Are You Wearing the Full Armor of God?
One thing pastors like to do is dress up as Roman soldiers and preach on the armor of God. “You need to wear the full armor of God,” they say as they bash their gladii (swords) against their scuta (shields). It’s a lot of fun.
But does it work?
Apart from the memory of Pastor Frank’s paunch poking out from under a shiny breastplate, what have you really taken from these sermons? Have you put on the armor of God? Are you wearing it now? Let’s check.
Without reading on, ask yourself to list the various pieces of spiritual armor. Can you name all six?
When Paul wrote about the armor of God he was in prison or house arrest in Rome. Roman soldiers were coming and going. Inspired by their apparel, Paul wrote these well-known words:
Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. (Ephesians 6:11)
Putting on the armor of God does not mean praying harder or singing louder or shouting at the devil. Putting on spiritual armor is analogous to putting on Christ (Rom. 13:14) or putting on the new self (Eph. 4:22–24).
To be clothed with the armor of God is to wear his righteousness, his truth, and his salvation (Is. 59:16–17, 61:10). It is trusting in the might of the Lord rather than standing in your own strength or leaning on your own understanding.
In Ephesians 6, six pieces of armor are listed:
1. The belt of truth (Eph. 6:14)
The devil will attack truth directly by assailing you with lies, and he will attack truth indirectly by telling you there is no truth. “There are many truths. There is your truth and my truth.” He will try to deconstruct your belt of truth by glorifying doubt and uncertainty.
Truth is not a manmade construct but is defined by the One who is truth personified (John 14:6). To be girded with truth is to define and interpret all things through the lens of Jesus Christ. When you are being assailed by Facebook philosophers or doubting deconstructors, your first response should be, “What does Jesus say?” Take your questions to the Lord and allow the Spirit of Truth to guide you into all truth.
2. The breastplate of righteousness (Eph. 6:14)
A righteous breastplate protects your heart from the devil’s accusations and keeps you in right standing with the Lord.
The devil will accuse you of being a failure or not doing enough. Heed his lies and you will fall from grace into dead works of self-righteousness. We resist this temptation and guard our hearts by standing secure in the righteous affirmation of our Father’s love and acceptance. When the accuser points to your shortcomings, remind yourself, “I am the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus” (2 Cor. 5:21).
3. Gospel shoes (Eph. 6:15)
We stand ready and unshakeable when we stand on the gospel of peace. The gospel of peace reveals the God of peace who makes peace by making us righteous (Rom. 15:33). When the devil tries to unsettle us, we remember that God is for us and with us and in us. Knowing that we have been justified, helps us walk in peace (Rom. 5:1).
4. The shield of faith (Eph. 6:16)
Faith is resting in the confident assurance that God is good and he longs to be good to you. Faith is not wishing the devil would go away, nor is it promising to do something for God if he’ll doing something for you. Faith is trusting in your Father’s unfailing love.
The original word for shield (thureos) in this verse means a large door-shaped shield. We extinguish all the fiery darts (temptations and deceptions) of the enemy by resting in Christ. Jesus is not only the Door (John 10:7), he is our door-sized shield who protects us and keeps us safe to the end (1 Cor. 1:8).
5. The helmet of salvation (Eph. 6:17)
Most spiritual warfare takes place in the battlefield of your mind. Since we are facing a defeated foe (Col. 2:15), the only way Satan can win is if he gets you to take his side. Swallow his lies and fall for his schemes, and you empower a disarmed enemy.
We refute his lies and deceptions by wearing the helmet of salvation. We take every thought captive to the obedience of the Savior (2 Cor. 10:5).
6. The sword of the Spirit (Eph. 6:17)
The sword of the spirit is the word of God in our hearts and on our lips. It is a most effective weapon because the word of God has power. Jesus refuted the devil in the wilderness by speaking the word of God (see Luke 4:4). In the same way, we resist the enemy’s lies by speaking forth the word of God.
The enemy’s weapons are no match for the believer who is standing firm in the full armor of God. Spiritual attacks and persecution are to be expected (2 Tim. 3:12). But by the grace of God you will win every battle.
When you are wearing the full armor of God – that is, when you are standing firm in the Lord – your enemies will come at you in one direction and flee in seven (Deut. 28:7).
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Note: This article was extracted from the relevant entry in The Grace Glossary. With new material added regularly, the Grace Glossary is your go-to source for new covenant definitions of key words and phrases.
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Escape to Reality 
Someone pointed out that the armor of God in Ephesians is the spiritual armor of a priest. We fight spiritual battles as priests of God and not like Roman soldiers. I know that many theologians and ministers as well as denominational and books see this armor as Roman. But the armor is written about in Isaiah. Maybe you can research further and write about the armor as in the Old Testament and as priests. Also the picture in Revelation of Jesus is as dressed as our High Priest. Aren’t we to be the same? Ted
Hi Ted. Old Testament priests didn’t wear swords and shields. Care to say where in Isaiah this imagery is from?
Isaiah 59:15-17.
Great scripture, thanks, and I can see how that might have inspired Paul and should inspire us. But there’s no mention of most of the armor listed in Ephesians 6 – no sword, no shield, etc. I’m still inclined to think Paul was inspired by what he saw every day in Rome. In any case, it matters little. It’s just a clothing metaphor.
Goliath the giant of the world wore six pieces of armour, six being the number of man, helmet of brass, coat of mail (brass), greaves of brass, target of brass, spear and shield. The Saint has seven being the perfect number, truth, righteousness, the gospel of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, the sword of the Spirit. Number 7 prayer and supplication in the Spirit.
David, the man after God’s own heart, took down the giant with no armor at all other than a sling. What shall we make of that? I don’t see Paul listing seven pieces of armor. Praying in the spirit is a way of weilding the sword of the spirit, is it not?
Paul, I agree with you on this. We are to serve God by living the new testament, because of Jesus, said on the cross;
” IT IS FINISHED”before He gave up the Gost.
The sword, shield, breastplate and helmet is taken directly from Wisdom of Solomon 5:17-20, and Ephesians 6 even uses the same Greek word for “full armour” as this passage.
Solomon writes of four pieces of armor: “The Lord will take his zeal as his whole armor, and will arm all creation to repel his enemies; he will put on righteousness as a breastplate, and wear impartial justice as a helmet; he will take holiness as an invincible shield, and sharpen stern wrath for a sword, and creation will join with him to fight against the madmen” (Wis, 5:7–19).
Isaiah writes of two pieces of armor plus two pieces of attire: “He put on righteousness like a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on his head; and he put on garments of vengeance for clothing and wrapped himself with zeal as a mantle” (Is. 59:17).
Paul’s fuller list may have been inspired by both.
Love it, spot on.
Really good, Paul.
Amazing as always. I know this is sort of unrelated..some of these articles are so insightful i am wondering if you have thought about making a thumbdrive of the site’s articles (with links) available. Also am not sure about how Patreon works. How are the books available and can one get both?
Hi Erika, thanks for the feedback. No one has ever asked about thumb drives before and to be honest I’m not sure why anyone would buy one when everything is available online and on any device for free. What am I missing? Patreon is a crowd-funding site where readers contribute a small amount each month and get access to bonus features and exclusive materials. Patrons fund this site and the Grace Commentary. All my books are listed on the KingsPress website.
OK sorry. I know many people who are living in FEAR expecting the apocalypse at any minute
(as i once was) and was thinking that being able to hand these folks a thumbdrive like that might be the ticket..especially since they are expecting the entire grid to go down…imminently
(think living in the basement with moldy cheese,zip-sealed freeze dried supplies, a Bible and a flashlight, wall to wall propaganda does that)
I see about the Patreon..i usually just like to make a lump sum contribution.
Was interested in getting your books about Original Sin and the Body Soul and Spirit Teachings.
Thanks
Ah, I see. How about a printed book? Books will run for 100+ years with no power.
Whenever someone makes a one-off donation, they should get an automatically-generated thank you message. This message contains a link and a password to our Supporters’ page which has those two ebooks you’re looking for. So search in your email and see if you can find a thank you message from Donorbox.
Thank you!
Great idea.
I run into these people while i am out shopping or running around and for some reason they start talking with me..many are twisted up with fear. I know a website URL might not get looked up, but if i give them something say “70 AD” (which is awesome BTW) they might just read it.
Maybe keep a few copies in my car.
I have a question. during one of my bible studies with my Pastor she asked us are there any pieces of armor we would need help sharpening?I though maybe it was a trick question, because why would I need to sharpen God armor. So I stated that and she was like sometimes it need to be sharpen. its not my armour its God armor. I’m confused do we sharpen God Armour?
No idea. (Why would you sharpen a belt or helmet or shoes?) Perhaps you should ask the pastor what she meant.