The Armor Of God Part 3 - The Gospel Of Peace Series

As we have discussed over the past couple of months, life is one big and continual spiritual battle. Often it will manifest itself in physical realm, in terms of violence and persecution and prosecution. But all around us, the culture presses us to bend to the ways of the world rather than to the ways of God. However, our instructions in this warfare is quite clear from Scripture:

Ephesians 6:11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil.

We do not fight this fight defenseless. We are to put on the full armor, not just parts of the armor we like, but the whole armor. And having put on the whole armor we are TO STAND FIRM. It is with this in mind, “standing firm” we move to our third piece of the armor, the footwear. On our feet is the “Gospel of Peace”

Ephesians 6:13–15

In his oral history of World War II, The Good War, author/historian Studs Terkel related the experience of David Milton who was an eighteen-year-old merchant seaman aboard ship in 1942. Milton told of one time when his ship was transporting Sherman tanks across to Europe. “In the middle of the Atlantic, these tanks broke loose in a big storm. They were Sherman tanks, twenty-thirty tons. As the ship would roll, these tanks would just slide through the hole and bang up against the bulkhead. Then they’d roll the other way, just shaking the ship apart. So we pulled out of the convoy. [at this point, protection of the convoy from German U-boats were the least of their concerns-they were in danger of sinking from the turmoil within.] We headed into the sea, while the deck seaman went down below to secure those tanks. They were riding them like cowboys, trying to hook cables through. Finally, they got the tanks lashed down.…”

The great danger to Milton’s ship came, not from the storm on the outside, but by the disturbance on the inside. We can handle the stresses without only when we are battened down within. [1]

Today we are looking at the Gospel of Peace. Simply put, in a world that is opposed to everything we stand for as Christians, how are we supposed to fight this battle if we have a battle waging within us?

Ephesians 6:13

Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.

We are to take up the whole armor not just part of it. So that we can stand. The command “to stand” and to “stand firm” is listed 3 times in verse 11-14. There must be something to that. We are to stand firm against the schemes of the devil (verse 11) and in verse 13, resisting in the evil day. That evil day is upon us. So in taking up the armor of God:

Ephesians 6:14 Stand firm therefore, HAVING GIRDED YOUR LOINS WITH TRUTH, and HAVING PUT ON THE BREASTPLATE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS,

Having girded, we discussed this before, this in the Greek is in the aorist tense meaning this is something we should have already done. This is done at te moment of our conversion, when we accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior. We have already put on the belt of Truth – Jesus is truth. We have already put on breastplate of righteousness – right living, made holy because the righteousness imparted to us by the sacrificial death of Jesus on the cross. And next:

Ephesians 6:15 and having shod YOUR FEET WITH THE PREPARATION OF THE GOSPEL OF PEACE;

This a paraphrase of Isaiah 52:7. The word preparation is not present in the Hebrew. In Romans 10:15 Paul quotes this verse also: How beautify are the feet of those who bring Good News of Good things. The Good News is the Gospel and in context with Isaiah, the good news is peace. Peace in context is almost synonymous with salvation.

We should have already prepared for battle by shodding our feet with the gospel of peace. Shoes, like the belt, is not specifically mentioned, but the passage reads “shod your feet” NIV – has feet fitted” – like sized up when you’re buying a new pair of shoes. We are fitted with the preparation of the Gospel of peace. The preparation of the Gospel of peace is our shoes.

Paul was chained to a roman soldier as he writes this. He knew how the soldier was dressed. The shoe of the Roman soldier is kind of a half boot called a “caliga.” The bottom was usually studded with nails, to give a firm grip to the ground, so the soldier’s footing would be sure and steady.