Ephesians 6:13-17 is perhaps the most familiar passage in the entire epistle.  Most Christians have heard at least one sermon about the whole armor of God, complete with a helpfully labeled illustration of a Roman soldier.  Certainly, there is much to be gained from considering the importance of salvation, righteousness, and so forth to our spiritual lives!

However, there’s another point in this well-known text that is worth considering, and it comes from the phrase that usually only supplies the title for the sermon.  We read, “the whole armor of God,” and we think, “OK; this is the armor that God gives us.”  That’s true, but it’s incomplete.  The whole armor of God isn’t only the armor that God gives.  It’s also the armor that He wears.

This is evident from Paul’s use of the Old Testament.  He didn’t invent any of the items of the Christian’s armament.  Instead, he took passages describing the armament of God and cited or adapted them.

This is most obvious when it comes to the helmet of salvation and the breastplate of righteousness.  Both come from Isaiah 59:17, in which Isaiah says of God, “He put on righteousness like a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on His head. . .” (NASB95, and throughout).  Paul clearly adapted that language for his own purposes, and the adaptation gives us the key to his whole approach.

Similarly, we find the shield of faith in the last part of Psalm 91:4, which tells us, “His faithfulness is a shield and bulwark.”  The same Greek word is translated in our Bibles as both “faithfulness” and “faith”.

The other items in the panoply are a bit trickier.  The sword that is the word of God is taken from Hosea 6:5, where God says of His unfaithful people, “Therefore I have hewn them in pieces by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of My mouth. . .”  The passage doesn’t say straight up that God’s word is a sword; it merely describes His words as a hewing, slaying implement.  However, from “hewing, slaying implement” to “sword” isn’t much of a leap.

The belt of truth also takes a little bit of digging to figure out.  In the Old Testament, it appears in the Messianic prophecy of Isaiah 11:5, which reads, “Also righteousness will be the belt about His loins, and faithfulness the belt about His waist.”  The link becomes clearer when we realize that the Hebrew word for “faithfulness” also can be translated “truth” and is so translated in the Septuagint, which Paul used in his writing. 

Finally, we come to the preparation of the gospel of peace.  This comes from Isaiah 52:7, which says in part, “How lovely on the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who announces peace. . .”  If we look only at the verse, the antecedent of “him” is unclear, but the previous verse, Isaiah 52:6, is about God speaking.  In Isaiah 52:7, “him” probably should be “Him”.

Paul, then, isn’t merely telling us to use the equipment that God offers us.  He’s telling us to fight like He does, with all of His weapons and His virtues.  If that’s the way we enter into spiritual warfare, the devil scarcely can hope to defeat us.

Even among the Pauline epistles, there are elements in each that distinguish them from all the others.  Sometimes these differences are due to different scribes (Paul the scribe of Galatians has different diction than Tertius the scribe of Romans or Sosthenes the scribe of 1 Corinthians), but sometimes they’re due to the unique interaction between the spirit of Paul and the Holy Spirit at that particular moment.

In this latter category we must put the parentheticals of Ephesians.  The entire epistle gives the impression of a man who is thinking far faster than he is able to talk and has so many important things to say that they keep crowding in on each other.  Consequently, there are many places in Ephesians where Paul abruptly abandons an idea, only to return to it a dozen verses or even a few chapters later. 

One such place is Ephesians 3:1.  He begins the chapter by saying, “For this reason, I, Paul”, but in 3:2, he never says what he, Paul, is doing.  Instead, he begins a digression about his apostleship to the Gentiles and its role in God’s eternal purpose.

The digression doesn’t end until 3:14, which begins in the same way that 3:1 does.  Finally, we find out what he, Paul, is doing.  He is bowing his knees before the Father.

If we don’t recognize 3:2-13 as a parenthetical, we’re going to have trouble following Paul’s argument.  “For this reason” in 3:14 doesn’t refer back to 3:13.  Paul is focused on much more important things than the Ephesians remaining faithful despite his tribulations.

Instead, it refers back to the closing verses of Ephesians 2, which immediately precede the first “For this reason” of the third chapter.  Contextually, “this reason” is the work that Christ has done in breaking down the division between Jew and Gentile and incorporating the latter into God’s household, as per Ephesians 2:19.

“This reason” motivates Paul because he is the apostle to the Gentiles (which is why the digression of 3:2-13 is relevant) and cares about the Ephesians even though they’re Gentiles.  They’re part of his family now, which is why the first item in the prayer of 3:14-21 is the observation that every family in heaven and on earth derives its name from the Father. 

Even after the prayer is over, Paul continues the theme of unity.  According to 4:1-6, the Ephesians are to walk worthy of their calling (the calling that brought them together with Jews in a single holy temple) by pursuing the things that make for unity and peace.  If Christ brought all Christians together, the least we can do is stay together!

This point is profound, but if all we ever do is plod through Ephesians verse by verse, we’ll miss it and many other similar treasures.  We must remember that Scripture originally was not divided by verse.  It was divided by context and argument.  The more effort we invest in following the latter through all their twists and turns, the more we will benefit.

One of the most fascinating exchanges in the New Testament appears toward the end of Paul’s defense before the Jerusalem mob, in Acts 22:17-21.  The incident that Paul relates took place shortly after his conversion, after he had fled from Damascus and returned to Jerusalem, still preaching the gospel.  While he is praying in the temple, Jesus warns him that he is going to have to flee Jerusalem too.

Paul is bewildered by this.  The Jews of Jerusalem know that he used to be Church Persecutor No. 1.  He beat and imprisoned all the Christians he could catch.  When the Sanhedrin mobbed and murdered Stephen, he cheered them on.  Surely somebody like that, whose convictions have changed so spectacularly, is worth listening to!  Surely if Saul of Tarsus, persecutor of the church, now testifies that Jesus is the Christ, the Jews will find that testimony persuasive!

Paul is both right and wrong.  He’s right about the power of the evidence he offers.  Even now, 2000 years later, his witness to the resurrection is strong confirmation of our faith. 

However, he is wrong about its persuasiveness to the Jews of Jerusalem.  His testimony would be enough to win over reasonable people, but those Jews aren’t reasonable.  Jesus’ response implies that their hearts are so hardened against the truth that they will respond with violence instead of conversion.  Incredible though it may seem, the gospel will find a better hearing among the pagan Gentiles than among God’s chosen people in God’s holy city.

Ironically, the reception to Paul’s speech proves Jesus right.  Prophets had been predicting for a thousand years that the Messiah would save the Gentiles too.  Nonetheless, the mob finds this notion so hateful that they begin to riot as soon as the words pass Paul’s lips.  The Roman commander, who doesn’t have a dog in the fight, is so baffled by their reaction that he is willing to torture Paul to figure out what in the world is going on.

Even today, we still struggle with the illusion that others are reasonable people with honest hearts.  We show them enough proof to persuade them three times over, and we are bewildered by the negative responses we get.  Look at all the evidence for the existence of God!  Look at how many Bible verses testify to the importance of baptism!  Often, we react by doubling down, by presenting more evidence, by pointing out more verses.

What we fail to understand in such cases is that we aren’t dealing with a proof problem.  We’re dealing with a heart problem.  Usually, people reject the truth because they don’t want to be Christians.  If we press the point, we might make them angry, but we won’t make them believe.  The sooner we recognize the heart problem and stop arguing, the better.

What about us, though?  What about the truths we aren’t willing to hear, the Scriptures we aren’t willing to consider, the sacred-cow beliefs that we can’t bear to challenge?  The devil is happy to harden the hearts of Christians too.  If we do not love the truth ourselves, especially when it is difficult and painful, we may find ourselves no better off than the Jews who heard Paul’s speech.  After all, every one of them thought they were faithful servants of God—just like we do.

In an epistle that contains a number of negative descriptions, Romans 16:17-18 is the last.  Here, though, Paul is not concerned with degenerate Gentiles or hard-hearted Jews.  Instead, he focuses on troublemakers within the Christian community.  They have the following four characteristics:

They Create Division.  Disciples of Christ are supposed to be peacemakers like their Master.  Some Christians, though, seek out division instead.  They prefer quarreling to bearing with, and they savor the feeling of angry self-righteousness that comes from being “right” when other brethren are “wrong”.  We must watch out for those who enjoy conflict in the church, and we must beware of becoming such ourselves.

They Impose Obstacles.  As all of us know, it isn’t easy to follow the commandments of the Lord.  The path of righteousness is narrow.  However, there are those who think it isn’t narrow enough.  Pharisee-like, they bind heavy burdens on others that the word does not, and they reject those who do not agree with them.  There is an appearance of holiness to this rigor, but it isn’t truly holy.  We must be faithful to the Scriptures in what we condemn as well as in what we approve.   

They Serve Their Own Appetites.  Christ is to be master over us, but the devil constantly strives for dominance in every heart, especially the hearts of teachers of the word.  He employs the familiar tools of 1 John 2:16, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.  The lust of the flesh and the lust of the eye are obviously problematic, but it’s harder to spot ministers who are motivated by pride.

Perhaps the best way to determine whether pride is an issue in a man’s heart is to analyze his behavior according to the previous verse and Jesus’ dictum about knowing a tree by its fruits.  Does he look to cause division instead of making peace?  Does he put obstacles in the way of those who seek Christ?  If so, pride is the likely culprit.

They Deceive with Smooth Words.  It is worth noting that Paul says that the unsuspecting are the prey of the false teacher.  It is much easier to fool the ignorant and trusting than the knowledgeable and wary. 

Thus, we always must be on our guard against those who would deceive us in spiritual matters.  This begins with a Berean attitude toward everything we hear.  Even if the speaker is our favorite preacher or an angel from heaven, don’t take his word for it! 

Second, we must beware of appeals to extrabiblical information.  There is much to be gained from the study of linguistic and historical resources, but the Bibles we hold in our hands are all any of us need to inherit eternal life.  When somebody starts telling us that we don’t understand a verse right because the Greek actually means this, or because scholars have determined that thus and such was true in Ephesus 2000 years ago, we should become very suspicious.  Their goal is for us to put our faith in the expert instead of the word.  Bible helps and Bible scholars have their place, but that place is not to trump the plain meaning of the text.

As we have been working our way through Romans on Sunday evenings and in our daily readings, hopefully the extraordinary quality of the epistle has become obvious.  Romans has changed the course of human history, and with good reason.  The substance of Paul’s argument is astonishing in its scope, and the skill with which he argues is no less impressive.  He pulls out all the stops in presenting his case as persuasively as possible.

Some of the devices he employs are obvious, but others are quite subtle.  Consider, for instance, the lead-in to the discussion of conscience in Romans 14.  In that chapter, Paul urges the Christians in Rome not to judge or have contempt for brothers who differ in conscience.

Much of the preface in Romans 13 is straightforward.  13:8-10 tells us to love one another.  13:11-12 calls us to put on the armor of light because of the brevity of human existence.  13:14 exhorts us to put on Christ and make no provision for the flesh.

All of this is good sound preaching, as the saying goes.  We like to be told things like this.  Sermons using these Scriptures inspire us and have us walking out of the church building humming “Onward, Christian Soldiers” to ourselves.  It doesn’t seem to have much to do with walking wide around the conscience of others, though.

The trap is in 13:13.  There, Paul supplies us with a list of three pairs that are part of the works of darkness, the works in which we are not supposed to walk.  The first two pairs are more of the same.  We are not to walk in orgies and drunkenness.  Sounds like a good idea to me!  Likewise, we are not to walk in sexual immorality and sensuality.  This may step on the toes of some Christians, but it probably doesn’t for most who are in the auditorium Sunday morning.

The third pair, though, is “not in quarreling and jealousy”.  All of a sudden, “Onward, Christian Soldiers” kind of skips a beat, doesn’t it?  Jealousy.  Hmm.  It’s awfully easy to find ourselves enviously regarding someone else’s attractiveness, prosperity, or position.  Or good health, for that matter.

Quarreling is even worse.  Brethren have been known to quarrel these days, sometimes, just a little bit.  Perhaps we ourselves have exchanged a heated word or two with another Christian about. . . COVID, just to pick an example out of the air.  Perhaps we have formed into factions with other like-minded brethren so that we can complain to them about the ungodly behavior of the other side.  Perhaps we have Vaguebooked about how ungodly they are.  Perhaps we have disturbed the peace of our congregation or even caused a church split.

The Holy Spirit says that’s walking in darkness.  The Holy Spirit says that’s making provision for the flesh and its lusts.  In fact, the Holy Spirit says that’s on the same level as participating in an orgy.

If that’s where we find ourselves, we need to put some onward in our Christian soldiers.  We need to rush into battle, not against those who disagree with us, but against the devil who has entrenched his self-righteousness, judgmentalism, and contempt in our hearts.  Our sin may be sweet in the mouth, but it will be bitter in the stomach.

How can we win this desperate fight?  Paul is so glad you asked.

Welcome to Romans 14.