The Spiritual Warfare. A. D. 61.
10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power
of his might. 11 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to
stand against the wiles of the devil. 12 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.
13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able
to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. 14 Stand therefore,
having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate
of righteousness; 15 And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel
of peace; 16 Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall
be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. 17 And take the helmet
of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: 18
Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching
thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;
Here is a general exhortation to constancy in our Christian course,
and to encourage in our Christian warfare. Is not our life a warfare? It
is so; for we struggle with the common calamities of human life. Is not
our religion much more a warfare? It is so; for we struggle with the opposition
of the powers of darkness, and with many enemies who would keep us from
God and heaven. We have enemies to fight against, a captain to fight for,
a banner to fight under, and certain rules of war by which we are to govern
ourselves. "Finally, my brethren (v. 10), it yet remains that you apply
yourselves to your work and duty as Christian soldiers." Now it is requisite
that a soldier be both stout-hearted and well armed. If Christians be soldiers
of Jesus Christ,
I. They must see that they be stout-hearted. This is prescribed here:
Be strong in the Lord, &c. Those who have so many battles to fight,
and who, in their way to heaven, must dispute every pass, with dint of
sword, have need of a great deal of courage. Be strong therefore, strong
for service, strong for suffering, strong for fighting. Let a soldier be
ever so well armed without, if he have not within a good heart, his armour
will stand him in little stead. Note, spiritual strength and courage are
very necessary for our spiritual warfare. Be strong in the Lord, either
in his cause and for his sake or rather in his strength. We have no sufficient
strength of our own. Our natural courage is as perfect cowardice, and our
natural strength as perfect weakness; but all our sufficiency is of God.
In his strength we must go forth and go on. By the actings of faith, we
must fetch in grace and help from heaven to enable us to do that which
of ourselves we cannot do, in our Christian work and warfare. We should
stir up ourselves to resist temptations in a reliance upon God's all-sufficiency
and the omnipotence of his might.
II. They must be well armed: "Put on the whole armour of God (v. 11),
make use of all the proper defensitives and weapons for repelling the temptations
and stratagems of Satan--get and exercise all the Christian graces, the
whole armour, that no part be naked and exposed to the enemy." Observe,
Those who would approve themselves to have true grace must aim at all grace,
the whole armour. It is called the armour of God, because he both prepares
and bestows it. We have no armour of our own that will be armour of proof
in a trying time. Nothing will stand us in stead but the armour of God.
This armour is prepared for us, but we must put it on; that is, we must
pray for grace, we must use the grace given us, and draw it out into act
and exercise as there is occasion. The reason assigned why the Christian
should be completely armed is that he may be able to stand against the
wiles of the devil--that he may be able to hold out, and to overcome, notwithstanding
all the devil's assaults, both of force and fraud, all the deceits he puts
upon us, all the snares he lays for us, and all his machinations against
us. This the apostle enlarges upon here, and shows,
1. What our danger is, and what need we have to put on this whole armour,
considering what sort of enemies we have to deal with--the devil and all
the powers of darkness: For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, &c.,
v. 12. The combat for which we are to be prepared is not against ordinary
human enemies, not barely against men compounded of flesh and blood, nor
against our own corrupt natures singly considered, but against the several
ranks of devils, who have a government which they exercise in this world.
(1.) We have to do with a subtle enemy, an enemy who uses wiles and stratagems,
as v. 11. He has a thousand ways of beguiling unstable souls: hence he
is called a serpent for subtlety, an old serpent, experienced in the art
and trade of tempting. (2.) He is a powerful enemy: Principalities, and
powers, and rulers. They are numerous, they are vigorous; and rule in those
heathen nations which are yet in darkness. The dark parts of the world
are the seat of Satan's empire. Yea, they are usurping princes over all
men who are yet in a state of sin and ignorance. Satan's is a kingdom of
darkness; whereas Christ's is a kingdom of light. (3.) They are spiritual
enemies: Spiritual wickedness in high places, or wicked spirits, as some
translate it. The devil is a spirit, a wicked spirit; and our danger is
the greater from our enemies because they are unseen, and assault us ere
we are aware of them. The devils are wicked spirits, and they chiefly annoy
the saints with, and provoke them to, spiritual wickednesses, pride, envy,
malice, &c. These enemies are said to be in high places, or in heavenly
places, so the word is, taking heaven (as one says) for the whole expansum,
or spreading out of the air between the earth and the stars, the air being
the place from which the devils assault us. Or the meaning may be, "We
wrestle about heavenly places or heavenly things;" so some of the ancients
interpret it. Our enemies strive to prevent our ascent to heaven, to deprive
us of heavenly blessings and to obstruct our communion with heaven. They
assault us in the things that belong to our souls, and labour to deface
the heavenly image in our hearts; and therefore we have need to be upon
our guard against them. We have need of faith in our Christian warfare,
because we have spiritual enemies to grapple with, as well as of faith
in our Christian work, because we have spiritual strength to fetch in.
Thus you see your danger.
2. What our duty is: to take and put on the whole armour of God, and
then to stand our ground, and withstand our enemies.
(1.) We must withstand, v. 13. We must not yield to the devil's allurements
and assaults, but oppose them. Satan is said to stand up against us, 1
Chron. xxi. 1. If he stand up against us, we must stand against him; set
up, and keep up, an interest in opposition to the devil. Satan is the wicked
one, and his kingdom is the kingdom of sin: to stand against Satan is to
strive against sin. That you may be able to withstand in the evil day,
in the day of temptation, or of any sore affliction.
(2.) We must stand our ground: And, having done all, to stand. We must
resolve, by God's grace, not to yield to Satan. Resist him, and he will
flee. If we distrust our cause, or our leader, or our armour, we give him
advantage. Our present business is to withstand the assaults of the devil,
and to stand it out; and then, having done all that is incumbent on the
good soldiers of Jesus Christ, our warfare will be accomplished, and we
shall be finally victorious.
(3.) We must stand armed; and this is here most enlarged upon. Here
is a Christian in complete armour: and the armour is divine: Armour of
God, armour of light, Rom. xiii. 12. Armour of righteousness, 2 Cor. vi.
7. The apostle specifies the particulars of this armour, both offensive
and defensive. The military girdle or belt, the breast-plate, the greaves
(or soldier's shoes), the shield, the helmet, and the sword. It is observable
that, among them all, there is none for the back; if we turn our back upon
the enemy, we lie exposed. [1.] Truth or sincerity is our girdle, v. 14.
It was prophesied of Christ (Isa. xi. 5) that righteousness should be the
girdle of his loins and faithfulness the girdle of his reins. That which
Christ was girded with all Christians must be girded with. God desires
truth, that is, sincerity, in the inward parts. This is the strength of
our loins; and it girds on all other pieces of our armour, and therefore
is first mentioned. I know no religion without sincerity. Some understand
it of the doctrine of the truths of the gospel: they should cleave to us
as the girdle does to the loins, Jer. xiii. 11. This will restrain from
libertinism and licentiousness, as a girdle restrains and keeps in the
body. This is the Christian soldier's belt: ungirded with this, he is unblessed.
[2.] Righteousness must be our breast-plate. The breast-plate secures the
vitals, shelters the heart. The righteousness of Christ imputed to us is
our breast-plate against the arrows of divine wrath. The righteousness
of Christ implanted in us is our breast-plate to fortify the heart against
the attacks which Satan makes against us. The apostle explains this in
1 Thess. v. 8, Putting on the breast-plate of faith and love. Faith and
love include all Christian graces; for by faith we are united to Christ
and by love to our brethren. These will infer a diligent observance of
our duty to God, and a righteous deportment towards men, in all the offices
of justice, truth, and charity. [3.] Resolution must be as the greaves
to our legs: And their feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of
peace, v. 15. Shoes, or greaves of brass, or the like, were formerly part
of the military armour (1 Sam. xvii. 6): the use of them was to defend
the feet against the gall-traps, and sharp sticks, which were wont to be
laid privily in the way, to obstruct the marching of the enemy, those who
fell upon them being unfit to march. The preparation of the gospel of peace
signifies a prepared and resolved frame of heart, to adhere to the gospel
and abide by it, which will enable us to walk with a steady pace in the
way of religion, notwithstanding the difficulties and dangers that may
be in it. It is styled the gospel of peace because it brings all sorts
of peace, peace with God, with ourselves, and with one another. It may
also be meant of that which prepares for the entertainment of the gospel,
namely, repentance. With this our feet must be shod: for by living a life
of repentance we are armed against temptations to sin, and the designs
of our great enemy. Dr. Whitby thinks this may be the sense of the words:
"That you may be ready for the combat, be shod with the gospel of peace,
endeavour after that peaceable and quiet mind which the gospel calls for.
Be not easily provoked, nor prone to quarrel: but show all gentleness and
all long-suffering to all men, and this will certainly preserve you from
many great temptations and persecutions, as did those shoes of brass the
soldiers from those galltraps," &c. [4.] Faith must be our shield:
Above all, or chiefly, taking the shield of faith, v. 16. This is more
necessary than any of them. Faith is all in all to us in an hour of temptation.
The breast-plate secures the vitals; but with the shield we turn every
way. This is the victory over the world, even our faith. We are to be fully
persuaded of the truth of all God's promises and threatenings, such a faith
being of great use against temptations. Consider faith as it is the evidence
of things not seen and the substance of things hoped for, and it will appear
to be of admirable use for this purpose. Faith, as receiving Christ and
the benefits of redemption, so deriving grace from him, is like a shield,
a sort of universal defence. Our enemy the devil is here called the wicked
one. He is wicked himself, and he endeavours to make us wicked. His temptations
are called darts, because of their swift and undiscerned flight, and the
deep wounds that they give to the soul; fiery darts, by way of allusion
to the poisonous darts which were wont to inflame the parts which were
wounded with them, and therefore were so called, as the serpents with poisonous
stings are called fiery serpents. Violent temptations, by which the soul
is set on fire of hell, are the darts which Satan shoots at us. Faith is
the shield with which we must quench these fiery darts, wherein we should
receive them, and so render them ineffectual, that they may not hit us,
or at least that they may not hurt us. Observe, Faith, acted upon the word
of God and applying that, acted upon the grace of Christ and improving
that, quenches the darts of temptation. [5.] Salvation must be our helmet
(v. 17); that is, hope, which has salvation for its object; so 1 Thess.
v. 8. The helmet secures the head. A good hope of salvation, well founded
and well built, will both purify the soul and keep it from being defiled
by Satan, and it will comfort the soul and keep it from being troubled
and tormented by Satan. He would tempt us to despair; but good hope keeps
us trusting in God, and rejoicing in him. [6.] The word of God is the sword
of the Spirit. The sword is a very necessary and useful part of a soldier's
furniture. The word of God is very necessary, and of great use to the Christian,
in order to his maintaining the spiritual warfare and succeeding in it.
It is called the sword of the Spirit, because it is of the Spirit's inditing
and he renders it efficacious and powerful, and sharper than a two-edged
sword. Like Goliath's sword, none like that; with this we assault the assailants.
Scripture-arguments are the most powerful arguments to repel temptation
with. Christ himself resisted Satan's temptations with, It is written,
Matt. iv. 4, 6, 7, 10. This, being hid in the heart, will preserve from
sin (Ps. cxix. 11), and will mortify and kill those lusts and corruptions
that are latent there. [7.] Prayer must buckle on all the other parts of
our Christian armour, v. 18. We must join prayer with all these graces,
for our defence against these spiritual enemies, imploring help and assistance
of God, as the case requires: and we must pray always. Not as though we
were to do nothing else but pray, for there are other duties of religion
and of our respective stations in the world that are to be done in their
place and season; but we should keep up constant times of prayer, and be
constant to them. We must pray upon all occasions, and as often as our
own and others' necessities call us to it. We must always keep up a disposition
to prayer, and should intermix ejaculatory prayers with other duties, and
with common business. Though set and solemn prayer may sometimes be unseasonable
(as when other duties are to be done), yet pious ejaculations can never
be so. We must pray with all prayer and supplication, with all kinds of
prayer: public, private, and secret, social and solitary, solemn and sudden;
with all the parts of prayer: confession of sin, petition for mercy, and
thanksgivings for favours received. We must pray in the Spirit; our spirits
must be employed in the duty and we must do it by the grace of God's good
Spirit. We must watch thereunto, endeavouring to keep our hearts in a praying
frame, and taking all occasions, and improving all opportunities, for the
duty: we must watch to all the motions of our own hearts towards the duty.
When God says, Seek my face, our hearts must comply, Ps. xxvii. 8. This
we must do with all perseverance. We must abide by the duty of prayer,
whatever change there may be in our outward circumstances; and we must
continue in it as long as we live in the world. We must persevere in a
particular prayer; not cutting it short, when our hearts are disposed to
enlarge, and there is time for it, and our occasions call for it. We must
likewise persevere in particular requests, notwithstanding some present
discouragements and repulses. And we must pray with supplication, not for
ourselves only, but for all saints; for we are members one of another.
Observe, None are so much saints, and in so good a condition in this world,
but they need our prayers, and they ought to have them. The apostle passes
hence to the conclusion of the epistle.
The Conclusion. A. D. 61.
19 And for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open
my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel, 20 For which
I am an ambassador in bonds: that therein I may speak boldly, as I ought
to speak.
Here, I. He desires their prayers for him, v. 19. Having mentioned supplication
for all saints, he puts himself into the number. We must pray for all saints,
and particularly for God's faithful ministers. Brethren, pray for us, that
the word of the Lord may run and be glorified. Observe what it is he would
have them pray for in his behalf: "That utterance may be given unto me;
that I may be enlarged from my present restraints, and so have liberty
to propagate the faith of Christ; that I may have ability to express myself
in a suitable and becoming manner; and that I may open my mouth boldly,
that is, that I may deliver the whole counsel of God, without any base
fear, shame, or partiality." To make known the mystery of the gospel; some
understand it of that part of the gospel which concerns the calling of
the Gentiles, which had hitherto, as a mystery, been concealed. But the
whole gospel was a mystery, till made known by divine revelation; and it
is the work of Christ's ministers to publish it. Observe, Paul had a great
command of language; they called him Mercury, because he was the chief
speaker (Acts xiv. 12), and yet he would have his friends ask of God the
gift of utterance for him. He was a man of great courage, and often signalized
himself for it; yet he would have them pray that God would give him boldness.
He knew as well what to say as any man; yet he desires them to pray for
him, that he may speak as he ought to speak. The argument with which he
enforces his request is that for the sake of the gospel he was an ambassador
in bonds, v. 20. He was persecuted and imprisoned for preaching the gospel;
though, notwithstanding, he continued in the embassy committed to him by
Christ, and persisted in preaching it. Observe, 1. It is no new thing for
Christ's ministers to be in bonds. 2. It is a hard thing for them to speak
boldly when that is their case. 3. The best and most eminent ministers
have need of, and may receive advantage by, the prayers of good Christians;
and therefore should earnestly desire them.
