This study is not intended to replace but to aid in the study of God’s word. Everything contained here should be aligned with the holy scriptures to ensure that the things brought forth are so (Acts 17:11). The primary principles used in this study are "let every word be established by two or three witnesses" (2Corinthians 13:1) and that the scriptures referenced are to be taken in the context that they are written.
   

In Ephesians 6:10, Paul exhorts us as brethren to be strong in the Lord, and in the powerof his might. In Greek, to be strong means to acquire strength; power means: manifested strength; and might means: forcefullness. So as born again Christians, we are to acquire strength in the Lord and in the manifested strength of his forcefulness. In verse 11, Paul goes on to tell us how and for what purpose we are to acquire this strength. We are to put on or be clothed with the whole armour of God that we may be able to stand (steadfastly) against the wiles (craft of deceit) of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against the authorities of darkness who attempt to place themselves between us and the kingdom of heaven.
He continues saying: Wherefore or "on account of this", take unto you the whole armour of God, for the purpose that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all, to stand. The Greek word for evil is poneros, which means: evil that causes labor, pain, and sorrow. "Having done all, to stand" is a military phrase meaning: having conquered all, stand ready to do battle again. Which shows us that our life as christians is going to entail a series of struggles against evil. While the devil is the champion of all evil, the primary focus of our struggles against evil involve our warring with our flesh and soul, for it is through these that evil gains entry. We struggle against carnality to be spiritual (Ro.8:6-8). Galatians 5:17 tells us that the flesh lusts (or wars) against the Spirit and that they are contrary (adversaries). Immediately after this, Paul lists seventeen separate lusts that tempt us through the flesh (Gal.5:19-21). So then, how do we conquer all and stand ready for the next battle? We must constantly be clothed with the armour of God.
Every piece of armour mentioned in Ephesians 6:13-17 is rooted to God's word and authority and without knowledge and obedience they are useless. Looking at verse 14, Paul says "Stand therefore". The Greek word for "therefore" means: accordingly (after this manner), certainly (assured in mind and action). We are to "Stand after this manner, assured in mind and action". Paul then goes on to list six pieces of armour and describes the attributes they represent that we are to exemplify in our stand in the word of God and our manner of living.
"Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth". The Greek word for "loins" means: the seat of generative (life giving) power, the word for "girt" means: encircled and prepared, and the word for "truth" means: to be true in doctrine and speech. Consequently, this verse amplified says: "Stand accordingly, encircle and prepare with true doctrine and speech your spiritual, life generating organs."
In the natural, Man has been equipped with life generating organs so that he can reproduce after the likeness of his own kind, the first Adam. Likewise, in the spirit, Man has been equipped with life generating organs to reproduce after the likeness of the second Adam. 1Corinthians 15:45-47 tells us the first Adam was a living soul and was earthly. The second Adam was a life-giving spirit, the Lord from heaven. That which is first is natural and that which is second is spiritual. Everyone that was ever born entered this world a natural man first, but Jesus said that a man must be born again (in spirit) to enter into the kingdom of God. John 3:6 says "that which is born of the Spirit is spirit", 1Peter 1:23 says "we are born again by the word of God". In James 1:18 it says that God begat us with the word of truth. Proverbs 18:21 says that the power of life and death is in the tongue. Proverbs 15:4 says that a wholesome tongue is a tree of life. Therefore, the organ we are equipped with to reproduce after the spirit is our tongue. That is why we must encircle and prepare our tongue (life generating organ) with true doctrine and speech. It is only God's word, spoken by the power of the Holy Spirit, that can conceive spiritual life. Submission and obedience is required for the life generating word of God to have power. We don't have power of ourselves to impart life and we don't know who is prepared to receive. We must submit to God and allow the Holy Spirit to lead us to those that are prepared to receive the word of life (Acts 16:6-15). Through our submission and obedience we are able to reproduce spiritual life in others through the impartation of God’s word. Of course, this does not mean that we can’t share the word of God whereever and whenever the opportunity presents itself. Most people that hear the word will reject it The Bible does not tell us that the masses will be saved, but a remnant. Jesus tells us in Mt.7:13-14, that wide is the gate that leads to destruction and many enter in to it, but the gate that leads unto life is narrow, the way is afflicted, and few find it. Even among those that hear the word there is only a portion that produce fruit unto God (Mk.4:14-20).
Before we are led by the Lord to others, our tongue must be imparting the life of God toward our family and personal lives first. In 2Timothy 2:6, Paul writes "the husbandman that labors must be first partaker of the fruits". Proverbs 18:20 says "a man's belly is satisfied with the fruit of his mouth; with the increase of his lips shall he be filled". Our tongue must be speaking the word of God towards our own life situations and those of our family, because it is the increase of the life of Jesus in us that will make it evident to others that we are "walking the talk"; and what they hear us say will have meaning if it is being manifested in our own life.
"And having on the breastplate of righteousness". The breastplate is used to guard the vital organs, in particular, the heart. It is righteousness that guards our heart. What is righteousness? It is the character or quality of being right, just, faithful, and full of truth. For us as born again Christians, this takes on a two-fold meaning: First, righteousness is a legal standing before God. We have been tried and found not guilty, acquitted due to lack of evidence. The Father sees us as being right, just, faithful, and full of truth. This is because Jesus took all of our guilt upon himself, was judged, sentenced, put to death, and all the evidence was buried with him. The word says that he who is hung on a tree is cursed of God (Dt.21:22). Jesus became a curse for us and bore our sins himself on the cross, so that right now we can stand blameless before the Father (Gal.13-14). Second, righteousness is a state in which we have relationship and fellowship with God. It is maintained through obedience, by conforming totally to the revealed will of God. Again, it is only through Jesus, by his obedience, that we have this fellowship. Acts 12:24 and 19:20 says that the word grows, multiplies, and prevails in us. We will grow in obedience as we grow in the word. Jesus said, in John 15:5, that without him we can do nothing. If Jesus is not in us, it is impossible for us to be obedient to the Father. Obedience is not something that we acquire when we are born again. We learn to be obedient the same way that Jesus learned to be obedient. Hebrews 5:8 says that Jesus "learned obedience by the things which he suffered." The Greek word for "suffered" means: to experience a sensation or impression (usually painful). When it says he learned by suffering, it is not talking about his suffering on the cross. He learned obedience long before he went to the cross. The suffering he experienced was putting his self-will to death to obey the will of the Father. This culminated at Gethsemane when he put his will entirely to death to obey the Father and endure the cross. Self-preservation is the strongest segment of the will and yet, Jesus laid it down. Gethsemane should be the goal of every born again Christian; where you come to a point that, in every situation, your words are: Father, not my will, but yours be done.
You may have noticed by now that I have not mentioned one thing that you have done, can do, or ever will do to make yourself righteous before the Father. That's because you can do nothing. Isaiah 64:6 says "all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags". If you study the Hebrew words contained in this little section of scripture, you will find it to be even more humbling. An amplified version says "all our self-righteous acts and works of self-justification are as menstruous clothes in the eyes of God". Our own efforts to make ourselves righteous are compared to that stage in the woman's menstrual cycle when she is infertile and unable to conceive life in the womb. Ephesians 2:7-8 tells us that we are saved by God's grace through faith in Jesus Christ, not of our own works of righteousness, so that we have nothing to boast of. If we could boast of our own works then we would not need Jesus and the work of the cross would be without necessity. It is not our righteousness that allows us such unwarranted grace and favor as we have with the Father. Matthew 6:33 says seek ye first the kingdom of God and seek his righteousness. The word seek means to strive after, endeavor for, or to covet earnestly. Notice that Jesus first says we are to strive after and covet earnestly the kingdom of God. The word kingdom, translated from the Greek word basileia means: royal power, supreme authority, sovereignty. That does not mean that we are to strive and covet after God’s authority for ourselves. We are to seek God’s supreme authority and submit ourselves to him whereby we are then able to partake of the righteousness of God. The book of Esther provides us a beautiful example of this principle.
Esther 4:11 says that it was the death sentence for those who came into the king's presence when he had not called them, unless the king held out the golden sceptre. Esther 5:1-2 tells us that Esther put on her royal apparel and entered into the king's court. When the king saw Esther, she obtained favor in his sight and he extended the golden sceptre. She then drew near to the king and touched the golden sceptre, whereby the king put his kingdom at her request.
The parable of this story represents how we come into God's presence and receive salvation and righteousness. Esther's royal apparel is an example of us putting on Christ (Gal.3:27,Ro.13:14). Then, on bended knee and with a humble heart we come into God's presence whereby we obtain favor in his sight and he extends the sceptre of righteousness toward us. Heb.1:8 says, "Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom". Notice that it first mentions his throne, which is the seat of authority. We must first approach his authority and then we receive the gift of salvation and righteousness. It goes almost without saying, that nobody approaches God's throne without an attitude of humbleness and submission.
Jesus Christ is the righteousness of God and it is the breastplate of his righteousness that guards our heart and keeps it pure before God. We should therefore, seek him, strive after him, endeavor for him, and covet him earnestly.

"And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace". The Greek word for "shod" means to bind under, and the word "preparation" has a meaning of firm footing or foundation. The word "peace" means harmonious relationships, freedom from molestation, order in an organization, and harmonized relationship with God. We can amplify this scripture to read: Our feet are to be bound to a walk that is on the firm footing and solid foundation of the good news of the word of God that brings harmonious relationships among men, freedom from the molestation of the devil, order in the Church, and harmonized fellowship with the Father. Isaiah 32:17 says that the work of righteousness is peace. When we are in rightstanding before God, blameless and having fellowship with him, we will walk in his peace. We have seen before that righteousness comes upon declaring the Lordship of Jesus Christ, which is the first step in submission to God's authority. It's not possible for the good news of the gospel to bring peace to our life without submission and obedience to the Word. A good example of this is found in Daniel 3:1-30, when Hananiah (Shadrach), Mishael (Meshach), and Azariah (Abednego) refused to bow before the king’s idol. Even when threatened with a fiery death, they acknowledged themselves as servants of God and their willingness to die, if necessary, to be obedient to God. As things proceed, they are bound and thrown into the fire. Afterward the king is astonished to see not only the three Hebrews walking about in the fire unaffected by the heat and flames, but he sees a fourth person whom he describes as "like the Son of God". The king then calls the three out of the fire and when they come forth they do not even have the smell of fire on them. While there is so much more to this story, the point I would like to make is that afterwards, because of their faith and obedience to God, they continually walked in a peace and assurance that God would watch over and take care of them. The fourth person in the fire with them was the Messiah, who we now know as Jesus Christ. The Lord delivered them from the fire of judgment. Also, as a result of their obedience in the face of death, the king proclaimed that anybody in his kingdom who spoke against the God of Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah would be put to death. He then promoted the three of them. Therefore, we can see that because of their submission and obedience to God, that they walked in harmonious relationship with men, freedom from the molestation of the devil, an orderly spiritual life, and harmonized fellowship with the Father.
"Above all, taking the shield of faith". Many Christians teach that faith is believing and speaking the word of God. While this is true, you need to take your faith one step further for it to produce fruit. Faith must be joined with obedience to God's word. James 2:17 says faith without works is dead, being alone. The Greek word for "works" means an action, product, or labor. James goes on to say that the "devils believe", yet they do not obey. Consequently the word does not work in their behalf, but to their detriment. So faith is not only believing the word, but submitting and allowing it to work in your behalf through accompanying acts of obedience. All the blessings found in the word are conditional to your obedience to the word. You will find support for this premise in Deuteronomy chapter 28. God said that if you hearken diligently to his voice to observe and do all his commandments, that blessings will come on you and overtake you. In verse 15, he says that if you do not hearken to his voice to observe and do all his commandments, that curses will come on you and overtake you. That does not mean that God curses you, but that these things result from disobedience.
In Romans 14:23, it says that whatsoever is not of faith is sin. If disobedience is sin and action without faith is sin, then can't you say obedience and faith are inseparable? Jesus linked the two together in Luke 7:1-10 when the centurion sought to have him heal his servant. The centurion said "Say in a word, and my servant shall be healed, for I also am a man set under authority." He was saying that he understood how authority functioned and his acknowledgement was that Jesus had the authority to heal his servant just by speaking it forth. He also knew that, for authority to work in his behalf, he must submit to that authority, which he humbly did. When Jesus heard all of this, he marvelled and said "I have not found so great faith." The centurion was talking "authority" and Jesus was talking "faith". By his words the Lord associated faith with submission to authority, which is the first step of obedience.
In 2 Kings 5:1-14, Naaman the leper heard the word that there was a man of God who could heal him of his affliction. When Naaman came to the house of Elisha, a prophet of God, Elisha's servant came with a message that he was to wash in the river Jordan seven times and he would be healed. Naaman became very angry because he thought Elisha himself would come out and perform some awesome demonstration of God's power to heal him. So he turned and was leaving in anger when his servants spoke and said to him, "If the prophet had told you to do some great thing would you not have done it? How much more then when he said to wash and be clean"? Then Naaman went and washed himself seven times in the river Jordan according to the word of God spoken by the prophet and his flesh was renewed like the flesh of a little child, and he was healed. It's evident that Naaman had faith or else he wouldn't have come to Samaria to be healed. However, his healing did not manifest until he submitted to the word of God and obeyed.
Romans 1:17 and Hebrews 10:38 both quote Habakkuk 2:4 in saying that the just shall live by faith. The Hebrew word for "just" means righteous and lawful. The word for "faith" is EMUNAH. It means: firmness or fidelity. Emunah comes from the word EMUWN which means: established in trust. These words come from the root word AMAN, which means: to build up or support; to foster; to render (or be) faithful; to be permanent; to be true; to go to the right hand. All of these definitions compare equally with obedience. In particular, if we go "to go to the right hand", that's where we find Jesus, at the right hand of the Father. When we go to the right hand, we go to the direct authority of God. We can amplify the scripture that says "the just shall live by faith" to say "the righteous and lawful shall live by establishing themselves trustworthy, permanently rendering faithful obedience to God by seeking and submitting to his authority".
I have not said that faith is obedience, but that for faith to work it must be bonded with obedience. For us to have a shield of faith that will quench the fiery darts of the wicked there must be authority and power in that faith. Jesus will not delegate authority and power because you believe in him, he gives it after you submit to him. The level of faith you operate in is dependent upon your level of submission to him.

"And take the helmet of salvation". Our head is where Satan prefers to attack us because that's where the soul resides. Satan attacks our soul (mind, will, and emotions) to provoke, tempt, or beguile us to rebel against or disobey God. Then, after we are removed from the protective covering of God's authority, he continues to weave his web of deception causing us to fall farther away from God. Eventually, he sucks our spiritual life from us just as a spider does to an insect caught in a web.
The purpose of a helmet is to protect the head. In Greek, the word for helmet means: to encircle the head, and the word for salvation means: defender or defense. We put on the "helmet of salvation" to encircle our head with a defense. Psalms 94:21-22 says "they gather themselves together against the soul of the righteous, and condemn the innocent blood. But the Lord is my defense; and my God is the rock of my refuge." Jesus is our rock of salvation and he won the battle against the Devil two thousand years ago. The Devil has no power to interfere in our life unless we let him. It's only our ignorance of God's word that gives Satan opportunity to come against us. James 1:21 says it is the engrafted word which is able to save your soul. You must know the word to defend yourself from Satan's assaults because, without knowledge of God's word, you won't know when you're being deceived and you won't recognize when you're being attacked. Hosea 4:6 says "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge." It continues by saying they are destroyed because their lack was due to their rejecting the word. Many times in our tests and trials we know the word and hear it from others, yet we stubbornly refuse to apply it to our own situations until we come to the end of our own abilities. Some never come to that end. David said, in Psalms 119, "Before I was afflicted I went astray: but now have I kept they word. Thou are good, and doest good; teach me thy statutes." He knew that when he left the protective covering of God's word that afflictions came, but when he repented, submitted, and surrounded himself with the word, it became his defense once again. The more of the word you know, the stronger your defenses will be. Ephesians 1:22-23 says that Christ is the head of the body, which is the Church. If we, as members of the body, do not submit to the head, Jesus, then the helmet of salvation avails us nothing because our salvation; our defense, comes to the body through the head. Psalms 91:2 says "I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust". Don't reject God's word. Know his word and surround yourself with it. Let it be your rock of defense and not a rock of offense.

"And the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God". The sword is our offensive weapon. Just as a warrior clears a path before him with his sword, so the word does for us. Hebrews 4:12 tells us that the word is sharp as a two edged sword being able to divide that which is soul from that which is spiritual. Seeking instruction from the word in a given situation will bring clarification to the circumstances we are facing. It enables us to discern not only the thoughts and intents of others but of our own selves. 2 Timothy 2:15 tells us we are to study the word and rightly divide it. Knowing the word will give us understanding in situations we are confronted with and we will know how to attack with the sword of God to gain the victory.
Look at David in 1 Samuel 17, when he went against Goliath. The first thing he did when he arrived at the camp of Israel was to observe and hear what was happening. When he had discerned the situation, his reply was "who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?" David knew the word and his reliance was on God to deliver him to victory. He went forth to the attack speaking with the sword of the word, in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel. David quickly followed the word of God which he spoke. He did not walk to the attack, he ran and overcame the giant Philistine by violent offensive action.
The Word of God precedes us and gives us victory in every aspect of our life. In Joshua chapter 5, Joshua was leading the children of Israel into the promised land and preparing to come against Jericho. He encountered a man standing with his sword drawn in his hand and confronted the man, to see if he was for him or his enemy. The man’s reply was "Neither, but as captain of the host of the Lord am I now come". Joshua then fell at the man’s feet, worshiped him, and said "What saith my lord unto his servant?" The Hebrew word for Lord means: sovereign, master, owner and the word for servant means: a servant of servants, the lowest of slaves. That Joshua was acknowledging this man as God is evident. The Lord then said "Loose thy shoe from off thy foot; for the place whereon you stand is holy". This was a very significant event. In Ruth chapter 4:1-8, it outlines a custom of the time concerning the redemption of property. When a kinsman could not redeem a piece of property, he took off his shoe and gave it to the man who could. When Joshua took off his shoes, he was acknowledging that he was unable to redeem the promised land for Israel, but that the Lord could. The Lord was already there waiting, with his sword in his hand, showing us that he precedes us on the path to victory. The path to victory is also a holy path and those who walk it must be a people submitted and obedient to their God. Jesus fulfilled the type and shadow we see here. He preceded us, redeemed us, and now leads us down the holy path that leads to victory and eternal life.
When we are faced with a situation and have been using the word to fight but just can’t seem to win the victory, that is the time to press into the word even more. There was a man, in 2 Samuel 23:9-10 named Eleazar, who was fighting a battle alone with David, because the men of Israel had gone away. He smote the Philistines until he became very weary. If he would have quit, giving place to his weariness, he would have died; but it says that Eleazar’s hand clave to the sword. The word clave means: to be joined to or to be one with something. His hand literally became one with the sword so that he couldn’t let go of it. Because he didn’t give up but became one with the sword it says that the Lord wrought a great victory that day.That’s what we must do, become joined to the sword of the word so that we are literally joined to it and cannot let go of it. Then the Lord will bring forth great victory in our life.

The primary focus in this study on the armour of God has dealt with its relationship to God’s authority and his word. Of course, it must be taken in context with all the principles of God’s word, but we have seen that for the armour to be effective, there must be submission to God. What we have covered in the "Armour of God" leaves no doubt that there must be one single source of authority in order for us, individually and corporately as the Church, to walk in strength and victory. When this principle is established in your heart every other principle, law, or requirement contained in the word of God will operate in the fullness he intends. In putting on the armour of God, we shall take our place in the army of God and go on to fullfill God’s purpose in our life.
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