{"id":234,"date":"2013-01-29T16:53:16","date_gmt":"2013-01-29T05:53:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.reformationministries.com.au\/blog\/?p=234"},"modified":"2013-02-04T12:37:10","modified_gmt":"2013-02-04T01:37:10","slug":"a-battle-plan-pt-6","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.reformationministries.com.au\/blog\/2013\/01\/a-battle-plan-pt-6\/","title":{"rendered":"A Battle Plan (Pt. 6)"},"content":{"rendered":"

3. Three Points Regarding the Christian\u2019s Armour<\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 A. Our Armour is God\u2019s Armour:<\/strong><\/span> The first thing to note is that we are clothed in God\u2019s armour. This is not an illusion to the text<\/em>, but it is an illusion to the text<\/strong>. Confused? Paul tells us to put on the \u201carmour of God\u201d. What we must understand is that this metaphorical usage is not just a metaphor that Paul has dreamt up and applied based on seeing Roman soldiers. Rather, it is a borrowed metaphor and as such has actual Biblical substance. \u00a0\u201cBorrowed from Whom?\u201d you may ask. Borrowed from none other than God Himself! Most of the references to the individual pieces of armour are taken from Isaiah 59:17, where Yahweh is pictured as going to war:<\/p>\n

Now the Lord saw, and it was displeasing in His sight that there was no justice. And He saw that there was no man, and was astonished that there was no one to intercede; Then His own arm brought salvation to Him; And His righteousness upheld Him. And He put on righteousness like a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on His head; And He put on garments of vengeance for clothing, and wrapped Himself with zeal as a mantle.<\/strong> According to their <\/em>deeds, so He will repay, Wrath to His adversaries, recompense to His enemies; To the coastlands He will make recompense. So they will fear the name of the Lord from the west and His glory from the rising of the sun, For He will come like a rushing stream, Which the wind of the Lord drives. \u201cAnd a Redeemer will come to Zion, And to those who turn from transgression in Jacob,\u201d declares the Lord.<\/span> (Isaiah 59:15a-20)<\/p>\n

We are also told in Isaiah 11:5 that the Branch<\/em> will exhibit some of these attributes:<\/p>\n

Also righteousness will be the belt about His loins<\/strong>, And faithfulness the belt about His waist.<\/span>1<\/span> <\/sup><\/p>\n

As a consequence, we need to understand that Paul is not inventing a new metaphor, rather he is picking up and applying previously used metaphoric language<\/span>. This is important for our understanding of this passage:<\/p>\n