The Breastplate Of Righteousness

by HYLAND, D. T. | Category: Battle Briefing | Jun 1994

It is widely held that Paul's letter to the Ephesians was written while he was a prisoner in Rome. He was under house arrest, awaiting trial, so that Roman soldiers were a familiar sight to him. A good deal is known about their battledress, because detailed descriptions are contained in the writings of some secular authors. There are also reliefs on various columns.

Paul used the soldier's battledress as a model to illustrate the armour the believer requires to engage in spiritual warfare. The believer's conflict is not against human foes, but demonic agencies in a spiritual hierarchy of evil of which the Devil is leader.

An important item of defensive armour Paul mentions is "the breastplate of righteousness" (Eph. 6:14). The soldier's breastplate was an indispensable piece of his armour. It covered his vital organs, notably his heart and lungs. Believers have sometimes been encouraged "to fight and not to heed the wounds". But in battle it depends on the nature of the wound whether or not it can be ignored. Superficial wounds may be only a minor hindrance. A more serious wound, while not life threatening, might render a soldier inoperative. But an arrow which pierced the heart or a lung could be fatal.

Righteousness in Paul's writings very often refers to the imputed righteousness of Christ, the righteousness associated with justification by faith: God's gracious initiative in putting sinners right with Himself through the Crosswork of Christ. To be justified is to be clothed with the righteousness of Christ and to be a member of the Church which is His Body, against which the gates of Hades cannot prevail. Being declared righteous by God is a necessary preliminary to working righteousness in His sight.

The breastplate has to do with practical righteousness in the believer's everyday life; it signifies righteousness of character and conduct. Those who have been justified will show it by their behaviour. This item of armour is the evidence of the outworking of the righteousness of God in the sanctified lives of His children. "He that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as He (Christ) is righteous: he that doeth sin is of the Devil" (1 John 3:7,8). It has been well said that:

Righteousness is as consonant with the character of Christ - since "He is righteous" as sin is consonant with the character of the Devil, who has been sinning, rebelling against God (this is the force of the Greek present tense here), ever since the beginning (F. F. Bruce).

Righteousness means actually doing whatever is right; sin is doing wrong.

The Devil's Greek title diabolos means slanderer. Believers are to act righteously to protect themselves against his false accusations. The breastplate of righteousness helps the believer to preserve a good conscience and set the mind and the heart's affections on "the things that are above, where Christ is, seated on the right hand of God" (Col. 3:1).

HYLAND, D. T. | Jun 1994
Battle Briefing