Ephesians 6:1-24

Ephesians 6

I. The Apostle compares the struggles of a Christian against the enemies of his soul to the warfare of a soldier against the enemies of his country. What are the spiritual truths, the Christian graces, typified by these outward weapons? (1) The Christian's girdle is truth.To be sincere and earnest in our purpose, to have the heart engaged in the work, and the will turned honestly to the love of Christ, is the great security for consistent perseverance in the warfare against His enemies.

(2) The breastplate is righteousness;it is the inwrought righteousness of our Saviour. (3) The feet are shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace. By preparation seems here meant a foundation or firm footing. Resting on the strong support of the Gospel, the Christian soldier will be ready to meet and to resist all efforts for his destruction. (4) The Christian's life is pervaded and defended by faith. The reason why faith is a complete covering and protection to us is that it carries us out of ourselves, and bids us rest our hopes and affections on the Lord Jesus Christ. It teaches us to find in His life an unerring pattern for our conduct, a direct manifestation of God. (5) As the soldier's head is guarded by his helmet, so is the Christian's faith to be completed, his wavering mind stablished, and his faint heart encouraged by salvation. (6) The sword of offensive warfare is compared to the word of God,with which our Lord Himself drove away the assaults of the great adversary.

II. "Praying always." As all human life was a campaign against sin, in which Christ, the Captain of our salvation, led His followers to victory, so the prayers of Christians were the watches of sentries by which the camp of the Lord was guarded and all assaults of the enemy repelled.

G E. L. Cotton, Expository Sermons on the Epistles,vol. ii., p. 332.