What Is the Purpose of the Breastplate of Righteousness?
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Most large museums dedicate at least one room to display the armor worn by medieval knights. Those warriors wore great defensive suits of armor, and the metal protection covered as much of their flesh as possible against enemy attacks. Even horses were arrayed in some form of protective covering. After all, how much use is a heavy coat of metal with no beast of burden to carry you to the battle?
Christians too are called to protect themselves with armor, yet ours is the full armor of God, and this armor includes the breastplate of righteousness.
What Is the Breastplate of Righteousness?
Our breastplate of righteousness is symbolic in the physical sense, but spiritually authentic. Let’s unpack the role and merits of this valuable piece of equipment.
Ephesians 6:10 begins with amazing encouragement for the Ephesian believers (and therefore us). We are told to be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Do you see that encouraging truth? Our strength is not from us, it’s from the Lord Jesus and His might (cf. Colossians 1:29).
Three times in Ephesians 6:10-14, Paul tells believers to stand. All good armor is heavy. Can you imagine the weight of God’s perfect armor for defense against the enemies of our souls? How can one stand except in the Lord’s strength? We do not cower; instead, we take a firm stance as we wear each part of our spiritual armor. And once we secure the belt of truth and the breastplate of righteousness, we stand (v. 14). What does this breastplate cover? And why is it of “righteousness?”
John MacArthur says, “The breastplate was usually a tough, sleeveless piece of leather or heavy material with animal horn or hoof pieces sewn on, covering the soldier’s full torso, protecting his heart and other vital organs. Because righteousness, or holiness, is such a distinctive characteristic of God himself, it is not hard to understand why that is the Christian’s chief protection against Satan and his schemes. As believers faithfully live in obedience to and communion with Jesus Christ, His own righteousness produces in them the practical, daily righteousness that becomes their spiritual breastplate. Lack of holiness, on the other hand, leaves them vulnerable to the great enemy of their souls (cf. Isaiah 59:17; 2 Corinthians 7:1; 1 Thessalonians 5:8).”
Righteousness is akin to faith. Righteousness, in its simplest sense is being “right” with God. No one may be right before God in and of his own merit. On the other side of the cross — in the days of the biblical patriarchs — Abraham was the first to be called righteous (Genesis 15:6). His faith in God was counted to him as righteousness. He believed God.
For us, our faith in Jesus has put us in right standing with God. His righteousness has been imputed to us via His atoning work on the cross. Because of Jesus, we are “right” with God.
He is called, in Jeremiah 23:6, “the Lord our righteousness."
Our hearts are of great importance regarding righteousness, for they are desperately wicked (Jeremiah 17:9), and we are prone to wander away from the Lord (Proverbs 16:9; Matthew 15:19). And so, to make a solid, godly stand against the schemes of the evil ones, we must put on that which covers (protects) our hearts — Christ’s righteousness. He gives us the only protection that guarantees success against the devil.
Where Do We Find the Breastplate of Righteousness in Scripture?
Ephesians 6:10-17 describes each part of our Christ-won armor, which includes the breastplate of righteousness. Paul used military terms when he designated how we are to array ourselves for the spiritual battles we will most certainly face as Christians.
In its context, this passage was written as the encouraging conclusion to Paul’s letter to the Ephesian church. Ephesus found itself full of false teachers which threatened to infiltrate the fledgling church (and many new believers were swayed by those untruths). In Revelation 2:1-7, Jesus told the Ephesians they had “lost their first love,” which was their love of Him. What they needed (as do we) was to focus on Christ as the center of their lives and protection from infiltrators (the devil being the chief subversive).
What Are the Other Pieces of Armor?
Jesus Christ our Lord secured the full amor of God for us. Its other components are:
The belt of truth: Truth secures every piece of our armor. Jesus is the Truth (John 14:6), and He is the One who brought truth into our lives.
The helmet of salvation: A popular saying is, “I know because I know because I know because I know Jesus saved me.” Without the truth of His salvation permeating our thoughts, our actions will not reflect Christ’s salvific work in us (1 John 5:11-13).
The shoes of readiness to share the gospel of peace: Jesus said, in Matthew 28:19, “Go therefore…” It’s literal rendering is, “While you are going…” Paul also said in Romans 10:15, “And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”
The shield of faith: Jesus gave us this shield to act as a defensive weapon to extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one. The devil may think his fiery accusations and schemes will cause us to falter, but when fully arrayed with our full armor of God and with Jesus as our Advocate, the devil always fails. His flaming darts fall as wet dust as we extend our full faith in the Lord Jesus.
The sword of the Spirit: This important piece of our armor can be used defensively and offensively. We can smite spiritual attacks with the Word of God as the evil ones try to assail us with lies. We can also use the Word of God to prepare and engage in a proactive sense (1 Peter 3:15).
Can We Pick and Choose What Pieces We Use?
All of the pieces of the armor work together as we display our full trust in the Lord through what Jesus Christ has done and continues to do for us. If we miss just one piece, we are not fully equipped to do battle against the enemy of our souls — the devil. Ephesians 6:12 says, “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.”
Paul’s command to us as believers is to put on the “full” armor of God. Nowhere does he say to don partial protection. A person can pick and choose, but why would we want to embark on any activity of our Christian life without being fully covered?
Why Is Righteousness Important?
Hebrews 11:6 says, “And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who seek Him.” Our faith is what is counted to us as righteousness, just as it was to Abraham. Righteousness is defined by Webster’s 1928 dictionary as “purity of heart and conformity of heart and life to the divine law.” As used in Scripture, it is “nearly equivalent to holiness and includes all we call justice, honesty, and virtue with holy affections.”
We are not righteous in and of ourselves because of our wicked hearts. But because of our faith in, love of, and obedience to Jesus, God sees us as righteous. Because of Jesus, we are justified in God’s sight. And when we put on the breastplate of righteousness, no evil can penetrate us.
A Prayer to Put on the Breastplate of Righteousness
Lord Jesus,
Thank you for our full armor—secured by You and useful for every attempted attack by the devil and his minions. We praise You for Your righteousness and for Your goodness. Help us to always remember it is by Your strength and by Your doing that we are able to withstand the attacks of the evil ones. Help us as we put on our full armor every day, and we thank you for the breastplate of righteousness which protects the hearts which belong to You alone. We confess, all we are is filthy rags before You, our holy God. It’s Your righteousness which rests in each of us and protects us! We did nothing to deserve this, nor can we put it on without You, because it IS You! Your word tells us in 1 Corinthians 1:10, You are our righteousness, and because of You, we can stand! Thank You. We love You.
In the matchless name of the King of kings and Lord of lords we pray.
Amen.
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