Soldiers of Christ, Arise!

When we think about spiritual warfare, our primary problem is that we think too little of spiritual warfare. We think too infrequently of spiritual warfare. We think too trivially of spiritual warfare. We think too casually about spiritual warfare.

Paul thought a lot about spiritual warfare. He thought about it often. He thought about it seriously. He thought about it strategically. He thought especially about it when He wasn't facing direct attacks from Satan:

"Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places." -Ephesians 6:10-12 (NASB)

Paul starts his discussion of spiritual warfare by pointing to the reality behind it all. Our enemy is Satan, the Devil, the Adversary (1 Pet 5:8), the Serpent of old and the great deceiver (Rev 12:9), the Tempter (Matt 4:3), the Father of Lies (Jn 8:44) who disguises himself as an Angel of Light (2 Cor 11:14). Arrayed against us are all of his forces, the demonic powers that rule this present world of darkness.

But we are also fighting against flesh and blood: our own. Our sinful, evil hearts desire to join the very forces arrayed against us. (The more I see how depraved I am in the depths of my heart, the more clearly I understand and identify with Paul's exclamations of his (and my) own unworthiness.) But thanks be to God that that it is not our flesh by which we resist the devil.

Paul points to the source of our strength to stand firm against him. Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the full armor of God so that you will be able to stand firm. He then proceeds to tell us how to do so:

"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." -Ephesians 6:13 (NASB)

You will be able to resist in the evil day. That is not just a statement about the fact that these days are evil (which they certainly are). It is also a statement of when you must take up the full armor of God. You cannot wait until the evil day, when the evil one is attacking you, to take up the full armor of God. The armor of God must be put on and kept on at all times. As Oswald Chambers put it so well, "You no more need a day off from spiritual concentration on matters in your life than your heart needs a day off from beating. As you cannot take a day off morally and remain moral, neither can you take a day off spiritually and remain spiritual."

"Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace;" -Ephesians 6:14-15 (NASB)

The first three pieces of the full armor of God. Keeping in mind that we are called to put on the full armor of God, not individual pieces, it is important to understand not only the connections between the attributes mentioned and the pieces of armor, but how those pieces of armor connect together. Many have written about the importance of understanding the composition of Roman armor to understanding this passage, so I will not go into terribly detailed descriptions of that here, with only brief mentions of things that I think are important about them. Instead, I will focus on how I have seen these pieces of armor fit and work together in my own life and my own struggles against sin.

Gird your loins with truth. Often translated the "belt of truth," the important thing to consider is that Paul places truth at the absolute center of resisting the attacks of the devil. This makes even more sense when you consider his teaching two chapters earlier in the second half of Ephesians 4, where he points to ignorance vs. truth as the starting point of the paths to a life of sin vs. a life of holiness. It's important to understand what Paul means when he talks about truth. "Truth is in Jesus," he tells us in Ephesians 4:21. Truth is what anchors our lives and the armor of God. We act based on what we have chosen to believe is true. If we sin, it is because we have let go of the truth that God hates sin. It is because we have "forgotten [our] purification from [our] former sins." (2 Pet 1:9).

What do I choose to believe is true? There are many layers to this. Each different temptation that we face requires a different truth to hold to, but truth is still "in Jesus." With regard to the sin of distrusting God, of worrying, of doubting Him, we must choose to believe that it is true that God is good, and that, if we give Him the freedom to define what is good rather than trying to limit him to what we see as good, He causes all things to work together for good, and that any thought that does not fit within that is sinful and to be rejected. With regard to the sin of sexual immorality, we must choose to believe that God has created sex for a particular purpose in a particular context with a particular attitude, and that any thought or action that does not fit within that is sinful and to be rejected.

What about when I don't feel like it's true? I don't. Oftentimes, I don't feel that the things I have chosen to believe are true. Oftentimes, I feel that God is not good, or that He is denying me something I deserve (He is, but it's not something I should be complaining about, considering what I deserve is eternal punishment), or that I will never feel fulfilled in Him. So what do I do in those times? I "gird up my loins with truth" and hold fast to what I have chosen to believe. But I have to do that in advance. It's hard to hold fast to what you've chosen to believe when you face temptations and hardships, even when you've studied and memorized and practiced holding fast to it. It's much harder to do so when you haven't put in the prep work.

Put on the breastplate of righteousness. The breastplate guards the heart. The breastplate of God's armor is righteousness. We have no righteousness of our own. Our righteousness comes from God alone. But God gives us righteousness in two different ways. The one that almost all evangelicals grow up learning about is "imputed" righteousness. Just as Adam's sin is imputed to us, so also Christ's righteousness is imputed to us, therefore we are righteous in God's eyes because he looks at us and sees Christ. That's true. But it's incomplete.

About the same time that we in American evangelical Christianity started pushing the modern idea of "eternal security" and "once-saved-always-saved" notions that saying a prayer once results in salvation no matter what happens after that, we started pushing out of our theology the other theory of righteousness, "imparted" or "impressed" righteousness. This is the concept that not only does God cover us with His righteousness, He also gives us His righteousness so that we can live righteously. The holy, righteous lives we live are proof that God has given us His righteousness, and they are the proof that we are relying on that imputed righteousness.

Different theological backgrounds express this different ways. The Catholics talk about the purification in Purgatory; the Calvinists talk about the perseverance of the saints; the Arminians talk about losing your salvation. These all are human (and therefore imperfect) ways to try to get at this seeming paradox between the two forms of righteousness, between the fact that we must rely wholly on God for salvation because our actions deserve only eternal damnation and the fact that God tells us to be holy in this life and keep His commandments and so prove that we are His disciples.

Just as letting corrosion sit alongside metal will corrode the metal, our evil hearts corrode the righteousness that God gives us. Only by continually seeking renewal at the source of righteousness and participating in cutting out and destroying the evil hearts within us does the breastplate of righteousness protect us. This is a moment by moment, day by day exercise.

Shoe your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Why must our feet be shod, and why with the preparation of the gospel of peace? And what does Paul mean by "the gospel of peace," anyway? For that, we have to look back at Ephesians 2, where Paul talks about the way in which Christ, in his flesh, destroyed the dividing wall and brought peace to the division between Jew and Gentile and between God and man. The gospel of peace is that we are now one body in Christ Jesus.

So again, what on earth does that have to do with our feet? Certainly, it means that we stand firm on the gospel of peace, that we are ready to stand firm on that, but it's still not entirely clear what exactly Paul means. The fact that sandals are necessary for the process of walking and we are called to "walk in a manner worthy of the calling" (Ephesians 4:1) in accordance with the gospel of peace seems relevant. Paul elsewhere talks of fleeing immorality and pursuing "faith, love, hope, and peace with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart." (2 Tim 2:22). Being ready to do so mandates that we prepare ourselves to move quickly (not in a physical sense, but in a spiritual sense) away from temptation and into the pursuit of God.

"in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one." -Ephesians 6:16

 Take up the shield of faith. This is one of those times that I do want to talk a little bit about the Roman armor, simply because I think Paul's imagery makes little sense unless you understand how the Roman shield worked. The shield was a large, curved rectangle made of wood and covered with stretched leather. Between battles, the soldier would have to treat the leather regularly with oil to keep it soft and supple so that it would not dry and crack and provide combustible materials for flaming arrows to strike. The soldier would also dip the shield in water immediately before battle to wet the leather so that it would extinguish the flaming arrows that hit the shield. So we see clearly that this shield of faith must be cared for and prepared for battle if it is to be of use against the "flaming arrows of the evil one."

But what is faith? Hebrews tells us in very flowery language what faith is, but for the purposes of this blog post, I'm going to define faith more straightforwardly: "Trusting that something we have chosen to believe is true no matter what our circumstances might be." This ties right back to the first part of the armor of God. If we have chosen to believe that something is true, then we gird up our loins with that truth and we stand firm with the shield of faith to extinguish the attacks of the devil.

I have chosen to believe that God is good. What are the darts of the devil in that battle? He will send flaming arrows that say "God isn't really good," "Where is God now?," and "Does God really care for you?" Only if I trust that what I have chosen to believe is true will I stop those attacks cold knowing that they are false, catching them and extinguishing them with the shield of faith. If I do not, if I allow them to pierce into me and set me on fire, then it is far more difficult to eradicate the sin. This applies in every area of sin. Letting one dart past that shield of faith brings pain and suffering, but it also makes it harder to block the next dart.

"And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God." -Ephesians 6:17

 Take the helmet of salvation. There is of course an element of this which fits with the gut instinct on reading this: the hope of salvation through faith in Christ protects our minds from falsehoods. That is true. When we receive salvation from God it covers us and speaks to our weakness to grow us and help us to "keep our heads" in the day of battle. (Consider that we are called to no longer walk as the pagans do, in the futility of their minds and darkened in their understanding).

But this also points even more readily to what Paul talks about earlier in Ephesians. "And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church, which is His body." (Eph 1:22-23). "But speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body . . . causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love." (Eph 4:16). The head of me is Christ. Christ is my salvation. Do I live in constant acknowledgement of His headship over me? If I take this truth and hold fast to it, then I will.

Take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. After we have stood firm against the barrage of Satan's attacks, what do we do? The sword is the only offensive weapon mentioned in this passage which we control. How do we respond to Satan? We respond with the word of God. This again takes preparation. Just as a sword must be sharpened, and a swordsman must practice with his sword in order to be effective, we must prepare to use Scripture in this way. We must memorize it. We must practice using it. We must mentally prepare, thinking through how we will be tempted and how we will use scripture to respond to it.

"With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints." -Ephesians 6:18

Pray at all times in the Spirit. The armor is what we put on. It is armor that must constantly be maintained and renewed, and that is only done by staying in fellowship with the source of that armor. We must constantly be in prayer. Prayer to prepare for temptation. Prayer to resist temptation. Prayer to confess our sins. Prayer to know more of God and more of ourselves. Just as we must walk clad in the armor of God, we must walk in a constant state of prayer.

So now that I've gone through a ridiculously long explanation of what it looks like in my understanding to put on the armor of God, I do want to share a hymn with you. This hymn, Soldiers of Christ, Arise, was written by Charles Wesley around 1741. It has been set to a lot of different hymns, but I first discovered it set to Diademata, by George J. Elvey, the same tune as Crown Him With Many Crowns.

The hymn walks through putting on the armor of God, but it does so in rich, beautiful poetry. I won't comment too much on the hymn itself beyond what I've already said about the scripture, but a few thoughts:

• In the second verse, we take to arm ourselves for the fight "the panoply of God." This is not a word we commonly use anymore. A panoply is a complete set of armor (or a complete set of something else). We cannot pick and choose which pieces we take. We must take all of the armor of God or we will not be effective.

• In the third verse, Wesley tells us to "mock their vain design" when we meet the demonic forces. Armed with the armor of God, holding fast to Him, we can join in his response to the plans and designs of the evil force who oppose us. "He who sits in the heavens laughs, the Lord scoffs at them." (Ps 2:4). After all, "If God is for us, who can be against us?" (Rom. 8:31)

• In the fourth verse, Wesley reminds us of the potential for rot that I mentioned in talking about the breastplate of righteousness. If there is any unguarded place, any weakness of the soul, any place where we are not surrendering every fiber of our being to God, any sin that we want to hold onto "just a little bit" of, we are destroying ourselves from inside. (On a completely unrelated and musical note, the best way I could come up with to sing the "indissolubly joined" part was to speed through the first half of the word and then hold out the "olubly" syllables to match the music. Obviously the words were not written with a tune written a century later in mind.)

• In the sixth verse, Wesley talks of putting the "Gospel greaves" on. Greaves were essentially a shin guard. The preparation of the gospel not only prepares us to run, but to run even through snares and traps.

• In the tenth verse, "Tis written" is the word to apply in using the Sword of the Spirit. Just as Christ responded to Satan's temptations by citing Scripture, so must we. We must learn from Christ's example, memorize those passages that respond to the peculiar temptations that we face, and practice responding to them.

• In the final verse, we are reminded that this is a battle that we must continue to fight, every day, treading every power of darkness down, until Christ returns.

Soldiers of Christ, Arise

Soldiers of Christ, arise, And put your armor on,

Strong in the strength which God supplies Through His eternal Son.

Strong in the Lord of hosts, and in His mighty power,

Who in the strength of Jesus trusts Is more than conqueror.

Stand then in His great might, With all His strength endued,

And take, to arm you for the fight, the panoply of God;

That, having all things done, And all your conflicts past,

Ye may o'ercome through Christ alone And stand entire at last.

Stand then against your foes, In close and firm array;

Legions of wily fiends oppose Throughout the evil day;

But meet the sons of night, And mock their vain design,

Armed in the arms of heavenly light, Of righteousness divine.

Leave no unguarded place, No weakness of the soul,

Take every virtue, every grace, And fortify the whole;

Indissolubly joined, To battle all proceed;

But arm yourselves with all the mind That was in Christ, your head.

Let truth the girdle be, That binds your armor on,

In faithful, firm sincerity To Jesus cleave alone.

Let faith and love combine To guard your valiant breast:

The plate be righteousness divine, Imputed, and impressed.

Still let your feet be shod, Ready His will to do,

Ready in all the ways of God His glory to pursue:

Ruin is spread beneath, The Gospel greaves put on,

And safe through all the snares of death To life eternal run.

But above all, lay hold On faith's victorious shield;

Armed with that adamant and gold, Be sure to win the field:

If faith surround your heart, Satan shall be subdued,

Repelled his every fiery dart, And quenched with Jesus' blood.

Jesus hath died for you! What can His love withstand?

Hold fast your shield, and who Shall pluck you from His hand?

Believe that Jesus reigns, All pow'r to Him is giv'n:

Believe, till freed from sin's remains; Believe yourselves to Heaven.

Your Rock can never shake: "Hither," He saith, "come up!"

The helmet of salvation take, The confidence of hope:

Hope for His perfect love, Hope for His people's rest,

Hope to sit down with Christ above, And share the marriage feast.

Brandish in faith till then The Spirit's two-edged sword,

Hew all the snares of fiends and men in pieces with the Word;

'Tis written; this applied Baffles their strength and art;

Spirit and soul with this divide, And joints and marrow part.

To keep your armor bright, Attend with constant care,

Still walking in your captain's sight, And watching unto prayer.

Ready for all alarms, Steadfastly set your face,

And always exercise your arms, and use your every grace.

Pray without ceasing, pray, Your captain gives the word;

His summons cheerfully obey And call upon the Lord;

To God your every want In instant prayer display,

Pray always; pray and never faint, Pray, without ceasing, pray!

In fellowship; alone, To God with faith draw near;

Approach His courts, besiege His throne With all the pow'rs of prayer:

Go to His temple go, Nor from His altar move;

Let every house His worship know, And every heart His love.

To God your spirits dart, Your souls in words declare,

Or groad, to Him who reads the heart, Th'unutterable prayer.

His mercy now implore, And now show forth His praise,

In shouts, or silent awe, adore His miracles of grace.

Pour out your souls to God, And bow them with your knees,

And spread your hearts and hands abroad, and pray for Zion's peace;

Your guides, and brethren, bear For ever on your mind;

Extend the arms of mighty prayer, In grasping all mankind.

From strength to strength go on, Wrestle, and fight, and pray,

Tread all the pow'rs of darkness down, And win the well-fought day;

Still let the Spirit cry In all His soldiers, "Come!"

Till Christ the Lord descends from high And takes the conquerors home.

(Public Domain)