God supplies what we need for battle; it’s His armor, not ours.
This passage starts with an admonition to be strong in the Lord, thereby implying that the strength needed to defeat spiritual adversaries will not be found in our humanity. Then we are told to put on the full armor of God – not some of it, all of it. This tells us that God supplies what we need for battle; it’s His armor, not ours.
And then we get to the “why.” Our struggle is not against flesh and blood. It is against the powers of this dark world. In other words, we may encounter these powers in our world, but they are not to be fought on earthly territory.
Also, let’s note Paul’s use of the word “our” here. This is our battle. Yes, the battle is the Lord’s – and so is the victory. But Jesus bought us the ability to claim victory in His name. So now we have a part to play in this. It’s our responsibility to fight according to His instructions so that we can share in His victory.
It’s our responsibility to fight according to His instructions so that we can share in His victory.
“Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory. Romans 8:17” Part of sharing in His glory is engaging in the battle.
Churches and denominations have a lot of opinions about spiritual warfare, and stuff can get really weird. We really don’t have the mind to fully comprehend the supernatural, so we reduce it to something our brains can make sense of. In those cases, the end result can often be likened to a pseudo-spiritual fantasy novel. A sensational good versus evil caricature.
I once read a story about a Christian group in 2020 – during the George Floyd riots – who dressed up as characters from Lord of the Rings and vanquished the spirit of racism by wielding Gandalf’s staff and declaring “thou shalt not pass!” to the spirit. And just like that, America was free from all racism! [insert eye roll emoji here.]
Spiritual warfare means deploying God’s promised resources in the battle against everything that stands against His purposes.
It’s too bad, really. Because these kinds of cultural influences on scripture only serve to distract us from the real battle. There are real spiritual forces at play here. They really hate the work of God in your life. They really hate the work of God through your life. They really hate God. And since you and I are made in His image, guess who else they hate?
I am not negating the need for God’s children to experience deliverance from the evil that plagues us. I’ve been part of and led deliverance sessions that were powerful steps along someone’s spiritual journey. But those sessions often looked like this:
- Acknowledgement of the person’s participation their own sin – aka, owning their part in the problem of sin
- Repentance – turning from that sin and turning to God to heal and restore them
- Receiving God’s forgiveness and blessing over them
- Walking in newness of life
Can confirm: No Gandalf’s were used in these sessions.
There are real spiritual forces at play here.
But I find it curious that the spiritual warfare section of Ephesians comes after Paul spends much of chapter 5 and the first half of chapter 6 talking about how we are to behave in various relationships. Is it possible that the enemy of your soul might also be the enemy of your relationships?
Community is core to the success of the Christian. Think of the number of times we are referred to as the family of God, as brothers and sisters. Much of the New Testament focuses on how we are to treat one another. Actually, let’s go all the way back to the beginning.
In Genesis, when God asked Adam if he had eaten the forbidden fruit, Adam said, “the woman you gave me fed it to me.” Yes, I paraphrased. The work of Satan to destroy the relationship between Adam and Eve, and between them and God, is evident.
Is it possible that the enemy of your soul might also be the enemy of your relationships?
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