Full Armor of God
The Belt of Truth
I find myself in awe of the magnitude of the truth of scripture. I also find myself in awe of its simple truth. I find myself constantly discovering truth as presented in scripture, but also I find myself rediscovering truth that has been revealed to me over and over again from the time of my childhood.
I think that we can relate together that in the midst of spiritual maturity there grows a desire and a passion to deepen our understanding of the foundational truths which were established throughout childhood. Unfortunately, many times those timeless truths are overlooked in our adult lives because they are perceived as childish and in many cases seem to lose their effectiveness and relevance in the adult world. I was reminded of how the foundations of spiritual development as children establishes a framework for growth through adulthood allowing for a constant maturation process as the Lord continues to reveal Himself through His word.
This came to my attention while reading the last chapter of Ephesians as Paul, discussing the onslaught of the adversary and his principalities and powers that wage war on every believer. In an attempt to diminish our effectiveness in the spreading of the gospel by discrediting the foundation of our faith, we find as most of us did in our childhood an example of the weapons at our disposal as spiritual war is being waged upon us as individual members of the body of Christ. The example of the weaponry that is described in scripture is the full armor of God.
I remember as I would imagine many of you remember being at grandma’s house with her armor of God costume. Each of us cousins took turns putting on the “full armor of God” as Grandma read over and over the symbolism of each piece from Ephesians 6. This significance was especially strong in my reading again the symbolism throughout this passage. Paul’s discourse on the full armor of God begins with the belt of truth.
Growing up I heard and understood the significance of truth; however, I understood truth in light of the fact that it was the word of my parents. I never had the slightest inkling that my parents would either be wrong or would be instilling concepts in my life that may have proven to be false. Although I have found that the majority of the information taught to me by my parents and grandparents through my childhood to be correct and have established a firm foundation, I now find myself understanding these truths from a new perspective, the perspective as it has been revealed to me not by my earthly father, but my heavenly father.
God saw it necessary to have Paul begin his discourse on the full armor of God with the belt of truth. Paul, most likely being chained to a Roman Soldier at the time of writing this letter to the Church at Ephesus and maybe even discussing with him the necessity of each piece of armor, writes of the belt of truth. This belt was not simply for the purposes of holding up the soldier’s uniform as we would identify the function of a belt today. This belt had a very specific purpose; the purpose being to protect the soldiers vital organs. In the same way, the belt of truth protects that which is a vital part to the believer, the absolute truth of scripture. Truth is foundational. It is foundational to our understanding of who God is and it is the grounds upon which our faith is based. Scripture tells us that faith comes by hearing and that it comes by hearing the word of God. In other words, it is truth upon which our faith is established and conversely, it is deception upon which faith is destroyed. This concept of using the truth of God’s word comes off of the tail of a pressing and necessary context within the letter itself. In chapter four Paul urges believers to “no longer walk as the Gentiles do in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity.” This context establishes an understanding that walking in and understanding truth is a result of faith in Christ, and that truth must be protected lest believers begin to think and live as those who are not of the faith.
It’s interesting to note that this futility of the mind as Paul communicates in Ephesians is found in his other writings, specifically in Romans chapter one. It is in Romans 1 where the foundational understanding of the importance of the belt of truth in the full armor of God is understood to a degree which necessitates a more comprehensive understanding of the nature of sin, the nature of God and the battle being waged between the powers of this world and powers of God over the mind of the believer specifically dealing with the concept of truth. Romans 1:18-20 establishes that all people, Jew and gentile, believers and non-believers have had the truth revealed to them either through all of creation or from through directly hearing the truth of scripture and that because of this, no one is excused from the wrath of God. It is within this context that Paul writes in Romans 1:21-23, “For although they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks to Him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals.” In other words, even though God had made himself known, people have determined that they have gained and possess a greater wisdom than what God has revealed. In this “wisdom” they in turn have shown themselves to be fools and instead of honoring God, they worship images resembling man and beast. The absence of truth has lead to deception and as Romans 1:25 states, “For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with mean and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.”
It is at this point that many see fit to present this passage as the authoritative scriptural passage on the nature of homosexuality and that it does in fact stand in contrast to God’s plan ergo concluding the sinful nature of the act. I will not refute this truth, however I believe that there is more to this passage than simply denouncing homosexuality. I believe that in the wisdom of Paul as directed by the Holy Spirit, he chose to use the context of homosexuality to illustrate what happens in the life of a person who has determined to disregard the truth of God by trusting in the deception of the wisdom of this world which invariably leads one away from God to Idolatry.
As stated in Romans 1:21-23, as people trusted in their own wisdom their minds were turned away from God causing them to worship images of man and beast. This leads us to a very important question. What is an image of man? What is an image of a beast? The creation account tells us that God made man in His own image. It also tells us that God gave man dominion over all of creation. So let’s break this down. Man is made in the image of God. In other words, man is shown to be a copy of God. We all know that copies are not perfect, that they possess flaws. We also know that when a copy of a copy is made that the quality diminishes even more. I think you see where I am going. When man, in the futility of his mind determined to worship images of created man he determined to worship not even a copy of God, but a copy of a copy of God. Man was worshipping and honoring something that is not even as honorable as himself let alone as honorable as God. Taken a step further, men were worshipping images of beasts. Now as stated earlier and as understood in Genesis, man was given dominion and authority over the beasts of this world so animals in themselves are of less value than people and images of animals are of lesser value than even the animals. Once again, to break this down, the result of man disregarding God’s truth was that man failed to worship and honor the God of all creation, and instead he worshipped and honored that which is less than himself, less than an image of himself, and that which is even inferior to a simple image of himself, images of beasts.
Now you should be asking “Ok, but how does this relate to homosexuality.” We find in a marriage as God has ordained it to be a picture of Christ and His Church. We also find that within that marriage Man and Woman are able to enjoy the pleasure that God created them to enjoy with each other, physically, emotionally, spiritually and socially. These earthly needs of both the husband and the wife can be met in and through each other with the blessing and provision of God. There is something glorious when a husband and a wife are able to enjoy each other with the absolute blessing of God. In contrast, when men lay with men or women lay with women, they might be enjoy physical pleasure, but they do not get to experience the joy and the intimacy which completes the image of God as a husband and a wife join together to become one flesh. In effect, when a man lies with a man he is giving himself over to a relationship that offers nothing more than what he possesses in and of himself. When a husband lies with his wife, he is giving himself over to a relationship that honors God and is greater than his is in himself. The act of marriage paints a picture of honoring God as God while the act of homosexuality paints a picture of worshipping created things rather than the creator. The act itself is to be despised but more important than that is what it represents is to be despised and should serve as a warning to all who hold to the truth of scripture.
All of this serves as a reminder to all of us, you and me that there is inherent danger in forgetting a very simple childhood lesson considering the importance of protecting that which is vital to the believer, truth. Truth is the basis upon which faith can be grounded which is the basis for how salvation is given which allows the believer to live a righteous life and take that same truth to the world by proclaiming the word of God. Put on the belt of truth. Grow in your understanding of who God is, the nature of sin, what we have and who we are in Christ in order that we might together fight against the deception of this age!
