Genesis 2:15, tells us that Adam was to work the garden, being its gardener, and to keep the garden, being its protector. Because Eden was the place of God, Adam filled a priestly role. The ESV study notes explain: As a priest, Adam was to maintain the sanctity of the garden as part of a temple complex. He was to protect the garden from the intrusion of evil. Yet, when it was invaded by Satan, Scripture tells us that Adam, who was “with Eve” did nothing. The ESV notes continue, Adam’s sin was both an act of conscious rebellion against God and the failure to carry out his divinely ordained responsibility to guard or “keep” both the garden and the woman God had created as “a helper fit for him.”
We are Adam’s sons, and part of our spiritual DNA is spiritual passivity: in the face of spiritual battle, it is easy for us also to do nothing. This article examines how to remedy that tendency—how to fight, spiritually, for ourselves and our loved ones using the spiritual armor Christ has provided.
Have you ever considered that in only the third chapter of the whole Bible, human beings are taught that we have a spiritual enemy who hates us and constantly seeks to lead us down a path to destruction—i.e. rebellion against God? In fact, we don’t have just one spiritual enemy but a whole host of them! Paul writes, 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. Therefore, take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. (Eph 6:12).
Have you ever wondered why the Christian life is so hard, why becoming more like Jesus happens at a snail’s pace if at all, why so many Christians indwelt by the Holy Spirit don’t look any more sanctified than non-Christians? Look at the powers arrayed AGAINST us. Every time Paul mentions another class of spiritual beings, he restates that we wrestle AGAINST them. The word, against appears six times in three verses. Do we really think we can stand up against THOSE POWERS without figuring out how to be strong in the Lord by putting on the spiritual armor he’s provided? Is there any reason why THOSE ENEMIES will not tear us to pieces if we do not resist them with spiritual weapons? Could we ever hope to achieve our mission to establish Christs agenda of righteousness over every sphere of life without taking on the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms who claim this world as their own? We have to start by putting on our armor.
Eph. 6 continues, Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth. To defeat Satan and his kingdom why do we need to encircle ourselves with TRUTH? Why do we need to let TRUTH penetrate to the core of our being? Why is TRUTH like a utility belt that contains other weapons, and in that culture, kept robes out of the way of feet for successful maneuvering? Why is the belt of truth so necessary to spiritual victory? The reason TRUTH must be our belt is because the enemy we face is a liar and the father of lies. Jesus said, He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is NO TRUTH in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies (Jn 8:44).
In Colossians 1, Satan’s kingdom is called the domain of darkness. Jesus said, This is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil (John 3:19 ) John further records Jesus’ words, I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life (John 8:12).
Five Ways to Put On the Belt of Truth and Why We Need to Do It
A. The belt of God’s truth is needed to fix our wrong thought patterns. One of the consequences of the fall is that we think logically to the wrong conclusion.
- For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all…who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth (Rom 1:18).
- You must 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 (Eph 4:17-18).
- For at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (Eph 5:8).
Putting on the belt of truth means immersing ourselves in Scripture. We must re-program our minds because they have been corrupted by the lies of the evil one and the fallen culture (including our church culture), which has shaped us. Do not be conformed to this world, writes Paul, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind (Rom 12:2). Tony Evans in his book, Victory in Spiritual Warfare, writes, When you align your mind, will, and emotions underneath God’s view on a matter—his truth—He will then empower you to fight your spiritual battles with the freedom of great mobility and increased stability. By knowing and functioning according to the truth of God, you will be on your way to experiencing victory over anything or anyone seeking to over-come or defeat you.
B. The belt of God’s truth must counter Satan’s strategy to plant false thoughts in our minds. Let’s look at how Satan tries to get Adam and Eve to rebel against God so we can recognize his smell when he plants these ideas in our minds.
Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate (Gen 3:1-6).
Four Observations About Satan’s MO
1. He portrays God’s moral law as unfairly restrictive. In verse 1, Satan misquotes God, which might be paraphrased, Did God actually make all these trees with all this luscious fruit and then restrict you from eating any of it? How fair is that? Satan overstates the restrictions sarcastically, as if he knows God is always cheating humans of their rights. Although Eve defends God by saying it is only one tree, Satan has set her focus on God’s restriction of her happiness through his rules. This is a lie from the pit of hell. Every part of God’s moral law is intended to show how he has designed life to be lived. God’s moral law is the path of LIFE.
2. Satan lies about the consequences of sin. He says, to Eve, You will not surely die. In fact, decay in the physical universe began the second she and Adam sinned, as did the process of being expelled from the presence of God. Satan’s MO is to always exaggerate the momentary pleasures of sin and minimize its cost. Even though God’s grace means that we are forgiven, and he is always in the process of repairing our lives which are broken by sin, grace does not mean that yielding to sin does not bring harmful consequences. Paul commanded us, Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good (Rom 12:9).
3. Satan’s religion is egalitarianism. In Isaiah 14:12-14 we have what many scholars believe is a reference to Lucifer, the one at work behind the King of Babylon, and to the origin of evil in his Lucifer’s heart. “How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of Dawn…. You said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven; above the stars of God I will set my throne on high; I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far reaches of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’”
Satan tempts Eve to rebel against God for the same reason he did—to become like God. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God. Satan hates God’s authority and his authority structure for his creation. Adam, with his assistant, Eve, is to rule the created order including snakes. Instead, Adam let’s Eve lead the way in following the guidance of a creature, i.e. a serpent. Satan subverts God’s order for his world. As an egalitarian, Satan wants to destroy God’s structure for exercising dominion over creation. He does that 1) by causing those who have leadership responsibility—husbands, church leaders, civil rulers—to use it selfishly, and 2) by causing those under authority to define submission as “going along with authority when I agree with it.” Otherwise, being subject to authority is demeaning. The command to obey Gods authority structure is not absolute; nevertheless, the command to all Christ-followers to be subject to authority is given for times when followers don’t agree with the leader’s decision. Satan tries to subvert God-established authority.
4. Satan creates doubts about the goodness of God in the human heart. Satan insinuates that God’s reason for prohibiting Adam and Eve from eating the fruit is to keep something good from them, For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. Every time our hearts cry, “God if you love me you would not let this happen to me,” it is the evil one who has written those words on our dashboard. Every time you hear, “How could a good God allow this?” you are hearing Satan speak in his native language. This is not to say that we shouldn’t take our pain to God and wrestle with why he has allowed, even ordained, for us to hurt so much. We just need to remember that we face an enemy whose strategy, everyday, is to plant in our mind doubts about God’s love and goodness.
So be alert for the scent of Satan in the thoughts that jump into your mind! Back to what putting on the truth of God looks lile:
C. Putting on the belt of truth requires Christ-followers to be known as those who are honest to the core. Both the eighth commandment, You shall not steal (Ex 20:15) and the ninth commandment, You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor (20:16) require us to be scrupulously honest. Paul commands the Ephesian believers, Having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor (4:25). Paul is not saying it is wrong to make white lies to surprise someone, or for the offense to try to deceive the defense about what it is going, or that we have to be so brutally honest that we must tell everyone things that might hurt them or us. But Jesus IS truth and we can not harbor dishonesty and be faithful to him.
D. Putting on the belt of truth means wanting others to help us see truth we don’t see. It begins with a humility that recognizes that we only see part of the picture. For husbands, it means listening carefully to your wife’s opinion about decisions. It means seeking wise counsel, having a teachable spirit, and being open to rebuke. Everyday Christian men fail morally, relationally, spiritually, and financially—not because they set out to fail, not because they don’t work very hard, but because of their blind spots. The reality is that our mind has been so corrupted by the fall, and we are so easily self-deceived that we need regular soul contact with a brother in Christ. Speaking the truth in love, writes Paul, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ (Eph 4:15).
E. Putting on the belt of truth means exposing the world and life views around us to the scrutiny of Word of God. Paul describes this everyday battle and the power of God’s truth to tear down the lies of the culture. 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 (2 Cor 10:4-5).
We don’t live in a monolithic culture but a multi-culture. Nevertheless, here is a sampling some common mistaken worldviews and Scripture’s correction. I;m sure you could add boatloads more!
1. Culture: Freedom is having no restrictions. Truth: freedom is living the way we were designed to live. If you abide in my word, said Jesus you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free (Jn 8:32).
2. Culture: Material wealth is the result of hard work and adding to what I have. The truth is that wealth results from hard work and giving generously. Jesus said, Give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, it will be put into your lap (Luke 6:38).
3. Culture: Sex is natural for those who are romantically attracted to each other, which may also serve as an experiment to check compatibility. Truth: Having sex is the mutual expression of a life-long commitment made in front of the state, church, family, and friends to love and cherish one another. Only then is it safe to be fully naked and known. They shall become one flesh. And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed (Gen 2:24-25).
4. Culture: Tolerance is the highest virtue and expression of love. Truth: It is cruel to affirm another’s lifestyle, when that life-style is harming him. All expressions of sinful sex are destructive. Love rejoices with the truth (1 Cor. 13:6).
5. Culture: It is sexist to talk about men and women being different. Truth: God intentionally created male and female to be different in order for them to complete each other. In the image of God, he created him. Male and female he created them (Gen 1:27).
Whether we grew up as part of the majority culture or minority culture, church culture or secular culture, we all need our views to be corrected by Scripture. However, there is one additional point that needs to be made about tearing down the cultural world views shaping our culture. We are called, ourselves, to tear down the lies of the culture and in our own thoughts expose every assumption of our culture to Scripture. Living in a democracy and seeking Christ’s kingdom rule in our land means seeking to influence policy by supporting biblical viewpoints and voting. But it would be a mistake to think that the best way to influence lost people towards the biblical world view is to constantly argue that view in the culture’s marketplace of ideas. When Jesus angered the religious establishment, he did it in his role as Prophet. Even so, Jesus did not throw truth to everyone, indiscriminately. Steve Brown has written a great new book entitled, Talk the Walk: How to Be Right Without Being Insufferable. He points out.
We Christians must be careful in what we say, how we say it, and even if we are to say it at all. Jesus cautioned that we should not “give dogs what is holy,” nor “throw your pearls before pigs lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you” (Matt. 7:6). The truth we have is precious, dangerous, and explosively powerful in the way it can heal or hurt.
Wearing the belt of truth does not mean indiscriminately throwing the biblical worldview out into the arena of public discourse where it will cause others to turn on us and attack us. A much wiser approach to winning others to the truth in our everyday relationships is to ask permission to speak. Steve Brown continues:
Christians do not have to give others the whole load. When asked, Christians can say, “Yeah, I’m a believer and, and it’s the most important thing in my life. If you ever want to hear about it, just ask and I’ll tell you.” Or in my case as a religious professional, when I am asked what I do, I sometimes answer, “I tell people who want to hear about Jesus.” Or perhaps, when Christians think they have a message that will help someone in trouble, they can say, “If you want me to, I’ll be happy to share it with you.” Permission opens the door to speaking truth. If permission is not given, silence is a good practice. (Ibid)
There is a second reason that winning others over to God’s truth does not necessarily require speaking. When Jesus explains how to be a light to the world, and salt of the earth, he doesn’t mention speaking at all. The lost see Christ, the kingdom, and God’s truths by seeing our love for our neighbors in action. You are the salt of the earth…. You are the light of the world….Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven (Matt 5:13-16). The truth of God is written on the conscience of all humans. The best way to turn others’ hearts to listen to those truths isn’t usually to argue with them, logically, but to love them, intently.
For Further Prayerful Thought:
1. Look over your past few weeks. Can you detect Satan’s MO in your thoughts?
2. Identify which of the 5 ways to fasten the belt of truth you are doing best. Which need work?
