"Therefore" in view of the fact that our enemy is not flesh and blood but consists of supernatural forces, we need God's supernatural empowerment. Paul says that because we face such a formidable foe, we must avail ourselves of God’s provision lest the enemy destroy our Christian witness and ministry.

Eadie comments...

"Wherefore," the foes being so formidable in power, operation, and nature, what need is there not to be fully protected with this complete and divine suit of mail? (Epistle of St. Paul to the Ephesians )

C. S. Lewis wrote that

"There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. They themselves are equally pleased by both errors, and hail a materialist or magician with the same delight:" (The Screwtape Letters. p. 3.  New York: Macmillan, 1961)

Dearly beloved, never leave your home spiritually "undressed" and never underestimate the strategy, schemes and strength of our enemy.

"Take up" (3538) (analambano from ana = up + lambano = take) is used 8x in the NT (Mk; Acts 8x; Eph 2x; 1Ti; 2Ti) and literally means to take up a thing in order to carry or use it.

Analambano is used of Jesus' being taken up into heaven (Mark 16:19, Acts 1:2,11, 22, 1Ti 1:16), of being taken on board ship (Acts 20, 13,14), and of Timothy picking up Mark to bring him to Paul (2Ti 4:11).

Analambano was a military technical term describing the last preparation and final step before the actual battle begins!  It pictures taking up one's armor and putting it on in anticipation of the coming battle.

Analambano is used in this military sense in the Septuagint translation of Deuteronomy 1:41 where Moses declares

“Then you answered and said to me, ‘We have sinned against the Lord; we will indeed go up and fight, just as the Lord our God commanded us.’ And every man of you girded on (Hebrew = to gird oneself or put on a belt; Lxx = analambano = take up) his weapons of war and regarded it as easy to go up into the hill country."

Take up is aorist tense which calls for an immediate action and often conveys a sense of urgency. The idea is "Do this now" and "do it effectively". The "active" voice indicates that the subject (the believer) is to carry out this action. Active voice emphasizes the human responsibility that is necessary, even though the armor is God's. The armor is available, but each believer must “take it up” in order to be ready. We would be neglectful to do otherwise, for the battle is real, and we are Satan’s targets. The imperative mood is a command. In short, Paul like a Roman general whose troops were about to engage in mortal hand to hand combat delivers his orders that if obeyed assure victory.

Kenneth Wuest explains that

"the Christian is to take up and put on all the armor of God as a once-for-all act and keep that armor on during the entire course of his life, not relaxing the discipline necessary for the constant use of such protection." (Wuest, K. S. Wuest's word studies from the Greek New Testament. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans)

Why "once-for-all"? Think about why this might be so. Do the rulers and powers, etc ever call a truce? take a rest from their relentless attack? Of course not. How tragic then that so many believers become lax & "slip out of the full armor", forgetting the truth that our "adversary, the devil, (continuously) prowls  around (present tense) like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour." Note that the command or charge also carries with it a promise - the promise being that if we will really put on the full armor of God, we will stand and be victorious.

Paul's point is that every believer has God's His provision, but His strength must appropriated through our willingness to obey.

Jameison, et al writes that Paul says...
 

not “make,” God has done that: you have only to “take up” and put it on. The Ephesians were familiar with the idea of the gods giving armor to mythical heroes: thus Paul’s allusion would be appropriate." (A commentary, critical and explanatory, on the Old and New Testaments)

Historian Edward Gibbon (See below to read his original quote) relates how the relaxation of discipline and the disuse of exercise rendered the Roman Legionnaire soldiers less willing and less able to support the fatigue associated with active service. They began to complain of the weight of the armor and obtained permission to lay aside their cuirasses (breastplates) & helmets! How many believers "complain of the weight of their armor" and end up laying aside vital components of their spiritual dress?

Kent Hughes draws this parallel with "Christian soldiers" stating that...
 

"the prevailing materialistic, mechanistic thinking of our age leaves no room for the supernatural, or indeed anything without a physical cause. Sadly, many Christians are so influenced by this thinking that even though they give conscious voice to their belief in Satan and spiritual warfare, their lives show no evidence of this reality. They actually live in unconscious disbelief. For such persons, this passage (Eph 6:10-18) provides a much-needed antidote."

Hughes goes on to caution us that
 

"It is possible to move from practical disbelief in the Devil and his minions to a preoccupation with them — like the New Yorker cartoon which pictured a man pointing toward his car’s transmission saying, “I think there is a demon in my bell housing.” We’ve probably all felt that way at times, but if we attribute every problem to demons we are in trouble! At the same time Paul’s worldview, the Biblical worldview, is that we are in a spiritual battle with evil in which there is no truce...".  (Hughes, R. K. Ephesians: The mystery of the body of Christ. Preaching the Word. Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway Books. 1990)

Edward Gibbon in his famous work, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire  (click here) has the following interesting not on the deterioration of discipline in the Roman soldier writing that...

"The relaxation of discipline, and the disuse of exercise, rendered the soldiers less able, and less willing, to support the fatigues of the service; they complained of the weight of the armor, which they seldom wore; and they successively obtained the permission of laying aside both their cuirasses (breastplates) and their helmets.  The heavy weapons of their ancestors, the short sword (machaira), and the formidable pilum (javelin), which had subdued the world, insensibly dropped from their feeble hands.  As the use of the shield is incompatible with that of the bow, they reluctantly marched into the field; condemned to suffer either the pain of wounds, or the ignominy of flight, and always disposed to prefer the more shameful alternative.  The cavalry of the Goths, the Huns, and the Alani, had felt the benefits, and adopted the use, of defensive armor; and, as they excelled in the management of missile weapons, they easily overwhelmed the naked and trembling legions, whose heads and breasts were exposed, without defence, to the arrows of the Barbarians.  The loss of armies, the destruction of cities, and the dishonor of the Roman name, ineffectually solicited the successors of Gratian to restore the helmets and the cuirasses of the infantry. The enervated soldiers abandoned their own and the public defence; and their pusillanimous (lacking courage and resolution : marked by contemptible timidity: cowardly) indolence (inclination to laziness; sloth; disinclination to action or labor) may be considered as the immediate cause of the downfall of the empire."

How important then is discipline to the Christian soldier in the arena of spiritual warfare? Surely it cannot be underestimated lest we too like the slothful Roman legionnaires suffer ignominious defeat at the hands of our relentless "barbarian" adversaries.

THE FULL ARMOR OF GOD:  ten panoplian tou theou:

Paul’s repetition of the “full armor” of God is a reminder that we need the whole package; every piece is necessary. "full armor" is the Greek word "panoplia" (pas = all + hopla = weapons or tools). Among the Greeks the panoplia was the complete equipment used by heavily armed infantry.

Don't forget the most critical aspect of the armor, "of God"!

We cannot forge our own armor. Our own resolutions, like home-made weapons, will be sure to betray some weakness. The Christian armor consists of God-given graces. "Christian" in Pilgrim's Progress had his armor given him at the house "Beautiful" and we must do likewise. Even a steel breastplate is no protection against a cup of poison and in like manner, the character of our defenses must be spiritual and holy, like the character of God, in order that we may be able to withstand such spiritual foes as Paul has just enumerated.

Click here for some parallel thoughts by Spurgeon that relate to our "full armor".

John MacArthur writes "Don’t concentrate on what the devil is doing, but on what you’re to be doing. It doesn’t matter that you know precisely when and how Satan is mapping every subtle scheme. We can’t do that anyway. The only thing that does matter is that you put your armor on. If you do, you will be ready for battle." (MacArthur, J.. How to meet the enemy. Wheaton, IL: Victor Books. 1992)

In Classic Greek the "full armor" was descriptive of a "heavy armed soldier" (Vincent).

There is an interesting illustration of the "full armor" from Greek mythology. It is reported by the Greek poets that the mother of Achilles the Grecian captain was warned by the oracle and dipped her son, as a child, into the River Lethe, thus providing an impenetrable armor for protection during the Trojan War. Paris, Achilles’ archenemy, knowing of this fact, realized the only place he could attack his foe would be the heel, that by which his mother held him while immersing her son in the river. Ultimately, Paris attacked and shot Achilles in the heel and killed him. For the believer, there is "full armor" to protect us from Satan’s attacks. We must put on each piece with prayer and God has promised to protect us, even down to our Achilles’ heel. We are assailable in every part of our nature. It is useless to be only half-armed, for the subtle tempter is sure to aim his dart at the most vulnerable spot. Where we think ourselves most secure we are likely to be most open to attack. It will not be sufficient to be sound on all points but one.

Kent Hughes comments that...

"Those who have traveled through J R Tolkien’s most imaginative Middle Earth perhaps remember that Bilbo Baggins passed on to his successor, Frodo, a finely wrought coat of delicately woven mail which was secretly made under the mountains by dwarves and was virtually impenetrable, thus saving their Hobbit skins on several occasions. But here with Paul, in the context of ultimate spiritual reality, we are offered real armor wrought on the anvils of Heaven which will protect us in real war if we will but wear it. In this study we are going to examine the first two items on the list: the soldier’s belt and his breastplate." (Hughes, R. K. Ephesians:  Preaching the Word. Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway Books)

HOW DO WE "PUT ON THE FULL ARMOR"?  One of the most important ways is to hide God's Word in our heart (Ps119:9-11) as if our very life depended upon it...because our spiritual life does! As you read the dramatic illustration below ask yourself if you have really acknowledged the reality of daily spiritual warfare or whether you have drifted into apathy and lethargy, and are no longer disciplining yourself for godliness (1Tim4:7-8).

From Our Daily Bread:

"Toward the close of World War II, Allied forces were mopping up against remaining Nazi resistance. One particular unit was assigned a crucial mission in Berlin. Each soldier had to memorize a map detailing all of Berlin's important military sites -- and they had to do it in a single night! In just a few hours, each soldier in the unit had committed the map to memory. The mission was a success. Several years later, the Army conducted an experiment to see if that original feat could be duplicated. They offered a similar unit an extra week's furlough--an attractive incentive--if they could carry out a comparable mission without a hitch. But the second unit could not match the success of the first. What made the difference? The lives of the men were not at stake. Surviving in battle was a greater motivation than a week's vacation. Christians are engaged in spiritual warfare (Eph 6:10-18). Our road map, our plan of strategy against Satan's military strongholds, is the Bible. The more we read it, the more of it we memorize, and the more thoroughly we know it, the more effective we will be for God. We must approach God's Word as if our lives depended on it--because they do. That's real motivation! "--HWR 

Thy Word is like an armory,
Where soldiers may repair,
And find, for life's long battle-day,
All needful weapons there. --Hodder

If your life depended on knowing the Bible, how long would you last?

SO THAT YOU WILL BE ABLE TO RESIST:hina dunethete (2PAPS) antistenai (AAN) :

"Resist" (436) (anthistemi from anti = against + histemi = stand) is used 15 times in the NT (Matthew; Luke; Acts 2x; Romans 2x;Galatians; Ephesians;2 Timothy 2x; James; 1 Peter) and in the NAS is translated cope, 1; has opposed, 1; oppose, 1; opposed, 4; opposing, 1; resist, 5; resists, 2. The KJV also translates anthistemi as "withstand".

Anthistemi means literally to stand or set against. It means to arrange in battle against and so pictures a face to face confrontation. It means to set one's self against, to stand firm against someone else's onset, to oppose ( place opposite or against), to resist by actively opposing pressure or power, to withstand (oppose with firm determination). It involves not only a psychological attitude but also a corresponding behavior. It was used to refer to an army arranging in battle against the enemy force and so to array against.

“Resist” means to defend oneself against the devil not to attack him. On the other hand to cower before the devil is to invite sure defeat. Effective resistance in faith to satanic attacks procures his flight. Scripture teaches us to flee from various evils ("Flee immorality...." 1Cor6:18; "flee from idolatry" 1Cor10:14; "flee from these things [love of money], you man of God" 1Ti6:11; "flee from youthful lusts" 2Ti2:22). The believer however is never instructed to flee from the Devil but to stand against him!

Grant Richison writes that anthistemi...

"is a term of defense, not offense. The Christian must build fortifications against the Devil. The Christian is at war. We should establish bulwarks of faith against our enemy. We resist by obeying the commands of verse eight. We would do well to remember that we cannot fight the Devil in ourselves." (Richison, G: Today's Word)

The verb suggests vigorously opposing, bravely resisting, standing face-to-face against an adversary, holding your ground. Just as an antihistamines (derived from "anthistemi") block or antagonize histamine, anthistemi tells us that with the authority and spiritual weapons granted to us we can stand against all evil forces. Note carefully that Paul does not say for us to hunt down or to actively pursue our spiritual enemies (don't worry...they will find us!), but to remain steadfast & immovable girded in the full armor of God in the face of persistent attack.

The Net Bible note states that

"the term anthistemi carries the idea of resisting or opposing something or someone. In Eph 6:13, when used in combination with stēnai ("stand firm") and in a context of battle imagery, it seems to have the idea of resisting, standing firm, and being able to stand your ground." (The NET Bible Notes. Biblical Studies Press)

Note that in spiritual warfare there is no middle ground, no neutrality. To stand with the Lord is to stand against everything sinful and worldly that formerly was appealing, corrupting, and enslaving.

A Roman centurion, according to Polybius, had to be the kind of man who could be relied