Stand Up, Stand Up for Jesus - Lectionary Reflection for Pentecost 13B (Ephesians 6:10-20)
Ephesians 6:10-20 New Revised Standard Version
10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his power. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12 For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to withstand on that evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. 14 Stand therefore, and fasten the belt of truth around your waist, and put on the breastplate of righteousness. 15 As shoes for your feet put on whatever will make you ready to proclaim the gospel of peace. 16 With all of these, take the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
18 Pray in the Spirit at all times in every prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert and always persevere in supplication for all the saints. 19 Pray also for me, so that when I speak, a message may be given to me to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel, 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it boldly, as I must speak.
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Two
hymns stand out from my early years growing up in the Episcopal Church. The
reading from Ephesians 6 brings them to memory. They may or may not be
recognizable to everyone because they don’t appear in most Mainline Protestant
hymnals published over the past few decades. These hymns are “Stand Up, StandUp for Jesus” and “Onward Christian Soldiers.” These hymns pick up aspects of
the biblical message, including the one we find here in Ephesians 6. And as the second verse of "Onward Christian Soldiers" declares:
These hymns have disappeared from most of our hymnals as
Mainline Protestants have rightfully tried to step away from the militaristic
dimensions of our former commitment to the expansion of Christendom. But you
can see why they might resonate with a church that saw itself as the vanguard
of God’s saving work in the world.
As our
exploration of the Ephesian letter, which has been featured in the
post-Pentecost season, comes to an end, we encounter this call to put on the
whole armor of God. The author of the letter (we’ll once again call him Paul
for the sake of tradition) envisions the church in a battle with the devil. If you’re
in a battle you will need protection and weapons so you can stand against the “wiles
of the devil.” For early Christians who lived as a religious minority within an
often hostile culture, this call to arms seems appropriate. The same is true
for Christians living today in places where survival as Christians is always
under threat. For middle-class Mainline Protestants living in suburban North
America or Europe, such a message might seem out of place. But is there a
message here that speaks to our situation without embracing the militarism that
seems to be tied up in the metaphor? As my Muslim friends remind me, jihad can
be conceived as a form of spiritual struggle rather than holy war. Might we understand the passage here in the
same way?
As for
this passage, the author makes use of an image that would be immediately
recognizable by any reader living in the Roman Empire. With the call to put on the whole armor of God
issued, we need to take an inventory of that armor that will be used not in
physical warfare but spiritual warfare. Paul begins with the belt of truth. The
belt might seem irrelevant, but it holds everything together. From there we
move to the breastplate of righteousness. That piece of armor is much more
prominent as it is the key piece of protective body armor. From there we go to
the shoes (military grade), shield, helmet, and finally the sword. Now Paul gives
each of these armaments a spiritual definition. Thus, the belt of truth and the
breastplate of righteousness are foundational elements for the definition of
the Christian identity. Christians by definition should be committed to truth
and righteousness (justice. From there we move to the shoes, which enable the
legionnaire to march across the empire imposing Rome’s vision of good
news/peace. For early Christians, this image is a reminder that theirs is a
missionary movement. They have good news to share as well, and they likely will
be traversing the Roman roads, which requires sturdy shoes. So, be ready when
the call comes. Recognizing that not everyone will receive their message with
open arms, but might shoot flaming arrows, a good shield is required. Of
course, every soldier needs a helmet, and here the helmet represents salvation,
the ultimate protection. With all of this protective equipment, the soldier for
Christ is ready to go on the offensive with the sword of the Spirit, which is
the word of God. That is, the proclamation of the good news of Jesus. Paul
seems to recognize that this evangelistic work of proclaiming the peace of God
could be dangerous. So, it’s good to be prepared for opposition.
Paul’s
use of this imagery is rooted in his cosmic vision. For him, to proclaim the
good news of Jesus is to engage in spiritual warfare. He might be using imagery
taken from the Roman legions that were ubiquitous across the empire, especially
in more restive provinces, but he’s not envisioning forced conversions. While this
is a spiritual battle for the hearts and minds of the people, the enemy is
Satan who has taken control of the world situation. This battle to deliver the
people from Satan’s control is not a battle against flesh and blood. It is instead
a spiritual battle. Unfortunately, it’s easy to move from spiritual to actual
battle. This is especially true when non-Christian religions and traditions with
the gods of the other traditions being conceived as demons. Thus, Christianity
is good, the other religions are evil. Therefore, they must be destroyed
(together with their adherents). We’ve seen this take place down through the
centuries. As Miguel de la Torre and Albert Hernández write: “Over the next two
thousand years, this exclusive understanding, coupled with the historical
process of conquest and colonization, will lead to much suffering, misery, and
death between Christians and the people of other faiths and cultures” [The Quest for the Historical Satan, p. 79]. So, whatever we say about this
passage, we must be careful not to use it to justify oppression, conquest, and
more.
I
should say something here about the mythological imagery here (I should note
that I’ve been reading a bit of Rudolph Bultmann lately). Paul’s vision
reflects a particular worldview that we moderns may have set aside, but the
language of myth is designed to communicate deeper truths. For Bultmann, this
imagery needed to be set aside through the process of “demythologization,” so
that it could be more accessible to moderns. I’m not so sure we can completely
remove the mythological elements from the conversation, because there is a
growing feeling that there is more to the universe than meets the eye. So,
maybe the language here is filled with mythological elements, but at the same
time, it reflects cosmic realities that lay behind the evils present in this
world. One way to look at this passage and conceive of our work as Christians
is to recognize the reality that structural evil exists and that these
structures take on a life of their own that envelope us. So, the work of God
involves resistance to those cosmic forces that seek to enslave us.
This is
a war of resistance, but the question is the nature of our response. Paul
doesn’t mention love here, but it probably should be brought into the
conversation. Richard Beck has written an insightful book titled Reviving Old Scratch. Old Scratch is a nickname for Satan that Beck encountered as
he taught a bible study in a maximum-security prison. He writes that what he
learned at the prison was that “there are forces in the world satanically
opposed to love. So, if love is going to invade and establish a beachhead in
our lives, we’re going to have to fight for it. That is what I mean by
spiritual warfare.” It is a path that took Jesus to the cross [Reviving Old Scratch, p. 97]. In the book, Beck reminds us that social justice is itself
a form of spiritual warfare, and therefore needs to be engaged in with
spiritual weapons lest we make people the enemy rather than Old Scratch.
The
work of spiritual warfare as outlined here includes the proclamation of the
good news of God’s peace (as opposed to the Roman peace) and prayer. The
closing paragraph of our passage calls on the readers to “pray in the Spirit at
all times in every prayer and supplication.” This requires alertness and perseverance
as they pray for the saints of God, including Paul and his companions. In fact,
Paul (or whoever the author is) asks that they pray for him specifically asking
that he might have boldness as he proclaims the “mystery of the gospel.” Why?
Because he is an “ambassador in chains.” Tradition suggests that Paul is
writing to the Ephesians from prison, perhaps in Rome. Yes, even in prison he
continues his work of proclamation. Therefore, he asks for boldness. Yes, knowing
that the churches are praying for him gives him boldness. The question then for
us as modern Christians who likely aren’t sitting in prison is what does
boldness look like?
We live
in challenging times. Churches are struggling to survive. In North America and
Europe, it’s not a matter of persecution and oppression, but the world is not
as receptive to the message. To be honest, Christians have been part of the
problem. But there is also something spiritual out there that requires our
attention. It requires boldness. But standing firm for what is true and just requires boldness also requires grace and love
so that we might be peacemakers, not spiritual warmongers.
For
more background on the passage see my Ephesians: A Participatory StudyGuide, (Energion Publications, 2010), pp. 85-97.
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