How to put on the Armor of God (Part 1)

As a soldier preparing for battle, there are several items that you are issued prior to boarding the plane to take you to a combat zone. It was a brisk December afternoon in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, and I was standing in line to receive my new body armor. I was pretty excited because my unit was going to try out the new military gear. Now I had trained with body armor in the past, but it was a much older version. The newer technology meant the upgraded armor we received was more complete, but also much heavier! I remember having to learn how to assemble the new gear, and it took longer than I anticipated.  

God provides His children with body armor as well. And much like my experience with military body armor, there is a lot of confusion about how to put on the armor. Some people claim that you just put on the armor of God in your imagination. Others claim it is put on through prayer. While our imaginations and prayers are indeed powerful tools, the Bible provides a different set of instructions about how to wear the armor of God.

When the Bible describes the armor of God, the original Greek translation uses the ablative of source case to describe each piece. According to the Blue Letter Bible, the ablative of source case means that “the noun being modified by the noun in the ablative owes its origin in some way to the noun in the ablative.”[1] So for an example, let us examine the shield of faith (Ephesians 6:16). The shield is the noun being modified by the ablative of faith, therefore the shield owes its existence to faith. Each piece of armor is automatically put on by walking in its source. As you walk in faith, you bring your shield of faith into existence. It is entirely appropriate to pray for faith, but until you actually walk in faith by your actions, you have not brought the armor into reality! Ephesians 6:16 informs us that the shield of faith enables us “to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.” What are all the fiery darts? They are all the various forms of attack that Satan will bring to bear against the saints of God. Without faith, we are susceptible to all kinds of attacks. Without faith, we will be overcome by our doubts. Without faith, it is impossible to please God. The Bible declares in 1 John 5:4, “For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world – our faith.”

Now it’s important to here make sure we are fighting with an actual shield and not a plastic toy shield. There are cheap imitations of faith that draw people away from actual biblical faith. One such example is the Word of Faith movement, or the “prosperity gospel” which seems to be influential in many corners of modern Christianity. The Word of Faith movement teaches that we can simply create the reality that we desire if we exercise enough faith. In such teaching, faith is transformed from the biblical understanding which is trusting God and His good plans despite our circumstances into a heretical or pagan understanding that faith is a way of creating the health and wealth that we want. For instance, ancient people would make sacrifices to fertility gods and goddesses in hopes that their agricultural endeavors would succeed. If they’re crops failed, then it would mean one of two possibilities: either the pagan god was not powerful enough to help or the sacrifice was not enough to move the pagan deity to action. Word of Faith teaching is similar in it’s approach. Walking in faith does not mean that we demand miracles from God. Our Father is not a holy vending machine to get whatever you want by inserting quarters of faith.  But rather He is a loving Father that gives us what we need (Philippians 4:19). He does not exist to serve us, but we exist to serve Him because He purchased our lives with His blood (1 Corinthians 6:20). Therefore, in the case of a farmer practicing biblical faith, he would still pray for his crops to succeed, but even if the crops failed, he would still be able to trust God to provide for his needs despite the hardship. The Bible instructs us that suffering brings many good things such as perseverance, endurance, patience, godly character, wisdom and intimacy with God, just to name a few (Romans 5:3-5, James 1:2-6, 1 Peter 4:12-13, Psalms 34:18). None of this is to say that we should seek out suffering or that we should not pray for healing or provision, but we gratefully accept the trials we are given whether easy or difficult (Philippians 4:11-13). Christian history is rich with stories of triumphs and tragedies, but in every case, God is glorified and the faithful are rewarded by Him (Hebrews 11:1-40). Word of Faith teaches Christians to turn their backs on this magnificent inheritance and trade it for a bowl of soggy corn flakes. Biblical faith described in Ephesians 6:16 is shield that can sustain us in the adversity of battle regardless of how trials may change in severity or duration.

[1] https://www.blueletterbible.org/resources/grammars/greek/simplified-greek/ablative-case.cfm