Firm In Faith

It’s been 21 months since the women of Living Hope began studying Ephesians. Though some might wonder if that isn’t a lot of time to spend in a mere six chapters, I’m fairly certain none of the participants of the class feel that way. As the teacher, I certainly don’t. I could easily spend another six months or more. As it stands, I’d say we’ve dived quite a distance below the surface, but we are nowhere near having plumbed its depths.

This Sunday was our final class session. We finally arrived at the topic of “spiritual warfare.” But we didn’t arrived there suddenly. If you do not carefully track Paul’s train of thought throughout Ephesians, his call to spiritual arms at the end might seem like an afterthought, disconnected from the rest of the letter. If you read it this way, as many do, you are left trying to fill in the meaning on your own. But Paul’s teaching on spiritual warfare is not an afterthought. In fact, it does not begin in chapter 6. Rather, it’s a culmination of the entire letter:

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.  (6:10-12).

We know what “strength of his might” Paul is talking about and that it is strong enough to defeat these spiritual forces of evil because of what he already told us about it in 1:19-21:

. . . the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. . . 

We know what “authorities” and “present darkness” Paul is referring to because he reminded us in 2:2 and 5:8 that those were once our authorities and our darkness when we were “following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience . . .at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light.”

In 6:13-18, Paul describes the “whole armor” in detail:

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 firm. Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication.

But what does all this mean? How can we “wear” salvation or strap it on our feet? Clearly Paul is not speaking literally. He’s not asking us to pretend to put on armor every morning when we get dressed. Rather, he is asking us to apply what he has already taught.

“The word of truth, the gospel of your salvation” (1:13) is our belt. We fasten it tightly to keep us from getting tripped up as we fight. As our breastplate we “put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness” (4:24) and we “walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right[eous] and true)” (5:9). We strap to our feet “the readiness given by the gospel of peace” to remind ourselves that “he himself is our peace,” that we “who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ,” and that he has broken down every wall of hostility that separates us from God and our fellow believers (2:12-19). Essential to our warfare is an eagerness to spread this peace.

Faith is our full-body shield. We are protected as we remember that it is Christ who saves us, through no works of our own (2:8-10). We protect our heads by remembering that our great salvation was planned from eternity, accomplished by the sacrifice of Christ, and sealed by the Holy Spirit, (1:7,13; 2:4-10). Our hope in him is sure (1:18). This knowledge is as critical to our survival as a helmet is to a soldier. And then we have our sword, which is the Word of God. Our Bibles, beginning to end, point us right back to Christ.

In Ephesians Paul has laid out the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is the gospel that saved us, and it is the gospel that will continue to save us. In it we find every truth we need to combat the lies of the evil one, everything we need to “walk as children of light” who expose and overcome “the cosmic powers of this present darkness” (6:12). Our spiritual warfare is to strap on this gospel in its entirety, and, together as a church, to stand firm.

This week, having concluded our final class, I am rejoicing in the fruitfulness of our time spent together soaking in the water of the Word. I hear the sweet fruit pour from my sisters’ lips when they pray, often verbatim, words first prayed by the Apostle Paul two thousand years ago. Together we are reaping the harvest of new or renewed love for God’s Word, of growing contentment in Christ, of new-found understanding of our purpose and calling, of temptations resisted, of darkness repulsed, of strengthened love for the body, and of determination to see it grow, both in maturity and in numbers.

I can’t adequately express how thankful I am for church leadership that earnestly invests in women; that honors the image of God in them; that understands the depths of their spiritual hunger and their need to learn and grow; and that recognizes that women, just like men, need a strong grasp of God’s Word in order to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which they have been called and to be able to stand firm in faith.