10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. 11 Put on the whole armour of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.12 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. 13 Therefore take up the whole armour of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. 14 Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. 16 In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one;17 and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, 18 praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints."
Ephesians 6:10-18
We should also give some thought as to how it is that Paul uses this particular metaphor and imagery of warfare and armour in this passage. Some think that he is using the analogy of the Roman soldier's armour in the picture he gives, and suggests that the imagery was ready at hand in his prison when he wrote Ephesians, guarded as he was by Roman soldiers at the time. But, interesting as that is as a possibility, we think it is much more likely that he had in mind the Old Testament picture of the Divine Warrior in Isaiah 59:14ff. If one looks at these verses it will be seen that Isaiah is depicting a time of great crisis and difficulty for the people of God. We may gather from this passage in Isaiah that the Apostle is making use of words that were spoken first of God and of His Divine Messiah. The impressive thing is that the armour that God wore to execute His victory over His enemies is applied by Paul to the believer in Christ so that the armour of God, described here in Ephesians 6, is not only the armour that God supplies to His children, it is also His own armour given to us for the same fight and the same battle as God's! This is the link, once again between Christ's victory, spoken of in chapter 1, and our victory in chapter 6. Is it not rather wonderful that the armour with which Christ was clad for battle against His foe is the same armour as is made available to us for our battle, and our victory? It is one and the same battle: we are entering into and appropriating what He has done for us, but in order to do this we need His armour. This is why Paul exhorts us, 'Take unto you the whole armour of God ...'.