Armor of God

[Lee Fey]

I've been studying Ephesians 6:10-18 for months now. This is the passage pertaining to the Armor of God. Now, I've looked at each individual piece of Armor, and have come away with an amazing amount of wisdom granted to me by God. However, I would love to hear of any personal views on the Armor, and if anyone has any tidbits of wisdom they've been granted with, I'd love to hear those too. Please share.

 

[daveleau]

A small tidbit, but notice there is no backplate of God. God wants us to confront sin. We are to flee from temptation and remove ourselves from sinful situations and run from them, but we are to confront sin from a Scriptural standpoint. Only when it hurts our message or when we are not lead or ready to confront (we are not wearing the armor) a situation are we to run.

 

[ischus]

My favorite part of this passage has always been the reference to the armor which covers the backside- there is none. God expects us to stand up and fight, not run away.

Another insight that I have gained (in this context) is about the shield of Faith. Faith is not some fragile thing that is always in danger of being lost; it is there to be used, to be a line of defense and protection. Our faith guards us, not the other way around. We can trust God in spite of the fact that we don't understand everything. We need to confidently stand up against the enemy with our faith out in front of us...we have nothing to fear.

 

[Bizzlebin Imperatoris]

We only have one offensive weapon, the word (or Jesus). We are not supposed to run around fighting unless we have something Jesus said or inspired to back it up, and then we are still not meant to charge. We have heavy armor, meant for slowly pushing through the enemy, not trying to take it all on at once.

 

[Yebo]

Greetings from a sunny South Africa

The Armour of God is not what you wear, The Armour of God is a LIFESTYLE.

You can not put it on and take it off as you wish!!! You either live it out or you don't!!!!

Be BLESSED by the BEST and stay within the confinements of PEACE

 

[KleinerApfel]

I've heard Bible teachers say before that there is no protection for the back of a soldier, and by your comments a few here have heard that too.

I beg to differ, unless this claim can be substantiated?

I have seen numerous pictures of Roman soldiers wearing a breastplate, and it goes all around the entire trunk, including the back.

Paul would have been familiar with such as these, and probably had them in mind when speaking of the breastplate.
Therefore I say the back does have protective armour.

Apparently, the wardrobe department for the current film "Troy" think the Greeks also had a similar piece of kit.

Another insight from Troy - a demonstration of what I believe is called the phalanx manouvre:
a group of soldiers form tight rows, the shields of the middle ones are raised above their heads, those of the front and sides to the outside, presenting an almost impenetrable wall as they advance on the enemy.

(The film wasn't great IMO, but those illustrations were useful!)

Blessings, Susana

 

[Bizzlebin Imperatoris]

Good point. The strategy shows that we have to be unified, making a common faith (sheild) and body or we can never get far.

 

[daveleau]

I've heard Bible teachers say before that there is no protection for the back of a soldier, and by your comments a few here have heard that too.

I beg to differ, unless this claim can be substantiated?

I have seen numerous pictures of Roman soldiers wearing a breastplate, and it goes all around the entire trunk, including the back.

Paul would have been familiar with such as these, and probably had them in mind when speaking of the breastplate.
Therefore I say the back does have protective armour.

Apparently, the wardrobe department for the current film "Troy" think the Greeks also had a similar piece of kit.

Another insight from Troy - a demonstration of what I believe is called the phalanx manouvre:
a group of soldiers form tight rows, the shields of the middle ones are raised above their heads, those of the front and sides to the outside, presenting an almost impenetrable wall as they advance on the enemy.

(The film wasn't great IMO, but those illustrations were useful!)

Blessings, Susana

Good point about the breastplate. Some do cover the back. Some do not. It depends on the style. I am not an expert on this, nor have I done a study on it. This would be an interesting thing to find out. Here is a link to some Roman breastplates:
http://images.google.com/images?q=roman%20breastplate&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi

 

[Lee Fey]

Well, guys, thanks for everything you've given me. I wonder if anyone out there has spent a long time studying this passage. You guys have helped bring things up to my attention that were not there before, thank you. Any more pearls of wisdom gained on the battlefield would be helpful....

 

[KleinerApfel]

Someone came up with a prayer on this theme if you're interested, here's the thread:

http://www.christianforums.com/t692223

 

[Bizzlebin Imperatoris]

Wow! Really nice! I may try that one out

 

[mythbuster]

Good point. The strategy shows that we have to be unified, making a common faith (sheild) and body or we can never get far.

One of the main points in Ephesians is the revelation of the body of Christ, the church. Therefore we can say that this portion of the word is the warrior, singular. That is we all are the body and the body is the bride and also the warrior.

 

[Lee Fey]

These are all amazing points, guys, thanks. Does anyone else have anything? Has no one out there really looked in depth at this passage? It's my favorite passage, and it really drives my Christian walk, I can't understand how no one else out there is like me. I've been looking at this stuff for months, and I was hoping there would be someone out there that has already done this, and has uncovered at least everything I have. Oh well. If anyone really is out there, with having done studies on this passage, please come and share with me, I'm thirsty for God-given wisdom. And anyone else is welcome too, of course, with revalations they may have.
Thank you all for sharing.

 

[Lee Fey]

Wow.....I'm so disappointed. I thought there would be so many people out there having spent a collective several years studying this stuff. Oh well, my hopes were a little high. I want to thank everyone who do help me out. Really and truly. I wish more would come and help me.

 

[Bizzlebin Imperatoris]

Wow.....I'm so disappointed. I thought there would be so many people out there having spent a collective several years studying this stuff. Oh well, my hopes were a little high. I want to thank everyone who do help me out. Really and truly. I wish more would come and help me.

If you need help studying I can help you, but I prefer to take the Bible as a whole, not overstudying certain parts.

 

[tesnusxenos]

Here is an interesting link from a conversation going on in the charasmatic thread http://members.nuvox.net/~on.roz/God/warfare/sword.html

The talk there is that the sword is the spirit and not the word. It is a very complex argument dealing with Greek grammer.

 

[Bizzlebin Imperatoris]

Here is an interesting link from a conversation going on in the charasmatic thread http://members.nuvox.net/~on.roz/God/warfare/sword.html

The talk there is that the sword is the spirit and not the word. It is a very complex argument dealing with Greek grammer.

It isn't complex. I was debating with the poster and he decided to make a thread on it. It all boils down to scripture.

 

[tesnusxenos]

It seems complex to me because I am a beggining Greek student and I am trying to follow the Greek grammer part of the argument.
Where were you debating at? I would like to read that also.

 

[Bizzlebin Imperatoris]

It seems complex to me because I am a beggining Greek student and I am trying to follow the Greek grammer part of the argument.
Where were you debating at? I would like to read that also.

It was a while back. Everyone but the OPer knows Greek. I don't want to insult him, but he is alone on a very thin limb. I wouldn't worry about it.

 

[JC-216]

I don't know if you guys had thought of this but, armor is really heavy. You have to be strong in order to wear it. If you are not strong enough to wield it then the armor will only encumber you. You would be better off wearing no amor than to wear the armor without being prepared for it. When King Saul gave David his armor to wear when he was confronting Goliath, David refused the armor because it was too heavy and he was not used to it.

I don't know, I guess it kind of seems that you have to be strong in the Lord before you can wear the armor of God. Only after you have the strength, can you have the will to confront darkness. Without the strength of the Lord anything you do against darkness will eat you up. It will break your will to serve and ultimately slow you down.

I felt I needed to add a situational example. Say you are talking an athiest. He is insulting your beliefs for being a Christian. If you are not strong in the Lord your shield of Faith won't help you very much. You will be easily discouraged, angered, and distraught.

Does this make any sense? This is the first time I've read this passage.