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Scripture Reading: Eph. 6:10-24
In chapter 1 of Ephesians the divine dispensing issues in the Body of Christ. Eventually, the Body is developed into the full-grown man in chapter 4. This full-grown man is the new man with grace and reality for the carrying out of God’s purpose. In chapter 5 the new man is developed into the bride with love and light. Therefore, by the time we come to chapter 5, Christ is expressed through His Body, God’s purpose is fulfilled through the new man, and Christ is satisfied with the bride.
The Body, the new man, and the bride are all concerned with matters on the positive side. But there is still something on the negative side, a problem that must be dealt with — God’s enemy in this universe. Therefore, in chapter 6 we have a further development, and the church is seen as a fighter, a warrior. As a warrior, the church is commissioned to deal with God’s enemy. Eventually, the church will have a full development to be such a warrior.
We have seen that for the new man in chapter 4 we need grace and reality, and that for the bride in chapter 5 we need love and light. In chapter 6 two further basic elements are introduced in relation to the church as the warrior. These elements are power and the armor of God (vv. 10-11, 13). Power is inward, and the armor is outward. Inwardly, we are filled with the divine power, the divine dynamo or divine electricity, and outwardly we are clothed with the divine armor. This strengthens and equips us to fight the spiritual warfare for God’s kingdom.
The whole book of Ephesians is concerned with the divine dispensing for the producing of the Body. Beginning in chapter 1, the Body advances, develops, until it attains full growth and becomes the new man to accomplish God’s purpose and the bride to satisfy Christ. At this point, all that remains is for the church to deal with God’s enemy. The church as the warrior must bear the burden to defeat God’s enemy by being empowered inwardly and clothed with the armor outwardly. For this reason, in chapter 6 we have the power and the armor. If we have the power inwardly and the armor outwardly, we will be strengthened and equipped to fight the battle for God.
Many Christians today do not have the full realization that God needs a warrior, that He needs an army. In his marvelous book, Pilgrim’s Progress, John Bunyan likens the individual Christian to a warrior, as revealed in Ephesians 6. This understanding, however, is not accurate. When Bunyan wrote this book three hundred years ago, he did not have the light to see that Ephesians 6 speaks not of an individual warrior but of a corporate warrior.
Actually, the book of Ephesians is not mainly concerned with individual Christians but with the corporate church. The Body of Christ is corporate. The new man also is corporate, for it is composed of two peoples, the Jews and the Gentiles. Furthermore, the bride is a corporate entity, not an individual. In the same principle, the warrior in chapter 6 must also be corporate. Hence, in Ephesians we have a corporate Body, a corporate new man, a corporate bride, and a corporate warrior.
We all need to stand in the Body and not stand as individuals. If we stand as individuals, we will be defeated. If we are detached from the Body, we will be defeated. My hand is very useful because it is attached to my body. But if it were cut off, detached, it would become useless. This is an illustration of the situation of many Christians today: they are detached from the Body. The vast majority of Christians are detached.
In Ezekiel 37 we have a vision of dry, detached bones in a valley. This is a picture not only of ancient Israel; it is also a picture of the actual situation of today’s Christians. Because so many Christians are like dry, detached bones, the Lord needs a recovery. The purpose of the Lord’s recovery is not merely to recover doctrines but to recover us through life, through the divine breath. We need the divine breath to make us alive. Then in this life we will be joined, attached, and become one. The main substance we receive through the divine dispensing is life. In the divine life received through the divine dispensing, we are one. Praise the Lord that in His recovery most of the saints are truly attached to one another in the Body. It is a shame for Christians in the Lord’s recovery to be individualistic. If anyone remains individualistic, his situation will be pitiful. The warrior in Ephesians 6 is altogether a corporate entity.
In order to fight the battle for God’s kingdom and defeat His enemy, we need power. We need divine power, not human power. In Ephesians 6:10 Paul says, “Be empowered in the Lord and in the might of His strength.”
We may say that this power is a divine dynamo energizing us from within. We may use electricity as an illustration of this power. It would be very foolish for us to turn off the electricity in our homes and try to make electrical appliances operate through our own effort. Since the electricity has already been installed, we simply need to turn on the switch, and then these appliances will be empowered. In a similar way, we should not try to fight the enemy in ourselves or by our own strength. Rather, we need to stay in the Body, where the “switch” is always on. If we stay in the Body and with the Body, we will be empowered. But if we do not attend the church meetings or fellowship with the saints, we will be weakened. If we come to the meetings, we will be empowered.
Along with the inward empowering, we need to be clothed outwardly with the armor of God. This armor is wonderful and composed of a number of items: first, the truth to gird our loins; second, righteousness as a breastplate to cover our breast; third, the gospel of peace as shoes to protect our feet; fourth, faith as a shield; and fifth, salvation as a helmet to cover our head. When we have all these items of the armor and our head is covered with the helmet of salvation, our entire being will be under this covering, and we will enjoy full salvation.
The five aspects of the armor that we have just mentioned are all defensive. When we have these items, we are fully covered and defended. But we also need something with which to fight. We need an offensive weapon, a sword, the word of God, with which to slay the enemies.
Let us now consider each item of this armor. We have seen that the first item is reality, or truth, with which we should gird our loins (v. 14). According to Ephesians 4, truth refers to God as the reality in our daily life. When we live by God, our daily life will be a life of reality, not a life of vanity. To live in vanity without God implies falsehood and emptiness. Unbelievers who spend their time indulging in worldly entertainments live a life of vanity. There is nothing real in their living. Everything is false, empty. But we who love God and seek Christ should have a daily living that, in a practical way, is filled with God as reality. This means that we should live God. If we live Him, the very God whom we live will be our reality. With Him everything is true and real. With Him, there is no falsehood or emptiness. We need to be girded with such truth, such reality.
Suppose a brother indulges in a certain practice and then hides it from others. This is both falsehood and emptiness. Falsehood and emptiness will cause this brother to be weak, and due to this weakness he may not be able to testify in the meetings for a period of time. He does not have a girdle of truth around his loins; that is, he does not have God as reality in his daily living.
We all need to be girded with truth. If we are girded with truth, with reality, we will be able to stand up boldly in the meetings and testify as those who are full of vigor.
In 6:14 Paul also speaks of putting on the breastplate of righteousness. When we are girded with truth, the issue will be righteousness. Righteousness comes from truth, which is God as reality. The righteousness that issues out of reality then becomes the breastplate that covers our breast. In figure, the breast signifies the conscience. Hence, the breastplate of righteousness covers our conscience.
The subtle enemy is always accusing us. If we are wrong even in a small matter, he will accuse us. When we are praying, he may accuse us concerning our attitude toward our husband or wife. As a result, we may not be able to continue praying. Furthermore, when we stand up to testify in a meeting, the enemy may accuse us again. If we do not deal with these accusations, we may develop a hole in our conscience, and our faith and peace will leak out. Because of the enemy’s constant accusations, we need the breastplate of righteousness. We need to be right with both God and man. However, by ourselves we cannot have this righteousness. But the Bible declares that Christ has become our righteousness (1 Cor. 1:30).
Sometimes we may confess a certain fault to the Lord, or apologize to someone else if necessary, and experience the cleansing of the Lord’s blood. Nevertheless, Satan still accuses us. Because the fault has been dealt with, this kind of accusation is false. Whenever Satan falsely accuses us, we need to declare, “Satan, you point to my mistake, but I point you to Christ. Christ is my righteousness.” If we do this, we will experience Christ as the breastplate of righteousness covering our conscience.
Ephesians 6:15 says, “Having shod your feet with the firm foundation of the gospel of peace.” When our breast is covered with the breastplate of righteousness, our conscience will be at peace. Peace follows righteousness. Truth produces righteousness, and righteousness produces peace.
Our feet need to be shod with the firm foundation of the gospel of peace. The words firm foundation indicate a firm footing. When we are fighting against the enemy, we must have a firm footing. We must have something solid on which to stand. If we do not have a firm footing, we will be weakened and not be able to fight properly. This is the reason soldiers wear strong, heavy boots. Light shoes would not give them a firm foundation. Soldiers need a firm footing.
Our firm foundation, our firm footing, is the gospel of peace. The peace in 6:15 refers to the peace that Christ made on the cross when He reconciled the Jews and the Gentiles to God. Such a gospel is our peace. It is our peace with God and our peace with one another.
Such a full peace is in the Body. But whenever there is turmoil among believers, there is not a firm foundation for fighting against the enemy. Among us in the Lord’s recovery, we have people from many different backgrounds and different races. Nevertheless, we have peace with God and with one another. This peace was made by the Lord Jesus. He took away sins and sin, and He nailed to the cross the commandments in ordinances that once separated us from others. Therefore, He has made a full peace for us. Our gospel is the gospel of this peace. The gospel of peace is now our firm footing.
Thus far, we have considered truth, righteousness, and peace. If we have truth, righteousness, and peace, we will also have faith. Faith is a totality of truth, righteousness, and peace. This faith is a shield that protects our whole being from the flaming darts of the evil one (v. 16).
In verse 17 Paul tells us to “receive the helmet of salvation.” Our head needs to be covered with the helmet of salvation. Truth issues in righteousness, and righteousness produces peace. If we have these three items, we will have faith. Moreover, we will also have salvation. When truth, righteousness, peace, and faith are added together, the result is salvation. This salvation is the helmet that covers our head.
All the five items of the armor are Christ. Christ is reality, righteousness, and peace. He is also the Author and Perfecter of faith (Heb. 12:2). This means that faith does not have its source in ourselves but in Christ. Salvation also is Christ. Therefore, the corporate warrior in Ephesians 6 is inwardly empowered with Christ and outwardly clothed with Christ. In other words, this warrior is mingled with Christ. We need Christ empowering us inwardly to be our power, saturating every part of our being. When Christ, the heavenly dynamo, empowers us, He saturates us and makes us vigorous. This is a matter of life dispensing.
The aggregate of the various aspects of Christ as our armor is the armor of God. The armor of God that covers us is the totality of Christ. Christ is our truth, our reality. Christ is also our righteousness, peace, faith, and salvation. The sum of all these aspects of Christ is the armor of God. When we realize God in Christ as truth, righteousness, peace, faith, and salvation, we have the armor. Therefore, the armor is actually God in Christ realized by us as all these aspects. The power within us is Christ, and the armor outside of us is God realized in Christ. This is altogether related to the divine dispensing of the Triune God.
Once again we may use electricity as an illustration. When you turn on the switch, the electricity works. That working is the dispensing of the electricity. The moving of the current of electricity into the appliances is the dispensing of electricity into them. The Triune God as the heavenly electricity has been installed into us. Whenever the “switch” is on, the current of the heavenly electricity flows. This flowing is the dispensing of the Triune God to empower us inwardly and to clothe us with the armor outwardly. Through this dispensing the corporate warrior is mingled with the Triune God inwardly and outwardly.
God the Son is the power within us, God the Father realized in the Son is the armor upon us, and God the Spirit is the sword, who is the word of God. The fact that the Spirit as the word of God is our sword indicates that we fight by speaking. We all need to learn to speak the word of God. We all need to speak the word and present the truth that we have heard. This speaking of the divine word is the sword that slays the enemy. As a corporate warrior empowered inwardly and covered outwardly, we should now use the sword to fight against God’s enemy.
Ephesians 6 concludes with the words, “Peace to the brothers and love with faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace be with all those who love our Lord Jesus Christ in incorruptibility” (vv. 23-24). These verses indicate that eventually the church will be in such a condition to enjoy peace and love with faith and grace. In chapter 1 we enjoy grace resulting in peace. Thus, in chapter 6 we are already in peace. Here we go on to enjoy peace and love with faith plus more grace. This is the result, the issue, of the divine dispensing of the Divine Trinity.
