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There are three things, which either separately or together, make for defeat:
(1)
No armour, or armour that is untrustworthy.
(2)
A consciousness that the fight is unrighteous.
(3)
An ignorance of the object of the fight.
Blessed be God, the first two things are assured by the Word. The third is more
directly connected with the believer. Let us ask ourselves as before God, What should we
be fighting for? How many of us can give a consistent, Scriptural answer? Is our
inheritance in jeopardy? Can we lose our membership in the One Body? Neither of these
possessions can be lost. What then can we gain or lose? The answer is, a crown and a
prize.
Immediately following II Tim. 2: which speaks of the soldier, are the words:
"If a man also strive for masteries, yet is he not crowned, except he strive lawfully"
(II Tim. 2: 5).
Immediately following Paul's personal declaration, "I have fought a good fight", are
the words, "Henceforth a crown".
"Let no man beguile you of your reward" (Col. 2: 18).
Satan cannot rob you of your calling, but he may rob you of your crown. This fact
enables us to appreciate better the reference in Numb. 14:, for those who perished in the
wilderness were not types of the unsaved, but of those who, being saved, did not go on
unto perfection (Heb. 3: and 4:).
The words of Eph. 6: 13 "having done all", are a translation of katergazomai,
elsewhere translated "to work out" (Phil. 2: 12, 13 and II Cor. 4: 17). The structure of
the epistle as a whole compels us to translate the word accurately. It is the "working out"
of the mighty power that was "wrought in" Christ; the only possible power that can
counter the "inworking" of the prince of the power of the air (Eph. 2: 2).
Another important fact is that no military terms are used in Eph. 6:, so far as the
conflict is concerned. We are exhorted to "stand", to "withstand" and to "wrestle". Even
apart from inspiration, no one of Paul's calibre would speak of "wrestling" in "armour"
without previously explaining the "armour" in such a way as to avoid incongruity. It is
common knowledge that the Greeks wrestled naked; our very gymnasium is derived
from the Greek gymnos, "naked". Before we can go any further it is incumbent upon us
to ascertain what "armour" symbolizes in the teaching of Paul.
"The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of
darkness, and let us put on the armour of light" (Rom. 13: 12).
It will be observed here that "casting off" is parallel with "putting on"; and "works of
darkness" with "armour of light", "works" on the one hand and "armour" on the other.