Warfare of the Believer

LIBERTY UNIVERSITY

LIBERTY BAPTIST THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY

WARFARE OF THE BELIEVER

AN EXEGETICAL LOOK AT EPHESIANS 6:10-20

A RESEARCH PAPER SUBMITTED TO

DR. WILLIAM VICTOR

IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT FOR THE REQUIREMENTS

FOR THE COURSE

NBST 652

BY

JANET PERRY-CANDLER

FRESNO, CA

SUNDAY, AUGUST 14, 2011

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION 1

HISTORICAL CONTEXT 1

SCRIPTURAL CONTEXT 3

THE BELIEVER'S CHARGE (6:10) 3

THE ENEMY OF THE BELIEVER (6:11) 4

THE WARFARE OF THE BELIEVER (6:12) 6

THE DUTY OF THE BELIEVER (6:13) 7

THE ARMOR OF THE BELIEVER (6:14-17) 8

A. THE BELT OF TRUTH 8

B. THE BREASTPLATE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS 9

C. SHOES OF PEACE 10

D. THE SHIELD OF FAITH 11

E. HELMET OF SALVATION THE 13

F. THE SWORD OF THE SPIRIT 15

CONCLUSION 15

BIBLIOGRAPHY 17

INTRODUCTION

The world is human society influenced by satanic philosophies and reflecting satanic ideas. The flesh is that inner compulsion toward self-centeredness, which is a heritage of Adam's fail. The flesh is intensely personal and inescapably present. By the means of the flesh, the devil attacks us through the channels of our mind, our emotions, and our activities. These constitute our makeup as men, as human beings. We learn that the devil's aim to create imbalance, over-emphasis, eccentricity, inflating some aspect of life to outrageous proportions.

The believer's life is a battlefield. There is a constant struggle, an unceasing fight, an unending war. The believer is a soldier in conflict, hard conflict, with foes within and foes without. There is a constant struggle against the corruptible lust of the flesh and temptations offered by the world and Satan. It is a struggle against corruption that follows one to the grave.

HISTORICAL CONTEXT

It is reasonable to conclude that the church at Ephesus was the destination for this epistle regardless of the fact that the words "at Ephesus" were not mentioned in Ephesians 1:1. Most theologians agree that Paul was the author of Ephesians. Although Paul was not the first to bring the Gospel to the Ephesus, his ministry had a great influence on the people. Paul's relationship with the church at Ephesus was such that it warranted a letter written by Paul himself. Although the letter was probably circulated to churches throughout Asia, the church at Ephesus was its intended recipient.

Ephesians is considered one of Paul's four prison letters because Paul was imprisoned in Rome when he wrote the letter. Paul declared his citizenship of Rome, and because of this declaration, he was moved from the prison in Caesarea and treated with much more liberty than the other prisoners. Therefore, it would venture to say that Paul was more in captivity than in prison. N.T. Wright states, "His own personal circumstances make these especially poignant, and give us a portrait of a man facing huge difficulties and hardships and coming through with his faith and hope unscathed."

Living for two years with soldiers of the Roman army must have made an impression on Paul. It was likely he saw the soldiers' armor enough to become well acquainted with it, learned

to understand the function of each piece, what purpose it served and why it was important. At some time during Paul's captivity, God's revelation of the Roman soldier's armor began to form in Paul's mind. Just as Roman solider requires armor to go into battle; Christians require armor to fight our battles as well. However, unlike the physical armor of the Roman soldier, our armor is the spiritual armor that God provides for us. Paul understood that each piece of the Roman soldier's armor had a powerful association with our spiritual weapons. It is this analogy that the church in Ephesus received and which God has preserved for two thousand years for our benefit.

SCRIPTURAL CONTEXT

Paul, in using the word "finally" in Ephesians 6:10 has two different meanings. One meaning is "for the rest," implying that it introduces what he has left to share with the readers. Basically, Paul was telling the readers, "Here is the last thing I want to tell you." The

second meaning, which seems to be the best, is that Paul was summarizing all he had written. The repeating of both meanings can be seen in the first five chapters of Ephesians. This is especially evident in chapters 4-6 as Paul presents the responsibilities of individual believers for the Christian life. In 4:17 Paul admonishes Christians to stand against the pagan culture that surrounded them. He continues to do so throughout and to the end of Ephesians. Therefore, it is reasonable to view Paul's use of "finally" as a summary indicating his final point that should be interpreted in relation to the rest of the epistle.

The purpose of the letter is to deal with doctrine and not on any specific false teaching. "Ephesians is a general statement of Christian truth concerning the church (Chapters 1-3), Christian unity (4:1-16), and the Christian walk (4:17-6:24)." Paul concludes the letter by telling its' readers that this Christian journey would not be easy for those who will "stand therefore". He tells then their real adversary is Satan and gives them specific