The Full Armor of God--Part II

Part On of the Series is Listed Below
Picture Reference: http://www.romancoins.info/MilitaryEquipment-cingulum.html


In the Roman army a sword belt was made of leather overlaid with many metal plates. This allowed the belt to show the soldier's rank in addition to acting in it's more practical role. In the first century A.D., Roman soldiers normally carried two weapons which were stored on their belt. The first was a sword 18-24 inches long called a "gladius". The second weapon was a small dagger called a "pugio" The belt itslef was commonly called a "Cingulum" or "Balteus". Also common during this time was a groin guard, or "sporran", which hung from the belt.

A starting question for us might be why did Paul begin his list of spiritual armorments with the belt of truth? I believe that there are two main reasons that Paul began with the belt. The first reason is that the belt was an item that was worn at all times by members of the Roman Army. In my research I found that even when other elements of the armor were not being worn, the belt stayed.

The belt not only was practical for keeping your tunic on tight, but it was necessary for keeping military protacol such as chain of command. The same is true of the truth. Truth is practical. If you always tell the truth you never have to worry about having to remember a lie. The truth is also necessary for Christians to keeep our chain of command. All things that come from God are truth. If we stray from the truth, then we stray from God. In ancient times anyone who lived in Roman occupied lands could look at a Roman soldier's belt and know instantly that he belonged to the army. As Christians, people should be able to look directly at our lives and be able to know that we belong to God.

The second reason I believe that Paul began with the belt of truth is that the belt is the starting place of the entire outfit. It binds the tunic close to the body, holds the weapons for easy access, and marks the rank of the man wearing it. This was an essential piece of equipment for anyone in the Roman Army.

The truth is an essential piece of equipment for anyone in the Lord's Army. All of Christian doctrine relates back to the truth. To believe in Jesus you must believe that every single time he said, "I tell you the truth.." he was doing just that telling the truth. (By the way click on the online Bible and enter in "I tell you the Truth in the Keyword search, you'll be astounded to see how many times he said that very phrase.)

Not only, do you have to believe that Jesus was always telling the truth, but as a Christian we are called to live in the truth. Here are only a few lines of scripture that relate how important the truth is to the life of a Christian:


Psalm 31:5
Into your hands I commit my spirit; redeem me, O LORD, the God of truth.

Psalm 40:11
Do not withhold your mercy from me, O LORD; may your love and your truth always protect me.

Psalm 43:3
Send forth your light and your truth, let them guide me; let them bring me to your holy mountain, to the place where you dwell.

Psalm 51:6
Surely you desire truth in the inner parts ; you teach me wisdom in the inmost place.

Proverbs 16:13
Kings take pleasure in honest lips; they value a man who speaks the truth.

Isaiah 45:19
I have not spoken in secret, from somewhere in a land of darkness; I have not said to Jacob's descendants, 'Seek me in vain.' I, the LORD, speak the truth; I declare what is right.

John 1:14
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

John 14:6
Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

John 14:16-17

16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.


The truth marks us as different. The truth says that we have made our stand. The truth declares that we have enlisted in the Lord's Army and we take our marching orders from the Creator himself. So, as you are preparing to go out into the world each day. Slide that belt through it's loops and cinch it tight, reminding yourself that God has called us as Christians to live in truth.


Works Cited:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_army#Roman_Soldier.27s_Main_Armor
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balteus_%28sword_belt%29

The Full Armor of God--Part I

Ephesians 6:10-18

The Armor of God

10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.


I hope you will join me over the next few weeks as we dissect this scripture and study why God calls us to put on "The full armor of God." We will take an in depth look at how God calls us to spiritually clothe ourselves,  and the importance of each article we are told to wear.

Today, our focus is going to be on why armor? When I hear someone say armor I instantly conjure up images of medieval knights perched majestically on top of noble horses. I think about fairy tales and lofty castles. I think of lances and King Arthur.

At the time Paul wrote Ephesians (around the year 60 A.D.) the major fighting force in the biblical world was the Romans. In those days when you thought of armor you would conjure up images of a Roman Infantryman, not some European in a tin can.. The basic parts of a Roman's armor would be a shield, the Caligae (special marching sandals), a tunic, a belt, one of several flexible and form fitting armor plates (breastplates), a metal apron and a helmet.

It would seem to be a safe assumption, based on the dress described by Paul and the actual armor worn by Romans, that the mental image Paul was painting was of a Roman soldier. Okay so we know what kind of armor, but that still begs the question, "why armor?"  Why didn't Paul say put on the comfy sweatsuit of God or the pajamas or even the bathing suit?

Paul answers this question for us in verses 10-13 where he tells us that we must prepare for an enemy. How does an army prepare for battle? They drill, they equip, and they plan. Paul tells us that the enemy is not a physical presence coming to destroy our bodies. Instead he warns of the, "authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil." Paul uses an armor metaphor to show God's people how to prepare themselves for a spiritual battle.

You see there is a spiritual battle going on all around us.  Satan knows that he cannot win against the Lord. However, the devil is a vindictive loser. He wants to hurt God as much as he can, he wants to lash out at the power that tossed him from Heaven. How can Satan hurt God? By hurting us, by stealing us, by allowing us to be damned!  Satan knows the great love that God has for his creation, so to attack us is to lash out at God.

God tells us, "look there is an attack coming." He hands us our equipment and tells us to put it on so that we can be safe. The only catch, if you can call it that,  is that God passes out what we need, but whether you put on what he has handed you or not is your choice. The enemy is deceitful, he might tell you what you want to hear. He might even help make life easier for you if you follow his deceitful path instead of God's narrow way.

In the end though God's narrow path leads to an eternity with him in Heaven, God knows this. The wide and easy street that Satan offers leads to hell and damnation, the devil knows this as well. So the only choice left is which path to follow. I choose the narrow one with ambushes waiting around every corner. While I know there is a hard trek before me I am secure knowing that I have God-brand Kevlar waiting for me if I will only accept it.