“Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place“
Ephesians 6:14
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November 3, 2025
This week, we’re continuing our study of “the armor of God.” This verse in Ephesians is Paul’s fourth use of the word stand in his admonition to put on the full armor of God. Here he commands his readers to stand firm.
1 Chronicles tells a dramatic account of David and one of his mighty men taking a stand in battle against the Philistines:
Next to him was Eleazar son of Dodai the Alohite, one of the three mighty men. He was with David at Pas Dammim when the Philistines gathered there for battle. At a place where there was a field full of barley, the troops fled from the Philistines. But they took their stand in the middle of the field. They defended it and struck the Philistines down, and the Lord brought about a great victory.
(1 Chronicles 11:12-14)
In Acts 7 Stephen took a stand confronting the unbelief of the Sanhedrin:
Was there ever a prophet your fathers did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now you have betrayed and murdered him—
“Look,” he said, “I see heaven opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”
At this they covered their ears and yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him, dragged him out of the city and began to stone him.
(Acts 7:52,56-58a)
The first example of Eleazar and David was a battle against flesh and blood, but Paul has already clarified that the stand he is talking about in Ephesians is not against flesh and blood but against powers of this dark world, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Stephen took a stand identifying Jesus as the Messiah before a hostile Sanhedrin, which unleashed its murderous fury upon him.
How is a believer to stand firm today? This is not a call to human courage, as laudable as that may be. This is not an exercise of the human will, as valuable as that can be. No, this is a command to stand at the side of the living God. We do not stand alone, therefore we can stand firm. In fact, we are incapable of standing firm on our own.
It is the Lord who gives strength to stand in opposition to the sin that so easily entangles us. How can we not stand firm, knowing that we stand at the side of our God who allowed men like us to murder His own Son to bring us back into relationship with Himself? Our desire is to stand firm, yet we still lose our footing and fall down. But we do not give up. We repent and take the field again and again and again knowing that God is for us and stands with us always.
Questions for reflection and discussion:
- Examine your life over the past week and identify a situation in which you have stood firm against sin.
- Is there a recurring situation or a relationship where you are having trouble standing firm against evil? What are you going to do about it?
- We do not fight this fight alone. Who could be your Eleazar in this battle?
Church Reading Plan: 2 Kings 16; Titus 2