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.
because our struggle is not against blood and flesh, but against principalities, against authorities, against the universal lords of this darkness, against spiritual [power] of wickedness in the heavenlies.
Paul ends his letter by naming the opposition a Christian faces, and it is not human. That raises two questions. Who are these unseen powers? And why does a believer who is already blessed in heaven still have to fight?
The first thing the verse removes is the assumption that our real trouble comes from people. Commentators point out that the enemy uses hostile people, but those people are not the source.
First, we are told to remember that it is not against flesh and blood that we wrestle. The devil may indeed use men and women to oppose the Christian and deny the truth. But we have to look past those people and see the one who is using them. At Philippi, a city where Paul preached, a human woman opposed him. But Paul saw the evil spirit that was moving her. In the power of the Name of Jesus Christ he took up the fight with that spiritual wickedness. He commanded the evil spirit to come out of her (Acts 16:16-18).
The older English rendering "high places" has misled readers. Writers stress that the right word is "heavenly," not "high." They also link this fight to Israel's wars in Canaan.
The translators showed how strange the thought was to them. They put "high" into the text instead of "heavenly." But here the devil and his angels stand where the armies of Canaan stood when Joshua and Israel fought them.
(Canaan was the land God promised to Israel. Joshua led the people in to take it. The nations already living there fought them for every field.)
The four titles are not repetition. One writer reads them as real beings with authority. Their evil runs two ways at once: over the world, and against believers.
The conflict, then, is against Satan and his hosts, whatever the instrument used. Principalities and powers are spiritual beings in a position of rule with power to carry out their will... Toward the world they are the rulers of the darkness of this world. Toward Christians they are the "spiritual power of wickedness in the heavenly places". The world is in darkness. It does not know God. These spiritual beings rule and direct that darkness — the darkness of paganism, philosophy, so-called science and unbelief. They direct the superstitions, corruptions and modern errors of the Christian world too. The Christian is brought into the light... So the opposition to the Christian has a religious character. Spiritual beings try to rob him of the truth of his heavenly calling. They try to draw him into a path that denies that truth, or into conduct that does not match it.
Israel fought men for land. We fight spirits over the enjoyment of what is already ours.
For us, the fight is not with flesh and blood, as Israel's fight was. Our blessings are spiritual in the heavenly places... Israel had passed through the wilderness — had crossed the Jordan; the manna had stopped; they ate the grain of the land... So it is with the Christian... We are sitting in the heavenly places in Him, so that we may enjoy the things of heaven as the fruit of our own country. But conflict is before us, if we want to enjoy them practically... The enemy is subtle. We have to withstand his tricks even more than his power.
The enemy works by deception, so his attacks land on what we believe.
Let us name a few of these tricks. Teaching that breeds unbelief. Empty superstitions. Evil doctrines. False ideas about where the world's history is going. Here we are not dealing with our own desires. We are in conflict with the enemy's direct attacks... Here we stand face to face with Satan, with the deceit of unrighteousness, and with false teaching. These are the things we are to resist.
Others add that the state of the fighter matters: unjudged flesh disarms us, since "we cannot carry the flesh into the heavenly conflict."
The titles sound overwhelming until they are measured against God's own title.
There are "the rulers of the darkness of this world." A closer rendering is "the world-rulers of this darkness." These are Satanic authorities and powers that rule this world of darkness. We might well fear them if we were not under the protection of the Lord Almighty. The word translated Almighty is literally the All-ruler. The world-rulers may be great. But they are nothing in the presence of the All-ruler. It is like this world: great to us, yet tiny beside all things — the mighty universe of God.
- See — the opposition in front of you is an instrument; the wrestling is with the one using it.
- Locate — the word is "heavenly," not "high." These enemies hold the very place where your blessings are. The Canaanites held Israel's land the same way.
- Recognise — they rule the world's darkness, and they attack believers through religion, to rob them of the truth of their heavenly calling.
- Contest — the blessings are already yours. The fight is only over enjoying them now, and you win it against tricks more than against force.
- Measure — world-rulers stand before the All-ruler; great as they are, they are nothing there.
For this reason take [to you] the panoply of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and, having accomplished all things, to stand.
Verse 13 repeats the command of verse 11, but now it follows a hard look at the enemy: unseen powers, not human opponents. So what makes a day "the evil day", and why is the goal of all this fighting simply to stand?
Notice first whose armour this is:
The first thing to notice is that the Holy Spirit calls on us to take up the full armour of God. Neither the strength nor the wisdom of man is of any use in this conflict. Since we have to do with the hosts of Satan on the one hand, we need on the other "the whole armour of God." Our natural character and habits may not matter where the Spirit of God is at work to save our souls in His grace. But they matter greatly in the presence of a foe who knows how to take advantage of every unguarded opening.
None of this armour protects us from God. He gives it for use on His side:
It is of the greatest importance for us to understand that this armour is given to us on God's part, given to the Christian by God so that he may be for God in the very place where the wiles of the devil are at work. Not one bit of the armour is against God, not one bit of it stands between the soul and Him. God puts Himself, as it were, behind the armour, as if He said, "I am here behind the armour with you."
Being a Christian and being armed are two different things:
The armour has to be "put on." It by no means follows that because we are Christians we have put on the armour. 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; we must "put on the whole armour of God."
And it is the whole armour. A partial outfit is an invitation:
Here the apostle repeats the exhortation of verse 11. His own mind is deeply impressed with the frightful array of our foes... "Therefore take to yourselves the whole armour of God." No part must be left unguarded. The enemy knows how to take advantage of the smallest opening.
The phrase carries two layers:
In a general sense the whole period of Christ's absence is an "evil day" for the believer. There are, however, occasions when the enemy makes special attacks upon the people of God, seeking to rob them of special truths. Such attacks constitute for the people of God an evil day. To meet these we need to have on the whole armour of God.
One writer describes what such a season looks like, and how it ends:
But there are moments when this power is allowed to show itself in a more particular way. The enemy then uses the world against the saints. He darkens the light which shines in it from God, and he troubles and leads astray the minds of professing Christians and even of believers. Our part is to do all that the confession of His name requires, whatever it costs, and to be found standing when the storm and the evil day are past.
A soul still unsure whether God is for him has no strength to spare for the fight:
The season of conflict is not the time for putting on the armour. If I am merely trying to grasp and get hold of Christ while in conflict, I cannot have peace of soul. Then there will be no power "to withstand in the evil day." ... You will never fight Satan with energy so long as you are asking, "Am I on the Lord's side or not?" "Is God for me or against me?"
The most dangerous hour can be the one after a victory:
How often the victory of faith is too great for the faith that won it! A believer who has defeated the enemy for a long time, and freshly too, may tire of the struggle and turn aside into a path that looks easier. He then proves his own folly and his very great danger, even if in the end God delivers him by pure mercy. So resisting is not enough. "Having done all," having finished everything required, we are still "to stand."
This is a fight to keep ground, not to conquer it:
We are in possession of our place, and our business is to hold it... It is not a matter of gaining ground on Satan as if he were in possession. The object of the enemy is to turn us away from this by whatever trick and manoeuvre. So in conflict the matter is to stand against the wiles, and having done all to stand.
- Take — the armour is God's, not ours; human ability contributes nothing against unseen powers.
- Take all of it — the whole armour, because the enemy looks for a single unguarded opening.
- Take it early — arm before the attack, never in the middle of the struggle.
- Withstand — "the evil day" is both this whole age and the particular seasons when the enemy's power presses hard.
- Stand — after the fight is won, we still have to hold the ground; the goal is to be found standing when the storm has passed.