Excalibur

Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
Ephesians 6:17

The sword can be used for defense but is mostly an offensive weapon. The sword of the Spirit is the word of God. But the Greek word used here for “word” is rhema. Logos is the more common Greek word for “word.” Logos refers to God’s word in its entirety. That is why Jesus is called the Logos of God (John 1:1-4). The whole Bible is the logos of God (Hebrews 4:12). Rhema refers to the spoken-word and is a subcategory of logos.

This is really important to understand because Ephesians 6 says that it is the rhema of God that is the sword of the Spirit. Have you ever been reading the Bible (the logos of God) and suddenly the Holy Spirit highlights a passage that seems to speak directly to you in that moment? That’s an example of when the logos became rhema. The Holy Spirit spoke that word directly to your heart.

Or, have you ever been listening to a sermon on a passage of scripture (logos) that you’ve read a thousand times, yet for some reason the Lord speaks through that sermon in a powerful way? That’s an example of when the logos became rhema. The rhema word of God is like a weaponized version of the logos.

It’s not enough just to quote Scripture and think we’re wielding the sword of the Spirit. Satan quoted Scripture as he was tempting Jesus in the desert (Matthew 4:6). Demons know Scripture better than most Christians; they know it well enough to distort it, manipulate it, and trivialize it. 1 Timothy 4:1 says, “The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons.”

I saw this a lot in seminary and still see it in my friends who espouse ever more progressive theologies. The authority of Scripture gets eroded with every new interpretation that is introduced. And that’s the point of deception. The point isn’t to get people to avoid Scripture. The point is to get them to misuse one part of Scripture in order to reject the clear teachings of the rest of Scripture. The point is to get this next generation to manipulate Scripture to fit the lifestyle they are comfortable with.

The sword of the Spirit is when the Holy Spirit takes the logos and lights it on fire so that it becomes the weaponized rhema of God. Scripture that is being manipulated to fit the cultural agenda will always sound reasonable and yet have no power to it. That’s one way to tell if it is truly the rhema of God. Rhema always carries with it the power of the Holy Spirit to convict and transform.

The Sadducees were asking Jesus a question trying to manipulate the Scriptures to fit their worldview, and Jesus responds with his own question, “Are you not in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God?”(Mark 12:24).

The apostle Paul gives Timothy a list of how corrupted people will be in the last days, and, included in that list of characteristics, he writes, “treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God—having a form of godliness but denying its power”(2 Timothy 3:4-5). When people use Scripture to have a form of godliness but deny its power, it’s not the sword of the Spirit; it’s not the rhema of God. Rhema comes with power because it is spoken by the Holy Spirit through a person.

In order for us to speak the rhema of God we must actually know and believe the logos of God. If I don’t trust Scripture to be true, then I’ll never speak the rhema with power and authority. One of the secrets to the success of Billy Graham was that he had the audacity to believe the Bible. Because he did, when he spoke the gospel, the logos became rhema and hundreds of thousands of people were saved.

It is why right now around the world churches that affirm the Bible and the Holy Spirit are booming and the progressive denominations that have dissected the Bible are shrinking rapidly. They’ve undermined the logos and completely lost the rhema. They are completely unarmed, swordless as the enemy attacks them.

Plumed Helmet

Take the helmet of salvation…
Ephesians 6:17a

Ephesians 6 isn’t the first time we read about a helmet of salvation in Scripture, and it won’t be the last time. The prophet Isaiah delivered a prophecy about how the Lord couldn’t find anyone to bring about salvation and justice in Israel, so He had to do it Himself.

He saw that there was no one,
    he was appalled that there was no one to intervene;
so his own arm achieved salvation for him,
    and his own righteousness sustained him.
He put on righteousness as his breastplate,
    and the helmet of salvation on his head
Isaiah 59:16-17

Jesus was the arm of the Lord that achieved salvation for the people of God. In other words, Jesus was the original wearer of the breastplate of righteousness and helmet of salvation. When Jesus ascended to the right hand of the Father, He left behind His armor for the Body of Christ to put on.

The helmet of salvation protects the head, the mind, the thought-life of the believer. But we shouldn’t just think that “being saved” is enough. Paul clarified the purpose of this helmet in 1 Thessalonians 5:8 when he said, “But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet.”

The helmet of salvation is chiefly about the hope of salvation. It is this hope that keeps our thoughts protected from despair, self-condemnation, and defeat. Romans 8:24 says, “For in this hope we were saved.” 1 Corinthians 15:19 says, “If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.” And Paul prays this prayer for the Romans in Romans 15:13, “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

The hope of our salvation–of our eternal future with the Lord–is what protects our mind today. It gives us a clear head about the present moments that can be difficult. It gives us perspective on the “light and momentary troubles” that are “achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all”(2 Corinthians 4:17).

Pick Up Your Shield

In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.
Ephesians 6:16

Flaming arrows are more insidious than regular arrows. With regular arrows, one only has to worry about the small area hit or wounded by the arial projectile. But when a flaming arrow lands, its damage starts spreading to anything flammable. You don’t have to be all that accurate to create a lot of devastation with flaming arrows.

And so it is with the evil one, our enemy, Satan. His flaming arrows are deceptions, lies, thoughts that fly into our mind that are not ours but that he tries to convince us are our own. His flaming arrows are temptations, dangling carrots, sweet smelling death. And if we allow any of these to “land,” the damage spreads. Deceptions and temptations never stay in one spot. They are like a white, puffy dandelion head that, once rooted, spreads seeds of sin far and wide into our lives. They are flaming arrows.

But we don’t have to let these flaming arrows land. We have a shield that prevents any and all damage. As soon as the flaming arrows of the evil one hit this shield, they not only stop in their tracks, but they are fully extinguished. Their destructive fire can no longer spread into our lives. The name of this powerful shield is faith.

Sometimes, I think we are busy asking God to protect us, and He looks at us on our knees praying, our shield collecting dust on the ground beside us. Again, we see in this passage the Greek word meaning “to take up.” Our faith, just like our armor (verse 13), is something we must pick up and put on.

Faith is another word for obedient trust. It means doing the things we are told to do by the Lord even when we don’t fully understand them. It means trusting that God is good. It means trusting we are who He says we are. It means rejecting the lies of the enemy in favor of the truth of Scripture.

“Oh, Lord, please protect me!”

“Sure. Pick up your shield.”

“But, Lord, would you help me with all of these attacks in my life?”

“Yes. I love you! Pick up your shield.”

“Oh, God, I need you to come and rescue me from all of this!”

“Okay. I’ve already given you everything you need. Pick up your shield.”

“God, where are you? Why haven’t you protected me from all these flaming arrows?”

“I have. Please. Pick. Up. Your. Shield.”

New Shoes

…and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.
Ephesians 6:15

Literally in the Greek this sentence reads, “and having bound under the feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace.” The imagery here is someone taking the leather straps of a sandal and wrapping them around their feet until the footwear is firmly in place. But instead of the leather of a sandal, it’s the preparation, readiness and firm footing of the gospel that secures the traction of a Christian.

It is significant that Paul describes the gospel not as the gospel of salvation or the gospel of Jesus or the gospel of grace (though it is all of those things), but instead the gospel of peace. It is the peace of the gospel in our lives that prepares us for battle and secures our footing.

Another way of saying it is that fear and anxiety undermine our footing when we try to stand firm against the enemy. Fear trips us up in battle and anxiety makes us stumble.

We know from boxing that in any kind of hand-to-hand combat, the one with the secure footing is the one who wins. The power of a punch starts in the footing, travels up through the legs and hips gaining momentum, and is released as the shoulders rotate and the arm extends. The balance and footwork of any fighter is 90% of the battle. This is true for us as well.

Our balance and footwork in the battle against the enemy starts with being prepared with peace. Philippians 4:7 says, “the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Speaking about Jesus, Ephesians 2:14 says, “For he himself is our peace.” And if we still doubt the power of peace, Romans 16:20 says, “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.” Make no mistake, peace is a weapon!

How do we get this peace that sends fear and anxiety running?

Paul teaches the Philippians, “Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you”(Philippians 4:9). In other words, live out the gospel, put it into practice, and you’ll find peace following you everywhere.

The writer of Hebrews puts it this way, “No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it”(Hebrews 12:11). The disciplined life of following Jesus produces not just a little peace, but a whole harvest of peace.

Colossians 3:15 says, “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts…” This necessarily means we are not letting other things rule in our hearts like anxious thoughts, fears, and worries about the future.

All of this points to the fact that peace must be pursued. It is a fruit of the Spirit, the fruit of a disciplined life in Christ, the fruit of a life that refuses to give fear or anxiety an inch in their heart or mind. “For God did not give us a Spirit of fear but of power and love and self-control”(2 Timothy 1:7 NET).

A Matter of the Heart

Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place…
Ephesians 6:14

Having addressed the need for their lives to be enveloped in truth, Paul admonishes the Ephesians to stand firm against the enemy with the “breastplate of righteousness” in place. This body armor protects the most vital organs of the body, but especially the heart.

If you want to learn something about the heart, read through the Psalms and the Proverbs. They are chalked full of wisdom about the power and passions, evil and righteousness that can flow from the heart. The Psalms are themselves the heart-cries of the psalmists. The Proverbs are wisdom born from the heart. Here’s an example:

The path of the righteous is like the morning sun,
    shining ever brighter till the full light of day.
But the way of the wicked is like deep darkness;
    they do not know what makes them stumble.
My son, pay attention to what I say;
    turn your ear to my words.
Do not let them out of your sight,
    keep them within your heart;
for they are life to those who find them
    and health to one’s whole body.
Above all else, guard your heart,
    for everything you do flows from it.
Proverbs 4:18-23

So much of our life flows out of our desires, so we must protect what influences our desires. We get the picture in this Proverb of our heart being the headwaters of a river. If we allow our heart to receive polluted influence from any and every source, we will find our whole life contaminated.

What our eyes, ears and thoughts absorb will pour directly into the headwaters of our heart. If we absorb what is good, holy, righteous and loving, we will find that same fruit in our lives downstream. If we absorb what the rest of the world absorbs, our life will look just as chaotic, angry, bitter, and harsh as everyone else’s. This is why our heart must be protected with a breastplate of righteousness. There are consequences to the condition and purity of our hearts.

Jesus said, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God”(Matthew 5:8).

He also said, “A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of”(Luke 6:45).

We know that God is a heart-reader not a lip-reader. Jesus said to the Pharisees, “God knows your hearts”(Luke 16:15). And we all know the famous story of how David was chosen as the next king of Israel:

But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
1 Samuel 16:7

This is why God has given us armor to protect our hearts. We are to “put on” righteousness like a garment, like a breastplate. This is why Paul wrote to the Romans, “clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh”(Romans 13:14). The righteousness of Christ is something we must choose to put on.

We are to filter out the things that pour into our heart, the headwaters of our life, so that downstream is full of purity, life, hope and love. Paul said it this way to the Philippians:

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.
Philippians 4:8

The Truth–The Whole Truth

Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist…
Ephesians 6:14a

Truth is what keeps us from being caught with our pants down. Our culture has become so accustom to lying and to liars that people can’t tell anymore when they are bending or shading the truth. It has become a habit for many to tell “little” white lies. Yet, we are told here–unequivocally–that one way we stand firm against the schemes of the enemy is to have the belt of truth buckled around our waist.

The word in the Greek that communicates this idea of having the truth “buckled around your waist” is a compound word that combines the word “to gird” with the word “all around.” We get the idea here that Paul is saying the truth should be wrapped around us on all sides until we are fully encompassed by it.

Truth is an exposing light. This is why the enemy is a deceiver and a liar. He hates the light. Truth is sunlight, bringing life, warmth and light. But when our eyes have been so accustomed to darkness, light can be scary at first. This is how Jesus explained it to Nicodemus:

This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.
John 3:19-21

Truth not only brings light, but it also brings freedom–freedom from darkness, from sin, from deception. “To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, ‘If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free‘”(John 8:31-32).

Paul gives us a picture of what can happen when we have a constant dose of loving truth spoken into our lives:

Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ.
Ephesians 4:14-15

My 9-year-old son helped me see something a few days ago about the armor of God that I had never seen before. We were talking about the sword of the Spirit and how it is the word of God (Ephesian 6:17). And then, in passing, he mentioned that it must hang on the belt of truth. This blew my mind! I had never thought of this before.

Swords are sheathed on a soldier’s belt. Our sword, the word of God, hangs on the belt of truth. Our source of truth is not our opinion; it is not what our culture is saying at the moment. Our source of truth is the word of God. Every word God speaks hangs on truth.

To Stand

¹Therefore 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.
Ephesians 6:13

The full armor (all the weapons) of God must be “put on,” or literally in the Greek, “taken up” or “raised.” It’s not just that we must put on the helmet of salvation, breastplate of righteousness, belt of truth, and boots of the gospel of peace, but we must also take up the sword of the Spirit and our long spear–prayer in the Spirit on all occasions–and raise the shield of faith. This not something that passively happens. We must actively engage in doing it. Our weapons are offensive just as our armor is defensive. We need to actively take up both.

The purpose of taking up our weapons is to stand our ground when we face those days that are really rough, those days we feel like we’re getting attacked–the day of evil. The Greek word for “stand your ground” is a compound word that puts together “against” and “stand.” This isn’t just a word that describes standing upright. It means actively standing against your enemy. This word comes with it the idea of refusing to be moved. The imagery here is a soldier who just took ground and is enduring a counterattack, leaning forward, resisting it with everything he’s got.

The last word in this passage “to stand” is not the compound word mentioned above. It is simply the word “to stand.” In other words, we strongly resist the counterattack, refusing to be moved, so that after we have fought the battle, we can stand tall with our heads held high.

Not Against Flesh and Blood

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.
Ephesians 6:12

When we fight this spiritual battle, we fight as the Israelites did to take possession of the Promised Land. We are given new life in Jesus and there are some parts of this new life that we must fight for in order to possess. The land of this new life in Christ is already ours, but we must kick out the inhabitants of darkness that previously occupied our life.

This passage in Ephesians 6 indicates that the kingdom of darkness has a hierarchical command and control structure. Demons seem to be the lowest level spirit of darkness. Then there are powers (authorities) and principalities (rulers) that seem to be higher level beings of darkness that retained more of their power when they fell from heaven with Satan. We might call these powers and principalities “fallen angels” who are able to retain some of their former glory–though it is fading.

Satan is a counterfeiter. He is constantly trying to imitate in his kingdom of darkness the things of the Kingdom of Light. I believe this hierarchical command and control structure is an attempt by Satan to imitate and counterfeit the omnipresence of God the Father. Since Satan can’t be everywhere at once like God, he sends his minions everywhere.

I believe the principalities of darkness that are over a geographic regions are trying to imitate and counterfeit the fact that Jesus is King of kings and Lord of lords. And I believe demons, with their constant need to be embodied in something physical, are attempting to imitate and counterfeit the Holy Spirit who dwells inside the body of believers, His Temple.

The reason I believe Paul needed to remind the Ephesians that our battle is not with people (flesh and blood) but with the kingdom of darkness is because we can so easily miss our target if we make people our enemy. We are like the Israelites, taking ground for the Kingdom of God, but different from the Israelites we are not fighting people. We are not even fighting ourselves. We are fighting the darkness that invades and persuades people. So our weapons are different. Our most powerful weapons in a battle like this are love and forgiveness.

And we don’t fight in order to attain the victory. Jesus won the victory for us on the cross and in His resurrection. We don’t fight for victory but from victory. We fight the battles knowing that the war has been won by Jesus alone! Here is how Paul writes it to the Colossian Christians:

When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.
Colossians 2:13-15

Weapons and Armor

¹Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.
Ephesians 6:11

Paul tells the Ephesians not only to “be empowered in the Lord” (verse 10) but also to “put on the full armor of God.” The word there in the Greek for “full armor” is the compound Greek word panoplía (pan = all + hoplia = weapons). The list of weapons in Ephesians 6 will include defensive armor but also offensive weaponry.

Romans 13:12 says, “…let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. That word translated “armor” here is really the Greek word for weapon (hopla). Light is armor for the believer; light is also a weapon that we can wield.

2 Corinthians 6:4 & 7 says, “Rather, as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: in great endurance; in troubles, hardships and distresses…in truthful speech and in the power of God; with weapons of righteousness in the right hand and in the left…” The word here translated as “weapons” is that same Greek word (hoplon).

2 Corinthians 10:3-4 says, “For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.” Again we see the word weapons (hopla) is the same one used in the other passages.

The passage that I find most interesting regarding spiritual weapons is Romans 6:13 which says, “Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness.” The word translated here as “instrument” is actually the Greek word for weapon (hopla). Parts of our being actually become weapons.

All of this points to a few truths that we need to hold on to. First, we are not left defenseless against the enemy. We have been given armor and weapons to fight the spiritual battle that we are in. But we must put on the armor and we must take up our weapons. So many Christians don’t know they are in a war, and so they leave all their gear piled on the ground. They are sitting ducks, deceived into believing there is no war.

Secondly, while we have been given spiritual weapons and armor, we’ve also been given a physical body, a mind, a will, emotions, and senses, all of which can become weapons. The question is not whether they are weaponized, but for whom. All of these parts of us surrendered to the Lord in obedience become weapons for God and His Kingdom. Yet, when we “offer any part” of ourself to sin, it becomes a weapon in the hands of our enemy.

Finally, the whole point in having all this armor and all these weapons is in order to take our stand against “the devil’s schemes.” That word translated as “schemes” is the word methodeía in the Greek. It’s where we get our word “method.” Here it means “organized evil-doing.” Just as the mob does not do haphazard or sporadic crime, but instead engages in strategically planned and organized crime, that is how Satan operates with evil. He has a plan of attack that is strategic and organized. We must have our armor and our weapons ready so that we can take our stand.

Be Empowered

Here is an interesting command from Paul to the Ephesians:

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.
Ephesians 6:10

Literally, in the Greek, the sentence is, “Finally, be empowered in the Lord and in the strength of His might.” The rest of this section of Scripture will explain what it looks like to be empowered, but for now let’s just focus on this first sentence.

Just as we were previously commanded, in Ephesians 5, to “be filled with the Spirit” (a passive imperative), so too are we commanded to “be empowered in the Lord.” This also is a passive imperative.

We are commanded to do this, so we are required to be obedient. And yet, we are unable to “empower” ourselves. We can’t muster it up as if we have the strength to do it. Instead, we must position ourselves to receive from the Lord His power, His strength, and His might. We are commanded to do something we can’t do. We are commanded to do something we must receive.

We have to understand that when we get passive imperatives like this in Scripture, God is saying these are things He longs to give us. He longs to fill us with His Spirit. He longs to empower us with His strength and power. It was His idea, not ours. He wants to give us these things. More than that, we are commanded to have these things. But we must position our lives and our hearts in a posture of surrender in order to receive them.

Here’s the really interesting part. If we refuse to be empowered, we are rejecting this command. In other words, we are being disobedient if we don’t seek to be filled with the power and strength of the Lord. If we choose powerless Christianity, we are choosing disobedience.