11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. – Eph 6:11-13 (ESV)
In these three passages we can easily see two simple points, based soley on the plain text and ordinary grammar. Without considering the ‘armor of God’ specifically (a subject all its own), we are told:
- exactly who our real enemy is and
- exactly why we need to wear the aforementioned armor.
The who is highlighted below:
11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. – Eph 6:11-13 (ESV)
We are told that our main enemy is the devil. He is a scheming and conniving fellow. He uses rulers, authorities, cosmic powers and evil spiritual forces in various ways to carry out his plots and nefarious schemes. You might call those ‘four battalions’ in the ‘devil’s brigade’. Therefore, when we engage in battle (and we do like to fight), we must keep in mind the real enemy, otherwise we will get beat up by the enemy. Simple, yes?.
The why is highlighted below:
11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. – Eph 6:11-13 (ESV)
Here we are told that we need the armor of God to be able to stand against something (schemes)and withstand in something (the evil day).
Out here in the blogoshpere, I keep running across my brothers and sisters fighting against other brothers and sisters, against all sorts of ‘isms’, against everything and everyone except the real enemy! I guarantee you that fighting the wrong battles will accomplish two things:
- We will get beat up by the schemes and fall instead of stand in the ‘evil day’.
- We will be (and are) guilty of dragging the name of our precious Savior through the mud. Might as well be a Roman soldier in Jerusalem pushing the crown of thorns deeper into His brow.
If you are reading this and don’t much like it, I don’t apologize. There’s nothing personal here.
One last thing. If you are in fact all upset at me, try and put that away and just consider the text. Consider it a grammar lesson.
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And oh yes, have a great day!
The Battle Cry 
Good points. There’s also something here about whose armor we are using when we are fighting against “friendly forces,” so to speak.
If I am slandering or attacking a brother, it’s not the sword of the Spirit I am using- even if I am quoting Scripture to do so. Satan quoted Scripture when he tempted Jesus.
If I am correcting a brother or sister in love, I don’t need armor or a sword.
There’s also an analogy here about identifying friends and foes, and realizing who is shooting airsoft pellets at us (they hurt, but are not fatal), and who is sending real rounds our way.
I think a person could write on this for a few weeks.
Hint, hint.
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I was thinking about just that drving to work this morning, the fact that if we are behaving unbiblically toward the wrong a brother or sister in the faith, I am not using the Armor of ‘God’. Great point, and yes there is sufficient ‘meat’ in all of this to go on for weeks. I am hoping I communicated the issues around text and grammar. I also hope that folks reading it and ‘feeling’ judged will be able to realize that non-personal statements, although based on observations, are NOT personal judgments.
Have a great day, my friend!
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