For the rest, brethren, be strong in [the] Lord, and in the might of his strength.
The letter has just told ordinary people how to live at home and at work. Now it changes tone: before it names a single enemy, it calls them to be strong in the Lord.
Commentators notice what the verse does not do. It does not open by sizing up the enemy.
"Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might." This is like the first sound of a trumpet. To what does it call the saints — does it call you? Not to survey the enemy's stronghold, or to show you what you have to overcome, but to turn all your thoughts gently to the Lord Himself. Before it says a word about enemies or conflicts, it calls you to survey your strength. That strength is the mighty Lord, seated at the right hand of God in the heavenly places.
The hard part of this command is what you have to admit. We would rather be strong in something we can count.
The Apostle points our thoughts to the power that is for us. Only then does he describe the power against us. To face this conflict we must always remember that all our strength is in the Lord. Our difficulty is often to realise that we have no strength in ourselves. We would like to be strong in numbers, strong in gifts, or strong in the power of some forceful leader. But our real and only strength is "in the Lord and in the strength of His might".
Weakness, then, is not the obstacle. It is the doorway — and the foe we face has already lost to the One we lean on.
The word "Finally" (older translations read "Finally, my brothers") shows that what we have considered leads up to this climax. On our own we are no match for the enemy. But the Lord has met him and overcome him. If we are strong in Him, our very weakness makes room for the one power that can defeat him. He showed the might of His strength when He went down into the enemy's territory, overcame him, and led a host of captives. We have to meet a foe whose power the Lord has broken, but who still tries to overcome us by his tricks.
The title used here is "the Lord" — the One with authority. That shapes what the command asks of us.
"Be strong in the Lord" means: be wholly subject to the Lord's authority. That subjection is true strength. It opens to us the power of His might — an inward, living strength that evil cannot overcome, even when we look weak.
The strength named in the verse is not vague. Earlier in the same letter the writer had already measured it, and the comparison is the point.
The prayer of the first chapter brings before us the power of God's might. God has raised Christ from the dead and set Him at His own right hand in heavenly places, "far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come". Now, says the Apostle, that is the "immeasurable greatness of His power toward us who believe". The power against us is far greater than our own. But the power toward us surpasses every power that opposes us.
The verb itself suggests something received rather than worked up.
The real idea here is a passive one. "Be strengthened in the Lord." There can be no real difficulty in understanding this. Who has not talked over their troubles with a friend, and come away stronger for the sympathy and advice? It is far more true of the Lord. When we keep coming to Him, His power flows into us — power greater than anything that can stand against us in the spiritual battle.
We need this strength for something specific: holding on to what already belongs to us.
All our blessings are in the heavenly places in Christ. Satan and his angels are still there, so we have to fight for every bit of ground we hold... God gave the whole land of promise to Israel... But they had to fight for every inch of it to hold it in practice. So the heavenly places are ours — but how much have we laid hold of?
- Look up first. The call turns your eyes to the Lord before it mentions the enemy. Survey your strength, not the enemy's stronghold.
- Own your weakness. Numbers, gifts and strong leaders are not the strength meant here. Admitting you have none of your own makes room for the only power that defeats the foe.
- Submit, and be strengthened. Being subject to the Lord's authority is itself strength. You receive that strength by coming to Him again and again, and His power flows in.
- Measure the power. It is the same might that raised Christ and set Him far above every rule and authority. That power surpasses everything against us.
- Hold the ground. The blessings in heavenly places are already ours; the fight is over how much of them we take hold of.
Put on the panoply of God, that ye may be able to stand against the artifices of the devil
The letter to the Ephesians ends with a call to get dressed for battle. Two questions follow: whose armour is it, and why does the verse warn about the devil's tricks and not his strength?
The armour comes at the end of the letter. Writers tie that to its subject: the higher the ground, the harder the attack.
The enemy contests the highest position hardest. Where we are most clearly Christian, he will oppose us with all his power... When Israel reached Canaan, the land God had given them, that was exactly where they had to fight. They had to fight to possess what God had already made theirs. So we must remember what this conflict is about. We will hardly feel it unless we are set on possessing what is already ours.
The verse does not tell us to stand against the devil's might. Writers press that difference, and they trace it back to the cross.
We have to stand, not so much against the devil's strength — Christ dealt with that — as against his tricks. The truth is that the cross made him a defeated enemy for us, and we always have the right to treat him that way... His tricks are what we should always fear most. To resist them we need to put on the full armour of God.
Open attack is easier to survive than a friendly approach. One writer shows this from Israel's history: a walled city did not frighten them, but crafty neighbours beat them.
Many people can stand his roar, yet his tricks beat them. Israel could look calmly at the high walls of Jericho, because they knew God was with them. But the crafty Gibeonites, a neighbouring people who fooled them, beat them completely. How treacherous our poor hearts are! We cannot trust them!
A trick works by looking harmless, so the problem is spotting it. One writer offers a simple test.
A trick is something that looks fair and innocent, and yet lures the soul away from the path of obedience. How often the devil tries to lead those who have the truth into a side-path. At the start it turns away so slightly that objecting to it would seem fussy. Each of us can ask one simple question that exposes every trick: "If I follow this course, where will it lead me?"
The words "of God" mean more than good quality. Every piece is a gift from God, meant to be used for Him.
God gives this armour to the Christian, so that he may be for God in the very place where the devil's tricks are at work. Not one piece of it is against God, not one piece stands between the soul and Him. God puts Himself behind the armour, as if He said, "I am here behind the armour with you." It comes from Him, to be used for Him.
This also explains why no shop sells it. It is not equipment strapped on from outside.
But there is a full suit of armour that He Himself made. It can resist every weapon the enemy's craft has forged against us. No part of it is like the gear made to stop physical weapons. You cannot buy it in a shop and put it on like a coat or a hat. It is all shaped in the soul, and is spiritual in nature, and no weapon of the enemy can pierce any part of it.
Two words in the command carry weight. The first is a duty, and it does not happen by itself.
The armour has to be "put on". Being Christians does not mean we have put it on. The armour is provided for us as Christians, but it remains with us to put it on. It is not enough to look at the armour, or to admire it, or to be able to describe it.
The second word rules out picking and choosing, because a gap is exactly what the enemy is looking for.
It is no good having part of it on and another part missing. Satan will be quick to notice the gap, and we cannot be rightly for God if we are not for Him in every way.
Put the armour on in advance. Do not scramble for it once the attack lands.
But there are times when the enemy makes special attacks on God's people. He wants to rob them of particular truths. Such attacks make an evil day for the people of God. To meet them we need to have on the whole armour of God. It is too late to be putting on the armour in the middle of the struggle.
- Contested — the ground most worth holding is the ground under attack. The fight is to possess what God has already made ours.
- Craft — the verse warns about trickery, not force. The cross broke his strength, so his side-paths beat believers, not his roar.
- Given — every piece comes from God, and He stands behind it with us. It grows in the soul; no shop sells it.
- Whole — one missing piece leaves one place exposed, and Satan finds it fast. Admiring the armour is not wearing it.
- Early — put it on before the evil day, because nobody dresses for battle once the fighting has started.