Stand your ground, putting on…the body armor of God’s righteousness. (6:14)
God’s righteousness is like body armor that surrounds us in this struggling against the Enemy. What is this righteousness and why is it important?
I notice that biblical scholars debate whether this is the righteousness that God gives to his people, or if it refers to the righteous acts that we do, which are done as a result of our new life in Christ. In other words, is this something that he has done for us, or do we continue to walk in God’s protection by living in the right way that he desires? G.G. Findlay combined the two possible meanings with this statement: “The completeness of pardon for past offence and the integrity of character that belong to the justified life, are woven together into an impenetrable mail.”
I do see both angles, but my interpretation is that this is primarily the position of righteousness that God has given to us and enabled for us. There are some translations in English which leave ambiguous the underlying meaning. The New Living Translation, which is the translation of choice for this study, has taken the translation decision that this is righteousness that comes from God, or that is belonging to him.
I believe that decision fits into the overall context of the passage, in that the armor we are to put on is what God has provided. One of the provisions of his for us in this fight is right standing before him. This was enabled by the death of his Son Jesus Christ, by which he took our penalty of sin, and then the Father declared us righteous, and not guilty. There is nothing we did by ourselves to earn or acquire that right standing before him.
Why is this righteousness important? First, it is our position before God and with God. If we are positioned with God, then we are protected by Him, and assured of his care. When the battle rages, we are with him and not by ourselves.
Consider this scenario. A small child is suddenly caught in a storm, alone, perhaps standing in the front yard. What is the natural response? Fear, crying, despair—all the opposite of safety and protection. But then mom or dad suddenly appears from the front door of the house, and runs to hold and hug, and escort the child to safety. The child’s position has gone from panic, and feeling defenseless, to a safe place, protected by the parent.
I find that similar to our position of righteousness before God. God is protecting us, and covering us, doing so because of the sacrifice of Jesus. When we accept what he has done for us and provided for us, then we are not on our own, but with Him. When the storm comes that the Enemy throws our way, we have God’s protection and care—not based on who we are, or what we’ve done, or on our strength, but based on Him.
This righteousness body armor is also important because this lying Enemy persists in telling us that even though we have professed faith in Jesus Christ and declare publicly that we are His people, we should be ashamed of ourselves. We aren’t good enough before God. He could never accept us; our efforts at earning his favor or becoming right before him have all been useless. So-called righteousness is a joke! God could never accept you! You’ve done too much, strayed too far, rejected too often. Righteous? That might be someone else, but it sure isn’t you, honey! Have you lost your mind? You are the opposite of a fine, righteous specimen!
It’s a lie. God has declared us righteous before him. Consider this passage from Romans 3:22-28:
22 We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are.
23 For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. 24 Yet God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins. 25 For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood. This sacrifice shows that God was being fair when he held back and did not punish those who sinned in times past, 26 for he was looking ahead and including them in what he would do in this present time. God did this to demonstrate his righteousness, for he himself is fair and just, and he makes sinners right in his sight when they believe in Jesus.
27 Can we boast, then, that we have done anything to be accepted by God? No, because our acquittal is not based on obeying the law. It is based on faith. 28 So we are made right with God through faith and not by obeying the law.
That settles the righteousness question.
This righteousness that God provides for us is like the soldier’s body armor that wraps around us. Physically, the body armor protected the vital organs. The Enemy comes at us from different angles, attacking us at a most vital spot: our righteous position in Christ. Remember: he seeks to exploit our vulnerabilities. One of those is an insecurity about who we are in Christ (No way God has really done all that for you!), and he practices the planting of doubt. He excels at attempting to implant anti-truth in us.
We are not on our own. And we are not declared right before God, and under his care, based on what we have done, but on what he has done. He is our sufficiency.
“Father, in this spiritual struggle, we put on this body armor of righteousness. Thank you for its availability. Help us to resist the Enemy firmly when he comes suggesting, proclaiming, and whispering that we are on our own, and that’s because we are not good enough to be with you. We have been declared righteous, by you, and that’s enough for us!”
Freddy Boswell 