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1. It is very characteristic of Paul that he should give the first place to "truth." He is thinking of the truth concerning God and the will of God which comes to us from God Himself through His revelation in Christ and through the teaching of the Spirit; for all the elements of Christian strength are represented in this passage as Divine gifts. Truth appropriated and made our own gives energy, firmness, and decision to Christian life and action, relieves us from the entanglement and distraction which come from uncertainty and doubt, gives us a complete command of all our vigour. It is like the strong belt of the ancient soldier which braced him up, made him conscious of his force, kept his armour in its place, and prevented it from interfering with the freedom of his action.

2. He gives the second place to "righteousness." In the conflicts of the Christian life we are safe, only while we practise every personal and private virtue, and discharge with fidelity every duty both to man and to God. "Righteousness" is the defence and guarantee of righteousness. The honest man is not touched by temptations to dishonesty; the truthful man is not touched by temptations to falsehood; habits of industry are a firm defence against temptations to indolence; a pure heart resents with disgust and scorn the first approaches of temptation to impurity.

3. Paul gives the third place to what he describes as "the preparation of the gospel of peace." When we have received with hearty faith the great assurance by the remission of sins through Christ, we are released from the gravest anxieties and fears. We have escaped from care about the past, and are free to give our whole strength to the duties of the present and of the future. The discovery that God is at peace with us gives us confidence and inspires us with alertness and elasticity of spirit. We are not merely ready, we are eager for every good work.

4. The fourth place is given to "faith." There are a thousand perils against which faith in the righteousness and love and power of God is our only protection. When the misery of the world oppresses us, or we are crushed by the misery of our personal life, terrible thoughts about God pierce through every defence and fasten themselves in our very flesh, torturing us, and filling our veins with burning fever. We writhe in our agony. If by any chance we hear about "the unsearchable riches" of God's grace, we listen, not only uncomforted, but sometimes with a passion of unbelief. "Grace!" we exclaim, "where is the proof of it? Is there any pity in Him, any justice, any truth?" In these hours of anguish we are like soldiers wounded by the "darts" with burning tow fastened to them, or with their iron points made red hot, which were used in ancient warfare. We should have been safe if, when "the evil day" came it had found us with a strong and invincible faith in God; this would have been a perfect defence; and apart from this we can have no secure protection.

5. The fifth place is given to "salvation." We are insecure unless we make completely our own the great redemption which God has achieved for us in Christ. If we have mean and narrow conceptions of the Divine redemption, or if we think that it lies mainly with ourselves whether we shall secure "glory, honour, and immortality," we shall be like a soldier without a "helmet," unprotected against blows which may be mortal. But if we have a vivid apprehension of the greatness of the Christian redemption, and if our hope of achieving a glorious future is rooted in our consciousness of the infinite power and grace of God, we shall be safe.

6. But all these are arms of defence. Have we no weapons for attacking and destroying the enemy? Are the same temptations and the same doubts to return incessantly and to return with their force undiminished? The helmet, the shield, the breastplate, the belt, may be a protection for ourselves; but we belong to an army, and are fighting for the victory of the Divine kingdom and for the complete destruction of the authority and power of the "spiritual hosts of wickedness" over other men; it is not enough that our personal safety is provided for. We are to fight the enemy with "the Word of God." Divine promises are not only to repel doubts, but to destroy them. Divine precepts are not only to be a protection against temptations, but to inflict on them a mortal wound, and so to prevent them from troubling us again. The revelation of God's infinite pity for human sorrow, and of His infinite mercy for human sin, of the infinite blessings conferred upon men by Christ in this world, and of the endless righteousness and glory which He confers in the world to come - the Divine "Word" to the human race - is the solitary power by which we can hope to win any real and enduring victory over the sins and miseries of mankind.

(R. W. Dale, LL. D.)

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KJV: Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

WEB: Therefore, put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and, having done all, to stand.