Armour of God - Roman or Priestly?

One of the most common misunderstandings regarding Ephesians 6:10-18 (the whole armor of God), is unduly caused by Greek and Roman cultural views.
So often we see the armor illustrated to resemble that of a Roman soldier, but this is an entirely inaccurate portrayal: Paul was not referring to the Roman armor at all! He was actually making reference to an ancient Hebraic armor! A heavenly armor! Paul did not come up with the idea of the full armor of God on his own. He drew his wisdom and understanding from the Old Testament: Isa 59:16-17, 11:4-5, Ex 28:1-4, Num 31:6, Isa 52:1, Ps 132:9, Isa 61:10 (Salvation – Yeshua) & other references from the New testament: 1 Pet 2:9-10, Rev 3:4

Paul repeats the word “stand” four times in this passage (Eph 6:10-18) to stress that it is NOT our fight but the LORD’s. He has already won the fight and defeated the enemy (Col 2:15, Jam 4:7) so all we have to do is ‘stand’ in the victory. The focus should be on the function of the items and not what they look like. Not the armor of unholy, violent and merciless Roman soldiers, thirsting to torture others and kill people but that of a Priestly Nation that is called by God to serve Him on earth (1 Pet 2:5-9, Rev 5:10).

How is the priesthood dressed? And how is the High Priest dressed?

  • The Belt of Truth: Leviticus 8:6-7, John 17:17 - The belt holds the priestly garments together. Without it, all the other portions will fall apart. The Lord desires to wash His priests with water, and sanctify them by His Truth! So that they will not be led astray, embrace false gods and worship idols!
  • The Breastplate Of Righteousness: Exodus 28:4, Exodus 28:15, Exodus 28:22-30 - What is righteousness in the sight of God? Deuteronomy 6:25, Luke 1:5-6 - A Roman soldier does not have any righteousness on his breastplate. Neither does he desire to keep the commandments of God!
  • Shod Your Feet With The Preparation Of The Gospel Of Peace: Exodus 28:32-35, Exodus 3:5 - Priests minister to God without wearing any shoes or sandals! They walk barefoot on the floors of the temple courts. However they are always ready to bring good news, proclaim peace, bring glad tidings of good things, and proclaim salvation (Isaiah 52:7).
  • The Shield of Faith: Genesis 15:1, Psalm 3:1-3 - How does God shield His people? The best picture is from the Exodus out of Egypt (Exodus 13:21-22, Exodus 14:19-20) - When God shields us, it is a complete divine full protection on all sides, top and bottom, 360 degrees and all round. But the Roman shield is just human, partial protective and fully vulnerable to attacks.
  • The Helmet Of Salvation: Exodus 28:36-41 - Holiness to the LORD. The Lord Himself will separate the holy ones from the unholy. His name shall be on the foreheads of the righteous saints (Revelation 22:4, Revelation 20:4).
  • The Sword Of The Spirit (The Word Of God): Isaiah 49:2, Hebrews 4:12, Revelation 1:16 - Not a physical Roman sword of violence killing and destroying others but a sharp two-edged sword out of the mouth, proclaiming the Word of God! Very often, it is reciting the priestly blessing to bless others (Numbers 6:22-27).

Praying Always With All Prayer And Supplication: Most Roman soldiers did not spend any time on prayers for themselves and almost never pray for the cause of the poor and needy. Only the priests were called to pray and make intercession to God on behalf of others (Exodus 34:8-9, Psalm 82:1-4) – In Christianity today, we have prayer warriors and intercessory generals, waging spiritual warfare against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. But very few of these people can stand righteous and blameless before a holy God!

Many have behaved like militant and brutal Roman soldiers, fighting in vain. They are always lording over others instead of serving others in humility and love. Most of them are not gracious, merciful and kind; loving God and loving their neighbors. They do not put on the correct armor of God!

One good example of wearing wrong armor is David when he fought against Goliath (1 Samuel 17:38-47) – David could not fight with Saul’s armour and rather went with The NAME of the LORD (v. 45)
The armour is NOT for fighting – it is for standing in Victory! We only need to stand still and see His salvation (Yeshua)!

Let us remove the unholy Roman armor and put on the holy priestly garments for this is how the royal priesthood does spiritual warfare – 2 Chronicles 20:14-24, Psalm 149:5-9.