Dressed for Success — The Armor of Victory
Estimated reading time: 9 minutes
Are You Tired of Seeing People Defeated?
There are keys that will help us to have victory in our lives as we learn and understand them.
Ephesians 6:10 APNT:
From now on [in summary], my brothers, be strong [be strengthened or empowered] in our Lord and in the immensity of his power
“From now on” could be understood as “in summary.”
We read a lot in Ephesians before we get to Chapter 6.
Ephesians 1:3 APNT:
Blessed be God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heaven in Christ,
Ephesians 1:19 APNT:
and what is the abundance of the greatness of his power in us, in those who believe, according to the working of the might of his power.
Ephesians 4:16 APNT:
And from him the whole body is fit together and is knit together in all the joints, according to the gift that is given by measure to each member for the growth of the body, that its building up would be accomplished in love.
All of those things earlier in Ephesians should be in mind when you get to “in summary” or “from now on” in verse 10.
The words “be strong” in verse 10 sound like it’s something we must do.
Part of the key to understanding the armor of God is to understand what part we do, and what part we have.
In verse 10, it’s not our strength, it’s the strength of Christ within us. It’s passive; it’s something you become. How do we start incorporating this into our lives?
1 Corinthians 16:13–14 APNT:
13 Watch [wake up] and stand in the faith. Act mature. Be strong.
14 And all your affairs should be [done] with love.
Ephesians 3:16–21 CJB:
16 I pray that from the treasures of his glory he will empower you with inner strength by his Spirit, 17 so that the Messiah may live in your hearts through your trusting. Also I pray that you will be rooted and founded in love, 18 so that you, with all God’s people, will be given strength to grasp the breadth, length, height and depth of the Messiah’s love, 19 yes, to know it, even though it is beyond all knowing, so that you will be filled with all the fullness of God.
20 Now to him who by his power working in us is able to do far beyond anything we can ask or imagine, 21 to him be glory in the Messianic Community and in the Messiah Yeshua from generation to generation forever. Amen.
To understand the idea of being “strengthened in the Lord,” you have to ask yourself a question: who really is Lord in your life? Who is the biggest for you?
Ephesians 6:10 APNT:
From now on [in summary], my brothers, be strong [be strengthened or empowered] in our Lord and in the immensity of his power
The word “immensity” is associated with authority and lordship.
Romans 1:3–4 APNT:
3 concerning his Son, who was born in the flesh of the seed of the house of David
4 and was made known [as] the Son of God by power and by the Holy Spirit, who raised Jesus Christ our Lord from the dead,
What kind of power is this? It’s resurrection power!
In Esther, when Mordecai became second in command to the king, he was given power (authority). When Mordecai spoke, it was as though the king had spoken. That’s the same idea with the power and authority that we’ve been given.
We are to be empowered in the resurrection authority of Jesus Christ, in his power.
It’s not our strength, it’s his. We are strengthened by his spirit in the inner man.
Before the Day of Pentecost, Jesus told his disciples to wait for something.
Luke 24:49 APNT:
and I will send to you the promise of my Father. But remain in the city, Jerusalem, until you be clothed with power from on high.
How are we to be clothed with this resurrection power?
Colossians 2:10 APNT:
And in him also you are absolutely completed, him who is the head of all rulers and authorities.
You have already been spiritually given everything that you will ever need. Now we need to learn how to manifest on the outside what we already have on the inside.
Ephesians 4:22–24 APNT:
22 But [you have learned] that you should strip off your former ways of life, the old man who was corrupted by the lusts of deceit,
23 and you should be renewed by the Spirit, that is, your minds.
24 And you should put on the new man, who was created by God by justification and by the pardoning of truthfulness.
The “old man” is the nature that we were born with because of Adam. It resides in our bloodline, in our flesh. But when we were born again, we received a new nature. The new nature is in opposition to the new nature. The old nature walks by the five senses. We observe things and then make decisions about them. We feel something, then act on it.
Walking by the old nature is a way of life that’s based on the five senses.
Ephesians tells us that we have to strip off that way of life that we formerly had. What does it mean by that way of life? Our old nature died with Christ, but that death of the old nature is part of our identification with Christ. We died with him, were buried with him, and we were raised with him. But we still have our earthly flesh, and we still live in the world. So, technically, the old man is not dead.
To put off the old man is to walk in the identification we have with Christ because he defeated that old nature.
After Ephesians 4:22–24 tells us to put off our old man, it gives us some examples of putting on the new man.
Ephesians 4:25–32 APNT:
25 Because of this, strip off lying and speak [with] truthfulness, each one with his neighbor, for we are members of one another.
26 Be angry and do not sin and the sun should not go down on your anger.
27 And do not give place to the Accuser.
28 And he who was stealing should no longer steal, but he should work with his hands and should do good [things], so that he may have to give to him who has need.
29 No hateful word should come out of your mouth, but that which is pleasing and useful for building up, so that it may give grace to those who hear.
30 And you should not grieve the sanctified Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed until the day of redemption.
31 All bitterness and wrath and anger and contention and reviling should be taken away from you with all wickedness.
32 And be kind to one another and merciful and be forgiving to one another, as God in Christ forgave us.
Colossians 3:8–9 APNT:
8 But now, cease all these [things], anger, fury, wickedness, reviling, unclean speech.
9 And do not lie to one another, but rather strip off the old man with all his practices
10 and put on the new [man] that is renewed in knowledge in the likeness of his Creator,
The old nature inside of us is the nature of Adam that always wants to walk by the five senses.
The armor of God is the same thing as the new man.
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 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.
Regarding the old man: “It is putting him off from his seat, and putting him down from his government. A showing no regard to his rule and dominion to his laws and lusts. Making no provision for his support. And particularly, not squaring the life and conversation according to his dictates and directions. The allusion is to putting off a filthy garment, as the works of the flesh may truly be called.
Four ways of saying the same thing:
- The new man.
- The Lord Jesus Christ.
- The armor of light.
- The armor of God.
If the new man is the same thing as the armor of God, then the armor of God is the same thing as the Lord Jesus Christ.
To put on the armor is to put on the Lord Jesus Christ.
To put on the armor is to put on the new man.
The armor is like a summary of the gift-wrapped package of everything that the Lord Jesus Christ is in us.
The armor of God is set up like an inversion, where the first part goes with the last part, and so on.
| Pairing | Reference | What to Do | Piece of Armor |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | Lord | Gird up your loins | Truth (Faithfulness) |
| B | Jesus | Put on | Breastplate of Justification |
| C | Christ | Bind as a shoe | Goodness of the Gospel of Peace |
| C | Christ | Take, hold | Shield of Faith |
| B | Jesus | Set on | Helmet of Redemption |
| A | Lord | Take hold of | Sword of the Spirit |
What does the Lord Jesus Christ look like? We should want to look like that, too.
Putting off the old man is just stripping away all the things that hold us back from really walking in the fullness of who we are in Christ.
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Scripture References
Scripture quotations marked (CSB) have been taken from the Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible® and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.
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