The Big Put On
Estimated reading time: 6 minutes
We know it’s not easy to continually be a victor in the daily skirmishes and attacks of life.
Romans 8:36–37 APNT:
36 As it is written: Because of you every day we are dying and we are counted as lambs to slaughter.
37 On the contrary, in all these [things] we are victorious [we have the surpassing victory] by way of him who loved us.
There is a conflict between what God says we should put on, and what the enemy says we should put on. The Evil One is who he is. Calling him the “adversary” is sort of a softening of his true nature.
Although there is a conflict, there is always the potential for victory.
I can do it myself.
One of the tactics of The Evil One is: I can do it myself. That we don’t need God or don’t need each other. That we can figure it out on ourselves.
God has provided us with armor. Everything that we have in Christ is what the armor is.
The entire section in Ephesians Chapter 6 is a plural, “you” (plural) or “we.” I’ve always read it more individually; I have to put on the armor; I have to do this. But Ephesians 6 is set up as a summary of what we need to do.
The put on of the enemy is: “I can do it myself.” The put on of God is that we can put on the armor of God.
Paul was a prisoner in Rome when he wrote the book of Ephesians. He constantly saw the soldiers and how they were dressed. He had plenty of opportunities to talk to the soldiers and ask questions.
Ephesians 6:10–11 APNT:
10 From now on, my brothers, be strong in our Lord and in the immensity [authority] of his power [power that has authority]
11 and put on the whole armor of [furnished by] God, so that you [plural] may be able to stand against the tactics of the Accuser,
Romans 13:12–14 APNT
12 Then the night is passed and the day is near. So we should lay aside from us the works of darkness and we should put on the armor of [furnished by] light.
13 And we should walk in [this] manner, as in the day, not in reveling and not in drunkenness and not in a defiled bed and not in envy and in strife.
14 But put on our Lord Jesus Christ and do not have regard for the desires that are in your flesh.
The armor is everything that is in our Lord Jesus Christ.
Ephesians 4:24 APNT:
And you [plural] should put on the new man, who was created by God by justification and by the pardoning of truthfulness.
We need each other to remind us when we forget something, such as a part of our armor.
There’s a play on words in Aramaic where the word for “wiles” or “tactics” (verse 10) and the word for “armor” (verse 11) rhyme. In Aramaic, you would see the armor as opposite to the tactics.
The Aramaic word for “wiles” or “tactics” means schemes that are set out for deceiving. The Old Testament Hebrew word that corresponds to it is translated as a fishhook, a trap, a thorn, or pricks.
Ephesians 6:11 ESV:
Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.
Ephesians 6:12 APNT:
12 because your [plural] struggle is not with flesh and blood, but with rulers and with authorities and with the possessors of this dark world and with the evil spirits that are under heaven.
The “struggle” could be translated as a fight, a contention, a dispute. We have a dispute with the enemy; God says one thing, and he says something else. In the Old Testament, the Hebrew word means to mix by pounding. The enemy tries to pound us like a mortar and pestle until we are ground into dust. It’s not mild. It’s however much he can get away with to steal, kill, and destroy.
Philippians 1:27 APNT:
Conduct yourselves as is becoming to the gospel of Christ, so that if I come, I may see you and if I am distant, I may hear about you, that you are standing in one spirit and in one soul and [that] you are conquering together [as one] in the faith of the gospel.
Ephesians 6:13 APNT:
13 Because of this, put on the whole armor of God, so that you [plural] will be able to engage the Evil [one] and, being prepared in everything, you [plural] will stand firm.
The purpose of the armor of God is to be prepared in everything.
1 Peter 5:8–9 APNT:
8 Be watchful and remember, because your [plural] enemy, Satan, roars as a lion and walks about and seeks whom he may swallow.
9 Therefore, stand against him, being steadfast in faith and know that these sufferings also happen to your [plural] brothers who are in the world.
Another tactic of the enemy, the secret of his success, is the secrecy of his moves.
Romans 8:31 APNT:
What then should we say about these [things]? If God [is] for us, who is against us?
Romans 8:34–39 APNT:
34 Who condemns? Christ died and rose and is at the right hand of God and makes petition on our behalf.
35 What will separate me from the love of Christ? [Is it] trial or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword?
36 As it is written: Because of you every day we are dying and we are counted as lambs to slaughter.
37 On the contrary, in all these [things] we are victorious by way of him who loved us.
38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life nor angels nor authorities nor powers nor those [things] present nor future
39 nor height nor depth, neither any other created [thing] will be able to separate me from the love of God that is in our Lord Jesus Christ.
Put on the Lord Jesus Christ. Put on the whole armor of God. Put on the new man. Put on the armor of light.
See Also:
The Armor of God Seminar 2024, Part 1
Scripture References
Scripture quotations marked (ESV) are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
This teaching is also available on the Acts Now Fellowship website.
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