Feet Fitted with the Gospel of Peace
6: 15
Feet fitted with the Gospel of peace DIG: Why were we God’s enemy in the past? Why were we helpless? What does the Gospel of peace mean to the believer today?
REFLECT: As you consider your armor, what parts are in good shape? What is rusty? What do you need to do to get ready for battle? What is at stake if you don’t?
The Gospel of peace refers to the Good News that the believer is at peace with God.
Today we have shoes for every conceivable type of activity. We have dress shoes, work shoes, and leisure shoes. In athletics, there are special shoes for every sport, sometimes several different types for a given sport. A tennis player might wear one type of shoe on a concrete court, another kind on clay, and still another on grass. Likewise, football and baseball players wear different shoes to play on different surfaces.
A soldier’s shoes are even more important than an athlete’s, because his very life could depend on them. As he marches on rough, hot roads, climbs over jagged rocks, tramples over thorns, and wades through streambeds of jagged stones, his feet need much protection. A soldier whose feet are blistered, cut, or swollen cannot fight well and often is not even able to stand up – a perilous situation in battle, not able to advance rapidly, or even retreat. In addition to being made tough and durable to protect his feet, the Roman soldier’s shoes, or boots, were usually impregnated with bits of metal or nails to give him greater traction as he climbed a slippery cliff and greater stability as he fought.
And have your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the Gospel of peace. A believer’s spiritual footwear is equally important in his warfare against the schemes of the Ruler of this World and the God of this age. If he has the belt of truth buckled around his waist and put on the breastplate of righteousness, but if his feet are not fitted with the Gospel of peace, he is destined to stumble, fall and suffer many defeats. Readiness, Greek: hetoimasia, has the general meaning of preparation. In Titus 3:1 Paul uses the term to encourage believers to be ready for every good deed. A good pair of boots would allow the Roman soldier to be ready to march, climb, fight, or do whatever was necessary to win the battle. Messiah demands the stand for readiness of His people to win the spiritual battle.
In this passage, the Gospel peace refers to the Good News that the believer is at peace with God. The unsaved person is helpless, ungodly, sinful and an enemy of God. James tells us that if you want to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God (James 4:4b NLT). A saved person, on the other hand, is reconciled to God through faith in His Son (see the commentary on Romans, to see link click Bj – The Restoration of Justification). We have peace with God through our Lord Yeshua Messiah (Romans 5:1). And although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds, Paul explained to the Colossians, yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach (Colossians 1:21-22). Thus, we can stand in the confidence of God’s love, union, and commitment to fight for us.
The believer who stands in the Lord’s power need not fear any enemy, even the Old Serpent himself. When he comes to attack us, our feet are rooted firmly on the solid ground of the Gospel of peace, through which ADONAI changed from our enemy to our defender. We, who were once His enemies, are now His children, and our heavenly Father offers us His full resources to be strong in the Lord, and in the strength of His might (6:10). If God is for us, who is against us? The Rabbi asks. But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who has loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor other heavenly rulers, neither what exists nor what is coming, neither powers above nor powers below, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God which comes to us through the Messiah Yeshua, our Lord (Romans 8:31, 37-39).260
Roman soldiers were well known for wearing their tough, cleated sandals as they went to battle, essential for good footing while in combat. But here, Sha’ul says that the Ephesians’ feet should be fitted with peace. In contrast to the Roman soldier, the High Priest did not wear any sandals during his ministry. In fact, the original Greek of this verse reveals that the word “sandals, shoes, or boots” is not even in the text. But, this is another clue that the Rabbi is primarily thinking of the spiritual weapons given to Isra’el as opposed to the physical equipment of the Roman army. Again, Sha’ul shows his affinity for the scroll of Isaiah as he quotes the passage speaking of the Good News being our footwear, instead of shoes (see the commentary on Isaiah Ix – How Beautiful on the Mountains are the Feet of Those Who Bring Good News). No wonder the B’rit Chadashah is called the Good News for all people. Yeshua paid the price to bring peace between all of humanity and His Father in Heaven. In turn, we are told to go into spiritual battle, not with spiked sandals, but walking in the peace of God.261
Dear Heavenly Father, Praise You for being such a wonderful Heavenly Father! You are the Almighty Sovereign of the world who has wisely gifted Your children with the perfect equipment to win every battle. How important it is to have our feet fitted with the right shoes. Even if we hold up our shield of Faith and have on our helmet of Salvation, we also need to be able to have our feet able to move about quickly with the knowledge of the Gospel of peace. Just as Moses prepared Joshua for the battles he would fight by telling him to meditate on Your Word, so I need to meditate on Your Word and Your awesome character. Messiah Yeshua, who is the Word of God, used Your Word to fight and conquer Satan when He was tempted (Matthew 4:1-11). When our feet are fitted with the Gospel of peace, then we will be ready for the spiritual battle ahead of us. Thank you for always being with Your children. Never leaving us, helping and guiding us in every battle In your Holy Messiah Yeshua’s name and power of His resurrection. Amen
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