Sermon for the 21st Sunday after Trinity, 2021
Trinity XXI
My high school driver’s education teacher was Mr. Hamm. The practice route we took near the school involved going up a very steep hill which had a blind curve near the top. Cars coming the opposite way down the hill and going too fast would sometimes drift over the double yellow line exactly at this blind curve. As we would drive up the hill, Mr. Hamm would tell us to inch over to edge of the road. When we asked him why, he pointed to the blind cure said, “Because that’s where the danger will come from.”
From our Collect three Sundays ago, we learned there are three dangers to our souls: the world, the flesh, and the devil.[1] All temptations to sin can be traced to one of these, or combination of them. In last week’s Homily, Fr. Tony mentioned some dangers that come from the world. During the penitential seasons, we focus on the dangers from the flesh. In today’s Epistle, Ephesians six, verses 10-20, the Apostle Paul focuses on the third danger – the devil.
Here is a three-point outline of the passage: Verse 10 is an exhortation: “Be strong in the Lord.” The second part of verse 11 gives us the reason for the exhortation: “To stand against the wiles of the devil.” Third, verses 14-18 tell us how we are do this: “Put on the whole armor of God.” Exhortation, reason, and means.
First, the exhortation in verse 10: “My brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.” The qualifier, “in the Lord,” is important. We should not have confidence in our own strength, rather we are to be strong “in the Lord.” We are to use only those resources that He gives to us. How are we to do this?
Verse 11 begins “Put on the armour of God.” The first thing we should note is that being strong in the Lord is not about feeling strong, or merely thinking about spiritual armor. We are called to act – “put on.” Notice the other verbs Paul uses in this passage: “Be strong, take, stand.” The imperative mood conveys explicit directions and commands. Further, with the imperative, “You” is always the implied subject. You are to be strong in the Lord. You are to put on. You are to stand. If you’re listening or reading carefully, you’ll notice I omitted one word – “whole” – the whole armor of God. We don’t get to pick and choose how we will arm ourselves. We must use all the graces He provides. No soldier would want to go into battle only partially armed. Here we would expect Paul to tell us what this armor is, but as he sometimes does, he interrupts himself, to tell us why we need God’s armor.
The second half of verse 11: “That ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.” The “wiles of the devil” are his schemes, trickery, and deceptions. We will say more about this later when we come to an application. Paul’s language about the threats from the devil is even stronger in the next verse. “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” Paul uses no less than four different words or phrases to describe the range of demonic forces, spread throughout the cosmos, which have one purpose – to attack and destroy Christians. Our primary spiritual battle is not against earthly powers (“flesh and blood”), but against demonic forces which are terrible and beyond our comprehension.
So we are relieved when Paul now tells us how we can prepare for these dangers. Verse 13: “Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day…” You’ll notice that Paul repeats “whole armor” from verse 11. If we arm ourselves as we should, we will be able to “withstand” – that is, to oppose or stand against. As the late John R. W. Stott, Anglican priest and author, noted, Christ has defeated the devil, but he has not yet conceded defeat.[2] We are standing on ground that Christ has won for us, and our mission is not to attack, but to stand. We are soldiers “holding the line” in the face of temptations.
The third part of the passage is verses 14-18, where Paul uses an extended metaphor to describe the armor. Roman soldiers were a familiar site to the Christians in ancient Ephesus. Paul tells them that when they see a Roman soldier, they can feel resentment over an occupying army, or they can turn that sight into a moment of prayerful recollection on God’s spiritual armor for them. We see that the armor covers us literally head to toe, thus conveying the completeness of God’s protection. First, we are to arm ourselves with the belt of truth. Jesus called the devil “the father of lies.”[3] His subtle attacks may include suggestions that what is false is true, and what is true, is false. As Christians we are committed to following Him who is the “way, the truth, and the life.”[4] Second, the “breastplate of righteousness” is not limited only to righteousness. In I Thessalonians 5:8, Paul instructs us to “put on the breastplate of faith and love.” So all the virtues are needed in order to be “strong in the Lord.” In verse 15, we see that our feet are to wear the gospel of peace. It is only the gospel which brings peace and reconciliation – between us and God, and between ourselves and others. We find the shield of faith in verse 16. This piece of armor is needed to extinguish the fiery darts of the wicked. “Wicked” is understood as the “wicked one.” This reminds us of the larger context of the passage. Our armor is to “stand against the wiles of the devil.” “Fiery darts” is a metaphor for fierce temptation. Spiritual warfare demands constant alertness to temptation. In verse 17 we find the helmet of salvation. This reference, along with the breastplate of righteousness earlier lets us know that Paul is drawing from the prophet Isaiah’s description of the future Messiah’s armor: “He put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation upon his head.”[5] We arm ourselves as the Captain of our salvation did.[6] The sixth piece of armor is the “sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” This is the only offensive weapon we are given. When our Lord was tempted in the wilderness by Satan, he repelled Satan all three times with “It is written…” Being able to say, “The law of thy mouth is better unto me than thousands of gold and silver,” is how God provides a way of escape from temptation.[7] Verse 18 contains the seventh and final piece of armor – prayer. Paul says more about prayer than any of the previous six. Notice first that the previous six pieces of armor are all separated with the word “and.” But Paul does not end this list with “and prayer.” This is because prayer must infuse all the armor. For Paul, prayer is the primary means of spiritual warfare because prayer is how we put on the rest of the armor. Notice, too, Paul tells when to pray (“always”), how to pray (“with all perseverance and supplication in the Spirit”), and finally, for whom to pray (“for all the saints”).
We miss the main point of this passage if we “spiritualize” this metaphor, remaining content with merely thinking about the armor. “Put on!” “Take up!” We have not really put on the “breastplate of righteousness” if we are not actively developing the Christian virtues. We have not put on the “gospel of peace” if we maintain a low simmering anger and resentment against others.
In summary, this passage is an apostolic warning about “the wiles of the devil.” We are exhorted to be strong in the Lord by putting on the “whole armor of God” for spiritual warfare.
Let’s consider one area of application – the so-called “culture wars.” There are two errors to avoid. First, we should not confuse spiritual warfare with the “culture wars.” You’ll hear some Christians use same language for both, and with the same amount of zeal. They are not the same thing, and they are not morally equivalent. Our children should not overhear us talk more about masks, vaccines, January 6, or critical race theory than how to protect ourselves and them from the spiritual dangers we face every day. I Peter 5:18: “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.” No amount of success in the culture wars will save us from that. Second, some Christians do not engage the culture with Christlikeness. But putting on the whole armor of God corrects this. If we put on the belt of truth, we won’t misrepresent our opponents’ positions. If we put on the gospel of peace, we will not justify violence. If we put on the breastplate of righteousness, we will always speak and act in charity. And if we are always prayerful, winning them to Christ will always be more important than winning an argument.
Why is it so important to avoid these errors? Because the devil has just one aim: to separate your soul from God. And he would be pleased for us to win every battle in the culture wars if he could induce us to sin just one time in doing so. One of his vilest deceptions would be for us to heartily sing “For still our ancient foe doth seek to work us woe” in here but then scarcely give him another thought out there.[8]
We will close with these words by the fourth century Church Father, St. John Chrysostom. He earned the name “golden-mouthed” for his eloquence. But sometimes bitter words are needed to awaken us to where the danger is. “For this enemy is at war with us, not simply, nor openly, but by wiles...If then it is a warfare, if such are the forces arrayed against us…if they are the spiritual hosts of wickedness, how, tell me, can you live in self-indulgence?...How if we are unarmed, shall we be able to overcome? These words let every one repeat to himself every day…Let him hearken to the blessed Paul…Our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers.”[9]
[1] The Book of Common Prayer (1928), pg. 214.
[2] John R. W. Stott, The Cross of Christ (1986), pg. 235.
[3] Jn. 8:44b.
[4] Jn. 14:6.
[5] Is. 59:17b, RSV.
[6] Heb. 2:10.
[7] Ps. 119:72; I Cor. 10:13.
[8] Hymn 551, The 1940 Hymnal.
[9] St. John Chrysostom, Homily 22 on Ephesians. https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/230122.htm, accessed October 14, 2021.