This Lesson is to provide you with back ground on the Armor of God. Paul used the Roman soldiers armor as a reference Thus we will look at the roman armor tonight and begin with the first piece mentioned. Each piece of the armor will be two lessons in length. I encourage you to make it to the lessons as not all the materials will be posted to the website. There is no greater tool to understanding the word than its study as a body of believers coming together for that very purpose. I will ask but one question, what is of greater importance to you?
This is not the first time Paul lists spiritual armor in scripture, in the book of Thessalonians, the oldest book in the New Testament. Paul also lists spiritual armor in
1 Thessalonians 5:8. Paul’s earlier version was so undeveloped that he referred to the breast pate as faith and love. The only other weapon he mentioned was the helmet of salvation.
What Happened between The first account of spiritual armor in 1Thessalonians and Paul’s second account in Ephesians, over the years the Holy Spirit began to develop Paul’s limited knowledge of the Armor of God until it became a full working knowledge of the armor.
Notice how Paul begins to tell us of the Armor, in Ephesians 6:14 He says “Stand therefore…” the Greek word for stand is stemi (ste-mi), meaning to stand upright it is one who is so confidant that he stands with his head held high and his shoulders thrown back.
Paul defiantly had the picture of the Roman soldier in mind when he wrote this, one who is proud to be a soldier. This is exactly what the Holy Spirit wants us to see when we read this passage. When you have donned the whole armor of God you have every reason to stand up straight and be confidant in God.
We now come to the Next part of the verse and the first piece to the armor that Paul mentions. “Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth…” (Wearing the belt of truth).
The roman soldier wore a heavy helmet. It was ornate, decorative, and interesting to look at. That is why our salvation is called the helmet of salvation, for it is the most elaborate, ornamental, intricate thing God has ever done for us.
In addition to this the roman soldier wore a breast plat that extended from the top of his neck down to his hips, going down past his hips as a skirt down to his knees. The breastplate was made of two pieces of bronze or brass. One sheet of metal went down the front and the other went down the back. The two pieces where held together by brass rings on the top and sides. The breast plat looked like the scales of a fish and was often referred to as a “coat of mail.”
The Roman solider also wore greaves on his legs, and spiked shoes on his feet. Notice that the roman soldier was completely covered he wore a helmet on his head, a breast plate on his chest and mid-section, he was completely covered with metal from the top of his knee to the bottom of his leg. He was covered by his armor from head to toe.
The greaves were very made of beautiful metal and extended from the top of the knee to the foot. A heavy piece of metal covered the top of the foot, and strong straps of hide covered the sides. On the bottom of the shoe were spikes one to three inches long.
The Roman soldier was carrying a lot of metal.
Paul Said “ Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth” The loin belt was no great looking thing in fact it was the ugliest, most boring, least noticeable part of the Romans armor.
When you describe what some one is wearing you wouldn’t start off with his belt, you would comment on his jacket, shirt, pants but not his belt. However the belt serves an important function without it your pants might fall off, and your shirt becomes un-tucked and then you look a mess. The belt holds everything together.
This is what it did for the roman soldier; it held the pieces of his armor together. Though he would be wearing all his great weaponry, if his loin belt were not there everything would fall apart. Its been said that the loin belt was the most important piece of a roman soldiers weaponry.
For example, his shield was attached to the loin belt. If the roman soldier had no loin belt, then there would be no place for him to rest his shield, No place to hang his sword, no place to rest his lance upon. If there were no loin belt there would be nothing keeping his breastplate from flapping in the wind. The loin belt held it all together!
Such a soldier would literally fall apart his armor would just fall off and he would be of no use as he would not have the confidence to stand and fight, with the loin belt he was assured that his armor would be held in place and he could fight with confidence.
Thus the Bible says, “ Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth…”
We will be continuing the Loin belt for the next two weeks, since this week was more the introduction and to gain a reference point. Tonight I hope you got a thirst to know more about this Armor and what it can do in your life. Please read Ephesians 6:10 – 18 this week.