Ephesians 6:13-14 (NKJV) 13Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. 14Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness,
As we continue looking into Paul’s teaching from Ephesians about the full armor of God, we find that this is primarily defensive weaponry. Although the sword and the shield are both offensive as well, Paul is speaking about the defensive capabilities of everything he talks about in this chapter. As a pastor for a very long time, I know that even the strongest Christian warriors cannot fight effectively if they have not “put on” the things that protect them in the battle.
Although Paul is using the Roman battle armor to illustrate what he wants us to see, we must realize that he is not talking about clothing but truth. Each of these pieces of armor represent biblical truths that, when they have become part of our default mindset, will protect us from the wiles of the devil. Wiles are schemes and plans. The weapons of our warfare are far superior to our enemy’s, however, if we do not apply these truths we will fall to the most powerful weapon Satan has left, deception.
When Paul tells us to take up or put on the armor, he is talking about meditating on the principles revealed here until our automatic response are these truths. We do not ever take them off. We put them on as we meditate upon them, study them and believe them. To do that it is important to see what each one of these pieces of armor protects and how they work. We began with the belt or girdle of truth.
There are several things we can learn from the Roman armor of the day that help us see how each of these pieces protect us. In the case of the belt of truth, I think there are two aspects of truth that protect us in different ways. First, we can think of this belt as the truth of the Word of God and the truth of God’s ways and God’s love for us. The belt used in the Roman armor was designed to carry the tools the soldier needed both to fight on the battlefield and live even when between battles.
He would carry weapons, such as the sword and probably a knife on his belt so he had ready access to them should he need them quickly. We must remember that the devil has no rules when it comes to his warfare against us. He will attack us when we do not expect it and from places we do not believe he could possibly get to us. If we continually build the truth of the word of God into our lives, when we need the sword, it will be at hand.
This is true of provisions we may need when we are hungry or tired. The belt would have a water container on it as well as a pouch with food. A soldier knows that eating and drinking whenever possible is important. When the battle is raging there may not be time to stop for a meal or even a drink. As believers, we cannot wait for an attack to feed upon the word of God or drink from his presence. If we eat of the Word and drink from the spirit continually, we will have the strength and endurance we need when we face the battle.
As important as all of this is, I think that the use of the word “gird” tells us that Paul is talking about another kind of truth. The Greek word used here can signify the kind of truth we are talking about above, however, according to Strongs Hebrew and Greek dictionary this word also caries the idea of not concealing.
As we pointed out in our last post, there is an inherent weakness in the body of every male that is extremely vulnerable when doing anything strenuous or when exposed to the violence of battle. Since the soldiers in the Roman army of that day were almost exclusively male, this weakness had to be protected, or it would lead to defeat and probable death. That is where the term to “gird the loins” comes from. They used the belt to secure and protect against that weakness. They did so by binding up that area of weakness to protect it. They could not do that in the battle. It had to be in place before the battle began.
I think that this might be the real thing Paul is trying to tell us. We all have weaknesses and, although Paul is using the physical weakness in the male body to illustrate his point, that does not exclude females. If we do not “gird our loins with truth”, those weaknesses are vulnerable and the devil will take advantage of that vulnerability. How do we gird our loins with truth.
I think the first way that we do that is to cultivate honesty in every area of life. We need to be honest in our dealings with people. We need to be honest with ourselves as well. The idea of not concealing is very pertinent. A Christian should never be deceptive. That is the enemy’s weapon and allowing it in our behavior opens a door to him. We must cultivate active and uncompromised integrity in all areas of life. Integrity is what we do when we can do wrong and not be caught. What they don’t know won’t hurt them is never true, especially if what they do not know is something you know they should.
We should gird our loins with truth in all areas of life. Even at times when we feel it will hurt us to tell the truth; we must realize that every deception and every compromise produce weaknesses we cannot afford when we find ourselves in a battle. The devil never forgets. Peter tells us he is seeking those he may devour. Leaving weakness exposed is what will enable him to devour us.
There is another area of weakness that we must gird up. That is the weakness caused by sin in our lives. We have looked at the prayer teaching Jesus gave to his disciples. He prays, “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” He does not imply that there is any specific sin that he is seeking forgiveness for. Why pray for forgiveness if there is nothing to forgive?
In 1 John 1:8-10, John gives us two important certainties. The most important is that Jesus will forgive every sin that we confess to him and cleanse us from unrighteousness. The second is that if we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we will not cover our sin with the truth of repentance, we leave our loins ungirded and vulnerable.
We must be able to look at our spiritual lives objectively. We cannot ignore the fact that we are weak. We must be willing to accept that we do sin. If we do not, we will not repent and the devil will file that weakness to exploit it later. If we have confessed the sins we know, they are forgiven and cleansed. The weakness is covered. When we put this truth on and gird our loins, we will not fall to the deception of condemnation. That blow from our enemy will have no effect on our ability to win the battle. Paul understood this as well. Look at what he says in Romans 8.
Romans 8:33-34 (NKJV) 33Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. 34Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.
Paul had done many evil things before he was saved. He was not perfect after he was saved. However, he understood the belt of truth. It was firmly girding his weaknesses. He declared boldly that no one can bring a valid charge against someone forgiven by God. Knowing that Jesus died for our sins and was raised from the dead is the basis for the belt of truth. However, John knew that it did not end there. John understood that because we are human, we all sin. He extended the truth of redemption to our daily behavior as well. We gird up our loins every time we choose to bring sin to the Lord and ask for forgiveness. Then we can say with Paul in Romans 8:37, “we are more than conquerors through Christ who loves us.” Put on the belt of truth.
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