The Weaponry We Use (2)

The Breastplate Of Righteousness

(Eph. 6:14b)

. . .And having on the breastplate of righteousness.

In our last chapter we studied the foundational piece of God’s armor, the Girdle of Truth. This brings us to the second.

II. The Breastplate of Righteousness

We again divide our study into two emphases, the physical piece of armor and its spiritual application. We’ll also examine a third principle—how we can practically develop a holy walk of life.

The Physical Piece of Armor

The Greek word used here for breastplate is the word thōrax, from which is derived the English word of the same spelling. The thorax refers to the chest area which contains the vital organs. So, the breastplate covered the thoracic area, but we also discover that it covered the abdominal area as well. At one time the breastplate was made only of leather, but that was soon replaced by metal plates or chain mail. How vitally important the breastplate was to the ancient warrior!

The Spiritual Application

To fully understand this application, an application that is somewhat deep but of the utmost import, let us examine three emphases.

First, we must understand the kind of righteousness is Paul picturing here. For some odd reason, several Bible translations mistranslate the Greek for righteousness. The New English Bible, Phillips Modern Translation, and The Jerusalem Bible translate “integrity.” The Living Bible and the so-called God’s Word Translation paraphrase with the words, “God’s approval,” which is, quite frankly, miles away from the true meaning. Even “integrity” is quite inadequate because while integrity is essential, it is still only foundational. As we saw in our last chapter, the Girdle of Truth only forms a foundation for the other pieces of armor and in itself does not offer protection. So, we need to understand that our own integrity and commitment are not enough to stand against the Devil’s attacks.

Therefore, the word righteousness means just that, but we still must ascertain what kind of righteousness this is. It is very important, indeed, that we understand the Theological term “imputed righteousness.” This term is, in fact, the whole foundation of our standing and position in Christ. It means that Christ’s perfect righteousness is “put to our account” (Rom. 4:6, 11, 22-24). Another term for this is “justification by faith,” that is, we are “declared righteous” because of the finished work of Christ on the cross. Philippians 3:9 declares:

And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith.

Now that we understand “imputed righteousness,” we should point out that some expositors maintain that Paul is not referring directly to imputed righteousness here in our text. Rather, they say, Paul is referring to “practical righteousness.” As one expositor puts it, “[Imputed righteousness] protects us from hell, but it does not, in itself, protect us from Satan in this present life.” So, as such expositors conclude, we put on practical righteousness, which is the practical outworking of the imputed righteousness.

Now then, while we can for the most part agree with the conclusion, we are still a little troubled by the above quote. We submit that this statement does not go deep enough into the matter and that it actually does some damage to the doctrine of “imputed righteousness.” Let us understand that we have no righteousness. We are incapable of living holy without the righteousness of Christ. We are incapable of even the slightest right thought without His righteousness coming through us. Without Christ we can do nothing. We must insist, therefore, that the breastplate must of necessity be Christ’s righteousness, for there is no other righteousness. All that we are and all that we do must be through that righteousness.

We must insist on this, therefore, because the “imputed righteousness” of Christ is the key to victory. John Eadie, a foremost expositor and authority on Ephesians, submits that our own “moral rectitude” is not the point Paul is emphasizing. Rather, as Eadie puts it:

The article [the] before [righteousness] has a special prominence, and we are inclined, with [several nineteenth century scholars], to understand it as the righteousness of God, or of faith, or as “justification by the blood of the cross,” three Scriptural phrases meaning in general one and the same thing. What Christian can boast of entire rectitude, or use as his defence what [one expositor] unhappily calls, “his own righteousness?” But when the JUSTIFYING RIGHTEOUSNESS of Christ is assumed as a breastplate by sinners, they can defy the assaults of the tempter (emphasis added).[1]

So, THE righteousness that protects us is, “THE righteousness which is of God by faith” (Phil. 3:9, quoted earlier). It is Christ’s righteousness, and His alone, that protects us. Christ is everything. He is all we are and all we will ever be.

To go one small step deeper, even though we are clothed in the righteousness of Christ, we must still “put it on”, that is, allow it to be our breastplate and allow it to be effective in our every day living. Indeed, there is “practical righteousness,” but this practical righteousness comes from allowing the breastplate of Christ’s righteousness to be effective. To sum up, the Breastplate of Righteousness is the righteousness of Christ that then produces right conduct and holy living in the believer. We’ll refer to this principle again as we progress.

Second, we must also understand the areas that the breastplate protects. As mentioned earlier, the historical breastplate protected the thoracic and abdominal areas, “the vitals.” In like manner, the Breastplate of Righteousness protects several of the “vitals” of the Christian’s spiritual life. The following thoughts were a tremendous blessing to me and I pray they will be to you the reader.

1. Holiness of life protects our testimony. Our testimony depends upon what people hear us say, what they see us do, and where they see us go. Historically, even if a warrior survived an injury in battle, a wound would still often cripple or debilitate him, and the same is true with a lack of holy living. Such a lack of right conduct and living above reproach cripples our testimony. It makes us ineffective in the battle with Satan and in our witness to others. The greatest tragedy of this is that once crippled in this way, the damage is often permanent, just as losing a limb for a warrior is permanent. Many a Christian has forever lost his or her effectiveness, especially in witness, because of wrong conduct and careless living. It is vital, then, that we guard our testimony.

2. Holiness of life protects our confidence and peace. The ancient warrior would never have even thought of going into battle without his breastplate; the breastplate gave a certain confidence, a certain peace, because he knew his vitals were protected. There’s an even greater confidence and peace in the spiritual sense. We can have the confidence of certain victory because we live holy.

3. Holiness of life protects our joy. Here is another vital area, one which is as vital to the Christian as the heart or a lung was to the ancient soldier. There is no doubt whatsoever that most, if not all, of the emotional problems people experience are caused by a lack of holy living. Modern psychology goes to great extremes to define countless psychological problems but ignores the root problem, SIN. It’s impossible to have joy if one does not live holy. Moreover, defeat, discouragement, and depression usually come because of buried, unconfessed sin.

Let us never forget, no one can rob us of joy except ourselves. Happiness is relative, based on circumstances, but joy is absolute, transcending circumstances. We can define “joy” as, “The peace and security which we have in a personal relationship with Christ.” Our unholy living will, therefore, rob us of that peace and security.

Third and finally, we must understand what the Breastplate of Righteousness protects us from. As mentioned in an earlier study, the Breastplate of Righteousness protects us from the tactic of Satan called Denunciation (or accusation). More specifically, Satan accuses us in two basic ways.

Satan accuses us directly. As he did with Job, Satan slanders and accuses God’s people to God. He says, “Hey, God! Look at what your ‘child’ did this time! Look how he failed you!” But with holy living we’re protected from such accusation. When we live holy and above reproach, Satan can find no accusation to hurl our way.

Satan also accuses us indirectly, however, and he does this much more often than he does directly. He does so in three basic ways.

1. Satan uses other people to accuse us. It truly is a blessing to see that every individual in the Bible who faithfully served the Lord was criticized and falsely accused. Of course, our Lord Himself was falsely accused of blasphemy (Matt. 26:59-68), demon-possession (Lk. 11:14-19), and even of being a wino and a glutton (Matt. 11:19). Moses was accused of being a dictator (Num. 12). Nehemiah was accused of trying to usurp the authority of the government and become king (Neh. 6:5-7). The Apostle Paul was accused of trying to do away with the Law and of saying that no Jew should practice any of its rituals (Acts 21:21). He was also falsely accused of taking a Gentile into the Holy Place of the temple (Acts 21:28).

You see, people will purposefully look for ways to criticize and accuse God’s people. You will, for example, be accused of being a legalist” just because you proclaim holiness. You’ll be labeled “intolerant” if you define the Gospel in narrow terms. The Breastplate of Righteousness, however, protects us from such attacks; holy living and a life lived above reproach will disprove such accusations.

2. Satan uses circumstances to accuse us. Satan tempts us to believe that any misfortune, disaster, or personal suffering comes our way because God is punishing us for some sin.

The classic example of this, of course, is Job. His so-called “friends” (what friends they were!) said that all his misfortune and suffering could only be because of sin (5:17; 8:1-6, 20-22; 11:1-20). But Job not only believed in God’s sovereignty, but he also knew that he was living holy. The Word of God tells us that God usually allows such things to come in order to build us and mature us. I don’t know where the old expression, “Whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger,” but it’s true. James goes to great lengths to explain that “the testing of your faith worketh patience” (Jas. 1:3 and context).

3. Satan also uses ourselves to accuse us. Something needs to be made clear to Christians today. God’s Word does, indeed, command believer’s to “examine themselves,” but not to the extent to which some Christians go. In I Corinthians 11:28 we are told to examine our lives before we come to the Lord’s table to make sure there is no unconfessed sin. We are then commanded in II Corinthians 13:5 to examine ourselves to make sure that we are truly born again; the implication is that there must be proof of true salvation. That, however, is all that God says about us examining ourselves. We emphasize this because many Christians wrongly do much more than God says; there are many who live a life of self-recrimination and keep accusing themselves of past sins. Satan will use this subtle tactic to convince us that we can never have victory over some particular sin and will, therefore, tempt us to just give up entirely.

The answer once again is in the Breastplate of Righteousness. We emphasize again that the righteousness spoken of here must be Christ’s “imputed righteousness.” It is only because we are clothed in Christ’s righteousness that we can take whatever sin we’ve committed to the cross and leave it there.

Oh, how many Christians allow themselves to be defeated by past sin! But may we think a moment of Peter. Peter denied His Lord and even cursed to emphasize his point. Oh, what shame and sorrow and grief he felt later! But he didn’t allow that to defeat him. No matter how many times Satan used that incident to accuse him, Peter went on to great victory and effectiveness.

Think also of Paul before his conversion. Surely Satan tried to defeat Paul many times by reminding him of how many Christians he put to death in his Judaistic zeal. But Paul went on to tremendous victories. Did he do it by his own “integrity” or even his own “moral rectitude?” No! He did it all because he had on the Breastplate of Christ’s Righteousness and lived accordingly.

Dear Christian, are you allowing the Breastplate of Righteousness, the righteousness of Christ, to be effective in you? Are you squelching the accusations of the enemy by living holy and above reproach? Oh, let us live right just because it’s RIGHT!

This leads us to our third point, which takes us even deeper into the practical realm.

How to Develop a Holy Walk

We have considered some practical aspects of what the Breastplate of righteous is and demands, but let’s go one step deeper. How can we practically walk in holiness? Are their some realistic principles that we can apply that will aid a holy walk?

Of William Gurnall’s classic, The Christian in Complete Armour, Charles Spurgeon wrote:

Gurnall’s work is peerless and priceless; every line is full of wisdom, every sentence is suggestive. The whole book has been preacher over scores of times, and is, in our judgement, the best thought-breeder in all our library. [It] is beyond all others a preacher’s book: I should think that more discourses have been suggested by it than by any other uninspired volume. I have often resorted to it when my own fire has been burning low, and I have seldom failed to find a glowing coal upon Gurnall’s hearth.[2]

What a great encouragement that is for a preacher! If the great Charles Spurgeon could borrow from Gurnall without embarrassment, I think it’s safe for us to do so. I turn to him once again and adapt ten biblical principles he gives that will guide us in maintaining holiness of life.[3]

First, we must lay the proper foundation. What is the foundation of holiness? Again, as the girdle was the underpinning of the warrior’s armor, so TRUTH is the footing on which all Christian living is built, and holiness is first in line. Truth, in fact, will always manifest holiness. The reverse is equally true—a lack of holiness proves the absence of Truth.

Further, from where does this Truth and holiness come? They both come only from the change that occurs at salvation. We cannot live holy unless we are holy. The position comes before the practice. No verse makes it clearer than II Corinthians 5:17: “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” This verse clearly shows a two-fold transformation.

1. The old has passed away, that is, sin is no longer our desire. It continues to puzzle me that such an issue has been made over what has been called “Lordship Salvation.” As we’ve mentioned before, the teal issue is that true salvation immediately implies change: a change in Lordship, a change in desire, a change in obedience, a change in everything.

Ponder this fact a moment: Adam and Eve wanted to sin; they had been told the Truth but chose error out of desire; they did not desire to obey God’s words, rather they desired their own will. That inclination changes with true conversion. Sin is no longer our desire, drive, or disposition.

2. The new has now taken over. We now delight in God’s Word, doing His will, obeying Him. As David declares over and over in Psalm 119: “I will delight myself in thy statutes” (v. 16); “Thy testimonies also are my delight” (v. 24); “in . . . thy commandments . . . do I delight” (vs. 35, 47); and “I delight in thy law” (vs. 70, 77, 174).

Second, we develop a holy walk by keeping our eyes on the right standard for living. What is our standard for living? First, what isn’t the rule is antinomianism, which means “without law,” that is, living any way we want to live. By perverting “Christian liberty,” such teachers remove all standards of righteousness and morality. Jude deals very specifically with this in the fourth verse of his letter: “For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Neither is our standard of life legalism, the idea of keeping certain laws or regulations either for salvation, sanctification, or spirituality. As Paul wrote to the Galatians, “Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage” (Gal. 5:1). In direct contradiction to the Council at Jerusalem (Acts 15), The Judaizers taught that Gentiles must become Jewish and embrace the Mosaic Law to become Christians. Paul was shocked and appalled that the Galatians would throw away their liberty for such heresy.

So, may we put it this way, we do not live by recklessness (antinomianism), nor do we live by rote (legalism); rather we live by rule. And what rule is that? We live by the rule of the Word of God. We live by the standards our Lord Himself laid down, which we find, for example, in His Sermon on Mount (Matt. 5-7). Paul likewise lays down standards in such passages as Ephesians 4-6 and several others.

Third, we develop a holy walk by keeping in mind the end result for which we are striving. And what is that end? Christ’s glory and likeness. This principle will, indeed, transform our daily living. We don’t live holy so we can impress others, for that is pride and is far from holy. We live Holy to please, glorify, and be like Him. As our Lord declared, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven” (Matt. 5:16). When people see our holiness, God is glorified. Paul likewise wrote: “Now the God of peace . . . Make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is wellpleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen” (Heb. 13:20-21).

How, then, is Christ-likeness of character produced? By practicing Galatians 5:22-23: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance.” Our end is, indeed, to be conformed to the very “image” of Christ (Rom. 8:29). That leads right to a fourth principle.

Fourth, we develop a holy walk by looking at the right example, our Lord Himself. We don’t hold the pastor, our spouse, or anyone else up as our example. We look at Christ alone as our pattern for conduct. As Paul challenged the carnal Corinthians, “Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ” (I Cor. 11:1). Did Paul actually hold himself up as an example? Yes, but only because Christ is the original pattern.

In practice, then, before we say those words that are right on the tip of our tongue, let us ask, “Is that what He would say?” Before we do that thing we are a step away from doing, let us ask, “Is that what He would do?”

As Peter wrote: “For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps” (I Pet. 2:21). It anyone was qualified to write on this subject, it was Peter. I can imagine Peter acting like a little kid, almost to the point of literally stepping in Jesus’ footsteps as he followed Him along. Seldom do we see Jesus that we don’t see Peter right there with Him trying and trying to act like Him. That’s his point, then, in this verse, that we “follow His steps.”

Fifth, we develop a holy walk by depending upon God for our walk. If we try to live holy in our own strength, by our own “will power,” we will fail miserably. That is why Galatians 2:20 is in the Book: “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” Yes, each of us must live our life, but we dare not do it alone; we must do it in His power. We overcome obstacles and win battles by His guidance and strength.

As Augustine wrote: “There are many good things that God doth in man, which man has no hand it; but there is no good and holy action that man does but God does enable him to do it.” That’s why we insist once again that the Breastplate of Righteousness must be the imputed righteousness of Christ. We have no righteousness without Him. Our Lord Himself declared, “I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing” (Jn. 15:5). So, let us each be challenged to “lean not unto [our] own understanding, rather “In all [our] ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct [our] paths” (Prov. 3:5-6).

Sixth, we develop a holy walk by seeking the right company. Would any of us knowingly drink after someone who has the flu? Would an animal rights activist and an elk hunter make a good business partnership? Likewise, can a Christian live holy and grow if his closest companions are ungodly? God did not wash us clean from sin so we would go right back to the mud hole. Yes, we live in this world, but we are no longer of this world. That is what our Lord asked the Father in His High-priestly prayer: “I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil” (Jn. 17:15). While monasticism teaches the unbliblical practice of isolating oneself from the world, our Lord says just the opposite.

Abraham is a perfect example of this principle. Hebrews 11:9 says of him, “By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise.” What is most significant here is that he didn’t live with the natives of that land, rather with “Isaac and Jacob.” While still having contact with them, he remained a stranger to the pagans around him and lived rather with his godly family. In stark contrast, Lot “pitched his tent toward Sodom” (Gen. 13:12) and ended up in Sodom.

So important is right company that Paul repeats in I Corinthians 5:9-10 what he had already written to those Believers in another letter that no longer exists. He wrote “not to company with” fornicators, those who are covetous, extortioners, idolaters. But he then goes on to say, “But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such a one no not to eat” (v. 11).

The words “to company with” translate a single Greek word, sunanamignumi, a compound from the root anamignumi (not in NT), “to mix together,” and sun, which means “together” and intensifies the root. The full idea then is “to mix together.” Hippocrates, the famous fifth century BC founder of scientific medicine, used it in the sense of mixing various ingredients together for medication. The fourth century BC scholar Theophrastus uses it of different weeds that spring up and intermingle with the grain.[4]

The application is inescapable. The Christian is not to intermingle and have a close relationship with those who practice such serious sin. That very passage (vs. 9-13), in fact, deal with Church discipline. If a Christian persists in such sin, he is to be put out of the Church, and other Christians are to have nothing to do with him. Why? Because sin “rubs off.” It’s a communicable disease. Yes, we will have contact with the world, as Paul implies in verse 10, but we are no to company with it.

We should also add that it is sad situation, indeed, when a professed Christian does not want to spend time with other Christians. The book of Acts is filled with this precedent, and that should be our desire. This principle is coupled with another.

Seventh, we develop a holy walk by seeking out a Christian friend who can aid us. This might be a spouse, a fellow worker, other Christian, or even the church assembly who will encourage and challenge us to holiness, perhaps even monitor us if need be.

This is the challenge of Hebrews 10:24: “Let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works.” “Provoke” translates an extremely strong Greek word, paroxusmos (English “paroxysm”), a fit or outburst. Used in a bad sense, it speaks of sharp contention, or even an angry dispute. Sadly, for example, when Paul did not want to take John Mark on his second journey—and rightly so since Mark had abandoned them during the first journey (Acts 13:13)—the “contention” was so sharp between Paul and Barnabus that they split up (Acts 15:36-40).

We also find this word in Acts 17:16, where Paul’s “spirit was stirred [paroxusmos] in him, when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry.” He was incensed to see how truly and totally pagan the city was. As we studied back in 4:6 concerning “One God,” this reminds us again that God simply will not tolerate paganism, especially when it is mixed in and blended with His name and worship. Would that Christians today be incensed at idolatry and paganism!

Used in a good sense, however, paroxusmos literally means “a sharpening,” so figuratively, to spur on, stimulate, and encourage. Each of us, therefore, should seek ways that we can be an encouragement to other Christians; we should look for ways to show our love and concern for their well-being and spiritual life.

Eighth, we develop a holy walk by thinking about how we will look back on our life as we get closer to death. We do not wish to morbid, but here is sobering thought indeed. Picture yourself on your death bed and thereby having the time to reflect on how you lived, whether it was holy for God or wholly for yourself. As Paul faced death, he could honestly write to Timothy:

I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing (II Tim. 4:7-8).

Since “every one of us shall give account of himself to God” (Rom. 14:12), we do well to think about what that account will be as we look back on our lives.

Ninth, we develop a holy walk by remembering and renewing our understanding of grace. As we have seen many times, there is no grander theme in Scripture than grace. Grace is our Theology; it produces our salvation, our sanctification, and our service. Holiness, then, will come as we remind ourselves constantly of that theme. We cannot possibly sin when we have grace “on the brain.” God’s incomprehensible grace will motivate us to holiness.

Further, therefore, holiness flows from empowering grace. God has promised that He will furnish us with power to live holy. As He declared through Ezekiel, “And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them” (36:27). A military leader can lay out the mission for his men and can adequately train and equip them, but he cannot give them the strength to fight. That must come from within. We, therefore, are empowered from within to live holy, and that power is another gift of God’s grace. As II Peter 1:4 declares, we are “partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust,” and it is that nature that empowers us to be holy as He is holy (I Pet. 1:15-16).

Tenth and finally, we develop a holy walk by fortifying ourselves against Satan’s attacks. Satan will try anything and everything to get you to lay aside the Breastplate of Righteousness. One way he does this is by “whispering in your ear,” as it were, “This holiness thing is keeping you from the pleasures of life; it’s keeping you from having fun.” He first tempts you with things that are sinful. That might be sexual sin, lying, cheating, or other forbidden thing.

More subtly, however, he’ll tempt you with things that are not sinful in themselves. As we’ve noted before, bodily appetites are normal, but Satan tempts us to fulfill them outside of God’s will. Hunger is not evil, but gluttony is sinful. Thirst is not sin, but drunkenness is. Sleep isn’t sinful, but laziness is. Sex is not sinful, but fornication is. Leisure is not sinful, but living for it is. Business and profit-making are not sinful, but focusing on it or “cutting corners” to do is. The point is that it’s not the using of such things but the abusing of them that is sin. Moses stands as a grand testimony and example, “Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season” (Heb. 11:25).

Another way Satan tries to get you to lay aside the Breastplate of Righteousness is by whispering in your ear, “This holiness thing is really making you look odd to everybody else; it’s making you unlikable. Come on, just lighten up a little.” In other words, the temptation is to compromise. We’re reminded of Aaron and the golden calf. He didn’t want to rock the boat, so he chose to appease the people. “Ah, what harm will it really do,” he might have thought. “After all, we’re going to dedicate to the Lord” (Ex. 32:5-6).

Yes, to live holy and proclaim holiness invites criticism; we’ll get accusations that we’re being narrow-minded, puritanical, intolerant, and legalistic. But God never blesses tolerance, appeasement, or compromise. He blesses holiness. What’s more, he also blesses us “when men shall revile [us], and persecute [us], and shall say all manner of evil against [us] falsely, for [His] sake” (Matt. 5:11). As Gurnall well puts it, “God’s blessing is a good roof over our head to defend us from the storm of men’s wrath.”[5]

Dear Christian Friend, may you live holy.