Weapon of War
One of the best known passages on spiritual warfare can be found in Ephesians 6. Here Paul goes through the various pieces of armor a soldier of his time would have put on himself to engage in warfare. He encourages believers to put on truth (belt), righteousness(breastplate), the gospel(sandals), faith(shield), salvation(helmet), and, for the sword, the Word of God for this warfare. The Word is referred to in other places as a sword as well.
For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
Hebrews 4:12
We’re told this weapon is effective because it cuts straight to the deepest part of man. God’s revelation is not advice for a period in time, but lays bare the inner workings of man throughout all time. Mankind’s thoughts and intentions are not new. The eternal God inspired the writing of the scriptures thousands of years ago knowing full well the intent of men’s hearts at this very moment. It cuts to the quick like nothing else can.
Know Your Target
In Ephesians, we also see another element of this warfare. Namely, we are told our target. He also repeated this in his letter to the Corinthian church.
For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
Ephesians 6:12
For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh.
2 Corinthians 10:3
Our goal is not to destroy people. Instead it is to destroy the power and authority of darkness over people. The focus is never on fighting people (no matter how wicked they are) but we should give absolutely no quarter to ideas that are opposed to the knowledge that God has revealed.
For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete.
2 Corinthians 10:4-6
Laying Down Arms
There are no end to high sounding opinions in our time. There are plenty of ideas floating around today that nobody would have thought someone could consider even a hundred years ago. Furthermore, these ideas are quickly spread through education systems and every medium from printed journals to online social networks.
How can the unchanging text of scripture hope to tear down such a system?! If these texts were the words of man, it would be largely impossible. However, the God who inspired these texts knows the ends from the beginning. He knew the wickedness at the root of these lofty arguments before anyone thought a single one of them.
The greatest threat of these ideas taking root and destroying lives is that the church has largely been convinced to lay down our arms. For generations now, we’ve been told that the Word is ineffective for war and that we must rely upon the weapons of this world (accreditation, statistics, emotional pleas, etc…) to be successful instead.
I love reliable data as much as the next person. There’s nothing (necessarily) wrong with being accredited, either! However, how often have we found that we have all our papers in order and all the data on hand, only to be dismissed anyway? How often have we appealed to the good in others only to see it incite even more destruction?
This is because appeals to reason or emotion don’t scratch the surface of the real issues. The real issues reside in the soul of a person. It is the sin that resides in each of us, and the desires of the flesh that can override all reason or good nature.
A church that boldly proclaims the full council of God, accurately pronouncing his commands to the world wields a weapon capable of doing what nothing else can. The only thing that changes with time is the target. As each new idea that offers an alternative perspective to the one given in scripture crops up, we must ruthlessly destroy it by presenting what God has already revealed.
We have been offered a false peace and, longing for peace, many have lain down their arms. We are not in a time of peace, however. We must be ready to apply the Word of God to every idea that takes hold in our culture.
