Courage to contend against evil, wearing God’s armor
Paul often alerts us that he is coming to the close of a letter by introducing his concluding section with the adverb “finally.” We have that signal at verse 10.
Recall that in the entire second half of his letter, Paul has been speaking of the blessed effect that God’s saving grace has on the life of his believers. The new life of the children of God will show itself in a life of holiness. Their holiness is committed to keeping the Spirit-worked bond of unity and to leading a life of personal purity. And as we have most recently seen, their holiness shows itself in being willing to shoulder the responsibilities God gives them, whether that be as husband or wife, child or parent, employer or employee.
Paul closes his letter by pointing out one final effect of God’s saving grace, namely, making God’s people willing to contend for the faith and against evil. For that they need some special equipment—equipment God provides.
The armor of God
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For 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.
As a final, general word to his readers Paul says, “Be strong.” The Christian life will always be a struggle.
Attacks on the faith will take the form of temptations and moral lapses. There will be temptations to yield on points of doctrine. There will be temptations to formalize religion and reduce it to an external thing, a mere shell. There will be temptations of lovelessness toward fellow believers and hatred toward those who are not believers. The list could go on, but the point is clear: we need to be strong against temptations.
That, however, is not something children of God can do by themselves. They need help—God’s help. Hence Paul says, “Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.”
We’re often inclined to think that our problems and opposition come from perverse people. Evil people, however, are really only agents and instruments. They’re part of Satan’s scheme against believers. Paul says it plainly:
“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.” We are battling spiritual forces bent “Put on the full armor of God.” (6:11) on doing us harm. That shouldn’t surprise us. Scripture tells us of a group of angels who fell (Revelation 12:7-9) and are now under the leadership of Satan, who “prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8).
It is a battle of cosmic proportions (“in the heavenly realms”), but that needn’t dismay us, for the help on our side is cosmic also. Recall that the apostle opened this letter with this glorious sentence: “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ” (1:3). The help is there; we need only avail ourselves of it.