Ephesians 6:15 says, “And having shod your feet with the firm foundation of the gospel of peace.” When our breast is covered with the breastplate of righteousness, our conscience will be at peace. Peace follows righteousness. Truth produces righteousness, and righteousness produces peace.
Our feet need to be shod with the firm foundation of the gospel of peace. The words “firm foundation” indicate a firm footing. When we are fighting against the enemy, we must have a firm footing. We must have something solid on which to stand. If we do not have a firm footing, we shall be weakened and not be able to fight properly. This is the reason soldiers wear strong, heavy boots. Light shoes would not give them a firm foundation. Soldiers need a firm footing.
Our firm foundation, our firm footing, is the gospel of peace. The peace in 6:15 refers to the peace Christ made on the cross when He reconciled the Jews and Gentiles to God. Such a gospel is our peace. It is our peace with God and our peace with one another.
Such a full peace is in the Body. But whenever there is turmoil among believers, there is not a firm foundation for fighting against the enemy. Among us in the Lord’s recovery, we have people from many different backgrounds and different races. Nevertheless, we have peace with God and with one another. This peace was made by the Lord Jesus. He took away sins and sin, and He nailed to the cross the commandments in ordinances that once separated us from others. Therefore, He has made a full peace for us. Our gospel is the gospel of this peace. The gospel of peace is now our firm footing.
Thus far, we have considered truth, righteousness, and peace. If we have truth, righteousness, and peace, we shall also have faith. Faith is a totality of truth, righteousness, and peace. This faith is a shield which protects our whole being from the flaming darts of the evil one (v. 16).
In verse 17 Paul tells us to “receive the helmet of salvation.” Our head needs to be covered with the helmet of salvation. Truth issues in righteousness, and righteousness produces peace. If we have these three items, we shall have faith. Moreover, we shall also have salvation. When truth, righteousness, peace, and faith are added together, the result is salvation. This salvation is the helmet that covers our head.
All the five items of the armor are Christ. Christ is reality, righteousness, and peace. He is also the Author and Perfecter of faith (Heb. 12:2). This means that faith does not have its source in ourselves but in Christ. Salvation also is Christ. Therefore, the corporate warrior in Ephesians 6 is inwardly empowered with Christ and outwardly clothed with Christ. In other words, this warrior is mingled with Christ. We need Christ empowering us inwardly to be our power, saturating every part of our being. When Christ, the heavenly dynamo, empowers us, He saturates us and makes us vigorous. This is a matter of life-dispensing.
The aggregate of the various aspects of Christ as our armor is the armor of God. The armor of God that covers us is the totality of Christ. Christ is our truth, our reality. Christ is also our righteousness, peace, faith, and salvation. The sum of all these aspects of Christ is the armor of God. When we realize God in Christ as truth, righteousness, peace, faith, and salvation, we have the armor. Therefore, the armor is actually God in Christ realized by us as all these aspects. The power within us is Christ, and the armor outside of us is God realized in Christ. This is altogether related to the divine dispensing of the Triune God.
Once again we may use electricity as an illustration. When you turn on the switch, the electricity works. That working is the dispensing of the electricity. The moving of the current of electricity into the appliances is the dispensing of electricity into them. The Triune God as the heavenly electricity has been installed into us. Whenever the “switch” is on, the current of the heavenly electricity flows. This flowing is the dispensing of the Triune God to empower us inwardly and to clothe us with the armor outwardly. Through this dispensing the corporate warrior is mingled with the Triune God inwardly and outwardly.
God the Son is the power within us, God the Father realized in the Son is the armor upon us, and God the Spirit is the sword, who is the word of God. The fact that the Spirit as the word of God is our sword indicates that we fight by speaking. We all need to learn to speak the word of God. We all need to speak the word and present the truth that we have heard. This speaking of the divine word is the sword that slays the enemy. As a corporate warrior empowered inwardly and covered outwardly, we should now use the sword to fight against God’s enemy.
Ephesians 6 concludes with the words, “Peace to the brothers, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace be with all those who love our Lord Jesus Christ in incorruption” (vv. 23-24). These verses indicate that eventually the church will be in such a condition to enjoy peace and love with faith and grace. In chapter one we enjoy grace resulting in peace. Thus, in chapter six we are already in peace. Here we go on to enjoy peace and love with faith plus more grace. This is the result, the issue, of the divine dispensing of the Divine Trinity.