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#orthodoxstr ☦️

Appreciate the challenge, brother.

Got me meditating, #biblestr:

When we humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God, the God exalts us and enables us to resist Satan in such a way that Satan has to flee, or at least back away, from us. (James 4:6-7, 1 Peter 5:6-10).

It's counterinuitive because the spiritual warfare narrative pumps us up to think we're resisting Satan by our intrinsic spiritual power. Yes, we 'put on the armour' (all rooted in the word of God), but even there 'be strong in the Lord' (Eph 6:10) is passive.

The sense is waiting at His feet, abiding in His word and prayer, and allowing Him to 'charge you up with power'. Each piece of armour requires humility... to accept that we need salvation, that we need righteousness not our own, that we need to speak the word of God not our own words, that we need faith in Christ the overcomer not faith in ourselves, that we need objective truth to keep us together, that our footing is based on a proclamation that the grace of God does what we ourselves could never do.

When we are excellent at what is good and innocent of evil, the God of peace comes alongside to crush Satan (Romans 16:20)... and graciously does it under our feet, as an extension of God's greater purpose for Christ, making all of His enemies the footstool of His feet (Psalm 110:1, 1 Cor 15:25, Heb 10:13).

Amen.

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Discussion

finch ☦️ 2y ago

To expand further, the armor of God is not just the word of God, but the Word of God (the Logos, Christ Himself John 1:1)

Jerome (reposed in 420 AD) says this:

Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. - Ephesians 6:11

“From what we read of the Lord our Savior throughout the Scriptures, it is manifestly clear that the whole armor of Christ is the Savior himself. It is he whom we are asked to “put on.” It is one and the same thing to say “Put on the whole armor of God” and “Put on the Lord Jesus Christ.” Our belt is truth and our breastplate is righteousness. The Savior is also called both “truth” and “righteousness.” So no one can doubt that he himself is that very belt and breastplate. On this principle he is also to be understood as the “preparation of the gospel of peace.” He himself is the “shield of faith” and the “helmet of salvation.” He is the “sword of the Spirit,” because he is the Word of God, living and efficacious, the utterance of which is stronger than any helmet and sharp on both sides.”