The Updated Armor
a sermon based on Ephesians 6:10-20
by Rev. Barbara Krehbiel Gehring

In 1522 in a small city in Spain, a 7 year old girl convinced her brother Rodrigo to run away with her. Her name was Teresa and she is said to have had the heart of a warrior. Intrigued by the tales of King Arthur, she dreamed of being a Knight. Knowing that this would be impossible for her as a girl in that age, she hatched a second plan. She talked her brother into going with her to be martyred by the Moores who had recently been driven out of Spain into North Africa by King

Ferdinand and Queen Isabella. Fortunately they were caught by an uncle who found them outside the city walls on his way back into the city. I understand there is a charming monument marking this spot today.

Teresa never became a knight or a soldier of any traditional kind. However, her biographers credit her warrior’s heart for being an essential part of the work she went on to do. She is known today as Saint Teresa of Avila and she is admired still for her steadfast service, her writings and for the founding of many Carmelite convents.

As Christians, in our efforts to follow Jesus’ teachings as closely as possible, we emphasize the need to love our enemies and do not like the violence we sometimes find in the Bible. Furthermore in today's world we have too often seen religion and violence mixed in ways that are clearly ungodly. That is why the New Testament passage for today may make some of us uncomfortable. Actually, I think it should.

The other option to discomfort with this violent imagery of the armor of God is to hear terms like sword and shield as ancient poetic language far removed from actual warfare. The problem with this approach is that it is not how it was intended. Ephesians is a letter written to a church who lived in a pretty violent time. Many of its original readers would have lived through a horrible war between the Romans and the Jews in which the Jews had their temple destroyed and the autonomy that went with that devastated. Some in the church would have suffered persecution as Jews while others would have suffered it as Christians. Armor was a very present part of their lives. Imagine that imagery contextualized for our present time. It might sound something like this.

Therefore, take up the whole uniform of God, so that you may be able to withstand that evil day, and having done everything to stand firm. Stand therefore and fasten the gun belt of truth around your waist, and put on the bullet proof vest of righteousness. As combat boots, put on whatever will make you ready to proclaim the gospel of peace. With all of these, take the gas mask of faith with which you will be able to avoid the poison gas of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation, and the semi automatic weapon of the spirit, which is the word of God.

Now I don’t know about you, but I am uncomfortable with the spirit or the word of God being compared to a gun. Yet, it seems to me that is the image used here.

One of the great things about the Bible, I think, is that the imagery and the stories and parables seem more interested in being relevant than charming. If Jesus was talking to farmers, He talked about agricultural images. If sexual immorality was a problem, the stories named it and discussed it. If violence was a part of the world, it too was explored.

If only the church had remained true to this desire to speak in language people could understand and translate God into terms that were personally meaningful. Frankly, it is not just the language of armor that might feel outdated to us in this passage. It is also the language of the church. Words like salvation and righteousness are not used much outside religious settings. Even words like faith and the spirit are ambiguous. Let’s try this updating again.

Therefore, take up the whole uniform of God, so that you may be able to withstand that evil day, and having done everything to stand firm. Stand therefore and fasten the gun belt of truth around your waist, and put on the bullet proof vest of morality. As combat boots, put on whatever will make you ready to announce the good news of peace.

With all of these, take the gas mask of trust with which you will be able to avoid the poison gas of the evil one. Take the helmet of knowing that you have been saved from the really bad stuff, and the semi automatic weapon of the spiritual presence, which is the words of God.

When I hear this language it makes me think of all the holy wars of the past as well as the holy wars still being waged by every major religion today. To me, holy wars are the biggest argument against organized religion. Finding a passage that could be and probably has been used to justify them is not what I am looking for in the Bible. So, I have to ask, is that what this passage is doing? Is that what God intended us to understand? Because whether or not I like it, I have to deal with this stuff if I am a serious follower of Christ. [updated]