Sunday, 3/25/18 – Eph 6:13, Stand Firm in the Evil Day. Lesson #18-033

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91IJuVFGbf8

 Grace Fellowship Church

Pastor/Teacher, Jim Rickard

www.GraceDoctrine.org

In our outline of Eph 6:10-24, we now are on the third point.

1. The Empowerment, vs. 10.

2. The Enemy, vs. 11-12. 

3. The Equipment, vs. 13-17. 

4. The Energy, vs. 18-20. 

5. The Encouragement, vs. 21-24.

And in our main outline of the book of Ephesians, we are on the fourth section, “The warrior’s resources.”

E. The Believer’s Walk in Warfare; God’s Provision for His Children’s Spiritual Battles, Eph 6:10-20.

1. The Exhortation to Arms, The Believer’s Warfare, Eph 6:10-13.

a. The warrior’s power, Eph 6:10.

b. The warrior’s armor, Eph 6:11.

c. The warrior’s foes, Eph 6:12.

d. The Warrior’s Resource, The Explanation of Our Armor, Eph 6:13–17.

Eph 6:13; Isa 28:9-10; 59:9-21; Luke 21:15; Acts 6:10; James 4:7; 1 Peter 5:8-9

3. The Equipment, vs 13-17.

Eph 6:13, “Therefore, take up the full armor of God, that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.”

“Therefore,” is DIA HOUTOS that could be translated, “because of this, for this sake,” in reference to our wrestling with Satan and his cosmic legions. It is a call to charge, a call to mount up, a call to, “take up the full armor of God,” ANALAMBANO, in the Aorist, Active, Imperative for a command that means, “take up, take on board, receive to oneself,” we will see this word again in vs. 16, regarding the shield of faith. In the LXX this word was used for the “taking up” or rapture of Enoch and Elijah, Gen 5:24; 2 King 2:11. Then we have HO PANOPLIA HO THEOS. We noted PANOPLIA in vs. 11, for “full or complete armor,” that includes both offensive and defensive weapons. Therefore, we are commanded by God to put on God.

We also noted PANOPLIA in Luke 11:22, “But when someone stronger than he attacks him and overpowers him, he takes away from him all his armor on which he had relied, and distributes his plunder.”

Luke 11:22, speaks of being defeated in spiritual warfare. The “taking away his armor,” is analogous to the spiritual blindness Satan brings to the one who does not utilize the full armor of God when wrestling with the enemy; Satan and his cosmic system.

Therefore, in your warfare against “the schemes of the devil,” you are to arm yourself with spiritual armor in the same way that the Roman soldier was customarily equipped for his physical warfare, (perhaps one was chained to Paul at the moment of writing this); one piece at a time until he was fully equipped. That means we are to learn the word of God line upon line, precept upon precept, Isa 28:9-10.

Isa 28:9-10, “Whom shall he teach knowledge? And whom shall he make to understand doctrine? Them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts. ¹⁰For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little.”

Next we have the HINA clause which begins with “that,” HINA, “that, so that, in order that, etc.,” which introduces the final purpose-result for why we need to put on the armor of God. It has two parts.

Part 1, “You may be able to resist in the evil day.”

“You may be able” is the Aorist, Passive, Subjunctive of DUNAMAI, δύναμαι that means, “be able, have power to do, have capacity for.” It is inherent power to do something, the God given power and ability to stand your ground against the schemes of the Devil and his cosmic system.

The Constative Aorist views the entirety of the action of “resisting” the devil’s schemes.

The Passive voice says that you receive this inherent power from God. This power or strength is founded in the armor of God, which we receive through the intake and application of Bible Doctrine, while filled with the Holy Spirit.

The Subjunctive Mood is for potential. We have the potential to have the inherent power and strength of God, but it is a volitional issue, depending on whether or not you decide to buckle down to learn and apply God’s Word in your life.

Notice that the DUNAMAI is a cognate of the Noun DUNAMIS, one of the definitions of divine power the fallen Angelic race has. Once again, we see that we are on a level playing field. We are qualified for the wrestling match, and we too can have the inherent power of God to not just compete, but to win, by standing firm in our faith and resisting the scheme of the Devil.

“Resisting,” ANTHISTEMI, ἀνθίστημι, “to oppose, resist, or withstand,” in the Aorist, Active, Infinitive. The root word HISTEMI, which we will see below, means to, “stand, stand firm, place firmly, etc.” The prefix is ANTI, “against, instead of, in the place of.” This makes us the “anti-devil.”

This Constative Aorist tense also views the entirety of the Action of holding your ground.

The Active voice means you have to produce the action. In other words, once you have received the Armor of God, you have to use it. It does you no good to have the power of God and then leave it on the self, leave it at home, or better yet, leave it in your Bible or your study notes. It does you no good there. But when you do apply it, it does a world of good within your life and for your spiritual walk with Christ.

The Infinitive is for Purpose-Result to indicate the outcome produced by having the inherent power of God resident within your soul. You will be able to resist the scheme of the Devil when the time comes. This is not a one-time event and then you are done. No! This is something you need to do throughout your life. Even though the trials, tribulations, and temptations come at you one event at a time, they will keep on coming throughout your life. So, we need to resist the Devil every time he rears his ugly head. That is noted in the next phrase.

ANTHISTEMI is also used in James 4:7; 1 Peter 5:9; cf. Luke 21:15; Acts 6:10.

James 4:7, “Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.”

1 Peter 5:8-9, “Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. ⁹But resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world.”

When we put on the full armor of God, our adversary will not be able to oppose us.

Luke 21:15, “For I will give you utterance and wisdom which none of your opponents will be able to resist or refute.

Acts 6:10, “And yet they were unable to withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking.”

“In the evil day,” is the Dative of EN HO HEMERA HO PONEROS. Here we see PONEROS, which is a cognate of PONERIA that we noted in vs. 12, regarding the “spiritual forces of wickedness.” Therefore, when Satan or his demons attack you with a temptation, trial, or tribulation, you are prepared for it and can stand firm. In other word, you can “resist the devil.” Even though this phrase is in the Singular, it does not assume a “once in a life time event.” Rather, it is speaking of the moment by moment events that come your way, yet one at a time. This is an Adjective to describe that the “day” HEMERA, is PONEROS, πονηρός that means, “painful, serious, grievous, bad, wicked, evil, depraved, etc.”

Remember, Satan looks for the unguarded times and areas of your life where he can get a beachhead and mount an attack against you, Eph 4:27. Therefore, this day can be “painful, serious, grievous, bad, wicked, evil, depraved, etc.” In other words, it is not always “rainbows, unicorns, puppies, and kittens” i.e., fun, to have these types of attacks. But, regardless of the severity, we have more than enough power from God to handle it and win!

As Paul noted in Eph 5:15-17, “Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, ¹⁶making the most of your time, because the days are evil. ¹⁷So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.”

Part 2, “Having done everything.”

The second purpose we have in this passage for “putting on the armor of God,” is “and having done everything.”

It begins with the Coordinating Conjunction KAI, “and” that adds part 2 to part 1. Here the exhortation is to do everything we possibly can to hold our ground in the wrestling match we are a part of.

“Having done” is the Aorist, Middle, Participle in the Nominative Plural of KATERGAZOMAI, κατεργάζομαι that means, “accomplish, achieve, bring about, work out, or result in.” It is a compound word from the Preposition KATA that means, “according to,” and the verb ERGAZOMAI that means, “to work, be active, do accomplish, carry out, or perform.” Generally speaking, this word places more emphasis on the end result of the action rather than on the actual act or work itself.

The Consummative or Culminative Aorist tense views the entirety of the action with emphasis on the end results or conclusion.

The Middle Voice means the results of your own actions of putting on the armor of God benefit you the believer.

The Participle in the Normative plural tells us that this then become a position in which we stand, a goal in which we are to accomplish.

In the ancient Greek writings of Sophocles and Plato, this word was sometimes used for, “tilling soil, cultivating land, and to practice or work at something.” Therefore, we see the imagery that we need to prepare the soil of our souls to receive the armor of God so that it takes root and blossoms in our life, so that we are victorious in the battle, cf. Mat 13:8, 23; Mark 4:8, 20; Luke 8:8, 15.

The word appears in the Septuagint, (LXX), 11 times, translating 8 different Hebrew words. While the basic meaning varies among these passages, both of the basic definitions seen above also appear. During this period, another meaning also appeared in non-canonical writings; namely, “to overpower and conquer,” e.g., 1 Esdras 4:4. This is its meaning in our passage Eph 6:13.

All of this is also some of the imagery of KATERGAZOMAI, as used in Phil 2:12; James 1:3.

Phil 2:12, “So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling;¹³for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.”

James 1:3, “Knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.”

Now, this action of “having done” is emphasized by the Adjective, “everything,” which is HAPAS, ἅπας in the Greek that means, “all, whole, every, altogether, etc.” It means there is no stone left unturned. It means we have done everything in our spiritual walk to be prepared for the day of evil, (trials, tribulations, temptations), when it comes. We have done everything necessary to put on the full armor of God.

Then finally, we are “to stand firm,” the Aorist, Active, Infinitive of HISTEMI, the root word of ANTHISTEMI which we noted above. 

The Consummative Aorist views the end results that we are able to stand firm in this spiritual wrestling match we are in. 

The Active voice tells us the believer, with the armor of God in their soul, completes the action of standing firm.

This Infinitive is appositional, in that in the finality of this sentence, it links the two purposes together: 1) resist in the evil day, 2) having done everything. In fact, the latter should come first, “doing everything necessary” to put on the armor of God so that we can “resist in the evil day,” i.e., when the temptation comes. Therefore, when we put those two together, we then have the result of standing firm, and therefore we “stand firm.” This Infinitive is also like putting a semicolon before “stand firm” in English.

So, “to stand firm,” emphasizes that 1. “We are able to resist in the evil day,” and 2. “We have done everything necessary.”

Therefore, we could translate this Eph 6:13, “Because of this, (i.e., the schemes of Satan and his cosmic system), take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, (i.e., in the trials, tribulation, and temptation of Satan’s cosmic system), and having done everything; stand firm.

It is likely that Paul had in mind Isa 59:9-21, and particularly vs. 17, when he wrote these passages. They describe the hopelessness in our own power and strength against the adversary, and our hopelessness regarding our own sin. Yet, God came to our rescue through His Son Jesus Christ, who Himself came with the armor of God to win the victory for us, so that now we too can be victorious through Him and His Word resident within our souls, i.e., the armor of God. Cf. Isa 11:4-5.

Isa 11:4-5, “But with righteousness He will judge the poor, and decide with fairness for the afflicted of the earth; and He will strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips He will slay the wicked. ⁵Also righteousness will be the belt about His loins, and faithfulness the belt about His waist.”

As our Lord said in John 16:33, “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.”

See this video, Titanium a song by French DJ and music producer David Guetta, featuring vocals by Australian recording artist Sia, which was written by Sia, David Guetta, Giorgio Tuinfort and Afrojack. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AsrnGyRS6l4

Therefore, we are commanded to put on the armor, that is, take the weapons of God, and withstand Satan, all of which we do by faith. Knowing that Christ has already conquered Satan, and that the spiritual armor and weapons are available, by faith we accept what God gives us and go out to meet the foe. The day is evil, and the enemy is evil, yet Rom 8:31 tells us, “If God is for us, who can be against us?”