Is the Armor of God Roman? I don’t think so!

I have recently been studying topics that were helpful to me as a young Christian.  When I was only a few weeks old in the Lord, I was reading the short books of the Bible because I thought that they might be easy and a good place to start.  Ephesians, being a short book, was among them.  It also contained the first 'rhema' word I got as a new Christian, the Armor of God.

The New Testament uses two Greek words that are translated 'word' in the text of the New Testament.  One of the words is logos and refers to the written word.  The other is rhema, which means spoken word.  It is the word used by Peter when he told Jesus that they had been fishing all night and had caught nothing, "...but at your word (rhema), I will let down the nets." (Luke 5:5).  Rhema has become part of the Christian vernacular and is used when something in the written word jumps out at you, giving deeper insight or revelation.  

I was so excited to read about the Armor of God back then that I called my pastor, almost giddy.  Words just gushed out of my mouth.  He was so gracious and never said anything like, "Duh! Everyone knows that."

So, let's take a look at what the Bible says about the Armor of God.  In Ephesians 6:10-18, we read:

^"10Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. ¹¹ Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. ¹² For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of ^[b]the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. ¹³ 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.

¹⁴ Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, ¹⁵ and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; ¹⁶ above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. ¹⁷ And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; ¹⁸ praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints— "(NKJV)

 The first thing we should take note of is that we are at war.  The enemy isn't your spouse, your boss, or your hateful neighbor.  There are powers and principalities in place and if a person isn't surrendered to the King of Kings, they are surrendered to the other side.  The enemy influences their behaviour (or your own as the case may be).

Our battle is in the spiritual and therefore our weapons and armor need to be spiritual as well.  As the Bible tells us in 2 Corinthians 10:4:

"For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal (physical) but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds."

Most teachings you hear on the Armor of God use the armor of a Roman soldier for comparison.  The argument is made that since Paul was in prison when he wrote the letter to the Ephesians, he was inspired by the armor of the soldiers that guarded him.  While I think that a Roman soldier may have prompted the thought, it is clear to me that Paul was drawing on the prophet, Isaiah, and other places in the Hebrew scriptures to make his illustration come to life.  After all, he didn't say that we should look at a soldier and how well prepared they are for battle.  He told us to put on the whole Armor of God.  It is God's armor.

The Breastplate of Righteousness and Helmet of Salvation are taken from Isaiah 59:17

"For He (God) put on righteousness as a breastplate, and an helmet of salvation upon His head, and He put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a cloke.

These are very important pieces of armor.  The breastplate covers our heart.  The Bible says that our enemy is the accuser of the Brethren (Revelation 12:10).  When he accuses us and says "Look what you have done!" We know that it is not our righteousness that covers us, but the righteousness of Christ.  The Bible tells us in Romans 13:14 to put on Christ.  That takes a conscious decision.  

That's where the helmet of salvation comes in.  It covers our minds and our thoughts.  We are saved.  The only power the enemy has over us is the power we allow by forgetting that we are no longer under his dominion but that of King Jesus. 

The belt of truth mentioned in Ephesians comes from another passage in Isaiah:

"Righteousness shall be the belt of His loins, and faithfulness the belt of His waist." Isaiah 11:5 

Jesus said that our enemy is a liar.  As a matter of fact, Jesus said there is no truth in him and that he is the father of lies (John 8:44).  Just as we have the breastplate of righteousness to protect our hearts from the painful accusations of the enemy, when he comes at us with deception we have the belt of truth.  

The other aspect of having our loins gird about with truth is that, in the Bible, loins are the reproductive area of the body.  We are to reproduce fruit in truth.  And at the risk of being redundant, what is truth?  Jesus said to the Father, "Thy Word is truth," (John 17:17).  It's the belt that holds everything together, truth.  His word is truth.  Get to know the Word.

This brings us to the Sword of the Spirit.  Paul tells us in the passage that the Sword is the Word.  Where did that idea come from?

"And He hath made my mouth like a sharp sword, in the shadow of His hand He hid me, and made me a polished shaft, in His quiver hath He hid me. (Isaiah 49:2)

That's Jesus folks.  Revelation 19 says His name is called the Word of God and a sharp sword comes out of his mouth and with it He will smite the nations.  Even without the Ephesians 6:17 reference, we would know that the Word of God is the Sword of the Spirit and it is the only offensive weapon we are given.  

Notice how all the pieces of the Armor of God are interconnected by the Word of God?  The Word leads us to salvation and gives us assurance of that salvation.  The Word of God assures us that we have the righteousness of Christ. 

We are to wear the Shoes of the Preparation of the Gospel of Peace.  The Gospel is the good news that Jesus made peace between God and man.  He is the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6).  We should live in peace and carry it with us as we go.  I'm speaking of peace of mind and peace of spirit, because as I said before, we are at war.

The shoes we are to wear come from Isaiah 52:7:

"How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of the messenger who brings good news, the good news of peace and salvation, the news that the God of Israel reigns!

Finally, we have the Shield of Faith.  Many Christians these days view faith as a magic bullet, like it is an ingredient in a magic spell that makes all your dreams come true.  Faith isn't the key.  The key is in whom we place our faith.  And guess what,

"So then faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God." (Romans 10:17)

Faith in God is the Shield Paul is speaking of.

"Fear not, Abram: I am thy Shield and thy exceeding great reward." (Genesis 15:1)

"Happy art thou, O Israel: who is like unto thee, O people saved by the LORD, the shield of thy help." (Deuteronomy 33:29)

"But Thou, O LORD, art a shield for me; my glory, and the lifter of mine head." (Psalm 3:3)

The Bible says that God will compass the righteous as a shield, He is our strength and shield,  and called "O God our shield", He is a sun and shield, shield and buckler, among many others.  You get the idea.  It is not faith itself that is a shield, but our faith in God that protects us from the fiery darts of the wicked one.

Now that we have our armor in place, what are we supposed to do?  We are to stand.  I don't believe we are to stand as someone holding our ground.  That's what many who teach the Roman armor say.  Roman soldiers wore cleats that helped them hold their ground.  I believe we are to stand like Joshua did.

In the book of Joshua, chapter 5, we read about an encounter Joshua has with a warrior with his sword drawn.  Joshua asked the man if he was with Israel or with the adversary.  the man said:

"Neither one," he replied.  "I am the commander of the Lord's army." At the Joshua fell with his face to the ground in reverence.  " I am at your command," Joshua said. "What do you want your servant to do?" (Joshua 5:14)

I believe that is how we are called to 'stand', with our face to the ground asking our commander what He would have us do.

The Lord is called God of Heaven's Armies over 300 times in the Bible.  We are called to battle.  Let's suit up.