![]() ![]() ![]() But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” ( 1 Corinthians 15:55-57). That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead.” Paul echoes the message of that power in his first letter to the Corinthian church: “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. ![]() He assures Christians that God bestows on us “incomparably great power for us who believe. Referring to Ephesians 1:18-21, the Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary of the New Testament says the enemies Paul is talking about are not the Romans or any other physical army, but the invisible dark powers of this world that have brought death into God’s creation. RULERS, AUTHORITIES, THE POWERS OF THIS DARK WORLD.Our major threat is not a matter of “flesh and blood” (see Hebrews 13:6), but the demonic coercion that motivates evil behavior on earth and is active in the spiritual dimension. Paul says followers of Jesus must stand firm against the devil’s schemes, a reminder that Satan is actively planning and strategizing to make believers retreat or fall. In Colossians 3:1-17 he says, “Clothe yourselves withĪccording to the Zondervan Illustrated Bible Dictionary (available with your Bible Gateway Plus membership), clothing worn by the Hebrew people of biblical times was considered so much a part of them that the apparel not only told who and what they were, but was an external symbol of the individual’s innermost feelings and deepest desires, and his or her moral urge to represent God aright. This isn’t the only time Paul refers to a Christian’s necessary attire. David Jeremiah teaches that to put on the armor of God is the way to overcome falsehood with truth, evil with good, anxiety with peace, fear with faith, confusion with wisdom, and temptation with Scripture. In his book, Overcomer: 8 Ways to Live a Life of Unstoppable Strength, Unmovable Faith, and Unbelievable Power (Thomas Nelson, 2018), Dr. But, according to the study note in the Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary of the New Testament (available with your Bible Gateway Plus membership), each of the battle equipment Paul lists is also found in the Old Testament, especially in the book of Isaiah (see this chart). It’s commonly thought the origin of Paul’s armor reference in Ephesians 6:10-12 is the uniform of Caesar’s army. The purpose of armor is to defensively protect the body against a deadly attack and its accompanying weaponry are the means to wage offensive assaults on the enemy. More than 2,000 years later, we must do the same. Around AD 60, while a prisoner in ancient Rome for preaching the gospel, the apostle Paul wrote his letter to the church in Ephesus, using the armor of a Roman soldier as a metaphor to describe how Christians must live out their faith by strapping on the full armor of God to properly conduct and prevail in spiritual warfare. ![]()
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