A New Wardrobe Part 2 - Breastplate of Righteousness
Today we look at the second piece of battle gear: the breastplate of righteousness.
It's a short, simple phrase found in Ephesians 6:14. But as I dug into a variety of translations, I found the different words so rich:
"righteousness like armor on your chest," (HCSB)
"put on God's approval as your breastplate," (GW)
"the protection of right living on your chest," (NCV)
"the breastplate of righteousness in place," (NIV)
"the armor of godliness on your chest," (NIRV)
"a piece of iron over your chest which is being right with God," (NLV)
"having put on the breastplate of integrity and moral rectitude and right standing with God," (AMP)
Two words: righteousness and breastplate.
The breastplate for a Roman warrior at the time of Christ covered basically from the neck to the waist*, made of medal, protecting any kind of frontal attack on the chest cavity, which meant it protected all the internal organs. No warrior would ever consider going to battle without a breastplate. And though we really need all our internal organs, let's consider which is the most important: the heart. Scientifically, it pumps blood to every area of our body, and that blood in turn carries vital supplies to those areas. Figuratively, our heart is the seat of our emotions, our passions, and our personalities. And to the people at the time of Paul's writings, the heart was the center of our mind and belief system, as well. Your heart defines who you are in every way. And the breastplate of righteousness protects it.
This isn't just a clever play on words by Paul; in Isaiah 59:17 we see a prophecy of Christ donning similar attire: "he put on righteousness like a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on his head;" (The helmet of salvation is yet another piece of gear we'll talk about on another day.) When we put on the breastplate of righteousness, we're dressing as Christ does when He goes to battle. Awesome.
Righteousness by definition is the act of doing what is in agreement with God's standards, or the state of being in proper relationship with God. We can't just give lip service in order to be righteous; we've got to live it.
Check out what Psalm 112 teaches about the righteous person:
"Happy is the man who fears the LORD, taking great delight in His commands...His righteousness endures forever...Light shines in the darkness for the upright. He is gracious, compassionate, and righteous...He will never be shaken. The righteous man will be remembered forever...He will not fear bad news; his heart is confident, trusting in the LORD. His heart is assured; he will not fear. His righteousness endures forever," (selected passages from verses 1, 3-4, 6-9, HCSB).
Did you catch all that? When we live righteously, we are blessed in abundance.
Now, this righteousness that Paul was talking about was quite different from the righteousness defined by the Jews of the Old Testament. You see, God had given them the Law, explaining that they had to obey the Law in order to be righteousness. But a secret about that Law-Righteousness is revealed to us in Romans 3:20 (NIV): "Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God's sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin." Even those who followed every law as properly as they could never accomplished the goal of righteousness through works. And that was God's purpose: so his people would realize they cannot live perfectly enough to be in a right relationship with God.
So He presented an effective way for us to attain righteousness: faith. We see in Romans 4:3 that "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness." Even 2000 years before Christ, believing God brought righteousness. So when Jesus came, He solidified the system of being right with God: faith in Himself. "The righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe," (Romans 3:22).
So we are right with God through our faith in Jesus Christ and His death that covers our sins and His resurrection that gives us power.
And we wear that righteousness--daily, in all we do--to protect our heart. All we are--the definition of ourselves--comes from our right relationship with God.
Wear the breastplate of righteousness boldly today! THIS IS YOUR IDENTITY!
I love you.
*Note that the breastplate stopped just where the belt was buckled (see yesterday's post!) We are fully protected and prepared by these two pieces of gear!!!
It's a short, simple phrase found in Ephesians 6:14. But as I dug into a variety of translations, I found the different words so rich:
"righteousness like armor on your chest," (HCSB)
"the protection of right living on your chest," (NCV)
"the breastplate of righteousness in place," (NIV)
"the armor of godliness on your chest," (NIRV)
"a piece of iron over your chest which is being right with God," (NLV)
"having put on the breastplate of integrity and moral rectitude and right standing with God," (AMP)
Two words: righteousness and breastplate.
The breastplate for a Roman warrior at the time of Christ covered basically from the neck to the waist*, made of medal, protecting any kind of frontal attack on the chest cavity, which meant it protected all the internal organs. No warrior would ever consider going to battle without a breastplate. And though we really need all our internal organs, let's consider which is the most important: the heart. Scientifically, it pumps blood to every area of our body, and that blood in turn carries vital supplies to those areas. Figuratively, our heart is the seat of our emotions, our passions, and our personalities. And to the people at the time of Paul's writings, the heart was the center of our mind and belief system, as well. Your heart defines who you are in every way. And the breastplate of righteousness protects it.
This isn't just a clever play on words by Paul; in Isaiah 59:17 we see a prophecy of Christ donning similar attire: "he put on righteousness like a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on his head;" (The helmet of salvation is yet another piece of gear we'll talk about on another day.) When we put on the breastplate of righteousness, we're dressing as Christ does when He goes to battle. Awesome.
Righteousness by definition is the act of doing what is in agreement with God's standards, or the state of being in proper relationship with God. We can't just give lip service in order to be righteous; we've got to live it.
Check out what Psalm 112 teaches about the righteous person:
"Happy is the man who fears the LORD, taking great delight in His commands...His righteousness endures forever...Light shines in the darkness for the upright. He is gracious, compassionate, and righteous...He will never be shaken. The righteous man will be remembered forever...He will not fear bad news; his heart is confident, trusting in the LORD. His heart is assured; he will not fear. His righteousness endures forever," (selected passages from verses 1, 3-4, 6-9, HCSB).
Did you catch all that? When we live righteously, we are blessed in abundance.
Now, this righteousness that Paul was talking about was quite different from the righteousness defined by the Jews of the Old Testament. You see, God had given them the Law, explaining that they had to obey the Law in order to be righteousness. But a secret about that Law-Righteousness is revealed to us in Romans 3:20 (NIV): "Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God's sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin." Even those who followed every law as properly as they could never accomplished the goal of righteousness through works. And that was God's purpose: so his people would realize they cannot live perfectly enough to be in a right relationship with God.
So He presented an effective way for us to attain righteousness: faith. We see in Romans 4:3 that "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness." Even 2000 years before Christ, believing God brought righteousness. So when Jesus came, He solidified the system of being right with God: faith in Himself. "The righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe," (Romans 3:22).
So we are right with God through our faith in Jesus Christ and His death that covers our sins and His resurrection that gives us power.
And we wear that righteousness--daily, in all we do--to protect our heart. All we are--the definition of ourselves--comes from our right relationship with God.
Wear the breastplate of righteousness boldly today! THIS IS YOUR IDENTITY!
I love you.
*Note that the breastplate stopped just where the belt was buckled (see yesterday's post!) We are fully protected and prepared by these two pieces of gear!!!
Comments
Post a Comment