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One of the most challenging things for Christians to accept in today’s world is the belief of the existence of Evil in the form of a Being. Because our rational minds have trouble accepting the existence of such a creature, many of us find St. Paul’s letter to the Ephesians concerning the need of wearing armor for protection against the Devil to be rather childish. Such a belief certainly does not conform to our high tech culture that sends space shuttles into outer space.
The belief of the Devil seems more fitting for the Dark Ages or some obscure primitive tribe hidden in the jungles isolated from our modern world. Yet, it is the struggle between good and evil, God and Satan, which initiated the very reason for humanity’s need of salvation. It is because we humans chose from the beginning of our existence as a species to be obedient to the Evil One in place of submitting to God, our Creator, that we became lost souls. As lost souls we had no other way of getting back into the grace of God except through the atoning blood of God Himself through His Only Begotten Son, Jesus the Christ.
Jesus Christ alone is the only Way back to the Father God. This is what Jesus means when He states in the gospel of John, chapter 4, verse 6, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” According to the Christian faith, Jesus Christ is essential to salvation. Without Jesus Christ, the world remains lost in spiritual darkness.
Now if we accept this primal premise that Jesus is the Savior for all of humanity and believe on Him for our salvation, then why do we need protection from evil or even more specific, the Devil, as St. Paul warns us in his letter to the Ephesians. Paul writes, “For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.”
When the twin towers were attacked by terrorists on 9/11, Americans awakened from our false sense of invulnerability. We as Americans believed up until that time that we were invincible. We had won the Cold War. Communism was defeated. Our enemies, or so we thought, had been destroyed. Being the one super power left in the world, the mere thought of being personally attacked seemed ludicrous. Who would dare attack us? Our own arrogance as a nation coupled with our naivety, I believe is what left us open to such a horrible attack from enemies that we refused to take seriously.
I give this to you as an example of what can happen to Christians who believe that because they belong to Jesus Christ, they too are invincible. Although Jesus paid it all for humanity at Calvary, the world still gropes in darkness. Because Satan knows that he has lost the war, he continues to battle even more so against humanity. Brothers and sisters in Christ, whether we want to admit it or not we are in the midst of a spiritual war that will not end until Jesus Himself returns to this earth as the King of Glory.
St. Paul understood this concept, which is why he wrote to the Ephesians to instruct them on how to protect themselves from the weapons and strategies of the rulers of Darkness. In today’s world that is filled with violence, drugs, immorality and insecurity, we would be wise to heed his words of instruction. St. Paul uses the armor of the Roman soldiers at the time of his writing, because it was something very familiar to his readers. Also, being a prisoner for Christ kept in chains under the constant guard of Roman soldiers; the Roman armor was a continual presence for St. Paul.
The first instruction that St. Paul gives is, “take up the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to withstand on that evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.” Every part of the Roman soldier’s armor was vital for not only his protection, but also for the protection of his fellow soldiers as we shall see. Just as an ill prepared Roman soldier endangered his comrades, so too do we endanger are brothers and sisters in Christ when we are not spiritually prepared for the enemy’s assaults.
St. Paul’s instructions for us to stand firm seems rather strange. After all, if an enemy is attacking us would it not be wise to hide and try to escape? But that is just the opposite of what St. Paul tells us to do. Because we are in Christ, we are not to hide, but instead to stand firm before the Enemy showing no signs of weakness – only the resolve to give the Enemy no ground. There can be no compromise when Light comes face to face with Darkness. The light shines upon and into the darkness exposing the hideousness and weakness of the Devil. The reason we can confront evil, is because we know that Jesus has already defeated the Devil.
I believe that the world remains in spiritual darkness because we as Christians have not been confronting evil. Instead, we have sought to compromise and even conform with the Enemy and in so doing have actually given Satan more ground. We have not been doing our job as soldiers of the cross. When we look at evil and declare it to be good than we are giving Satan more power to use against us. We need to stand firm and claim what Christ won on Calvary for all of humanity. We need to be the soldiers of Christ that Jesus needs us to be to hold on to what Jesus has already won.
So how do we go into this battle? What do we need to fight against the powers of darkness that seek to reclaim what the blood of the Lamb redeemed? St. Paul tells us to “fasten the belt of truth around your waist”. The belt for the Roman soldier held his dagger plus tokens and discs to show the campaigns that he had fought in. For the Christian, the belt of truth is the Truth that Jesus is the Christ. Whenever we are willing to go against the crowd and take a stand for Christ whether in the work place, at home, on vacation or wherever we are, spiritual ornaments are added to our armor to depict to the Enemy just how seasoned a warrior we are. How many of us here can boast that the Devil knows us by name, because of the battles we have fought in against him?
The next piece of armor that we are to put on is “the breastplate of righteousness”. For the Roman soldier, the breast plate was a vital covering of protection for the upper body. When engaged in one on one combat, the breast plate could mean the difference between life and death. St. Paul describes the Christian breast plate as “righteousness”. Now it is not our righteousness that protects us, but the righteousness of Jesus Christ.
St. Paul explains this in his second letter to the Corinthians, chapter 5, and verse 21. “For our sake he made him (meaning Christ) to be sin, who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” There was only One Being in the whole universe who could atone for the sins of humanity. That One Being was God’s only begotten Son, Jesus Christ. Only Jesus, who was completely righteous, because he had never sinned, could become our salvation. The only righteousness that we can claim comes not from ourselves, but from God through His Son Jesus, because as the prophet Isaiah declared, “all our righteous deeds are like a filthy cloth”.
The next part of the armor that St. Paul tells us to put on is shoes. The shoes worn by the Roman soldier were designed like the rest of his armor to be functional for many things. On first glance, the Roman soldier’s shoes looked like a pair of flimsy sandals unfit for rough terrain and hardship. Yet, it was in their airiness that made them comfortable for the Roman soldier to be able to wear them all day. On the bottom of the shoes were studs, which were not only helpful in marching and fighting in rugged terrain, but were also used as weapons to stomp on their enemies.
St. Paul tells the Christian to put on shoes that “will make you ready to proclaim the gospel of peace”. No matter where we are in life’s journey we are always to be prepared to share the good news of Christ with others. As a weapon, whenever the Enemy comes against us, we can stomp on him with the gospel. There is nothing like the message of salvation through Jesus Christ that will hush up the voice of the Enemy. The gospel of Christ is a powerful weapon against the Enemy, because it brings people back into a relationship with God.
The next piece of armor is the shield of faith. The Roman shield was unlike any other shields of its time, because it was curved. The curvature of the shield aided in protecting the soldier better than just a flat shield, because it deflected the enemy’s missiles away from the soldier to one side. The length of the shield covered the entire body of the soldier defending him from harm. It was constructed of flat strips of wood much like our plywood of today. Because of its lightness in weight the shield could be used as an offensive weapon against the enemy. The soldier would thrust the shield forward causing the enemy to be knocked off balance. As Christians, St. Paul points out that the shield of faith is used “to quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one”.
When the Roman soldiers marched against their enemies they did not march as individuals, but in units of 500. Each unit marched as one entity using their shields in unison to knock down their enemies making them vulnerable to the Roman swords that were thrust into them. Scriptures warn Christians to remain in fellowship with one another in order to keep the Enemy at bay. It is when individual Christians fall out of fellowship with other Christians that they become vulnerable to the Enemy. It is through the united faith of the Church working together that knocks the Enemy of the gospel off balance. The shield of faith followed “by the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” are mighty weapons against the spirits of Darkness.
The other part of the Roman armor mentioned by St. Paul is the helmet, which St. Paul calls “the helmet of salvation”. The Roman helmet covered not only the head of the soldier, but also his neck, jaws and cheekbones. As Christians, the helmet of salvation protects our minds from the enemy so that we are continually renewed to seek the mind of Christ, who is our salvation. If we remove our helmet of salvation, then we are vulnerable to the crushing blows of the Enemy who seeks to destroy our beliefs in Christ. This is why it is so important to protect our minds from thoughts that are not of Christ.
The ears and mouth of the Roman soldier were left uncovered. This allowed full access to receiving and giving orders for battle enabling the Roman soldiers to act as one unit against their enemy. St. Paul sums up his description of the armor of God with these words, “Pray in the Spirit at all times in every prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert and always persevere in supplication for all the saints. Pray also for me, so that when I speak, a message may be given to me to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it boldly, as I must speak.”
It is only through the power of prayer that we as Christians can know the strategies of the war against the powers of Darkness. For Jesus Christ, being the Head of the Church, continues to speak through the authority of the Church and to each soldier proclaiming the message of salvation to share for all who will believe. It is vital that we as Christians keep our ears open to receive the Lord’s message in order to proclaim the message of salvation more boldly.
Only through the saving protection of Jesus Christ can we overcome the weapons of Darkness. As St. Paul taught us through his message to the Ephesians, the armor of God is Jesus Christ, because He is the Truth, the Righteousness, the Gospel of Peace, the Faith, the Salvation, and the Word of God. In these words from St. Patrick’s Breast Plate Prayer:
“Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me,
Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ on my right, Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down, Christ when I arise.”
Jesus is all we need. May we seek to be better soldiers of the Gospel. Destroying the works of the Enemy - for all to come to know Jesus as their Lord and Savior. Then when the Lord returns, we will not be caught neglecting our duty to prepare the world to receive Christ as the King of Kings.
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