By Robert L. Olsen, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Christian Studies, University of Mobile
Walking to Battle
Ephesians 6:10–20
Aware (10–13)
In any battle the warriors need to be prepared and Paul likens the Christian life to a battle. Therefore Paul is preparing his readers for the Christian life.
Many Christians may be tempted to view various people or personalities as enemies of Christ and we may turn our attention to them. However, Paul points out that the real battle is against spiritual forces.
The West has undermined the idea of spirits and the supernatural, but anyone who has read the Bible knows that spirits are real. In many places our modern “sensibilities” no longer believe in the spiritual realm and Satan is fine with that.
Satan works in ways that reflect the culture. So to a people who do not believe in demons, for example, Satan is pleased to convince people no spirits exist, either good or bad, and there is no God. To people who believe in demons Satan raises up medicine men and witch doctors who work with satanic powers to convince the local people they need to appease the spirits or try to control them. This too makes Satan pleased because it takes the focus off God and on demons, spirits or us trying to control our own destiny.
Talk to missionaries who have lived in places like Africa and parts of South America and they will tell you about the demon possession they have seen.
Prepared (14–17)
Paul warns the Ephesians how to prepare for the attacks of Satan, beginning with the belt of truth. God is a God of truth but Satan is the father of lies. Jesus tells us that the truth will set us free (see John 8:32) because Satan uses lies to keep us from experiencing abundant life.
Satan is at work in our modern society attacking the idea that there is such a thing as truth. Our culture does not like Christianity because we claim to have truth and many Christians are dissuaded from believing the truth by seeing the Bible through the lens of the culture.
However, the Bible is the lens through which Christians must evaluate the culture. The Bible has to be the foundation for all of our thinking. Once we ground ourselves in the truth presented in the Bible it provides us a firm grounding to distinguish Satan’s lies from truth.
The breastplate of righteousness protects us from the condemning attacks of Satan. Because we are covered by Christ’s righteousness and not our own, Satan, who is the accuser, cannot shake our confidence in our salvation because our salvation is not dependent upon our own righteousness but on Christ’s.
Further, Paul speaks of Christians having sandals with the readiness for the peace of the gospel to share everywhere. The gospel is a message of peace between man and God and Christians need to be ready to share this with a lost and dying world.
A life of faith is required for the Christian just like a shield was required for soldiers facing arrows. The Christian faith is one to be lived out — we cannot claim to be followers of Christ if we do not follow the teachings of Christ. The security of salvation is what allows the Christian to live a life of true love, loving others because of God’s love for us in Christ (Rom. 5:8).
The Christian’s weapon is the Bible, God’s word. It is only in the Bible that we know who God is and what He wants and demands of us. When we are confronted with false teaching the Bible is our source of authority and the means by which we can assault it.
Field Support (18–20)
All of the armor of God is futile unless it is covered in prayer. This means we are to be in constant communion with God. Praying in the Spirit means we pray in harmony with the desires of the Holy Spirit. If we are walking with Christ and reading the Bible then our prayers will reflect God’s will.
Paul also confirms the importance of praying for other believers, that they would remain strong followers of Christ representing God well and living out the gospel.
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