So why do we even need this "Armor of God" that St. Paul talks about in Ephesians 6:10-19? What exactly is it that we have to "take our stand" against? Well, theologians have generally talked about three enemies of the soul- the World, the flesh, and the Devil.
What does that mean? Let's take them in reverse order: first the Devil. The Bible says that God created angels, His three archangels were Michael, in charge of guardians, Gabriel, in charge of messengers, and Lucifer, in charge of worshipers. Initially angels must have been granted free will, like humans. Lucifer became jealous both of God and of humans (the "crown" of God's creation). He and his angels waged war in Heaven and God kicked him out. He took his angels with him and this "fallen angel" became Satan and the demons. "Satan" or the devil are words that mean "the accuser." In the guise of the serpent, Satan tempted Adam and Eve to sin inn the garden of Eden, ever since he has constantly been trying to drive a wedge between God and man.
10Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. 12For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
Some people thing that those "rulers, authorities, and powers" are various ranks or classifications of demons. I think of them a little like the "orks" in the Lord of the Rings movies, soldiers set up with responsibilities. Sound's scary, but it is important to remember that Satan is not God's equal. He is finite, he's not all-powerful, all-knowing, or all-present everywhere like God. Luther compared him to a dog on a chain, so long as you don't get closer than the length of that chain, you're safe.
Which brings us to the next enemy, our own flesh. A 1950's/60's comic strip character, Pogo the possum once said, "we have met the enemy, and he is us." Sometimes we are our own worst enemies. Because of our sinful nature (original sin), we are all selfish, short sighted, and immature- at least spiritually speaking. We don't love God with all our hearts and mind and strength, and we don't love our neighbors as ourselves. We're plagued with doubt, anger, jealousy, lust, gluttony, etc. etc. Most of the time Satan and demons don't have to do anything to us, but they may take advantage of our weaknesses. I like to think of them like mice, rats or roaches. If I have good hygiene habits and clean up, I probably won't have a problem with these scavengers, but if I let the trash pile up, guess who's coming to dinner? Likewise, it's not always so much like some demon tempts you into a given sin, so much as it is that you're inviting demons to trap you into a cycle once you open the door by indulging in something you know is wrong.
Finally there is the world. There are some Christians who are so hyper-legalistic, and a little bit paranoid, that they think that the whole world is always out to get us and steal us way from God. Well, here's the thing, the world isn't a conscious, sensate, maniacal, malevolent force, like Satan. The world is, not one thing, it's everything. The cosmos, the order of things, the holistic system of systems, and what is that system made up of? People. And what do we know about people? They all have a sinful nature, selfish and short sighted- everyone out for themselves. So yes, there is money, power, sex, drugs, material possessions, different religions, different philosophies, victories and defeats, all kinds of things that could separate us from God and from each other if we let them. But like TV or money, or the internet, there is a lot of bad out there, but there is a lot of good too. It's not "bad" exactly, in and of itself. A shark isn't evil when it eats you, it's just doing what sharks do- eat. But in this "dog-eat-dog" world, if I am the little fish, the big fish is my enemy.
So yeah, we could sure benefit from wearing God's armor. Keep visiting this blog, over the next 7 weeks I'll be talking about each piece of armor in Eph. 6
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