It is said that we should put on the whole armour of God. So not only part of it, but the whole armour. And it is said that it must be the armour of God, and not of man. Why should we put it on? That we may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. And what does the devil, the spirit of lies, wile us into? Into doing evil under the guise of good, or into promoting lies through a sophisticated mosaic of partial truths. But the devil’s policy has only one aim: to deceive man in order to get him into false systems of thought which put aside truth and repentance and to make him live in irreality, vanity and self-delusion. Gradually, he becomes personally convinced of these lies. So the greatest need is to preach the truth and to lead people on the way of truth – and this is connected with repentance. When we do something, we need to look back afterwards whether it was good or bad, and also to perceive what the fruits were. This requires partly true self-criticism, rather than scruples or depression, and partly true criticism of others, which leads to the following of Christ who is the Way, the Truth and the Life.

So we need the armour of God, for we do not wrestle against human enemies but against principalities, against spiritual powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. It is a spiritual battle. Verse 10 says: “Finally, my brethren, draw your strength from the Lord and from His mighty power.” Let us draw our strength from the Lord instead of from some psychological methods which nowadays are no means of seeking the truth but of deceiving, because behind them is the spirit of lies. If we use these weapons, the battle is lost before it has begun. Certainly, we should know psychology, but it must be a true psychology of life based on the Gospel which calls a lie a lie, the truth the truth, evil evil and is concerned with the matter of death, God’s judgment and eternity. This was the psychology of the saints and martyrs before us, who set an example to us. They knew the principles of spiritual battle which they fought above all in prayer. Therefore, we need spiritual weapons too. In connection with these weapons, verse 13 emphasizes again that we must put on the whole armour of God. The next verses give a list of six weapons:

1) Gird your waist with truth.

2) Put on the breastplate of righteousness.

3) Have your feet shod in readiness for the gospel of peace.

4) Take the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. These darts are the intrusive thoughts and feelings which attack our soul and body. We need the shield of faith which is based on the Gospel of Christ and on divine truths which concern our salvation.

5) Take the helmet of salvation to protect your head.

6) Take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

Five of these weapons practically serve to protect us, and the sixth one – the sword of the Spirit – serves both to protect us and to attack.

Verse 18 then says that we should pray at all times in the Spirit and be watchful in prayers.

Download: Reflection on Eph 6:11-12