Ephesians 6:10-20

“Finally, be strengthened in the Lord and in the strength of his power. Clothe yourselves with the full armor of God so that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavens. For this reason, take up the full armor of God so that you may be able to stand your ground on the evil day, and having done everything, to stand. Stand firm therefore, by fastening the belt of truth around your waist, by putting on the breastplate of righteousness, by fitting your feet with the preparation that comes from the good news of peace, and in all of this, by taking up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. With every prayer and petition, pray at all times in the Spirit, and to this end be alert, with all perseverance and requests for all the saints. Pray for me also, that I may be given the message when I begin to speak – that I may confidently make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may be able to speak boldly as I ought to speak.”

— ‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭6‬:‭10‬-‭20‬‬ 

Countless sermons on this passage, and it’s pretty difficult to mess up the explanation of the armor. Most of these are genitives of apposition. So arming ourselves with truth, righteousness, faith, the gospel, etc. I don’t know if I would make a huge deal about which body part is covered with which attribute, but maybe that was Paul’s intention. It’s obviously compared to the Roman soldier, and there are distinctions, for example, in the type of shield he is referencing and the type of sword. This is the nice, big shield that everyone came together to make a barricade and nothing could penetrate it. This is the short dagger.

The other grammatical thing to point out is “pray” and “be alert” at the end of the passage are participles, probably more means. The NET says they are “loosely related” to this list. It could be prayer is how we arm ourselves. It could be the mind is where this battle really rages. Something along those lines. 

But the major point of this passage, is the first few verses. I hope someday certain groups of Christians learn and digest these words that we are not fighting flesh and blood. Some days I wish the “war” imagery weren’t in the Bible because it’s way too easy to translate that into fighting for x, y, z. And if we don’t “win,” then we’re losers. So we have to “stand” stronger and “fight” harder. But that only turns into yelling louder and using tactics and “methods” of the world. Not what we find in Ephesians 6 or the rest of the NT for that matter. We don’t fight against flesh and blood.

Of course, the problem is there are humans and concepts and ideologies that are affected by the “principalities and powers/rulers of the age” and so there’s tension knowing how to respond, how to take a stand, how to “fight.” But we have failed multiple times. One of my biggest takeaways from grad school was the term cultural engagement, not culture war. It’s not us vs. them. We are not fighting people. We are extending hope and light to a broken and chaotic world.

At the same time, yes, we are withstanding the true enemy. I recognize the tension there, but we must maintain the tension. Releasing the tension means we ignore clear teachings of Scripture and have casualties along the way, either our testimony, potential believers, etc.

2 Thessalonians 3:1-5

Prayer for Strength

“Finally, pray for us, brothers and sisters, that the Lord’s message may spread quickly and be honored as in fact it was among you, and that we may be delivered from perverse and evil people. For not all have faith. But the Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen you and protect you from the evil one. And we are confident about you in the Lord that you are both doing – and will do – what we are commanding. Now may the Lord direct your hearts toward the love of God and the endurance of Christ.”

— ‭‭2 Thessalonians‬ ‭3‬:‭1‬-‭5‬‬

 2 Thessalonians is one of the most dispute Pauline letters for authorship (outside the Pastorals). 

After 1 Thessalonians’ heavy emphasis on Jesus’ return, the church (and some false teachers) got the wrong idea that it was going to happen, like, tomorrow. They stopped working, sitting on rooftops, waiting for Jesus. They spread rumors about various leaders and spread fear. 2 Thessalonians brings some clarity about these false teachers and some more information about preceding signs of Jesus’ appearing. (Glad this isn’t chapter 2, yet. That’s difficult.)

Paul here asks for prayer in his mission, because he is still trying to spread the gospel. Shocker: not everyone wants to hear it. Paul is still being persecuted, obviously not in Roman jail/ house arrest, yet. Not all have faith. We would hesitate to call people evil/perverse. Always good to remember our own faults, too (of course). Also good to remember people are not enemy. But yes, humanity has a problem with evil. Society has a problem with perverseness. Gospel is only hope.

But God is faithful…seems to be a recurring theme throughout Scripture. He offers strength and protection from the evil one. I know this is probably a substantive adjective. Definitely better not to translate as “evil.” (Same in the Lord’s Prayer—not “deliver us from evil” but “the evil one”) Verses like this keep our eyes on the true enemy. 

Paul loves this church and encourages them in what they are doing and will do. Yes, they have needed some correction, but they are serving well. If hearts gaze at the love of God and the faithfulness of Christ, we may be filled with the same. Those phrases are perhaps examples of “plenary genitives,” where the actions of God/Jesus motivate us to imitate the same. (It’s debated grammatically if it could just be the love God shows or only the love we show. Perhaps best to see both.)

1 Peter 5:8-11

“Be sober and alert. Your enemy the devil, like a roaring lion, is on the prowl looking for someone to devour. Resist him, strong in your faith, because you know that your brothers and sisters throughout the world are enduring the same kinds of suffering. And, after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace who called you to his eternal glory in Christ will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. To him belongs the power forever. Amen.”

— ‭‭1 Peter‬ ‭5‬:‭8‬-‭11‬‬ 

The humility and dependence on God of the previous verses must inform this paragraph as well. We cannot fulfill these commands on our own power/strength.

Alert/awake. Engaged in thought and action. This probably is the same train of thought as Paul’s renewal of the mind. Christianity is not a passive, go with the flow mindset. We are counter cultural by nature, even though that does not mean we are anti-people. (I know we can easily confuse that).

The enemy—Peter clarifies—is the devil. He’s hungry, he’s prowling. This verse is easy to use to scare people, and sometimes rightfully so. We underestimate the enemy way too often. But we also forget the devil has been defeated, too. We need a viewpoint of tension here. Don’t forget that we are still weak in our own strength and bodies. But we do have the Spirit inside and the old man/flesh is dead. 

Resist him…I wish Peter would have made it a bit more explicit exactly how this is to be done. I strongly discourage talking to Satan or demonic forces. I don’t think that’s what he was saying. I don’t want to get into a mind game with the king of evil. Also see the sons of Sceva in Acts. 

Perhaps “strong in faith” defines our resistance. Being weak in faith would make us easy targets/prey. But strong in faith, enduring suffering would be a testimony to the power of the resurrection and Jesus’ lordship.

The same suffering are being endured by the brotherhood around the world. The Christian community is global, and we forget this so often. The early church may or may not have had a better understanding of this, but it is a truth we must constantly remind ourselves. Get a bigger picture of the church. 

I always must remember the “suffering” in Peter is not burning at stake/lions in Colosseum, yet. It’s close. But it’s ostracism, it’s isolation. Business deals failing. Family neglect. Maybe legal rulings against Christians. They’re one emperor away from being harshly abused and killed. This is why Peter can tell them throughout the book to maintain witness and be holy among their communities.

This suffering (and any suffering) is temporary. Then God will establish the believers. Strengthen, confirm. Peter doesn’t give a timeline or definition of what that eternal glory is. But we do get to experience God in His glory. And all glory and power does belong to Him.

James 4:4-10

 “Adulterers, do you not know that friendship with the world means hostility toward God? So whoever decides to be the world’s friend makes himself God’s enemy. Or do you think the scripture means nothing when it says, “The spirit that God caused to live within us has an envious yearning”? But he gives greater grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud, but he gives grace to the humble.” So submit to God. But resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and make your hearts pure, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn, and weep. Turn your laughter into mourning and your joy into despair. Humble yourselves before the Lord and he will exalt you.”

— ‭‭James‬ ‭4‬:‭4‬-‭10‬‬

I haven’t taken much time with structure of James as whole. Need to see his overall argument to know how these very forward words fit. I know James doesn’t hold back throughout the book and everyone loves his practicality. But he must have some organization, too.

James does have this double-minded theme from ch 1. These people are unstable and lack faith. Here the double mindedness affects purity of heart and actions. There are people who are have affection for God and the culture of the world (obviously). James and others makes it clear that we can’t have both. Jesus would say you can’t serve two masters. Paul says light and dark don’t mix. It’s a very common idea, and we understand it logically/theologically, but when it comes to the daily, it’s very hard to discuss. 

What counts as friendship and what counts as engagement? How do I know if I am just living as a human, and how do I know if I’m being influenced, or just going with the flow, or not caring enough? Enemy is a strong word. Yikes.

Spirit is a debatable term. Most people take it as our human spirit, affected by the fall. It is marred by jealousy/envy. God gives grace to overcome these ambitions and passions. There is no OT passage that says this exactly, so either the original text has been lost or James is summarizing some passages. 

God opposes the proud and gives grace to humble. Not quite the text I would quote in a passage like this, but James focused on that phrase “give grace.” And well, humility is the antidote to many things, including pride and perhaps envy or jealousy. Most of what the world’s system/culture and philosophies try to distract us from kingdom pursuits can be countered with humility. This is James’ attempt at showing the great reversal from the gospels. 

The world says seek more, gain more, fight and claw at others to get more. Jesus says, die to self. Gospel implications are to gain the kingdom by showing how utterly dependent we are, not self-sufficient. This is submission.

We could have a whole post on resisting the devil. I wouldn’t recommend talking to him, engaging with him, finding him in every detail that goes wrong in the day, blaming him for all things. I think James is sticking with the devil as the source of opposing ambitions or passions. He is the lord of pride and greed. So run far away from these things.

Stop laughing about them. Taking joy in them. Cry over them. Weep at our haughtiness. Can we be joyful Christians? Absolutely…need much more of it. Can we be humble and happy? Yes, please. But James is arguing against some attitudes that clearly need adjusted. 

The path to being honored is to choose humility. I have no idea when or how or what that looks like. But God loves a humble person. Pursue that.