10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might.
11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil.
12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.
Vs. 10 - “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. “
“Finally,” - Paul has been writing about the church community living together from the beginning of chapter 4 to this point. Most of his instructions are for person-to-person living. To review some of the teachings to this point:
Chap. 4 - Unity; walking worthy because we are one in Christ; building up each other; growing in Christ in our new selves; living and working with other believers.
Chap. 5 - Imitate Christ; no sexual immorality because you are in the light; be careful how you live; husbands.n and wives.
Chap. 6 - Parents and children; masters and slaves.
The next verses, 6:10-20, Paul expands his teaching from the personal interaction with other believers to the interaction with the spiritual world, especially with the forces arrayed against the Lord. He concludes the instruction part of the letter.
“Be strong in the Lord” - Place yourself in His strength. Jesus said, “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5) We get strong physically by exercise, practice and repetition, but our spiritual strength comes from the Lord. It is His might that fills and empowers us, and not our own. (See: 1 Pet 4:11).
However, this does not mean that magically you become a Christian who makes the decisions Jesus wants you to make; that you are obedient to His call and direction. Just as physical conditioning is required to develop your muscles, spiritual condtioning is required. You do not miraculously go to God in prayer; it may be a miracle that the Lord God Almighty would want to be with you, but He is the Lord and you are not. Deciding to Pray and Worship Jesus must be made by you.
Your salvation happens the moment you accept Jesus and turn your life to Him - you are saved to be with Him for eternity. You develop your 'spiritual muscles' by discipline - spending time in prayer and worship. You seek Jesus in your prayer life. You call on the Holy Spirit to fill and empower you. God prepares you to meet situations, even crises, when you have been with Him. A 'working relationship' with the Lord is built by prayer and time spent with Him. if you neglect prayer and worship it is highly likely you will fall short if a crisis happens.
V 11 - “Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil.”
“Put on the full armor of God” - The devil is at war with the Lord. It has been so since Satan rebelled. (See: Isa 14:12-20; Eze 28:12-19; Rev 12:7-9) Satan was also at the fall of Adam and Eve. (Gen 3:1-5) Satan has been plotting a coup to replace God with himself.
Side note: I have heard it said the reason the “earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep” (Gen 1:2) was because of the destruction caused by the rebellion and battle that threw Satan from heaven (Rev 12:7-9). I am not sure about that line of reasoning.
We are in a spiritual battle. Satan is the enemy. He continually seeks those he can destroy. (1 Pet 5:8) Armies typically are not sent into battle without the proper equipment - armor and weapons.
“Stand firm” - Be strong and courageous. (See: Deut 31:6, 23; Josh 1:6-9, this admonition appears 10X in the OT.) Don’t panic. Don’t retreat, or run and hide. The Lord was sending the people of Israel into battle with established nations who appeared to be stronger and well defended. A nation of apparent nomads, with little battle experience. No wonder they needed encouragement. David exhorted Solomon with these words, plus adding “Show yourself to be a man.” (See note 1, below.)
The church is told to “Stand firm.” The battle is the Lord’s. We are to be strong in our faith, to be ready to repel attacks from Satan, for they will come to us. There was a similar situation during Jehoshaphat's reign in the OT when Judah was attacked by three armies. God told them the battle was not theirs to fight. "The battle is not yours to fight, but God's." (see 2 Chr 20:1-18)
“Schemes of the devil” - We do not need to defeat Satan, for we cannot, but we need to make ourselves available to the Lord, so He may work through us to thwart Satan. The ultimate victory is Christ’s. We will be involved in skirmishes along the way. Satan is always looking for ways to overcome us, in essence to defeat Christ by proxy. “Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” (1 Pet 5:8)
Vs. 12 - “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.”
“Our struggle is not against flesh and blood” - We see the enmity of government, the news media, the entertainment industry toward the church. How do we fight them? How do we resist?
Focusing on the people is mis-direction
“Rulers... powers... force of this darkness... spiritual forces of wickedness” - These make up the power behind the push to eliminate Christ in the world today. (Also, the force behind the opposition to God and the Gospel. ) This power is centered around and from Satan. The angels and demons who followed Lucifer in the rebellion against the Lord (see: Rev 12:7ff) operate in the world around us. He is called the “ruler of this world” (John 12:31, 14:30, 16:11). Humans, and Christians especially, are harassed and tempted by Satan to rebel also. (1 Pet 5:8).
***Note 1: The statement, “Be strong”, is said 28 times in the OT. "Do not fear" is often used as a command, or encouragement - about 24 times. A few of the verses are a warning because the people who 'do not fear' the Lord.
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