Ephesians 6:10-19
Adapted from an outline by Dr. Warren Weirsbe
The Enemy We Fight (vv. 10-12)
The call to stand
The need for strength
The Equipment We Wear (vv. 13-17)
Belt of Truth
Breastplate of righteousness
Boots of the gospel of peace
Shield of faith
Helmet of salvation
Sword of the Spirit
The Energy We Need (vv. 18-19)
Prayer for others
Prayer for ourselves
More To Consider
In contrast to modern skepticism toward evil spirits, Paul pictured the church’s battle for survival as a struggle against the devil, demons, and malign supernatural beings (see 2:2; 3:10).
Cabal, T., Brand, C. O., Clendenen, E. R., Copan, P., Moreland, J. P., & Powell, D. (2007). The Apologetics Study Bible: Real Questions, Straight Answers, Stronger Faith (p. 1770). Holman Bible Publishers.
In the first half of his letter Paul prayed that his readers would come to know the power of God which was demonstrated and is operative in the Resurrection of Christ. That power had been demonstrated, too, in the readers’ conversion to Christ. Each person’s conversion is a Resurrection from the deadness of sin to life in Christ and deliverance from the prevailing forces of sin. Now, in this last chapter, Paul reminds his readers that in all their future they will have to rely on the same Resurrection power. We may be tempted to think that our enemies are human and then to seek to fight with worldly weapons. But our real enemies are the spiritual forces that stand behind all institutions and seek to control the lives of persons and nations.
Dunnam, M. D., & Ogilvie, L. J. (1982). Galatians / Ephesians / Philippians / Colossians / Philemon (Vol. 31, pp. 236–237). Thomas Nelson Inc.
The soldier's first article of faith is summed up nowhere more eloquently than in an 1865 letter from William Tecumseh Sherman to U.S. Grant: "I knew wherever I was that you thought of me, and if I got in a tight place you would come--if alive." This is the unwritten, unspoken but unbreakable contract of the battlefield: You will leave no one, dead or alive, in the hands of the enemy.
U.S. News and World Report, July 29, 1991, p. 5.
