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.
Stand therefore, having girt about your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness,
The verse names the first two pieces of the armour, and a soldier puts both on before the fight starts. The quotes below use the older wording, "the loins girded," for what the ESV calls "the belt of truth" — a belt that braces the body for action.
One writer warns against reading "stand" here as a description of our place before God.
The true sense of these words supposes not only a settled position, but the soul in activity at the call of the Holy Spirit. Much harm has come from treating this passage as if it were about standing. It is something quite different. It is practical arming and conflict. It rests on the most blessed standing anywhere revealed in the New Testament, and it makes a fitting close to the letter that reveals that standing.
Another writer names the one place where no armour is needed, and what the belt grips here.
Before God our righteousness is perfect. It is Christ Himself, and we are the righteousness of God in Him. But we do not need armour there. We are sitting in the heavenly places: all is peace, all is perfect. But here we need armour, real practical armour, and first of all to have the loins girded with truth. The loins are the place of strength when they are properly girded, but they stand for the intimate affections and movements of the heart. If we let our hearts wander where they like, instead of staying in communion with God, Satan has an easy hold on us.
The picture behind the words comes from clothing and from soldiering at once.
Girding means applying truth to the soul. The word deals closely with the will and with the movements of the heart. This is arming for conflict in a most practical and effective way. But we must do it in the presence of God, before we meet the enemy. The soldier's belt holds the rest of his armour close to him, so he can march and is strong to fight... There is also a reference to an eastern custom. People there tied their long loose robes up around the waist, so the cloth would not get in the way while they travelled or worked.
Owning the truth and being held by it are two different things.
To know the truth and be set free by the truth is one thing; to have our loins girded with truth is another. It is the intimate dealing of truth with the soul, so that there is no laxity of heart or indulged will, but instead the affections and judgment braced up to Christ and the things of Christ.
Which is why a shelf of sound teaching is not by itself a defence.
Girding up the loins means getting ready for action. Truth is to set the limits of all we do. The truth is to govern us. God gives us the truth, but we must put it on... God's word is truth. But the truth in the Bible will not defend us. What defends us is truth applied in a practical way to all we do.
The second piece covers uprightness in daily life. Where it is missing, the enemy attacks.
The breastplate of righteousness is not divine righteousness. It is uprightness of heart before Him, a clear conscience in simple uprightness in what we are doing... There is no good conscience without it. If you do not have a good conscience, Satan soon knows you have a bad one. He will touch you on that point and play on it, for he is a master of tricks.
Yet the two kinds of righteousness are not rivals — one rests on the other.
The righteousness we have been speaking about is quite different from the righteousness of God. In that righteousness we stand accepted in Christ Jesus. He is our righteousness, complete and unchangeable in the presence of God — but not as a breastplate. All conflict is over there. Here we still need practical righteousness, so that we can fight our enemy the devil and win. Still, the righteousness of God which we are made in Christ Jesus is the foundation of the other.
Truth is named first because the second piece depends on it.
This armour is not like the armour people once wore on the battlefield. An armourer made that armour for them, and they put it on when they were about to fight. You put this armour on from the inside, like the feathers of a bird. It all has to do with our practical state. So if truth has not girded your loins, you will never wear the armour of righteousness, because this is practical righteousness.
- Standing first. The armour does not win a place before God. Those already sitting in the heavenly places wear it, to hold their ground against Satan.
- Belted inwardly. Truth grips the affections and the will, the way a belt gathers loose robes. We fasten it in God's presence, before the enemy appears.
- Worn, not shelved. Truth in the Bible defends no one; truth applied to our actual habits does.
- Covered outwardly. Practical righteousness guards the conscience. It grows out of the righteousness God has already made us in Christ.
- In that order. We put this armour on from the inside out: no truth within, no righteousness without, and no ground held when the enemy comes.
and shod your feet with [the] preparation of the glad tidings of peace
Paul's armour list runs from the belt of truth and the breastplate of righteousness down to the soldier's feet, and the piece there is odd: shoes made of a gospel. So does this mean telling others the good news, or standing firm in it yourself?
Where the ESV says "readiness," these writers quote the older rendering "preparation." Either way, the shoe is what keeps the soldier standing.
The feet of the soldier of Christ — that is, every believer — must be steadied and strengthened by the preparation the gospel of peace gives. Only then can he hold his ground in such a contest. In short, the believer must have "peace with God," which is the fruit of believing the gospel of peace. Only think of a soldier going into battle badly shod, or with torn boots, especially over stony or muddy ground! How can he hold his ground against the enemy with his feet blistered and wounded?
One writer rules out evangelism here. The believer is handed a place to stand, not a message to deliver.
"Your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace." Some insist this means going out to preach the gospel; it is nothing of the kind. It is the soul walking up and down in that blessed avenue "the gospel of peace" — day after day, in real life. You can go out and preach the gospel, and announce it, without being there yourself. God may even bless it. But when He speaks of the armour, He does not mean mere ability to go out and announce it. He means you yourself in the full, blessed, daily, hourly enjoyment of the gospel of peace.
Commentators differ on how far to press that. Another writer holds both together.
It is a wonderful privilege to carry with us wherever we go the message of the gospel of peace. God has given this privilege to all His saints; it is not the preacher's alone… This preparation is not only for speaking the word of the gospel of peace. It is also so that peace matching the gospel marks every step we take.
If peace with God is the shoe leather, the supply never runs out.
This does not mean preaching the gospel to others, Christian service or soul winning. Through the gospel we have perfect peace with God. We know that God is for us; who then can be against us? This perfect peace, in which we stand, is our preparation… Israel wandered over desert rocks and desert sands for forty years with shoes that did not wear out. We too travel through the wilderness with our feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. That peace will last as long as God Himself… He cannot touch anyone who rests in the peace of God and trusts in the God of peace.
Shoes meet the road. Rough ground brings dirt, and it tempts us to take charge ourselves.
The peace of the gospel is to apply itself to all the circumstances of the way… And as the shoe would arm us against the defilement of the way, so it guards against its dust and dirt. Can anything better keep us from falling under the power of circumstances — and so inevitably being defiled by them — than the quiet assurance that our God and Father holds them in His hand? To be ruffled and disturbed by them throws us off balance. We then try our own methods of putting things right, and our methods grow less careful as unbelief gains on us.
The same shoes change how a believer meets what others do to him.
Selfishness will always be a quarrelsome thing; it says, I must maintain my rights. But the Christian carries peace, because he has peace within; he carries the spirit and character of Christ through the world… A man can walk untouched through everything they can bring against him; his feet are shod.
The image works because the soles are tender.
Our feet must have battle shoes on, for the soles of the feet are sensitive… We need something that protects us against sensitive feelings that can lead us into wrong paths and wrong company. That protection is "the preparation of the gospel of peace"… Let us watch that our shoes are always on our feet. Then we are not so easily hurt by the words, actions or inactions of our brothers and sisters in Christ, or of unbelievers.
- Peace received. The gospel of peace first settles the believer's standing with God. That peace is what the shoes are made of.
- Peace worn. Knowing the message is not enough. Most commentators press daily enjoyment of it, not preaching it.
- Peace applied. Shoes touch the ground, so this peace meets daily circumstances. It keeps a believer from grabbing control when things go wrong.
- Peace carried. Self demands its rights; a person at peace carries Christ's spirit through the world.
- Peace that holds. Feet are tender and the ground is rough, yet these shoes never wear out. That is how the soldier keeps his footing.
besides all [these], having taken the shield of faith with which ye will be able to quench all the inflamed darts of the wicked one.
The armour so far has covered truth, righteousness and peace; this verse adds a piece that goes over all the rest. What is this faith, and what are these burning arrows?
The pieces before this describe a state. This one has to be actively used.
The shield was the one defence the soldier could not do without. Without it, the rest of his armour could not protect him from missiles. It is the same in our spiritual warfare. We cannot enjoy truth, righteousness or peace unless faith is in active use.
The word "over" matters here.
This is to be "over all". Faith in God, faith in His promises, faith in His Word, simple childlike faith is to cover the head and the body like a great shield.
So what is this faith? One writer traces it back to God's own nature.
This means the confidence in God Himself which the soul has every right to hold, and is encouraged to hold. I say, in Himself, because it cannot be separated from the godly and righteous state that the earlier parts of the armour show. Yet it is a confidence that springs only from what God is known to be in His own nature and character.
Another writer sums it up in a motto for the shield.
It is the full assurance of the heart in the love of God, according to the revelation which He has given of Himself. "God for us" should be written across the Christian shield… Notice, this is more than the faith that simply receives God's testimony about Christ for salvation — though of course it rests on that.
Both words in the verse come from real warfare. Start with the arrows.
FIERY DARTS are darts tipped with material that catches fire in flight or on impact. They burn as well as pierce.
The shield is large, and soldiers used it side by side. The fire has a meaning of its own.
If you put down your shield in front of you, and the man next to you puts down his in front of him, and so on and so on, you have a wall. It is a position that cannot be broken. That seems to be the picture here. Notice that they are fiery darts, not just darts. In Scripture fire often pictures God in judgment: "our God is a consuming fire" (Heb. 12:29).
The name of the defence tells you the nature of the attack.
Faith can quench nothing but its opposite, which is unbelief. All the darts of the Wicked One, fiery as they are, are of that kind… The cruellest wounds the soul can suffer are suggestions of unbelief. Outward trials are nothing next to a dart that is fiery in itself, and whose heat dries up the moisture of the spirit. It does this by cutting off our view of Him who is our only confidence and joy.
These attacks come in many forms.
Satan's darts are many and varied. They include subtle deceit, insinuation, flattery, intimidation, wrong teaching or wrong emphasis, lack of balance, working on the emotions, enticements to sin, and many more. Only an active, watchful confidence in the Lord will keep us ready to meet and quench these darts as we should.
One writer points to Job. The sharpest thrust came through his own wife.
His wife said to Job, "Curse God and die." That was a cruel thrust. But Job met it with the shield of faith, the very thing our verse describes: "Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?" (Job 2:9-10). And the fiery dart fell to the ground.
The Lord Himself used the same two weapons.
The two weapons the Lord used — the Shield of Faith and the Sword of the Spirit — we may use also. Indeed, we are told to take hold of them so that we may "extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one."
One writer adds a practical warning about the armour underneath.
You cannot hold up the shield of faith if you do not have the inside armour on. That means the belt of truth around your waist and the gospel of peace under your feet, enjoyed here and now. Then you have power to hold up the shield of faith.
- Placement. The shield goes over everything else. Without it, truth, righteousness and peace are not enough.
- Content. It is confidence in God Himself, sure that His favour never changes. That is more than the faith which first received Christ.
- Target. The burning arrows are suggestions of unbelief, aimed at cutting off your view of the God you trust.
- Reach. They come as flattery, intimidation, wrong teaching, enticement. So faith must be active and watchful, not occasional.
- Result. Job answered his wife, and the dart fell to the ground. The Lord used the same shield, and so may we.
Have also the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is God's word;
The armour ends with two pieces: a helmet to wear and a sword to use. Commentators press hard on why the sword comes last, and on which word counts as a sword at all.
Writers link the helmet to the settled knowledge of being saved, and warn what happens without it.
The helmet rests on the head. It covers the head, the place where we think. Assurance of salvation — past, present and future — is this helmet. As we wear it, and as it rules our mind and heart, the devil's tricks cannot land on us. We have a salvation that is secure... It is sad to see thousands of believers without the helmet of salvation. They have no assurance of salvation, so they are easy prey to the devil's tricks.
The picture comes from an older prophecy about Christ in armour, though He wears it for a different purpose.
This surely comes from the Old Testament prophecy which speaks of Christ putting on "righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on His head" (Isa. 59:17). But with Christ it is the righteousness He carries out in judgment. It is the salvation He brings as the deliverer of His people. With us it is the righteousness and salvation we have in Him.
The order of the pieces is not accidental. Everything that defends comes first; only then the weapon that attacks.
The helmet of salvation is the bold and joyful awareness of the full deliverance God has worked for us in Christ. This crowns the various parts of the armour already noticed. So what follows is not another means of defence — the defence is complete — but the weapon for attacking the enemy: the sword of the Spirit, God's word. How wise it is to place it last of all!... If we do not know this order in practice, we make the word a mere toy, or a whip for self, instead of the sword of the Spirit; we misuse it and it has no power.
The order carries a personal warning: do not swing a text that has never cut you.
Nothing is more dangerous than to use the word if it has not touched my conscience. I put myself in Satan's hands if I go beyond what I have from God, or beyond what my soul holds.
Notice the order inside the verse, and then whose sword this is.
The helmet comes before the sword: without this confidence, this assurance, we cannot even handle the sword of the Spirit. Without it Satan can use even the word of God to overthrow us. This word is called the sword of the Spirit, not of the understanding, but of the Spirit in us. It is the Spirit of God who alone can handle the sword of the word. It is the Spirit who recalls the suitable passage at the moment of temptation... We may reason about the things of God, but reasoning does nothing for us against the enemy. The Spirit must act in us and apply the word.
The verse does not say the word of God is the sword of the Spirit; it says take the Spirit's sword, which is the word of God. The distinction matters, because the enemy quotes Scripture too.
Satan knows how to use Scripture against the truth. A piece of Scripture taken out of its connection has kept many a saint in bondage, pressed him hard, and wounded him. That is not the sword of the Spirit. So the Word of God is not always the sword of the Spirit. But the sword of the Spirit must always and only be the Word of God.
The word used here is narrower than the whole Bible. It points to the fitting word for the moment.
The sword of the Spirit is "the word (literally, the saying) of God" — not the word of God in general, but the word that applies, the word spoken at the right time. It is not the whole Bible we are to bring to someone, but the word that fits his actual condition. This needs wisdom and the Spirit's guidance.
Jesus showed how the sword works when Satan tempted Him in the wilderness.
The Christian cannot "fight the good fight" by natural wisdom or powers of argument. In the wilderness our Lord defeated Satan by using the sword of the Spirit. Three times He quoted from Deuteronomy, and began each quotation with the words, "It is written." We need to know our Bibles to use our sword.
- Covered — The helmet is assurance of salvation. It guards the mind, and without it a believer is easy prey.
- Crowned — Assurance completes the defence. Nothing more is needed to guard you; the next piece is for attack.
- Cutting — God's word is the only weapon for attack. Let it cut your own conscience first, before you use it on anyone else.
- Carried — The sword belongs to the Spirit, not to your own reasoning. He brings the fitting passage to mind when temptation comes.
- Correct — Satan can use a verse pulled out of its context. Only the fitting word, in season, is the Spirit's sword — as Jesus showed when He said, "It is written."