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No.82.
The Practical Section (4: - 6:).
The whole armour of God (6: 11 - 18).
pp. 221 - 236
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-à-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.
The sixfold armour.
The whole armour of God comprises six pieces. Why six? One would have thought
that such perfection would have been given a sevenfold presentation. The reason seems
to be that warfare belongs to the "evil day", and it is not carried over into "the rest that
remaineth to the people of God". There are six, not seven, references to the "Mystery" in
Ephesians. The Mystery deals with the present interval of Israel's rejection. Both the
armour and the present dispensation are perfect in themselves, but they imply an
imperfect period. It has been said that the proximity of the Roman soldiers during the
writing of Ephesians suggested the description of the armour to Paul the prisoner, but
most if not all of what Paul has said is found in the prophecy of Isaiah and in the Psalms:
"Faithfulness shall be the girdle of His reins" (Isa. 11: 5).