Verse 11 says, “Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the stratagems of the devil.” To fight the spiritual warfare, we need not only the power of the Lord but also the armor of God. Our weapons do not avail, but God’s armor, the whole armor of God, avails. The whole armor of God is for the entire Body of Christ, not for any individual member of the Body. The church is a corporate warrior, and the believers are parts of this unique warrior. Only the corporate warrior, not any individual believer, can wear the whole armor of God. We must fight the spiritual warfare in the Body of Christ, not as individuals.
The charge to “put on the whole armor of God” is an imperative, a command. God has provided us with armor, but He does not put it on for us. Rather, we must put on the armor that God has provided. For this, we need to be empowered. Although God can empower us, we still must exercise our will to cooperate with Him. According to this principle, we must cooperate with God’s command to put on the armor.
We need to put on the armor of God so that we may be able to stand. In Ephesians 6 the word stand is crucial. To sit with Christ (2:6) is to participate in all His accomplishments, to walk in His Body (4:1, 17; 5:2, 8, 15) is to fulfill God’s eternal purpose, and to stand in His power is to fight against God’s enemy.
The devil is good at devising all kinds of stratagems; these stratagems are his evil plots. The devil has not only evil intentions but also deceptive stratagems to work out his intentions. To put on the whole armor of God enables us to stand against the stratagems of the devil.
Ephesians 6:13 says, “Take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.” In verse 11 we are told to put on the armor of God, and in verse 13 we are charged to take it up. The armor of God is prepared and provided by God for us, but we need to put it on and take it up. We need to use and apply God’s provision. We take up some items of the armor, such as the sword and the shield, and we put on other items, such as the breastplate, the helmet, and the shoes. Whether we put on the whole armor of God or take it up, we must exercise our will in a strong way.
In verses 11 and 13 Paul specifically speaks of the whole armor of God, not just a part or some parts of it. In order to wage the spiritual warfare, we need the whole armor. This requires the Body of Christ. It is not individual believers who take it up. This armor is not for individual believers; rather, it is for the corporate church, the Body. Only the corporate warrior, the Body, can put on the whole armor of God. By putting on the whole armor of God, we will “be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.” To withstand is to stand against. In fighting, the most important thing is to stand. In this warfare we need to stand to the end. After having done all, we still need to stand.
According to Ephesians 6, Christ is the armor that we put on for our protection. In verses 14 through 17, we have six aspects of Christ as the armor: the girdle of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes of the firm foundation of the gospel of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit. Among the six items of Christ as our armor, the sword is the only one that is used for attacking the enemy; the rest of the six items are defensive.
Verse 14 says, “Stand therefore, having girded your loins with truth.” The girding of our loins is for the strengthening of our entire being. For the purpose of standing, our entire being needs the strengthening of the truth. Truth refers to God in Christ as reality in our living, that is, God becoming our reality and experience in our living. This is actually Christ Himself lived out by us (John 14:6). Such truth, such reality, is the girdle that strengthens our whole being for the spiritual warfare.