Jesus said, “Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” The heart is where our affections lie. The devil tries to divert our affections away from God by confusing, obscuring, or distorting our understanding of His character. What better way to make a person miserable than to poison his heart with lies about God! It’s in our heart that we experience God and with our heart that we serve Him.
God has done something for us to protect us from Satan’s flaming, lying arrows; He’s given us the protection that even Satan can’t penetrate. The Apostle Paul calls it the “breastplate of righteousness.”
In Ephesians 6:10-18, the Apostle Paul discusses spiritual warfare, describing our enemy and the defense system God gives to the Christian. In doing so he uses the analogy of a Roman soldier’s armor.
The first piece of equipment is the belt of truth, which is the Word of God; specifically a “growing knowledge and understanding of the Scriptures and how they apply to life.”
Jesus said, “You will know the truth and the truth will set you free.” John 8:32 That truth is found in the Bible.
THE BREASTPLATE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS: “Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place.”
PHYSICAL PURPOSE: For the Roman soldier the breastplate protected the vital organs, especially the heart. It was made of bronze or chainmail. The breastplate, particularly the bronze plate, was designed to be impenetrable.
SPIRITUAL PURPOSE: Spiritually, Satan attacks the heart (and the mind). The heart is the core of our being; the seat of our affections. Satan attacks here in an attempt to distort our view of God. For Christians in particular he attempts to obscure and rob us of the knowledge of who we are in Jesus Christ.
RIGHTEOUSNESS: Righteousness means the character or quality of being right or just. The Bible says our righteousness as human beings is like a soiled rag (Isaiah 64:6). The breastplate of righteousness refers to Christ’s righteousness imputed (given) to us when we become a Christian (II Corinthians 5:21). You see, at the cross, Jesus took our sins (which separate us from God) on Himself and in exchange gave us His righteousness ( justification). Through faith in Christ alone we are now totally acceptable to God.
THE BREASTPLATE: Satan desperately tries to obscure and rob us of the knowledge of who we are in Jesus Christ. The breastplate of righteousness is “knowing who we are in Christ and resisting Satan with that truth when he attacks our identity in Christ.”
SATAN’S ATTACKS: Satan employs tactics like false guilt
— a sense of condemnation and impending retribution for…
• failure
• not doing enough
• not doing it the right way
• shame
• fear
• feelings of inadequacy or that we’re destined to fail
IN SUM: There is significance to the order in which Paul discusses the armor of God. First comes the Belt of Truth, our foundation: The Word of God. Second, out of the Word comes the truth of our spiritual identity: We are complete in Christ, right with God through faith in Christ alone. The Breastplate of Righteousness is that truth used against Satan. Our identity in Christ is our freedom — and our weapon against the forces of evil.
