Spiritual Warfare

Paul's martial metaphor draws on Isaiah 59:17 (YHWH himself puts on armor to accomplish salvation) and applies the image to the believer's equipment for standing in the warfare of the present age. The armor is described in pairs:

(1) Belt of truth (aletheia, 6:14a): the undergirding of the whole life in the truth of the gospel. The belt holds the tunic and the sword; without truth, everything else fails. (2) Breastplate of righteousness (dikaiosune, 6:14b): the protection of the heart and vital organs, corresponding to the righteousness of Christ imputed to the believer (justification as the breastplate). Isaiah 59:17 has YHWH wearing the breastplate of righteousness as he acts in salvation. (3) Feet shod with the readiness of the gospel of peace (euangelion tes eirenes, 6:15): the stable footing that enables the soldier to stand. The gospel of peace with YHWH (Romans 5:1) is the ground the believer stands on. (4) Shield of faith (thureos, 6:16): the large rectangular shield that covered the whole body; quenching the "flaming arrows" (bele peporomenos, flaming darts, the incendiary missiles of doubt, accusation, and temptation). (5) Helmet of salvation (soterion, 6:17a): the protection of the mind, knowing that salvation is secured anchors the thinking against despair and fear. (6) Sword of the Spirit, the word of God (rhema tou theou, 6:17b): the only offensive weapon in the list. The word of God is the believer's weapon against the enemy, Jesus's use of Scripture in the wilderness temptation (Matthew 4:1-11, "it is written" three times) is the model.

Verse 18 adds: "praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication." Prayer is not the seventh piece of armor but the atmosphere in which all the armor is worn and all the warfare is conducted.

"For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds (ochuromatoi, fortifications, arguments, entrenched positions). We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ" (2 Corinthians 10:3-5).

The warfare language in 2 Corinthians 10 is applied specifically to the battle for minds and ideas. The "strongholds" (ochuromatoi) Paul destroys are not spiritual geography but epistemological fortifications: "arguments" (logismoi, reasonings, calculations) and "every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God." Spiritual warfare includes, centrally, the battle for how people think about God.

"Take every thought captive to obey Christ" (aichmalotizontes pan noema eis ten hypakoen tou Christou): the image is of taking prisoners of war. The mind that has been opposing Christ is taken prisoner and brought into the obedience of Christ. The weapons that accomplish this, the gospel proclaimed, the Scriptures reasoned from, the truth spoken in love, are "not of the flesh" but have "divine power."

"Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world" (1 Peter 5:8-9).

The four imperatives: (1) Be sober-minded (nepsate, be clear-headed, abstain from the intoxication that dulls perception); (2) be watchful (gregorate, keep awake, stay alert; the same word Jesus uses in Gethsemane: "watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation", Matthew 26:41); (3) resist him (antistete, stand against, resist firmly); (4) be firm in your faith (stereoi te pistei, solid, firm, established in the faith).

The "roaring lion" image does not describe Satan's actual mode of operation (he is elsewhere "an angel of light", 2 Corinthians 11:14) but his predatory intent and the seriousness of the threat. The response to the threat is not terror but sober watchfulness and resistance firm in faith. The suffering of the brothers throughout the world (1 Peter 5:9b) locates the battle in the suffering of the present age, the devil's primary weapon against the church is persecution.

Revelation 12 is the great cosmic warfare chapter of the Apocalypse. The dragon (ho drakon, identified with "that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan" in 12:9, linking to Genesis 3 and the tempter of Eden) makes war against the woman and her child (12:1-5), is cast down from heaven by Michael and the angels (12:7-9), and then persecutes the woman and her offspring (12:13-17).

The pivotal declaration of 12:10-11: "Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death."

The three weapons of victory: (1) the blood of the Lamb, the atonement that removes the basis of the accuser's accusations; (2) the word of their testimony, the martyria (martyr-witness) of the believers who declare what Christ has done; (3) not loving their lives even unto death, the willingness to lose earthly life rather than deny Christ. The war is already won at the cross, the casting down is the accomplished fact of Christ's death and resurrection; the persecution is the defeated dragon's fury in the knowledge that his time is short (12:12).

The Sanctum reads the spiritual warfare as fought from the position of accomplished victory (the dragon cast down, the cross the turning point) with the weapons of the already-secured kingdom: the whole armor of God (truth, righteousness, peace, faith, salvation, word), the divine-powered weapons that destroy argument-strongholds, and the three-fold witness of the Revelation 12 overcomers (blood of the Lamb / word of testimony / not loving life unto death).