Put On The Armor of God

In his Letter to the Ephesians, Saint Paul exhorts us to “put on the armor of God” as protection against “the tactics of the devil.”   The passage in which these words appear is one of the most illustrative and profound passages in Holy Scripture.   For purposes of discussion, I offer that full passage which appears in Chapter 6 of his Letter to the Ephesians:

Finally, draw your strength from the Lord and from his mighty power.  Put on the armor of God so that you may be able to stand firm against the tactics of the devil. For our struggle is not with flesh and blood but with the principalities, with the powers, with the world rulers of this present darkness, with the evil spirits in the heavens.  Therefore, put on the armor of God, that you may be able to resist on the evil day and, having done everything, to hold your ground. So stand fast with your loins girded in truth, clothed with righteousness as a breastplate, and your feet shod in readiness for the gospel of peace.  In all circumstances, hold faith as a shield, to quench all [the] flaming arrows of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.  (Ephesians 6:10-17) 

I do not wish to improve upon St. Paul’s inspired writing nor could I ever do so.  I would like to offer some thoughts on the phrase “armor of God.”

The terms that St. Paul uses, ie. armor of God, shield, sword, helmet, all evoke imagery familiar to both the people of his day and us believers today.  St. Paul seeks to convey life as a spiritual struggle against the devil and the forces of darkness and encourage us and assist us in our daily battles.  To do so, he employs military terminology which evokes images that support his exhortations.

What is “the armor of God?”  I would offer that the armor of God is multi-faceted.  The armor of God includes the Holy Eucharist, the authentic Divinely inspired teachings of the Catholic Church, Holy Scripture, Sacred Tradition, Devotion to Our Blessed Mother, and the Sacraments.  These vitally important aspects of our Catholic faith are interconnected such that they enhance and support each other and in doing so, enhance and support our personal faith and spiritual well-being.  They provide the spiritual protection that St. Paul exhorts us to utilize.

The inter-connectedness of the Holy Eucharist, the authentic Divinely inspired teachings of the Catholic Church, Holy Scripture, Sacred Tradition, Devotion to Our Blessed Mother, and the Sacraments brings to mind a particular form of physical armor:  chain mail.  Chain mail consisted of small metal rings intertwined together to form a flexible and effective system of protection for a soldier.  Chain mail was commonly used in Europe from the 3^rd Century BC to the 16^th Century AD.  The Romans, Normans, and the knights of the Crusades are just of few of the armies which used chain mail for protection on the battlefield. 

Like those interconnected metal rings of chain mail, the teachings and practices of the Catholic Church serve to protect us on our spiritual battlefields.  The Eucharist, Sacred Scripture, the Sacraments, et als., interconnect with each other, supporting and enhancing our faith.  The Church offers these practices and teachings to assist us in our faith journey and in our struggles against “the principalities, with the powers, with the world rulers of this present darkness, with the evil spirits in the heavens.” 

The world is awash in dark forces seeking to separate us from Our Most Merciful Father in Heaven, our Thrice-Holy God, and destroy us.  As St. Paul exhorts us, let us “put on the armor of God” and employ all the spiritual practices that our Church and our God put at our disposal for our good, our protection, and our salvation.