The Whole Armor Of God: An Exposition Of Ephesians 6:10-20

The Whole Armor of God: An Exposition of Ephesians 6:10-20

This morning’s passage has been the source of many a commentary, some of which are very detailed. It has also been part of many Vacation Bible Schools. I can think of children donning plastic suits of armor or coloring the Christian soldier in full armor. So I am following many great ministers and theologians in the study of this text. The one who has been most influential is Martyn Lloyd-Jones who wrote an eight volume commentary on Ephesians. The commentary is actually a transcription of several years of sermons that he delivered at Westminster Chapel, I would recommend adding this set to your library. I can only hope in treating this text to add a little flavoring to the exposition of this text this morning. Open your Bibles to Ephesians 6:10-20, and let us read the text together.

1. Know your army

When we think of armies in general, they serve two functions. One is to preserve the peace. The other is to attack and defeat the enemy. The metaphor of Christian warfare is used in various places in Scripture including this text. When we use the word “Christian” we are identifying ourselves with Jesus Christ, who is our Lord and Savior. He is the Captain of the LORD’s army (host). So the first thing we need to recognize is that we must know and take orders from the General, the success of any army is based upon competent leadership. Bravery and skill in battle means little when the General is incompetent. Many soldiers have perished in earthly wars because of bad generalship.

The good news is that the Lord is the omnicompetent general. He is all powerful (omnipotent), all knowing (omniscient), and present everywhere (omnipresent). The fact that God is all-powerful guarantees our victory. There are those today who wish to relegate God to being “Most High” rather than “All High.” This is a serious error. One who is the most powerful can be overcome by sheer numbers. God is not the most powerful among many. He is all-powerful. He can not be overcome by Satan and all his minions. The Book of Ephesians teaches a Sovereign God who knows the end from the beginning and will certainly bring his plans to pass. This is why it is important to read all of Ephesians before coming to this text. It is of great comfort to know in the midst of battle that the victory is the Lord’s. Ephesians also tells us that we shall live eternally with Christ. Even if we die in this battle, we shall ultimately live. This should help provide the necessary confidence and boldness to fight this difficult battle. We must have good morale, noting that in this context, morale is close in meaning to “morality.”

The makeup of the Lord’s army consists of various leaders and soldiers. We know that angels are part of this army who assist us in various ways in our fight. They are fellow-servants and soldiers in God’s army. The Church makes up the human component of God’s army. There are leaders in this part of the army as well. These include, but are mot limited to, apostles, prophets, evangelists, and pastor-teachers. These are to take orders from the Triune God. Through them, we are equipped for battle. Obedience to our God-given leaders are important. We need to fight as one body.

2. Know the war we are fighting

I often see Christian social media posts portraying the Christian as a knight. The myth of knights in shining armor, fair damsels, and searches for the Holy Grail make for a nice picture. However, the reality of knighthood was often fair from this flattering presentation. Knights were the middlemen between the nobles and the serfs and were the means of subjugating the serfs, This is hardly Christian. They also swooped down from the castles and robbed or extorted goods and money from the traveling merchants. “Christian” knights went into combat with other “Christian” knights. The “fair damsels” were often courtesans and concubines. Should we use such imagery to depict Christians? This shows little knowledge of the warfare we wage. The knowledgeable heathen and the devils laugh at such a presentation.

Paul tells us what our warfare is really about. 2 Corinthians 10:4-5 states it: “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds; Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.” Satan desire to deceive us by making our warfare a carnal one. This can be seen by trying to use the state to enforce morality or voting in Christian leaders. Satan would want to tell us that our enemies are men. Satan’s army does include humans along with the fallen angels (demons). So, in a sense, the oppositions of deceived men is at enmity with the Christian. It would help us to remember that we once were deceived. Ephesians reminds us of this fact. The purpose of our warfare is to win these human enemies rather than kill them with earthly weapons.