Ephesians: a Call to Arms

"Finally, be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes." -- Ephesians 6:10-11

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Although this passage finds the reader towards the tail end of the epistle to the Ephesians, I feel like this is nevertheless the perfect way to sum up what the apostle Paul has carefully laid out in the preceding chapters: the need for relational vigilance, spiritual militancy, and perpetual determination to persevere amid the raging invisible conflict.

I went through Ephesians this month via three sets of devotionals as part of my study on different books of the Bible with my fiancée. And though I have read this Pauline epistle before, this examination gave me an insight that I have not had a privilege of receiving.

Many people would probably know of the 'full armor of God' passage in chapter six. Preachers have no doubt spoken about or taught on our weapons of spiritual warfare time and time again. I know I have.

However, it never occurred to me that Paul, in the entire letter, was actually building up to his introduction of the seven-piece battle gear all along. Everything else he mentions prior to that is actually a call to arms. At least from my point of view.

I have noticed a few things that were emphasized in the pages of this letter: five areas that we are to be mindful of and be on the offensive at... knowing there is an adversary who seeks to throw our lives into chaos, steal from our inheritance, kill our passion, and destroy us eternally. 

1. Our secure position in Christ

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For He chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight. In love He predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with His pleasure and will—to the praise of His glorious grace, which He has freely given us in the One He loves. -- Ephesians 1:3-6

During the last few weeks of my three-month vacation in New Zealand, this intentional immersion into the book of Ephesians came at a very opportune time as the enemy of my soul had been chipping away at my sense of worth and identity as a child of God. Reading and understanding how infinitely blessed and intentionally chosen I am by the Almighty brought my soul back to a place of safety and security in everything that the He is, has shown, given, and done in my life.

I was particularly drawn to the phrase "in accordance with His pleasure and will" (1:5), which led me to the realization that my adoption into God's family, my status as holy and blameless, and my inheritance of every spiritual blessing were all anchored on HIS CHOICE, HIS DELIGHT, and HIS WILL, and not on anything that comes from me or depends on me. My soul was revived and truth was reinforced: I am forever secure in my Fathers hands.

This spiritual stability became my ammunition for waging the daily war against the enemies of doubt, insecurity, and condemnation which would lead to striving and hyper-religiosity in the absence of a vigilant mindset.

2. Our new life in Christ

"...because of His great love for us, God, Who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved." -- Ephesians 2:4-5

All of us have previous lives that came with varying degrees of notoriety, shame, consequence, and guilt when we lived apart from the rule and reign of Jesus Christ, the King of Kings. When we indulged in those lifestyles, we didn't really have eternity in mind; we just did what we felt was right in our own eyes. Yet, even then, God loved us and made a way out of the darkness into a life lived in His light.

This truth, which the apostle Paul also points out in Ephesians, reminded me of the absolute necessity of being on the offensive when it comes to protecting the new life -- the spiritual life -- that God has so graciously allowed me to receive, experience, and perambulate in. As with my secure position in Christ, this new life is also freely given and firmly fixed in heaven's economy.

The opposing spiritual forces work ever so tirelessly to pull us back into our old habits and subsequently inject shame, condemnation, and guilt. They want us to at least struggle with the thought that 'we could never walk out  our life of faith in righteousness'; at most, they want us to give up trying altogether.

We must wage war knowing that in this new life -- the one we have been given the opportunity to live in and walk out -- it is ALL BY HIS GRACE and that it is IN HIM WE LIVE AND MOVE AND HAVE OUR BEING.


3. Our relationship with the body of Christ

"Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all." -- Ephesians 4:2-6

Another area of our faith walk that we need to be militant about is our relationship with fellow believers in the body of Christ. We are certainly and visibly beset in the area of unity in the midst and because of our differences. Be it in doctrine, mode of expression, or personal preferences and interpretation, we falter at achieving divine unity. This is vividly manifested when Christians, over the years, defend practices, uphold principles, and impose parameters that are not even rooted in the holy scriptures... which even further widens the divide between the brethren.

Another way followers of Jesus show a lack of effort in achieving -- or, at least, understanding -- unity is in the diminishing display of humility, kindness, honor, respect, and the host of other godly virtues toward each another.

Paul (in 4:2-6) reminds us that we are, in fact, already made one in Jesus. Ours is to just uphold and maintain that unity by lowering self, eschewing pride, and rejecting denominational preferences. In fact, in his letters to the other churches, Paul challenges his readers to think of the 'hive', so to speak, with verses that urge believers to love one another, forgive one another, bear each other's burdens, prefer one another, think of others as better than self.

We are to battle for and with the body of Christ, not against it. We are to set others above ourselves as Jesus did for the church. We are to give preference to people and relationships over doctrinal correctness and supremacy. We will be stronger walking and standing in unity.

4. Our daily walk of faith

So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. -- Ephesians 4:17-18

Entry into a life in the Kingdom of God is one thing; living out the daily minutiae of it is another. And it is here where many of us slowly find ourselves gradually slipping back into our old way of living life. I feel like the apostle Paul totally had a handle on the workings of the Ephesian congregation's mind: he knew that the tendency to put the car on 'cruise'  resided in the hearts of his disciples. Complacency is the enemy of determination after all.

So he reminds the believers in Ephesus to leave their old lifestyles behind and remedy their ignorance by giving up lewd and unclean acts. He presents the better option a few verses later, which is to put on the new man -- the one created in God's image.

And that's a battle we all have to deal with on a day to day basis: rejecting the sinful nature and indulging the spirit being inside us.


5. Our closest relationships

Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. -- Ephesians 5:21

Lastly, before Paul pulls the curtain to reveal the full armor of God, he highlights the importance of waging a war for, not against, the people who are in close proximity to us.

From the intimacy of a husband-and-wife relationship, to the formative parent-child dynamic, to the authority-challenged master-and-servant interaction, we are given instructions on how to preserve God's divine design for these connections. This is not a one-way flow of love, honor, respect, and submission, but a well-crafted system where if each of the participants thought of and preferred the other, then everyone involved would receive true love, genuine honor, heartfelt respect, and sincere submission... without involving manipulation or intimidation.

These close relationships are the best venues for godly virtues to be lived out and tested especially since, at arms length, our flaws, weaknesses, fears, and failures are quite visible and inescapable to those around us. This is where we fight against unforgiveness, pride, arrogance, apathy, indifference... sometimes on a regular basis.

So, Paul entreats us to dispense godly attitude where sinful nature inclination would be the easier option. That's the battle people often overlook in light of the flashier, publicly visible acts of 'spiritual' aggression... usually at the cost of personal relationships.

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We've all been born in a war zone but we must understand that our enemies are not people. The book of Ephesians to me feels like a call to arms in our battle against not just the evil spiritual forces in this world but also -- and equally important -- the weakness and wickedness remaining in our human nature. So put on the armor and fight.

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For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. -- Ephesians 6:12-13