Hello Readers and welcome-or welcome back-to Renaissance Woman where, this week, I continue in my study of Ephesians 6: 10-18a.  I am looking specifically at the Apostle Paul’s urging to “Put on the whole armor of God” (verse 11).

This past week has been an interesting one.  Every Christian book I have picked up and every teacher I have listened to has given me a variation on the same message: rest, abide, do only those things you see The Father doing, it is Christ in you that is the hope of glory, Christ lives in you by His Spirit, it is the Holy Spirit who is the revealer, guide, and ability to live the Christian life.  This is all in line with what I have seen up until now in my study: that the Whole Armor of God is the very life of God.  My conviction appears to be substantiated when I read Ephesians 6:11 out of Jonathan Mitchell’s New Testament: “you folks must at some point, for yourselves, enter within (or: clothe yourselves with) the full suit of armor and implements of war (panoply; the complete equipment for men-at-arms) which is God (or: which comes from and belongs to God), in order for you to be continuously able and powerful to stand (or: to make a stand) facing toward the crafty methods (stratagems; schemes; intrigues) of the adversary…” (Mitchell, 479)

I believe this to be true: I believe when Jesus cried “it is finished!” on the cross He had done everything necessary to abolish sin and death and restore us to relationship with The Father.  With His resurrection and ascension, we now have a new and living way opened for us and we-boldly and with confidence-enter the holy places (see Hebrews 10:19-20).  In terms of the whole armor of God and Spiritual Warfare, I don’t believe we are “putting on” something exterior to us nor are we responsible for claiming ground for Jesus, building the kingdom, or seeking to defeat Satan in any way.  Again, I believe this passage is describing the Covenant Life of God freely given to us (and IN US via the Holy Spirit), that the victory belongs entirely to Jesus (see 1 John 3:8) and is a free gift to us because we are in Him, and that His life in us makes us to STAND. 

But then, it doesn’t really matter what I believe if the scripture is saying something else.  The English is clear: Paul says to “PUT ON the whole armor of God”.  I am not forgetting he says to “take up the whole armor of God” in verse 13 but that is the focus of a later post.  At face value, “Put On” does seem to be describing the whole armor of God as something external that we must put on in the sense that we put on our clothes every day.  To that end, I looked up the Greek Word translated “put on”.

That word is endysasthe.  It is the Aorist Imperative Middle 2^nd Person Plural Verb form of the Greek enduo.  I realize few share my love of Grammar so I ask you to stay with me through the next few paragraphs!  I’m sure we all remember the definition of a Verb from our language classes but, just as a reminder, a verb is a word that shown an action, occurrence, or state of being.  The Aorist is the tense of the verb and is (probably) best defined as simple past tense.  The Aorist states that an action has happened but gives no information on how long the action took or whether the results are still in effect.  Aorist verbs describe the entire action as a single event.  According to the Ezra Project, “Aorist is an ideal tense to describe an action that happens at a particular point in time.  That is why some grammar books describe it as ‘punctiliar’”. (See Ezra Project link and link to definition of “punctiliar” below).

The Mood of the verb is Imperative which is a verb form used to make a demand or to give advice or instructions.  2^nd Person Plural refers to the speaker’s audience.  In this case, the Apostle Paul is addressing many “youse”. 

The Verb enduo is Strong’s number 1746 and is a compound word comprised of en (1722) and duo (1416).  En denotes a fixed position in place, time, or state, instrumentality, a relation of rest, and means simply “in”.  Duo means “to sink, to go down.”  Enduo is thus defined as “to invest with clothing in the sense of sinking into a garment; array, endue”. 

There was enough here for me to meditate on for days however some teachers I’ve recently listened to have made some snarky comments about the definitions in the Strong’s Concordance.  Thus the reason I verified the definition in two other resources.  The Young’s Concordance defines enduo as “to clothe, to go into clothing”.  The Greek English Lexicon defines enduo literally as “to put any kind of thing on oneself; clothe oneself in, put on, wear” and metaphorically as, “the taking on of characteristics, virtues, intentions.”  This Lexicon lists Ephesians 6:11 under the literal definition and Ephesians 4:24 under the metaphorical.  That scripture is “and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.”  An interesting anecdote of Alexander the Great is included in this section and that is that, when he would dress as the gods, he believed he became Ammon, Artemis, Hermes, or Heracles.

Still with me?  Great!  Here are my conclusions.  First, I see no reason to consider the occurrence of enduo in Ephesians 6:11 as literal and the occurrence in Ephesians 4:24 as metaphorical. The occurrence in Ephesians 4:24 is endysasthai which is the Aorist Infinitive Middle form of the verb.  Second, I am fascinated by the verb being aorist in both passages.  Both the new man and the whole armor of God are new realities and ways of being for us in this today moment but they originate at a point in the past. They are not new in any sense of the word except that they are new to us when the Holy Spirit opens our eyes to see them.

Third, I am fascinated by the fact there is no getting around that there are two ways of looking at this word enduo.  We can define it as we are clothing ourselves in the armor that belongs to God and it is ours on loan or we can define it as we are sinking down into the very life of Jesus Christ and He Himself is our armor.  In the first definition, there is no vital connection to the armor.  It is not something that is a part of us which brings me to the inevitable conclusion that, since the armor belongs to God and it is really only loaned to me, it is something that can be snatched away if I happen to fail while conducting Spiritual Warfare.

I have heard many believers say things about their relationship-or lack thereof-to The Father which makes me believe many accept this first definition as truth.  I recently read a description of a book on spiritual warfare which told me the book would help me learn how to escape Satan’s grip, how to address the roots of spiritual bondage, and would teach me how to avoid the wrong approaches so I could truly partner with the Holy Spirit and experience freedom.

This book description is, to me, sadly indicative of the state of believers who do not believe what is spelled out in the Bible.  Satan has no grip on me because the Son of God was manifested that He might destroy the works of the devil.  I don’t worry about sin because I am IN CHRIST, therefore I am born from above (or again), and, because I am born of God I do not sin because His seed remains in me and I cannot sin.  Don’t believe this means you as well? Don’t believe all of that is even in the Bible?  Read 1 John 3!  And, there’s more.

The blood of Jesus, the blood of the new covenant, has cleansed me from all sin because I am IN CHRIST and therefore I walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light (See 1 John 1:7).  Perfect freedom is mine because the law of the Spirit of life IN CHRIST JESUS has set me free from the law of sin and death (see Romans 8:2).  I could go on.  An excellent eye-opening study is to go through the New Testament and underline every occurrence of the words “in Christ”.  Seeing what is ours IN CHRIST is truly marvelous.

And so, I choose the second definition.  I don’t choose it because I wish to (although it really is so much better than the first) but because it is the truth I see proclaimed to me from every page of the Bible.  The manifestation of Jesus Christ, God Incarnate, is my fixed position in time.  As time is linear, this fixed point is past and yet is so vitally my present and also will be my future.  I put Him on by hastening to enter into His rest thus resting from all my works.  I put Him on by abiding in Him because apart from Him I can do nothing.  I put Him on as I conformed more and more into His image.  I sink down into everything He is and experience everything that is mine because I am His and He is God’s (1 Corinthians 3:21).         

He is my salvation.  He is my life.  He is the whole armor of God who protects me and ministers His victory to me in all times and places because in Him I live and move and have my being.  I sink down into Jesus Christ, snuggle into Him like the most comfortable of garments, and my life is now hidden with Him in God (Colossians 3:3).

Isn’t this incredible?!  May the Holy Spirit open our eyes to Christ who is our life!

Unless noted otherwise, all Scriptures are quoted from The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, Tennessee, 1982

References

Ephesians 6 Interlinear Bible (biblehub.com)

Greek Tenses Explained – Ezra Project

Punctiliar Definition & Meaning – Merriam-Webster

Imperative Mood | Definition, Examples & Use (scribbr.com)

Middle Voice: Overview & Examples | What is Middle Voice? | Study.com

Second Person: Explanation and Examples (grammar-monster.com)

Danker, Frederick William, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, Third Edition, University of Chicago Press, Chicago and London, 1957, 2000

Green, Jay P., The Interlinear Bible: Hebrew, Greek, English, Volume IV, Second Edition, Authors For Christ, Inc. Lafayette, IN, 1796, 2000

Mitchell, Jonathan Paul, MA, The New Testament, 2019 Edition, Harper Brown Publishing, 2009, 2019

Strong, James, LL.D., S.T.D., The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville Tennessee, 1990

Young, Robert, LL.D., Young’s Analytical Concordance to the Bible, Hendrickson Publishers, Peabody, Massachusetts