Tuesday, 3/27/18 – Eph 6:14, The
Armor of God, Pt. 1, Introduction and the Belt of Truth, Pt. 1, Lesson # 18-033.
Grace Fellowship Church
Pastor/Teacher, Jim Rickard
Stand in Warfare –
Eph 6:10-20.
3. The Equipment, vs. 13-17.
Introduction to the Armor of God.
Like Isa 59:17, several other NT passages speak about putting on the
armor of God. Notice that there are variations in the analogies used for the
specific pieces of armament. That tells us that the entire Word of God is part
of our “full armor,” not just the few doctrines noted in Eph 6:13-17. Nevertheless, what we have in our passage is vital to
putting on and utilizing the power of God for victory in our spiritual warfare.
Rom 13:12, “The night is almost gone, and the day is near.
Therefore let us lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of
light.”
1 Thes 5:8, “But since we are of the day, let us be sober,
having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the
hope of salvation.”
In this passage, the helmet is the
same, but the breastplate varies from “righteousness” in Ephesians, to “faith and love”
in 1 Thessalonians. Both were
written by Paul. In Eph 6:14-17 the
“full armor of God” includes 6 pieces of equipment: girded loins and a
breastplate, vs. 14; footwear, vs. 15; a shield, vs. 16; and a helmet and sword, vs. 17.
Each of the pieces of armament are
accompanied by a doctrine found in God’s Word. They include: truth and
righteousness, vs. 14; the gospel of
peace, vs. 15; faith, vs. 16; and salvation and the Word of
God, vs. 17. These are all
Christ-like virtues that we are take on as we grow in the grace and knowledge
of our Lord Jesus Christ. These virtues that are connected with the pieces of
armor have already been mentioned by Paul in the Book of Ephesians, and some
will be after these passages:
1. Truth, Eph 1:13; 4:15, 21, 24-25; 5:9.
2. Righteousness, Eph 4:24; 5:9.
3. The Gospel, Eph 1:13; 3:6; of Peace, Eph 2:14-18; 4:3; 6:19, 23.
4. Faith, Eph 1:13, 15, 19; 2:8; 3:12, 17; 4:5, 13: 6:23.
5. Salvation, Eph 1:13; 2:5, 8; 5:23.
6. The Word of God, Eph 1:13; 5:26.
Vs. 14, Truth and Righteousness
Eph 6:14, “Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins
with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness.”
This verse begins with the same
command as in vs. 13, “stand firm,” with the Aorist, Active,
Imperative. With this is the Inferential Conjunction OUN, “therefore.” to set up the conclusion to the preceding discussion.
In other words, this is how we fight and win in the angelic conflict, this is
how we stand. Here, we have six pieces of armor and weaponry to be victorious. Vs. 14, gives us two parts of the
conclusion:
1. “Having girded your loins with truth,” PERIZONNUMI HO OSPHUN HUMEIS
EN ALETHEIA.
2. “Having put on the breastplate of righteousness,” ENDUO HO THORAX HO DIAIOSUNE.
We begin with, “Having girded your loins with truth.” “Having
girded,” is PERIZONNUMI,
περιζώννυμι that means, “to gird around or about, to bind around.” It comes
from the root word ZONNUMI, that means, “gird or bind about.” The prefix
Preposition PERI means “around or about.” So, together it means, “to gird
around,” which we could also say, “wrap around.”
In the LXX, it was used for being
girded with strength or gladness, Psa
18:32; 30:11. In the NT era, it had its literal meaning, yet it also
developed a specific meaning, such as, “to put on a girdle,” which acquired the
meaning of, “make oneself ready to go,” or “to take off a girdle” meant, “to
rest” or “to be at leisure.” As such, sayings like, “everyone who wears the
girdle,” came to mean, “men fit for war.” Thus the wearing of a girdle took on
the meaning of one who is “ready” or “prepared” or “strengthened for service or
action.” Therefore, for a soldier, before the armor could be put on, he had to
bind the loose, flowing garments worn by people of that day, so he could enjoy
freedom of movement. To tighten the belt meant a soldier was ready for duty,
and to loosen it meant he was going off duty.
In our passage, it is in the Aorist,
Middle, Participle in the Nominative Plural. The Aorist is used for
simple past tense “having girded.” The Reflexive Middle voice means we
receive the benefit of the past action of being girded. The Participle of
Means is used here to define how we are to, “stand firm” and also gives us
contemporaneous, as well as antecedent time. In other words, we have girded
ourselves in the past and remain girded in the present to fight and win.
PERIZONNUMI occurs six times in
the NT. In the three occurrences in Luke
it means, “to prepare oneself for service” and thus is translated in Luke 12:35, “Be dressed ready for service,”
(NIV).
In Luke 12:35, the NASB has, “Be
dressed in readiness, and keep your lamps alight.” It should read, “Let your loins be girded about, and keep
your lamps burning.”
Luke 12:37, “Blessed are those slaves whom the master shall
find on the alert when he comes; truly I say to you, that he will gird
himself to serve, and have them recline at the table, and will come up and
wait on them.”
Luke 17:8, “But will he not say to him, 'Prepare something
for me to eat, and properly clothe yourself and serve me until I have
eaten and drunk; and afterward you will eat and drink'?”
In Rev 1:13 and 15:6, the
verb communicates the idea of wearing a “golden girdle” or “golden sash” (NIV),
around the chest of Jesus and the angels, (see Dan 10:5), which is a mark of priestly service and triumphant
royalty.
Rev 1:13, “And in the middle of the lampstands one like a
son of man, clothed in a robe reaching to the feet, and girded across His
breast with a golden girdle.”
Rev 15:6, “And the seven angels who had the seven plagues
came out of the temple, clothed in linen, clean and bright, and girded around
their breasts with golden girdles.”
In Acts 12:8, some manuscripts have PERIZONNUMI, while others have the
root word ZONNUMI. Nevertheless, the sense of readiness, to get up and go, is
in view.
Acts 12:8, “And the angel said to him, ‘Gird yourself
and put on your sandals.’ and he did so. And he said to him, ‘Wrap your cloak
around you and follow me’.”
In Ephesians, it is the metaphoric use and conveys the idea of girding
oneself around with the truth of God and His Word, to gain protection from the
attacks of evil spiritual forces.
The area of the body girded in our
verse is “the loins,” HO OSPHUS, ὀσφῦς that
means, “waist or loins.” It represents anywhere in the mid-section of the body.
Literally, it was used for the strong trunk of the body that gives stability
and power for vigorous action. It is the part of the body where a belt or
girdle gives support or binds the clothing out of the way for work, travel, or
battle. In the NT, OSPHUS is used literally only in reference to John the
Baptist who wore, “a garment of camel’s hair, and a leather belt
about his waist / loins,” Mat 3:4; cf. Mark 1:6.
In the Scriptures, “loins” are used often to
signify strength, and girded loins means the opposite of self-indulgence, ease,
or carelessness.
Isa 11:5, “Also righteousness will be the belt about His
loins, and faithfulness the belt about His waist.”
In the Greek culture, it stood for
virility and strength, and metaphorically, for the innermost source of power
for living, for working, and for passing on a heritage to posterity. The common
phrase, “gird up the loins” means, “to prepare for sustained and effective
effort, to make ready for action,” Ex
12:11; 1 Kings 18:46; Job 38:3; 40:7; 1 Peter 1:13.
1 Peter 1:13 (KJV), “Wherefore gird up the loins of your
mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto
you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”
Therefore, to be girded about your
loins, speaks to your inner strength and power.
Next, we have the thing we are to gird around our loins, “with the truth,” the Dative of sphere
of EN ALETHEIA, ἀλήθεια that means, “truth,
dependability, freedom from error, and integrity.” Originally, the word denoted
something which was not hidden or a disclosure of something which was hidden.
In Greek philosophy, the word often carried the sense of that which really
exists, “the reality behind all apparent reality.”
In the NT, it is used for “that which is true and correct;
that which is certain and on which one can depend; that which is pure and
genuine.” At the same time, the NT uses ALETHEIA to center on Jesus Christ, as
grace and truth came by Jesus Christ, John
1:17, who is Himself, “the Way, the
Truth, and the Life,” John 14:6. It is also used for the Word of God, and
with the girding of the loins it means, Bible Doctrine resident within the
soul.
2 Peter 1:12, “Therefore, I shall always be ready to remind
you of these things, even though you already know them, and have been
established in the truth which is present with you.”
Therefore, Paul compared the wide
leather belt of the soldier to the “belt of truth” worn by the Christian who
stands literally, “in the realm of truth.” The person who operates in the realm
of the truth of God’s Word will not be defeated in battle.
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