"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 come in these verses to the final section of Paul's Letter. We have spoken of the wealth of the Christian, in chs 1-3, and of the walk of the Christian, in chs 3-6:9; and now we come to what has been called the warfare of the Christian. This is a good way to sum up the theme of the epistle, and it is worth our while to remember what we have already said in passing about this final passage. To go back no further than 5:18, and to the verse which speaks of being filled with the Spirit, we said that the fullness of the Spirit expresses itself in our personal relationships, in the home and family and at work, and that is the arena in which that fullness is so important. In the same way, we need to recognise that it is also first of all in the realm of personal relationships that the Christian warfare has relevance, in the sense that it is when we win the victory there that we are enabled to fight the battles of the Lord with some credence and hope of victory. We need to note therefore first of all, and by way of introduction, how Paul introduces this subject. His first words are significant: 'Be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might'. This picks up some of his main themes throughout the epistle: in 1:19 he prays that the Ephesians might know 'then exceeding greatness of His power ...'; in 3:16 he prays that they might be strengthened with might by His spirit in the inner man; in 5:18 he has summoned them to allow that gracious indwelling of the Spirit to be all it was designed to be; and now, finally - and we must understand this summons in 6:10 to be of apiece with these other verses: 'Be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might'. Such is the 'setting' and context of this tremendous passage.