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Once again we have suffering connected with glory. So in Eph. 6: 13, "Having
worked out all, to stand".
We cannot help seeing in this a reference back to Rom. 8: 37-39. We have been
saved, let us work out this salvation. We have been made more than conquerors in
Christ, let us work out this victory in our own experience. This appears to be the essence
of the passage. More than conquerors in the risen Christ, putting the whole armour of
God, withstanding every assault in the "power of His might", and standing when all is
finished, this is our portion. We must consider in subsequent papers:--
1. The whole armour of God, and
2. The three-fold nature of the conflict.
Meanwhile there is no more important word for the soldier of Christ to-day than
"STAND THEREFORE".
#79.
The whole armour of God (Eph. 6: 11-18).
pp. 121 - 125
The familiar word "panoply" is made up of pan, "all", and hoplon, "arms". Here in
Eph. 6: 11 it is called the whole armour of God. The word occurs in but one other place
in the N.T., viz., Luke 11: 22, where it is used of the whole armour of Satan (verse 18).
In Luke 11: 18-22 we have the following words of Eph. 6:, viz., "strong", "panoply"
and "stand". How is it possible to stand against the wiles of Satan, clad as he is in his
whole armour in which he trusts, unless we put on the whole armour of God? Nothing
less than this can avail in that conflict. There is reason therefore for the apostle's full
title. "The whole armour of God."
This armour of God has two other descriptions given to it by the apostle in his
epistles, and just as the armour of God is seen set over against the armour of the Devil, so
in these other titles the Devil's armoury is suggested by antithesis.
"The armour of righteousness" (II Cor. 6: 7) suggests the unrighteousness that
characterises Satan's warfare. This armour moreover is described as being "on the right
hand and on the left" (II Cor. 6: 7). Schleusner sees in this a reference to the
amphidexios, "right-handed on both sides", a Greek name for the soldier fully and
completely armed, as we say, head to foot, cap-a-pie, or as Paul said to the good soldier
Timothy, "thoroughly furnished" (II Tim. 3: 17).
"The armour of light" of Rom. 13: 12 suggests the powers of darkness against whom
the fight is directed. The negative is strongly stated in II Cor. 10: 4, "The weapons of our
warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God". What a panoply! The armour of light,
of right and of might, the whole armour of God.