Paul describes the weapons, armor, and tactics we use against our enemy -- as well as the dangers we must be careful of during battle. Starting with verse 10:
“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. 18Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere.”
There is a lot of information in these nine verses -- and they describe quite neatly the dos and don’ts of spiritual warfare. Let’s start at the beginning.
“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.” This may sound a little obvious, but we simply cannot fight this battle alone. Before anything else, before we prepare for battle, before we put on our armor or ready our weapons, we must realize where our strength comes from. We cannot fight the enemy if we rely solely upon our own strength and power.
This is what is so difficult. We live in a word where reliance on our own strength and abilities is pushed strongly from a very young age. We’re taught that we don’t need help from anyone, and asking for help is a sign of weakness. If we can’t do it on our own, then we either need to work harder and get stronger, or just give up and not do it at all.
So we need to be strong in the Lord -- we must gain our strength from him. Once we realize that, and give up on trying to do it ourselves, can we finally move on to continue preparing for battle. Put 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. This is the obvious next step, right? By realizing where our strength comes from, we are, in a sense, realizing who is in charge of our army -- we recognize our General. Once we understand whose side we’re on, the next obvious step is to determine who our enemy is -- the devil himself.
When most people hear words like “devil”, “Satan”, “Lucifer”, and so forth, they typically get images in their heads of a horned man with a pointed goatee, wearing a red suit, with a pitchfork and a pointed tail. In all honesty, that image is kind of silly -- but yet it’s such a part of our culture that I’m sure many of you had that image pop in your head at least for a short time when I started this paragraph. In reality, though, the image of Satan is nothing like that. The images we have of Satan are not found in the Bible. We made these images ourselves because we needed something to remind us that evil is real, and it wants nothing more than our complete destruction as believers.
So now we know whose side we’re on, and we know who our enemy is. Now is the time to actually start putting on our armor! When Paul describes the armor of God in these next few verses, he does so with a specific purpose. Each part of armor has a specific meaning that only makes sense for that part. We’re going to skip over verse 13 for now, and go back to it later so we can start discussing the actual armor of God. In verse 14, Paul describes the first piece -- the Belt of Truth.
At this point in history, Rome ruled the area where Paul did all of his missionary work, so the Roman style of armor was likely the most well-known for the common person. In the Roman army, only legionnaires and those of higher rank actually wore armor. This armor had two belts -- one called a Balteus, was slung over the shoulder and was used to carry their sword. The other, called the Cingulum Militare, was worn around the waist. It was used to carry a small dagger and was studded with metal fittings that denoted the officer’s rank. So, which belt did Paul mean -- the Balteus or the Cingulum Militare? Let’s look back at the first part of verse 14: “Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist,”
Clearly, Paul wanted us to wear truth like a Cingulum Militare -- and, when you think about it, this makes perfect sense. The Cingulum Militare had two purposes -- to hold their defensive weapon and to show others what rank they carry in the Roman Army. And this is exactly what truth does! Truth says that when attacks come, the truth will set us free. Truth says that when everything else is lost, the truth of what Jesus did on the cross and therefore what awaits us when we die is nothing scary or negative, but a beautiful eternity with our Savior. Truth also tells the world our rank in the Army of God -- we are all sons and daughters of God! Princes and Princesses of the Most High King hold a very high rank indeed -- and truth reminds us of that, especially when the devil tries to make us forget or convince us that we’re worthless.
The reason that the Balteus belt was not intended is because that belt does nothing more than hold the scabbard for a sword. If we’re constantly at war with our enemy, our sword should never be sheathed, but should always be held at the ready! We’ll go over the sword more in a few moments, but for now let’s continue on in the armor of God with the second half of verse 14: “with the breastplate of righteousness in place”. This part of Roman armor was called Lorica Segmentata, and had iron strips fastened together with leather straps covering the torso of the legionnaire. In Rome, this part of the armor covered both the front and the back of the wearer -- but the Greek word Paul uses here, “thoraka”, simply means “breastplate” and could refer to something that only covers the front of the wearer or something that covers both sides. At any rate, this is armor that is intended to protect the heart. Righteousness, therefore, is intended to protect our heart. But how?
Righteousness literally means “morally right.” Now it makes sense! Righteousness is designed to protect our heart -- not against being stabbed by swords like the Roman armor, but against the temptation and sinful attacks of the devil. Together with Truth, Righteousness protects our body from attack. Just like the belt and breastplate protect the Roman soldier from attacks, so do truth and righteousness come together to form the core of our armor.
Next Paul describes a very important -- but sometimes forgotten -- piece of armor: sandals. Verse 15: “and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.” A Roman soldier wore a type of leather sandal called caligae as a part of his armor. Most armor is designed to protect the wearer against attacks, but these were designed to protect the wearer from the elements. They had a very open design allowing increased airflow across the foot, which prevented ailments like trench foot and even blisters. This was often considered one of the most important parts of a soldier’s armor -- if one can’t move, one can’t fight. Roman soldiers had no jeeps or armored transports, so they were forced to march from place to place -- sometimes, from one side of Europe to the other. Without quality shoes, these marches would have crippled the Roman army. It was therefore no accident that Paul chose Roman caligae to represent peace. Without the peace of Christ, we cannot move. We would be so frozen in fear and doubt that we wouldn’t be able to function as an effective soldier in the Army of God.
So far we’ve discussed the belt, breastplate, and shoes. But these are all parts of armor that are really only useful in close, hand-to-hand fighting. Thankfully, there is a type of armor that will protect from attacks that come from far away -- the shield. Verse 16 says, “In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.” The shield of faith. In a Roman Legion, the shield, or scutum, was large, rectangular, and light -- it only weighed around 20 pounds, but it could withstand direct attacks from swords or arrows. The shield was important to a soldier not only because it helps protect the bearer, but the entire legion as a whole. The Romans had a tactic called “testudo”, where the soldiers would kneel and cover themselves with their shields. The legion would be so close together that the shields would end up overlapping, making it much more difficult for an enemy to get a successful attack past the shield wall.
Similarly, our faith is not just our own shield, but can act as the shield for those around us as well. Allow me to explain. Faith can act as our own shield when it reminds us who we’re fighting for, and who we’re fighting against. Remember, the battles are already won -- and we’re all on the winning side. However, the flaming arrows of the evil one are filled with lies, trying to convince us that we are all failures, we are unloved, the battle is lost and there’s no longer any reason to fight. We know that’s not the truth, but if one of those arrows hits, the pain is all too real. However! When we use our faith to protect ourselves from these attacks, we remember that Christ died on the cross for us, personally. We remember that we are on the winning side. We remember that there is nothing we can do that’s too bad or too evil for God to stop loving us. We remember that the devil is the father of all lies, and then the arrows seem to lose their power. Our faith in Christ protects us from the attacks of the devil just like shields protected a Roman legionnaire two thousand years ago.
But I mentioned that the shield can protect others as well. What about them? Well, our own faith can act as an encouragement for others. Just like the Roman legions would form the testudo formation when attacked, ensuring that everyone can work together in protection, we must on occasion use our own shields of faith to help protect those believers around us who are struggling.
There is one glaring omission in the list of armor pieces so far -- a helmet. Like modern helmets, the Roman version protected the head and face, but it had one other quality that many modern helmets lack -- intimidation. Roman helmets had a large crest on top that made the soldier look taller and wilder, causing fear to enter the hearts of their enemies. Paul knew this when he wrote in verse 17, “Take the helmet of salvation”. Salvation is our helmet. It protects our head and face -- we know we’re saved, so the lies of the devil don’t apply anymore. It helps prevent the secret attacks of temptation from entering our thoughts. We’re saved! A Roman soldier would never fight without his helmet, because a single glancing blow to the side of an unprotected head would spell doom. Likewise, we must never fight the powers and principalities of darkness without our own helmet of salvation, otherwise a single glancing blow would spell doom for us as well!
So far all we’ve discussed have been defensive. Now we finally get to the offensive weapons! The second half of verse 17, “and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” The Roman sword, called a Gladius, was a nasty weapon. It was between 2-3 feet long, double-edged for cutting and slashing, with a pointed tip for stabbing and a large knob on the end of the handle for beating. A trained Roman soldier could do a lot of damage with just one Gladius, but if they were untrained, they were more liable to hurt themselves than anyone else.
The same is true for the Sword of the Spirit -- the Bible. Knowledge of the Bible is important because it gives us our ammunition to attack the devil. Like Christ did during his temptation, someone trained in the Word can counter every temptation the devil tries to send our way with scripture. However, if we’re not trained in the Word, we can do much more harm to ourselves than good. If we don’t know the proper scripture, then we can’t effectively fight the attacks of the devil! So, how do we get trained in the Word, then? Easy -- read. Read the Word! Meditate on it! Pray about it! And don’t just do it once, but do it all the time. Make it a habit; something you do without even thinking about.
But there is one more weapon that many people omit when discussing the armor of God -- Prayer. We’ll end with verse 18, “Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere.” This reinforces everything that has already been discussed -- without prayer, none of this would be possible. We must pray to know truth, we must pray to know righteousness, we must pray to have peace; we must pray to understand faith, we must pray to be saved, and we must pray while studying the Word of God in order to use it as a weapon. But above all, we must be persistent in our prayers -- we cannot just pray once and be done with it. Persistent prayers, not only for ourselves, but for “all believers everywhere” encourage and strengthen us all, allowing us to effectively fight the battle with the Lord on our side.
Just like the war fought by the Red Baron, the spiritual war we all fight has rules, armor, and weapons. The Red Baron broke one of the rules by chasing his enemy too long, too low, and too deep into enemy territory. We also must be wary of breaking the rules. Instead of charging headlong into the enemy’s camp of sin and temptation, we must realize that our General, Christ, has already won the war, so we need to follow His lead. By making sure that we put on the full armor of God we can be certain that the battle will be won.
