Thanks for reading Pondering with Purpose! This post is public so feel free to share it.
Introduction:
My dad has some friends that he likes to go on trips with. They will go to a cabin or go camping and they have a lot of fun. He often comes back from those trips and tells me what they did.
He came back from a trip recently and he was telling me all that he did and he said, “We raked, we chopped down firewood, we cleaned this, we did that”. And so I asked him if they did anything fun. And he responded back, “We cleaned the grill…”.
And I looked at him confused and asked, “So this was a work trip?” And he was confused. And I said, “It sounds like it was a work trip.” And he hadn’t even realized that he had actually been on a work trip. He thought he had been on vacation.
And this silly example reminded me of different commitments we get into whether it be college, a discipleship program, a volunteer opportunity, etc. Sometimes we think we are signing up for a vacation and really we are signing up to work. . It is really important that we know what we are doing and who we are. If we do not know what we are doing, we will not prepare and we will not act rightly.
As you read this passage of Scripture, I want you to think about this section and what it reveals about the “Reality of the Battle” around these four points: His strength, our standing, our enemies, his armor.
Go ahead and take a moment to read Ephesians 6:10-6:13.
Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness 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.
The Reality of the Battle
This whole section is the grand finale of the letter. It is this rousing call to arms. This is the culmination of everything Paul has been saying in Ephesians, which means, we need to consider these things in light of the rest of this letter. We shoul not pick out Ephesians 6:10-24 as an isolated treatment of “Spiritual Warfare”. This is not an independent section. Throughout this last chapter there is repetition of a lot of the language from previous sections such as “power”, “powers”, etc.
The Reality of His Strength (v. 10)
Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.
Verse 10 functions as a header for the whole section. Paul says, “Finally”. He is wrapping up the whole letter.
“Be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might”. This is the power language from previously in the letter. Paul is explaining how we are strong in the Lord. This is the main point of the armor of God in this section. Paul is making clear that Jesus has defeated the powers. We are just supposed to not lose ground. Here in this context, we are supposed to stand strong in the “power” that Paul wanted us to understand earlier in the letter.
It is interesting to note that Paul does not start by focusing on the fight or the enemy. We have a tendency to get caught up in “the fight”. When we do that, our focus is on the enemy but Paul wants our focus to remain on the Lord. If you focus on the enemy, you’ve already lost. We want to focus on the victor, Jesus. All of the rest is peripheral.
He has spent this whole letter focusing our eyes on the victory of Christ and he does not want us to take them off of him now. Jesus is the strong one. Jesus is the victorious one. We don’t do this on our own, in our own strength now, but in His.
Practically, you don’t go into a fight without training. And when you think about warfare, you usually want a good position in order to be successful. Obi Wan famously went for the high ground. You need preparation to stand firm and part of this preparation is receiving the strength from the Lord, to be made strong. That’s the language here.
Ephesians 6:10 says, “Be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.”
Sit
But Paul has not started this letter with this instruction to stand. In terms of spacial imagery used for the believer it starts Ephesians 1:20b-21 where Paul describes what God has done in Christ saying, “when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come.
So Jesus seated above all power and principality and according to Ephesians 2:6, we are seated with Christ. Jesus the one who is seated over all power and principalities. As a king in a battle, you sit down when it’s over, when you’ve won, and there is a chance to rest. This means that your position is of rest with Christ.
Walk
But Paul has not only described our seated nature with Christ. In Ephesians 4:1, he has called his readers to “Walk worthy of the calling”. Yes, positionally, we are seated with Christ but practically we are called to walk that out. We live a certain way that reflects our sure and settled identity with Christ. Which leads us to Ephesians 5 where Paul says to “walk in love” (5:2), to “walk as children of light” (5:8), and to “Walk circumspectly” (5:15). The way we go about our life, the way we walk from place to place, through our life, from our work to our school, with our family, it’s supposed to be worthy. W already sitting positionally. That is done. We are seated with Christ and now in the present, we want to walk worthyly. So we go from sitting to walking.
Stand
All of that before we are ever called to stand. We are told of where we sit, and we are called to walk, before as Paul ends he tells us that our role is stand. But how we walk will determine how well we can stand. Chapter 5 was all about getting the garbage out of our lives (5:3-7). Darkness invites the enemy. This is all relevant because, you don’t have the power within yourself to fight that battle.
As an illustration, Have you ever helped your dad with a task? Or used a very powerful piece of machinery? When you work with your dad and your “helping” him lift something it would be silly and untrue to say you did the lifting. You were there and participating but he did all the heavy lifting. Or in the case of the machinery you didn’t lift all the dirt, the digger did. You just pulled some levers. That is the dynamic going on here. We have access to his strength. He wants us to participate but we are not expected to do any heavy lifting. It’s his strength. Not ours.
So the call here is to “Be strong in the Lord”. Be this way because you already are this way. Just don’t step out of this. Don’t step out and try to do it in your own strength. Why would you go and lift without your dad? Why would you try to move the dirt without the machine? Let him be strong.
If we think about Paul’s understanding of true strength, we can turn to 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 where he recounts his back and forth with the Lord, saying, “And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10 Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
Jesus is the strong one. He is the perfect example of strength. He knew we were weak and incapable on our own so He came. He came to identify with us and give us his strength.
Then he died, rose again, and ascended, sending us His Spirit to give us strength. It his Spirit who empowers us for the task of joining him.
The Reality in which We Stand (v. 11)
“Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.”
Here in Ephesians, we use the armor of God to hold our ground. The messiah has already won the victory. We just need to hold our ground. Verse 13 is really clear that we are not taking ground. We are just maintaining ground. In Paul’s mind, spiritual warfare is not an event; it is a lifestyle. If this is a lifestyle then it needs to be sustainable and that’s why it is so important that this passage remains grounded in the context of the whole letter. First, we sit. We are securely at rest in Christ. Second, we walk. We follow Jesus in a manner of holiness. And lastly, we stand.
This is so that we are able to stand against the enemy.
So what does this look like? There are some really practical and important things.
Jude 9:1 says, “Yet Michael the archangel, in contending with the devil, when he disputed about the body of Moses, dared not bring against him a reviling accusation, but said, “The Lord rebuke you!”
This is the archangel of God and when faced with a conflict with the enemy, he did not attack the enemy, he did not try and come up with things to say, or to intimidate him. Instead he looked to the Lord, in the power of his strength and said, “The Lord rebuke you”. When we face the enemy, when we feel the lies of the enemy come, temptation, discouragement, we are tempted to fight back and step up in our wisdom, but the example here is to rest in the authority that we have in Jesus to send the dark spiritual forces back to the one who defeated them.
We are not going on the offensive. In verses 10 and 13 Paul uses the words “stand” and “withstand”. We are just protecting what has alread been won. James 4:7 will say that we should, “Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” Resistance is not the same as fighting. The implication is that the ground has already been won. When we think of spiritual warfare as offensive we step into dangerous waters. That seeks to advance, the other seeks to protect what’s already been won.
Colossians 2:15 describes Jesus as “Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.” Jesus triumphed. He came and went to war and won the battle which means our fight is not for victory; it is from victory. We already know the score. When the enemy wants to pick a fight, look at the score board. Don’t let the enemy trick you into a battle you haven’t already won. Jesus has won. So war against the enemy from victory.
Stand and Watch
And remember that the battle is not yours but God’s. In Judges 7 with the story of Gideon, God commands Gideon and his army to “Stand and watch”. He says, “I will win this war for you”
Position Yourself Strategically
Ephesians 6:11 says we are standing against the “wiles” of the enemy. He has carefully designed strategies to deceive.
Ephesians 1:3 told us that we have been blessed with every spiritual blessing. But one of the enemy’s primary strategies is to convince we do not have enough. He comes at us with the lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, pride of life. There are the enemy’s tactics but Paul has reminded us that everything you need is in Jesus.
Colossians 2:15 says that the enemy has been disarmed. Essentially, the enemy is shooting blanks. He has no authority over you. Jesus has disarmed the enemy. There is no authority in an empty gun but the enemy will trick you into giving up the victory you already have. The enemy will not trick you into standing, he will trick you into moving. Standing is a position of defense.
If you think about it, if our instruction is to stand then it would be a trick of the enemy to advance and actually it would be trick of the enemy to get us to retreat. Why? Because all of the armor is all on the front of the body. Retreating leaves us exposed.
There is something very difficult about standing still. As people we crave activity. We want to do something to go somewhere we don’t want to stay.
Thinking about staying put make me think of my dog. Unfortunately, she is not well trained. Her name is Lily and she is not good at staying put. If you tell her to stay she does not not do it. I have tried being firm and being gentle but she just won’t stay.
We are told that our role in this battle is to stand. It might seem like a lame job and not very exciting. But “standing” and”standing against” is a very important job. We stand and we welcome people in to join the family. We stand and we serve as a deterrent against those who might come for the wrong reasons.
This means we do not give up and lay down. We do not run forward into trouble. We stand wherever God has called us to be. Wherever we find ourselves, we stand there and you do it well. Whatever spiritual battle you find yourself in you don’t roll over and give in and you don’t try to move forward. You stand.
There is a really interesting thing in Scripture that happens after Jesus is resurrected and then ascended. Throughout the rest of the New Testament when Jesus’ location is described he is always described one way. “Sitting at the right hand of the Father.” If you want to know what He is doing in Ephesians, Colossians, Hebrews and other letters, they say He is sitting at the right hand of the father. This is true every single time; every single time that is, except one. One time He is not sitting. Do you know where?
In Acts 7:54-60 we get the story of the stoning of Stephen. This is the only place Jesus is not described as sitting but instead Stephen says that he see Him standing at the right hand of God. Different theologians offer different explanations as to why He is standing this time. Maybe He is standing to honor him, or standing as a good host to welcome him, or standing in attention to advocate for him, or standing as judge to declare this act against Jesus as unjust. Regardless, Jesus is here standing at the first martyrdom of the saints. So when we stand we are imitating Christ.
Thanks for reading Pondering with Purpose! This post is public so feel free to share it.
The Reality of Our Enemies (v. 12)
For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.
We have a real enemy! Paul says we are not fighting against flesh and blood - meaning, not mere humans. He is not saying evil does not take flesh and blood forms. He is saying we do not only wrestle against flesh and blood. There is something behind what we face that is more than flesh and blood. Other people are never the real enemy. They might be complicit with the enemy but they are not the real enemy.
Most cultures throughout most of human history have had some view of spiritual reality. There is an obvious complexity to our problems. And as you think about spiritual evil, we are pretty weak and vulnerable compared to these enemies we have.
Scripture calls them a few different things whether spiritual forces or beings of wickedness. Paul has been talking about them throughout this letter. Ephesians 1:20-21 has already said that Jesus is exalted over these powers. As scary as they seem, Jesus is above them. In Ephesians 3:10, he says that wisdom of God has been made known through the church “to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places”. Ephesians 2:2 has called this enemy the “prince of the power of the air”. Paul has already been talking about these enemies and he has made clear that the church is God’s display of victory over them.
Verse 6 and elsewhere has said that they act in “heavenly places”. We saw this phrase in Ephesians 1. The heavenly places is the unseen part of reality that is just as real even though we cannot see it. Paul wants his communities to know that their real enemy is never another human but the larger social, economic, political, and religious forces that govern and shape human existence. Paul, along with all Jews shaped by the Biblical traditions, viewed these forces as manifestations of spiritual rulers, authorities, etc., who are opposed to the cosmic reign of the Messiah.
I have often heard that the enemy’s best strategy is to make us believe he does not exist. If you do not think you have an enemy then you will not expect a fight but scripture tells a different story
1 Peter 5:8 tells us that there is a real spiritual enemy and that we need to be forewarned.
If you take this idea into the world of sports, in almost any sport that I can think of there is an opponent. You play against an opponent or an opposing team. How you play the game is shaped by your opponent. Your strategy is shaped by that opponent. Can you imagine how differently a soccer game would be played without an opponent? Now imagine you play like there is no opponent but there actually is one.
We have to know there is an opponent. If we think there is not, it will completely change how we live.
Our world in general says that everything has a purely natural origin. We look to the natural sciences and to psychology and that is meant to explain everything. But that is a lie and it is a lie that we cannot believe.
Jesus was very clear about this enemy. He encountered him multiple times. In Matthew 4 Jesus was tested in the wilderness by the enemy. In Matthew 6:13, He taught us to pray against that enemy and in Colossians 2:15 He defeated him.
The Reality of His Armor (v. 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.
You cannot fight a spiritual war with carnal methods. If our enemy is not flesh and blood then our weapons cannot be flesh and blood.
Ultimately we are responsible to prepared to stand and that involves taking up the “whole armor”; not just part of it. If you do not take up the whole armor, you leave an opening for the enemy. This armor is called, the armor of God which means, uou don’t get to make your own armor.
Ephesians is actually not the first time that the Bible talks about the armor of God. Isaiah 59:17 says, “For He put on righteousness as a breastplate,
And a helmet of salvation on His head;
He put on the garments of vengeance for clothing,
And was clad with zeal as a cloak.”
Does that sound familiar? Paul is not inventing this imagery. He is drawing it from his scriptures. And the incredible implication here is that this is not just God’s armor in that He is the source of the armor but it is His armor in that he has worn and used it. It is battle tested. God has given us His armor which means we get to wear the armor of the King. In Isaiah, God is the one wearing the helmet of salvation and the breastplate of righteousness and is the one to bring justice and peace to the world.
In Isaiah 11:5 it says, “Righteousness shall be the belt of His loins, And faithfulness the belt of His waist.” This is a description of the messiah wearing the armor that Paul says is now ours in Him.
In Isaiah, the armor is used offensively. God uses this armor offensively to attack, to deliver justice and vengeance. But as we put on the armor ourselves it is explicitly to help us to stand firm. Paul is very clear that the armor for us is not to go out and do vengeance. He will actually say elsewhere “Vengeance is mine, says the Lord” but that we are to stand with that armor. We are stand in the armor God has used and that He has now given to us to stand firm. Putting on the armor helps us to stand firm against the schemes and strategies of the enemy.
Equipment really matters. If you are playing soccer you are going to want to wear cleats. If you are playing American football, you are going to want to wear pads and a helmet. It would really suck to show up thinking you were showing up for a golf game and you actually show up for a football game. That would not go well and you would get really hurt.
The command in this verse is to “Put on” the armor of God. There is a responsibility to put on. Paul has been using this language of putting off and putting on throughout Ephesians. He has talked about taking on characteristics and attributes, ways of thinking, ways of being that we take on. We do not make the armor. Nor do we have to find it. It has been given to us; we only have to put it on.
As I think about this language of “putting on”, I think of another passage in Romans 13:14 where he says, “But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts. Here, instead of armor, he talks about putting on Jesus and to put on who Jesus is, what Jesus has done, his identity, his character, upon ourselves. And he does something similar in Galatians 3:27 “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.”
The idea is that we are living in our new identity (Gal 3:27), rejecting old ways and desires (Rom 13:14, Eph 4:22), clothing ourselves with His character (Col 3:12), and walking in Spirit-empowered obedience (Eph 6:11).
Jesus is the model. He is our ultimate example and He is the mediator. He is the one who opens this possibility for us by joining himself to our humanity so that our humanity can be joined to His divinity.
Conclusion:
As we think about this battle, this very real battle. In this section, there are four really important things as we think about spiritual warfare. 1. We do so in his strength, not our own. 2. We do so by standing, not by advancing or taking new ground. 3. We know that we have very real enemies which means we are not deluded into believing we lack an opponent.4. We do all of this in his armor. We get to put on who He is and it becomes true of us.
We stand because Jesus is already seated above the powers.
