1. What stood out to you from this chapter?
This is a well known passage of Scripture called the Armor of God. Most Christians have heard about it, but I bet not a lot of people could name all six pieces of the armor that Paul describes. It's kind of a cool, Christian catch phrase, "Gotta keep puttin' on the armor, ya' know?" But these 11 verses are really rich. They are like a miniature BASIC TRAINING for living the Christian life. Paul not only describes the Armor of God, he also describes the battle that we are in - that it is not primarily against people, but rather the forces of evil in the world. If anyone has seen the Hunger Games: Catching Fire, there's a line within the movie someone says to the main character, "Remember who the real enemy is." Paul describes the real enemy here: the devil - that he is scheming, flinging flaming arrows, and continually moving evil forward in the world. Finally, Paul gives us our marching orders, and it's not what we would expect. I would have expected something like, "Here is the armor we are supposed to put on. Now let's go storm the gates of hell..." or something like that. But he basically says, "Ready, set, STAND FIRM!" Our goal is to stand firm while the evil is happening all around us. That is hard enough, and we can only be victorious through the strength of God within us.
2. How does this passage relate to any other Scripture I know?
In the first three verses, Paul is still speaking some instructions to Christian households, and he references one of the ten commandments from Deuteronomy 5, "Honor your father and mother." He even points out that it is the first commandment (and really the only) that contains a promise attached to it. But this section about children and parenting also reminded me of the next chapter in Deuteronomy, where God gives some important parenting mandates to make sure the kids know the commands of God. Chapter 6 of Deuteronomy is a section all parents should come to know.
3. So what does this mean for my life?
When Paul describes the Armor of God, he takes four verses total to talk about the six different pieces of armor. He could have probably taken a whole paragraph of chapter about each one to expound on them more. But then he comes to the topic of prayer, and spends three verses on one thing. It was pretty clear to me which thing was most important to Paul. PRAY. It was a good reminder for me to keep praying. I'm sort of an action oriented guy, so it's something I have to remind myself of.
4. What questions do I have about this passage?
Paul does address slavery once or twice in the Bible, and when he does he has instructions for both slaves and masters. Slaves are to work hard, as if working for the Lord. Masters are supposed to treat slaves with respect, as equals in terms of worth in God's eyes. I understand that slavery within God's people was not the same as like, American slavery. The Israelites had a system of slavery that was more like working off a debt than kidnapping and ruling by force and fear. But my question still remains, what exactly was the slavery system like if neither Paul, nor God through other authors didn't just outright condemn it?
That's it for today. Tomorrow we are on to Philippians chapter 1. Philippians contains two of my three favorite sections of verses in the Bible, so I'm excited.
In Christ,
Dan
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