The Heavenly Provision of Power (Eph. 6:10-13)
The church in Ephesus had seen how very early on the devil had caused metalworkers connected to pagan worship to raise a riot against the gospel when Paul was planting the church. Paul later on had warned the elders of the congregation that false teachers would arise from within their number. The apostle had even told the congregation in Ephesians 4:27 not to give the devil a foothold by them using wrong forms of speech and other sins. So there are three reasons why they should have been concerned about the activities of the devil as he opposed the progress of the gospel there.
Paul has said a lot of amazing things in his letter to the Ephesians. He has spoken about a range of amazing doctrines and given wise instructions about living for Christ. Now he comes to his final section, as it were, where he deals with spiritual warfare; yet we should not assume that the fact that he mentioned it last indicates that it is unimportant. Instead we will see its essential nature, because without it, spiritual progress ceases.
The strength
The first point that Paul describes here is the availability of divine power. Of course, the exhortation was given to everyone who was a Christian in Ephesus and was not given to anyone who was not a Christian. There are obvious reasons for that. Every Christian needs to heed this exhortation because they are all engaged in the battle between light and darkness. Each will either experience victory or they will experience defeat.
Every Christian is also informed here that they are powerless unless they use the Lord’s strength. This is a reminder that knowing a great deal about the Bible and the Christian life is not sufficient for participating effectively in the Christian warfare. After all, Jesus said to his disciples that without him they can do nothing.
We don’t only need his power to fight the devil and his agents. Paul indicated in chapter 1 of this letter that he was praying that the Ephesians would know the degree of divine power that was available to them and that was acting continually on their behalf. He said it was like the power that was revealed when Jesus was raised from the dead and exalted to the right hand of God. In chapter 3, in another prayer, he said that they needed divine power in order to experience the love of Christ in all its various dimensions. In other words, those references remind us that divine power is needed for every area of the Christian life, for pleasant and for difficult experiences.
What is the divine power that Paul has in mind here? He mixes various ideas as he explains his thoughts, but he makes clear that the expression of divine power required for spiritual victory is the same as the items mentioned in his picture of the armour of God. We will be strong in the Lord when we are clothed in the armour of God. The various items that he mentions are each an expression of the Lord’s power in what they provide, in what they protect us from, and in what they promise to us.
The dark strategist (v. 11)
Paul identifies why we have to have the armour on. The reason is that we have to stand against the wily schemes of the devil. The imagery of standing indicates that we should be immovable from a position conferred on us by God. The inference is that we are under attack because we possess something that the devil does not want us to have.
The opponent of our souls has many ways of attacking us. Sometimes he roars like a lion; at other times, he can act like a sheep in the flock. One author describes a devilish strategy in these words: ‘The devil speaks peace to the sinner, and terror to the saint.’ In contrast, as that same writer observed, ‘Christ has a word of comfort for the saint, but would make the sinner tremble.’
There is a sense in which Paul’s point is not that we need to know what the strategies are. After all, we could know a lot about the strategies and still be defeated if we did not have the armour on. Having said that, how would we know what the strategies are, in any case? The point being made is that the armour will defend believers against all possible strategies, which means that the priority is to have the armour on at all times. This is to be our concern. But we can have great confidence in the armour because it is provided by the all-wise, all-powerful Lord.
So as we think about the reality of the crafty stratagems of the devil we need to remind ourselves of definite realities. First, when we acknowledge our weakness we should avail ourselves of what is available from God. Second, we should think often of the power of God. We can say with confidence, ‘If God be for us, who can be against us?’
The field of battle (v. 12)
By field, I mean the battlefield and the army that is gathered there opposed to us as believers. We might be surprised at where or what the battlefield is – it is what Paul calls the heavenly places (literally, the heavenlies). By heavenly places, Paul does not mean heaven in a literal sense, although aspects of heaven are included in its meaning. We can see that is the case when we consider the places where it is found in Ephesians (1:3; 1:20; 2:6; 3:10; 6:12).
From that list, we see that the enemy opposes us and aims to prevent us experiencing the benefits of spiritual blessings, of acknowledging that Jesus is the king and that we are linked with him, and of us being used by God to show important lessons about the wisdom of God to other of his creatures. The battlefield is about spiritual matters.
Paul also describes the opposition. They are not humans like us. Rather they are creatures who govern the world of spiritual darkness. Paul describes something of their domain in Ephesians 2:1-3. So we are opposed by spiritual powers that previously led us astray in paths that made God angry.
It may be the case that Paul here is only referring to those prominent in the structure of authority in the enemy kingdom, since his description points to various levels of rule. How many agents are available to them to use in their efforts? Given that a legion of demons oppressed the man from Gadara, we know that there is a lot of them available to attack believers and others. A legion numbered several thousand men. We also know from the Book of Daniel that an angel was hindered from fulfilling a mission because of the power of a demonic opponent, and that too is a reminder that we need divine strength when battling against them. Those incidents provide us with some information about the powers we are opposing and fighting.
The apostle also reveals the form of conflict. It is close conflict. It was common for hand to hand fighting to occur in ancient warfare, even for there to be actual wrestling taking place in a conflict. Spiritual warfare is never warfare at a distance; we don’t launch the spiritual equivalents of long-range missiles. The enemy is close at hand, where he can grip us and we him, as it were. Contrasting us with them, we can see why the apostle urges us to fight with the Lord’s armour on.
The aim (v. 13)
Paul reminds the Ephesians, and us, that all that is required of us is to stand. As we know, Paul was guarded by a soldier at this time because of his imprisonment and it is possible he used that person as a guide for this illustration. What would that soldier have been doing all day? He would have been standing, always ready to prevent Paul from escaping. His role was to remain where he was, not to remove from his post. In a far higher sense, we are called to stay where God has put us and not to be moved away from it through temptations by the devil.
Paul also stresses that the whole armour of God is needed. One unknown author commented that ‘Courage and boldness in this conflict do not ensure success without the means.’ That is a disturbing thought. But then a brave man may attempt to fight a tank with a sword, but he will be defeated easily. The Christian engaging in spiritual warfare has to use the weapons that are provided for him to use by God.
The pieces of armour are not presented with the idea that we can choose two or three of them and ignore the rest. Rather we need all of them. Moreover the pieces have to be worn all the time. In a literal sense, the pieces would not do much good for a soldier if they were lying on the floor. They have to be on in case he is attacked suddenly.
How long do we need to have on the pieces? The answer given by Paul is the evil day. Some suggest that by ‘evil day’, Paul had in mind the entirety of life whereas others limit it to a special time of Satanic activity. I suspect that the second option is most likely, although it is the case that Christians can spend their lifetime affected by Satanic hostility.
Conclusion
This opening set of verses by Paul regarding the nature of spiritual warfare is realistic and not exaggerated. If we are Christians, we are in an age-long war, continuing in a sequence of battles that involved all previous Christians, that involves all current Christians, and which will involve all future Christians. We are facing a powerful and crafty enemy who is determined to destroy us and who heads up an organised structure without a single good agent or intention. Nevertheless, we can have confidence in the Lord because the power of God is available for us, and this power is expressed through the various pieces of armour listed by the apostle.
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