“Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness,” (Ephesians 6:14).
By the time the apostle Paul wrote the epistle to the Ephesians, he had spent up to five years in the presence of Roman soldiers. From Jerusalem to Caesarea to Rome, Paul—a prisoner of Jesus Christ (Ephesians 3:1; Philemon 1)—was near a Roman soldier daily.
Such familiarity was transformed into a powerful spiritual illustration in Ephesians 6 where the inspired apostle commands every Christian to take up the whole armor of God (v. 13) and then inventories the standard equipment issued to every member of Christ’s army (vv. 14-20). If attired as prescribed, the panoply of God ensures spiritual victory over the wicked one and his spiritual hosts.
Before the victorious Christian soldier is eternally dressed in white, linen robes of righteousness (Revelation 6:11; 7:9; 19:8), he must put on the breastplate of righteousness for his daily warfare against the principalities, powers, rulers of the darkness of this age, and spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.
The only defense against the potent and deadly attacks Satan unleashes on the Christian soldier is the spiritual refuge that righteous living provides. Being right with God through obedience to the gospel and doing right by observing all things Christ has commanded protect the vital spiritual organs of your heart, your conscience, and your bowels of compassion. Against this breastplate, the slanderer has no weapon to penetrate it.
To be spiritually dressed for success you must put on and continually wear the breastplate of righteousness.
