Ephesians 6:13-14
“Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness …”
We are to actively lay hold of and put on the full armor of God. Not some of the armor; all of the armor. It is God’s “equipment for spiritual warfare” that gives us the strength to stand against the methods, schemes, and strategies of the devil. We will not win the battle in our own power – but only if we trust the Lord and his power.
The first two elements of armor are truth and righteousness.
Truth. Our first piece of armor – our first source of strength – is truth. We must know the truth about God, man, sin, and Christ. We must know the truth about the Kingdom of God and how it operates. We must know the truth of the Word of God.
Scripture calls Satan the “father of lies” (John 8:44). He deals in falsehood, distortion, and deception. His greatest desire is to get people to believe wrong things about God and his kingdom. The enemy does not want Christians to know the truth about scripture. The believer who is confused about God’s Word cannot be effective in God’s work. He is “tossed here and there by waves, and carried about by every wind of doctrine” (Eph 4:14).
The truth of God’s Word is at the very heart of how the Lord works. Jesus said: “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:31-32). The distortion of truth is at the very heart of how Satan works. Paul gave this warning in 1 Timothy 4.1-2: “Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared…”
In addition to knowing the truth, this piece of armor also refers to “telling the truth.” Christians are to be truth-tellers. We are to talk straight. Paul says it in Ephesians 4: “Speak the truth in love.” Sometimes that means encouraging people. Other times it means having hard conversations and holding people accountable. At all times it means we speak truth, and we do so with the right motives.
Righteousness. The second piece of spiritual armor is righteousness. This is truth in action. It is obedience to God’s character and commandments. It is right thinking and right living in response to the truth. Righteousness is obedience from the inside-out, and it comes from the power of God working in us.
The reality for every Christian — and it is a powerful reality — is that we do not achieve righteousness; rather, we receive it as a gift of God through Christ. “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21). In other words, we are positionally righteous through Christ. As redeemed people, our task now is to live out that righteousness in the day-by-day situations of life and work. And this is precisely what Satan does not want us to do.
And let’s not think of righteousness in some kind of super-spiritual way. It simply means: Do the right thing, especially when it is difficult. It means asking in response to the situations you face, press pause and think. Ask yourself: What does this situation require of me? As a follower of Christ and agent of the kingdom of God, what is the right thing to do?
Truth (know the truth of scripture and speak the truth) and Righteousness (live out the truth he has given you in Christ and seek to do the right thing even when it is hard). These are the first two elements of the armor of God.
Trust God and do the work.
