You must be in fellowship prior to your Bible study, so that the spiritual information you receive can become a source, of blessing to your soul and produce spiritual growth.
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Wherefore[dia][touto] take unto you[analambano] the whole armour[panoplia]
of God,[theos] that[hina] ye may be able[dunamai] to
withstand[anthistemi] in[en] the evil[poneros] day,[hemera] and[kai] having done[katergazomai] all,[hapas] to stand.[histemi] KJV-Interlinear
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Therefore, take up the full armor of God, that you may be able to resist in the
evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. NASB
Whole or complete armor, refers to the complete and covered protection of a soldier in battle.
In these verses there are described six pieces of armor in the spiritual battle dress of the believer.
Belt of truth;
Breastplate of righteousness;
Footwear of peace;
Shield of faith;
Helmet of salvation;
Sword of the Spirit.
This verse continues using the language of military activity and readiness.
Whole armor is a reference to the complete, without exception, coverage of protection for both offensive and defensive actions with regard to an enemy that is there for one purpose only, which is to destroy you.
The world is without remorse or empathy for you or your life. You as a believer is Christ, or even you as a mere human being, are a worthless component in this world.
Satan is the ruler of this world and Satan is in a battle for his own right to free himself from the Lake of Fire to which he has already been sentenced. Therefore, in order for Satan to win his freedom, then you and all people must lose all of our freedoms.
Are you willing to trade yours and everyones eternal life away, so that Satan and his demon angels can have their freedom to continue destroying forever?
Most would say no to that question.
In that day, is a reference to the day of the attacks with which you will be assaulted. And since this is the devils world, you are constantly being bombarded with the assaults of evil, day in and day out, throughout your entire life.
Therefore you must be armed and readied for battle in order to avoid being defeated or destroyed by any of those assaults.
So that you will withstand, 'anthistemi,' which means that you must defeat each and every assault, each and every enemy attack, each and every enemy, in order to preserve your own life.
No one has prefect freedom until the entirety of the enemy force, has been defeated and destroyed. This means that when one-hundred percent of the enemy force is dead, then you are truly free and declared the winner. When no enemy can ever rise up again, then the war, not just the battle, is finally and completely over.
And of course this final outcome will not occur until the final event of the Millennium.
So until then, we all have a battle before us. We have several daily battles from our own mental attitudes, from people, from bureaucracies, from the environment and so forth.
And we have only one battle dress with which to protect ourselves. And that battle gear begins with doctrine.
You must learn it and be interested in it, before you will learn it. You must pay attention in order to learn. You must stick with a daily study in order to assimilate the knowledge in your soul. You must use it in order to construct your battle defenses within your soul, and finally you must advance to spiritual maturity in order to have this complete outfit for maximum protection and blessing.
You cannot dress yourself. You cannot partially dress yourself and be successful. Any compromise or laziness in preparation makes room for defeat.
Therefore having done all, means just that. All, means a complete commitment to God, to Gods plan, to your daily study, and to all of this in accordance with Gods plan, not yours.
