Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
Truth to Learn
We need to be prepared for spiritual battle at all times.
Behind the Words
Analambanō is the Greek word translated “take up.” It is composed of ana, meaning “up” or “again” and lambanō, meaning “to take.”
“You may be able” is translated from the verb dunamai, which means “to have the ability or the authority to do something.” It is expressed in the subjunctive mood indicating the possibility or probability of happening.
The words “to stand” are from the verb anthistēmi, made up of anti, meaning “against” and histēmi, meaning “to stand.” Thus, it literally means “to stand against.”
“Having done” is from the Greek verb katergadzomai, which is composed of kata, meaning “down” used here as an intensifier and ergadzomai, meaning “to work.” Katergadzomai means “to perform a task until it is completely finished.”
The word translated “all” is hapas. This word is made up of hama, meaning “together” and pas, meaning “all.” Hapas means “absolutely everything.”
Meaning Explained
As we have noted before, whenever you see a verse start out with “therefore” or “wherefore,” you need to look carefully at what it is “there for.” In this case, Paul is saying “because we are wrestling against spiritual forces (evil angels) in hand-to-hand combat, we need to put on all of the weapons that God provides for us.
It is not our own armor that we are to put on, however, it is God’s armor. In Greek mythology, the gods provided special armor for the heroes. Paul is playing off that idea by showing that our God provides us with the armor we need for battle.
What does Paul mean by, “the evil day?” One view sees this as every day since the fall of man in the Garden of Eden. Since the day that Satan attacked and defeated Adam and Eve, evil has been present on this earth. These evil days won’t end until our Lord returns to conquer all evil. The other view is that the evil day refers to any time that we are actively battling the forces of evil. No matter which of these two is correct, the fact is that Christians are in face-to-face conflict with the forces of evil each and every day.
What’s even more important is that when we are attacked by Satan and his warriors, we need to be ready. Once the battle has begun, it’s hard to put on the armor. We need to have it on at all times. Some Roman soldiers complained about the weight of their armor, so they took it off as soon as the battle was over. Then, because of lack of exercise and practice fighting in the armor, they became quickly fatigued and were not able to stand firm against their rival, making themselves easy targets.
The expression “having done all” means that we have prepared ourselves and we have stood against the enemy with the victory of our King. As a result, at the end of the battle we are still standing, not having been defeated.
Application
Let’s pay close attention to the next few verses so we can put on the armor and be practiced and prepared for battle. Fighting a battle is not easy, but we can win, for God is on our side.
In God's service, for His glory,
Copyright © 2012 Will Krause. All rights reserved.