Second Skin
Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. Ephesians 6:11 NIV
Full armor – In my dream I’m covered with some kind of black plastic tarry substance. It tries to hold me down to the ground. I try to fight it off, but no matter what I do, it just sticks to me more and more—like second skin. I’m not afraid of it, but it’s changing me.
My therapist encourages me to rework the dream in conscious reality; to make of it what I want to happen. I concentrate on the feelings that I had in the dream—and realize that this second skin is both threat and protection. It’s a threat because if I stop fighting it I will really become someone else. But it’s protection because now, in the fight, I need covering. When I am finally ready to become someone else, then I won’t have to fight anymore. Second skin and I will get along just fine.
“Put on the full armor,” says Paul. But, of course, he doesn’t mean metal breastplates and chain mail leggings. He’s writing about “spiritual” armor. Now what do you suppose that is? Usually we answer this question without much real consideration. We just repeat Paul’s analogies. Truth, righteousness, peace, faith, and salvation, not forgetting the “sword of the spirit,” yes, that’s what we need. But what are these things? When we looked at David’s poem in Psalm 14, we discovered that truth is something like “naked and unashamed” inside. It’s not having the right answers, spouting the right doctrines, or being in the right congregation. It’s what’s going on when the lights are off. And it’s not as easy as it seems. Standing firm (the Hebrew idea of truth) when the whole world around us is shaking, quaking, and doubting is difficult. Standing exposed to God is even harder.
Righteousness? In Greek the root is díkē, “justice.” The concept isn’t quite so simple as “being right with God.”
It is a basic tenet in the OT that God posits law and is bound to it. Recognition of this is a unifying factor in Israel’s faith. All law comes from God, and hence God’s authority extends to all Israel’s historical relationships. God’s law is an order of life that cannot be changed or challenged. It is righteous because he is righteous. His ways are right; they thus give us life and security. He is a righteous ruler and judge, as shown already in the victory celebrated in Judg. 5:11. His righteousness extends to other nations, so that order is seen in the world.[1]
dikaiosýnē and díkaios cover a lot of Hebrew territory.[2] Terms like “good, fair, upright, right, observant, equitable” come to mind. Righteousness isn’t just rule-keeping. It’s an attitude about life, a stance that affects all our behavior. And it begins on the inside.
We’re familiar with eirḗnē. It’s the Greek equivalent of shalom. Well, kind of. Shalom is much broader. The Greek idea of peace is the absence of war. The Hebrew idea is fully experienced well-being. What does “fully experienced well-being” mean? It’s not just the absence of conflict (external or internal). It’s complete harmony—inside and out. It’s that feeling that you are safe at home, totally accepted for exactly who you are, and glad to be that way. It’s knowing that you were meant for a purpose—and doing it! Clearly, no external force can either make or break shalom for you. You have it or you don’t. Circumstances have little to do with it. In the words of Abraham Heschel, shalom is “to taste the whole wheat of spirit before it is ground by the millstones of reason.”[3]
Faith? Ah, that’s where we really miss the point. Paul’s use of the “shield of faith” usually elicits images of protective beliefs. You know, when you have all the right answers and can flash them brilliantly before the invading hordes of pagans. The shield of faith is the Christian equivalent of apologetics. Knock down those flaming arrows of doubt, corruption, and lawlessness. Nail 95 theses to the door. But Paul’s idea of pístis is Hebraic, not Greek. It’s all about trust, not propositions. The shield of faith is quintessentially prophetic, summarized brilliantly in Habakkuk: “the just shall live by his faith.” In other words, faith is the indubitable trust in the character of God. We don’t survive on the basis of correct beliefs. We survive on the basis of an absolute commitment to YHVH regardless of our circumstances. He rules! That’s enough!
As you know, salvation in Hebrew thought is not “getting saved.” It is rescue from immediate danger. It’s not about heaven. It’s about life on earth. It’s about God’s handiwork in daily experience—the blessings of breath and bread. God has already saved you because you’re alive! Heaven can, literally, wait. Just as shalom is about complete harmony, salvation is about complete restoration, and in that sense, while we experience God’s graciousness today, we wait for the fulfillment of salvation when everything will be restored. We wait with bated breath because it’s coming. Can you feel it?
And then there’s the sword. A weapon. Now why would we need a weapon if we have all these other things going for us? We’ll see.
Topical Index: armor, truth, righteousness, peace, faith, salvation, sword, Ephesians 6:11
[1] Kittel, G., Friedrich, G., & Bromiley, G. W. (1985). Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (p. 168). Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans.
[2] See TDNT, Vol. 2, pp. 169-177.
[3] Abraham Heschel, The Mystical Element in Judaism (Varda Books, 2017), p. 3.
