Ephesians 81-82_30 Ephesians 6:13-17
Format: AUDIO
Publication Date: 1981-82
Victor Paul Wierwille was a Bible scholar and teacher for over four decades.
By means of Dr. Wierwille's dynamic teaching of the accuracy and integrity of God's Word, foundational class and advanced class graduates of Power for Abundant Living have learned that the one great requirement for every student of the Bible is to rightly divide the Word of Truth. Thus, his presentation of the Word of God was designed for students who desire the in-depth-accuracy of God’s Word.
In his many years of research, Dr. Wierwille studied with such men as Karl Barth, E. Stanley Jones, Glenn Clark, Bishop K.C. Pillai, and George M. Lamsa. His formal training included Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Theology degrees from Mission House (Lakeland) College and Seminary. He studied at the University of Chicago and at Princeton Theological Seminary from which he received a Master of Theology degree in Practical Theology. Later he completed his work for the Doctor of Theology degree.
Dr. Wierwille taught the first class on Power for Abundant Living in 1953.
Books by Dr. Wierwille include: Are the Dead Alive Now? published in 1971; Receiving the Holy Spirit Today published in 1972; five volumes of Studies in Abundant Living— The Bible Tells Me So (1971), The New, Dynamic Church (1971), The Word's Way (1971), God's Magnified Word (1977), Order My Steps in Thy Word (1985); Jesus Christ Is Not God (1975); Jesus Christ Our Passover (1980); and Jesus Christ Our Promised Seed (1982).
Dr. Wierwille researched God's Word, taught, wrote, and traveled worldwide, holding forth the accuracy of God's "wonderful, matchless" Word.
EPHESIANS 6:13-17
June 2, 1982
But tonight I believe is another one of those nights where you are going to be blessed,
‘cause I do not know of any other time in the history of Christendom since the first
century, in any writings any place that I know of that anybody has ever put together
Ephesians chapter 6:13-17 which I shall endeavor to do for you tonight. You could have all
the money that people sell their souls for and you could not know the Word of God like
you’re going to know it before this evening is over with, because you can’t buy it with
money. You could go to all the colleges, all the universities, all the seminaries and all the
Bible schools in the world and you would not know what you in the Corps are going to
know after tonight. So I’m believing that this will be a wonderful night for you.
I finished verse 12 of Chapter 6 in the last session. Tonight I’d like to begin with verse
13.
In the King James, it reads:
Ephesians 6:13
Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to
withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
These words “take unto you” in the Aramaic is “put on” or “clothe yourself with.” In
the Greek it is the word that’s related to lambanō, receive it to the end of declaring it,
making it known, lambanōing it. It is to take up something and go with it, like in Acts 7:43
where…or in the Book of Acts where it talks about picking up Paul and bringing him
along. So we are to take up or pick up our equipment, our gear, to be great athletes of the
spirit.
The words “the whole armour” means the complete equipment, all the implements, all
the instruments, whatever it is. See.
“…to withstand” is to encounter, it is to resist, it is to stand against.
And the words “evil day” are the “the evil one,” and you and I know that the evil one is
the Adversary.
“…and having done” literally means when you have worked out all after the contest is
over, after you’ve worked it out al…all of it, after you’ve performed everything.
“…to stand”—Aramaic says “you should stand firm.” You see, when the contest is
over the contestants stands before the bēma, the judgment seat, which is a raised dais, a
raised platform, and it’s done in public where the athletic contestants are judged, and there
it is that the rewards, the crown, is given.
So here in Ephesians 6:13 we will stand before the judgment seat perfect and complete
when Christ returns, but we have to work out all things while standing for him here against
the Adversary the evil one, in this evil day in this spiritual contest.
These words “stand” here in the verse 13, withstand, stand, is a figure of speech spelled
a-n-a-d-i-p-o-l-i-s 22, Anadiplosis. It’s where a word ends a sentence and begins the next
sentence. That’s why this figure bridges the contest into the particular thing needed by the
contestant for the contest. The purpose, Corps, for all the parts of the contestant’s outfit is
to be able to stand before the bēma and receive the rewards.
I’ve translated verse 13, a…literal usage.
Ephesians 6:13 Literal translation according to usage
Because of this clothe yourself with all the equipment of God so that you
will be able to withstand the evil one and having worked out all things
[parenthesis] (for the contest) [end of parenthesis] stand [parenthesis]
(before the bēma) [end of parenthesis, period].
Now here is the expanded one. May I have a cup of coffee, please. Because of this
char…
Ephesians 6:13 Expanded translation
Because of this clothe yourself with the complete equipment [comma], gear
of God [g-e-a-r; comma], so that you may be able to withstand and resist the
evil one in the contest and if you prepare yourself with all the equipment in
everything, you will stand firm and erect before the bēma.
Verse 14 in King James reads:
Ephesians 6:14
Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth,…having on the
breastplate of righteousness;
[Taps] I better quit there, ‘cause that’s the end of 14 [chuckles]. Verses 14-17 are a
figure of speech known as an Allegory. Now an Allegory is an extended or expanded
comparison by representation or implication. In these verses 14-17 it compares our spiritual
contest with an athletic contest.
For an athlete, having your loins…“having your loins,” those words—An athlete
physically needs strong loins for running, for jumping, for wrestling. The loins
physiologically are the region of strength as well as the region for the procreative power.
Really, kids, I think this is fantastic. Whenever you look at the shape of a woman
[chuckles], they’re so much different than men because you beautiful women are the only
ones that can give us men the babies, and that’s why you’re just made that way. And when
this is put in this great truth [taps] regarding spiritual athletes, it just burns in my soul. The
loins are the region of strength and they’re also the region for procreative power. Now a
man cannot have a baby, but a man who is a spiritual athlete develops that broadness so
that he has that creative power likewise with a woman that has Christ in her, so spiritually
[taps twice softly], it’s just tremendously significant.
And the words “girt about,” girt about—The Greek athlete ran naked, but around this
area above the hips here he was girded, he was girded. He tied som…like a…s…uh, a…a
band around here girding himself tight. Our strength as spiritual athletes is the truth which
is God’s Word. It is written [taps throughout phrase], it’s Corps.
The phrase, “loins girt about,” is used of douloses, servants, who are ready to serve in
Luke as well as in the Book of Acts. A servant who is ready to serve has to be trained. A
22 Misspells Anadiplosis
servant has to be knowledgeable. A servant has to be disciplined. A servant has to be
detailed minded. The Eastern servant is trained and he’s knowledgeable of his master. He
will simply stand and keep his eyes on the master. He never takes his eyes off of the
master. And the master does not need to utter any words, say come on over here you
doulos. All he needs to do is just move his head like this, and the servant will come. Or if
he wants him to go over there, he’ll simply go like that and the servant always watches the
master. If he wants him to leave he’ll go like this. Or he may use a hand signal like come,
go, over. Always the detail. They have to be trained; they have to be knowledgeable; they
have to be disciplined. They just have to look for detail. Trained doulos is always detail
minded.
“…having put on” is simply being clothed with.
Now the “breastplate.” The breastplate is the heart. An athlete has to have a good heart,
a strong heart. He has to be success minded in his heart, the innermost part of his being. If
you confess, remember Romans 10 [taps], with thy mouth the lord Jesus, Jesus as Lord and
believe in your what? {heart}. That’s not just your physical heart it’s talking about. It’s
talking about believing within the innermost part of your whole being which is the mind.
With everything you’ve got, that’s what the heart represents. That’s why a heavy heart is a
detriment to an athlete. Philadelphia got beat last night because they had it. They missed
the first four shots and [sound effects] down went their heart, and they never bounced back
unless they did after the fourth quarter, ‘cause I went to bed. Did they bounce back or did
they lose? Lost? I…I just figured they couldn’t win. They just…
You know something? If I had been a coach of that team last night after they had
missed the second bucket, I’d called time out. I’da regrouped my forces before they missed
four or five of them. He was too late, whoever that coach is; Cunningham or som…He was
too late in regrouping Philadelphia. But I’m…thank God I’m not the coach of that team.
But I saw this happen. Man, the thing that starts an athlete in basketball rolling—Man,
when you go down that floor and you hit the first one [sound effects], up goes your
believing. Go down the floor again and hit the second one it goes higher. And from then
on, you’re like a wild bull in a china shop {audience chuckles}. See, they missed either
four or five, and these were their top men who missed it. And then what do you think
happened? A heavy heart is a detriment. See? It’s a detriment. Their…their believing went
down, people [taps]. That’s in the head; it’s in the head. Athletes play more in their head
than they do on the floor. Well [chuckles], it’s nice, it’s NBAA finals during this session of
the Corps….something.
You see, our hearts, which means with renewed mind, have to be righteous. How
many, many thousands of times in these years that I’ve worked with the Corps I have
people in the Corps whose minds are still unrighteous, who still live in condemnation in
their minds. Oh, their mouth says they don’t, but watch their action. In their heart they
have not accepted the righteousness of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. So to put on
the breastplate, Corps, is to put on the new man in your heart which is mind because out of
the heart comes love and believing.
And it’s interesting also from an Old Testament point of view that the breastplate
covering the priest’s chest or this area of his body contained the Urim and Thummin, and
by these the high priest made righteous judgments because he made it from the heart. So
do we today. The heart moves the life of which the loins represent the strength and the
source.
So, the “girt about” is the Word. The “breastplate” is the mind.
You see, when it talks about the heart of a man physiologically that’s where the
pumping of the blood is that goes through all parts. That’s why they use heart. Other places
it uses bowels. But when you look at the whole chest cavity, this whole area, it not only
has the heart in it that physiologically pumps all, but it has the lungs in it. I don’t know
what else it’s got. Those te…two are pretty good. Keeps you breathing, gets your oxygen
in, the other stuff out, the poisons out, puts it into the bloodstream to run the purity of the
blood through your whole body from the top of your head to the soles of your feet.
See, the enemy, the Adversary is the accuser, Corps, but you and I stand before God
when we’re born again of God’s spirit from God’s point of view we stand before Him in
His righteousness without any sense of sin, guilt, condemnation, fear, frustration or
anything else.
Breastplate of righteousness is a Genitive of Apposition, it’s a figure of speech. The
phrase could literally be translated “breast, that is righteousness.”
I’ve translated verse 14, literally as follows:
Ephesians 6:14 Literal translation according to usage
Stand therefore your loins girdled with truth being clothed with the breastplate
of righteousness.
The expanded is as follows.
Ephesians 6:14 Expanded translation
Stand therefore with your whole self girdled with the truth of the Word of
God and with the strong and pure heart of your renewed mind clothed in
His righteousness.
Verse 15 in King James says:
Ephesians 6:15
And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;
The athletes ran barefooted, but in order to run barefooted you had to have well
prepared feet [chuckles]. Have you tried the stones at The Way International headquarters
lately? Then you’ll know how well prepared your feet are. This “having shod feet” means
literally, “ready to go.”
“…with…preparation” means in readiness, ready to go with all readiness. Gosh, have
you ever been an athlete? Darn it. If you’ve ever been an athlete and competed in any
athletic event, if your heart didn’t beat like crazy, you weren’t an athlete [chuckles]. If your
hands didn’t perspire, you weren’t an athlete. You weren’t ready to go. Your feet shod
with the preparation, readiness, ready to go with readiness. You’re just hotter than a
firecracker. In basketball you can’t wait for someone to throw the dumb ball up so you
jump and start fightin’. You’re ready to go with all readiness.
The preparation is not Preparation H [Dr. Wierwille and audience laughter]. This
preparation is at the upper end in the mind [Dr. Wierwille and audience chuckle].
And “the gospel of peace”—A great athlete carries no animosity. He has no jealousy,
no bitterness, no envy, no heaviness, no anger. One of the greatest things to do in athletics
is to get your opponent angry, get him mad. And I hear people say, well when they’re mad
they really hit somebody. They’ll never hit them as hard as they would if they had the
renewed mind and they knew their capacity. So the thing, I don’t know wha…I just know
how it works, in athletics, like in basketball, you get your guard if you’re playing forward.
You get him teed off at you. Teed off, he’ll say to himself, “I don’t know why I can’t stop
that…that damn fool, I’ll kill him next time.” You know, and he’ll get real teed off and
then you just make another bucket on him. See? It’s so simple to me, because I see this all
the time in a physical contest of athletics. Spiritually, the same thing is true. You carry
bitterness, resentment, envy and all of that. You do not have your feet shod in readiness.
You’re not ready to go with all readiness because you’re not traveling light, and if you’re
going to travel fast and far, you’ve got to travel light. No athlete travels fast and far
carrying a hundred pound pack on his back of fear, and worry, anxiety, bitterness,
frustration, jealousy, anger [taps throughout phrase].
This “gospel of peace,” Corps, is not a gospel of war. It’s a contest. To carry this you
need strong loins, you need a good heart, you need conditioned feet, because the gospel of
peace is the good news. It’s the good news, gospel. It’s the good news of the true Word of
God which is peace to the soul of the hearer and you’re carrying it. The feet shod with the
preparation, the readiness, the carrying forth of the gospel of peace. Preparation of the
gospel of peace is a Dual Genitive, figure of speech, and it’s fantastic. It means to witness.
When you’re carrying the gospel of peace, the good news, you are witnessing. The greatest
thing in which the believer is prepared is to witness the gospel of peace.
I’ve translated, literally, verse 15 as follows:
Ephesians 6:15 Literal translation according to usage
And your feet on the foothold of the gospel of peace.
But the expanded one I’ve translated as follows:
Ephesians 6:15 Expanded translation
And ready to go with your feet toughened having that foothold for standing
so you can carry the gospel of peace.
Have you seen a runner on his mark? That’s the foothold [taps at the same time]. On
your mark, get set, then go with the gospel of peace. Ready to go with your feet toughened
having that foothold, your toes down in there. You guys that run wear running shoes or
whatever you run in today. They’ve got them right in there, ready to go. Having that
foothold for standing there before they say “go.” Standing so you can carry the gospel of
peace.
Verse 16. I think I need to read 16 and 17 together. I believe that these two verses are
out of order, so this will give the Research Department something to research, because
look at 16, King James says:
Ephesians 6:16 and 17
16 Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench
all the fiery darts of the [serp...23].
17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the
word of God:
The helmet of salvation cannot come before the sword of the spirit which is the Word
23 …all the fiery darts of the wicked.
of God because the helmet is the crown, you don’t get the crown until the race is run. You
have to have competed and successfully accomplished the athletic event before you receive
the crown. That’s why I believe 17, these words have to in text be different.
But let me set it for you and then you can make up your own mind and our Research
Department can begin looking for texts.
The words “above all” in verse 16 “and with these” is the Aramaic. And the Greek is
“with a sense of finally,” meaning being well trained, well equipped, now finally with all
your training and contending in the contest you take up these.
As I see this whole section from 13 on, these former ones are the ones that make you a
champion. Now these latter ones that we’re going to be into now, are those things that keep
you a champion [taps]. It’s one thing to be a winner. It’s another thing to stay a winner,
and we have all that in these verses [taps several times], Corps.
The word “taking” here is related to lambanō. You do this. You lambanō it. With the
former ones you were clothed, clothed with. Now here you take, you take to yourself, you
lambanō it, you keep lambanōing it.
“…shield” is the discus, the word “discus.” It’s a Genitive (again) of Apposition which
could be translated “discus, that is believing.”
“Ye shall be able” those words in the Aramaic are “you will prevail over.” The Greek
has it “you shall be able.” “To quench” is to suppress or to out distance. “The fiery darts”
the burning competition of the adversary. For our believing allows us to outdistance outrun
to overcome any obstacles of the competition. And the competition is of the wicked,
namely the wicked one, the adversary. So, I’ve translated verse 16 literally here:
Ephesians 6:16 Literal translation according to usage
And with all this, take to yourself the shield that is believing, with which
you wilt be able to suppress all the fiery accusations of the evil one.
Fire is spelled f-i-r-e. Fiery is not spelled f-i-r-e-y, fiery is spelled f-i-e-r-y.
Here’s the expanded one:
Ephesians 6:16 Expanded translation
And finally being well trained and in top shape take to yourself the discus,
that is, believing the rock Christ Jesus and with the rock, Christ Jesus, you
will have power to outdistance all the javelins of the evil wicked one.
Boy now if you’re a runner, an athlete, that is terrific. If you’re out there in the front
and the adversary is following behind and he…he’s trying to get to you, to get next to you,
to outrun you, to out beat you, that one is…till you can out distance all the javelins of that
evil one. You’re outrunning the bastard [chuckles], see. You’re out there ahead of him, he
can’t even get to you. You know, he carries that animosity that cruelty, saying “man I want
to get to him” that’s the javelin he’s throwing. “I want to get him, I want to get him, I want
to get him” but you…he can’t get you because you’re out distancing him. That’s the
greatness of that verse, Corps [slams fist down and chuckles]. God…people have just
never believed God’s Word. They just never believed it.
Well [chuckles]….Verse 17, you know I read. “And take” again is the word “you wear
it.” Wear it. The helmet is the crown. It’s a head covering, people, of many different types
[taps twice] it can be, but as an athlete it’s the crown. It’s…even the word “cap”—“the
cap” could be used. Marcus Dods…Barth…Markus Barth said that it was an ornate helmet
or cap that was worn in victory to signify the battle had been won. We’re not talking about
a battle but I’m glad he said that because it is the crown of the triumphant contestant in
victory, not in a battle of war but in an athletic contest. It is the winner’s crown or the
winner’s cap. “…the helmet of salvation”—again, is a genitive of apposition. And it
should…and could be translated the crown or the helmet that is wholeness. Salvation is the
word “wholeness,” w-h-o-l-e-n-e-s-s. And the complete wholeness is never until the
Return, the Gathering Together [taps throughout sentence] when the rewards are handed
out [taps], Corps.
And the word “sword” I believe in the original Greek, must have been the word for
javelin, gaisos. And here “…the word of God” is the word rhema which indicates that it
emphasizes the means of communication. There’s a wonderful parallel between the
conquering of the land of Canaan by Joshua and the athletic contest in which you and I are
engaged today which is recorded here in Ephesians 6. The inheritance of Israel was in the
hands of the enemy. So, the inheritance, the land, which legally belonged to Israel, was in
the hands of the enemy. Joshua physically had to fight the enemy to gain back the
inheritance. Now, our enemy, the adversary, cannot rob us of our calling in Christ Jesus.
But he can rob us of the joy in life before we receive the rewards and he can rob us of the
rewards. I’ve translated 17 literally as follows:
Ephesians 6:17 Literal translation according to usage
And receive the helmet that is wholeness and the sword of the spirit which
is God’s Word.
And the expanded one as follows:
Ephesians 6:17a Expanded translation
And therefore you wear the glorious crown of wholeness,…
Walter come in here, please.
Ephesians 6:17b Expanded translation
…for you’ve won every contest with the javelin provided you by God,
which is the Word of God.
Walter, where are ya? You go over the translations here again. Talk to them; I’ll be
back.
[Walter Cummins] Okay.
[Walter Cummins continues] Give you the uhh…literal again:
Ephesians 6:17 Literal translation according to usage
And receive the helmet that is wholeness and the sword of the spirit which
is God’s Word.
And then the expanded is:
Ephesians 6:17 Expanded translation
And therefore you wear the glorious crown of wholeness; for you’ve won
every contest with the javelin provided you by God, which is the Word of
God.
Now, of course we’re going to keep looking for texts to try to find something that
would invert this as far as order. Likewise, were going to look for something that uh…has
some of these things stated as we believe they have to be originally here like gaisos instead
of the word machaira having the word for uhh…javelin rather than the word for sword.
Because some of these could have crept in early—a matter of fact I saw a book just
recently that I’ve…had ordered that talks about early military imagery and how it…the
essence of it was how it started to creep into the church, at least that’s what I gathered from
it—and it’s something we could learn from studying that.
[Dr. Wierwille speaks] Thank you Walter, and don’t go too far away because I’ll be
closing this pretty soon and then after we close here then I want you to come in and sit
with me and we’re going to rebuttal some of these things. Okay? {Walter replies: Alright.}
Thank you very much.
Now, I did something else that I just want to lay before you because as I told you I
believe that this…these…this verse 16 and verse 17 need to be checked with every text we
can find and if not it still has to work this way, whether we ever find a text or not. Don’t
make me much difference anymore. Because I just happen to know you never win the
trophy until the dumb race is over with. Saw it at the Indy 500 Sunday and I’m sure we’re
going [chuckles] to see it again in the NBAA; they’re not going to give the trophy until
somebody wins four games. Then by shear logic you cannot have the helmet of salvation
preceding the sort of the spirit which is the word of God in verse 17. So, this is how I have
put together 16 and 17 in a translation.
I have two of them. First one:
Ephesians 6:16-17 Expanded translation #1
Above all taking the discus of believing wherewith you may be able to
quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one and the javelin of the spirit
which is the word of God. And receive the crown of salvation.
Or you could translate it as follows:
Ephesians 6:16-17 Expanded translation #2
And with all this finally to stay well trained and in top shape, take the
discus of believing and the javelin of the spirit which is the word of God
and with these you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the adversary
and receive the crown of wholeness.
I’d like to close out this wonderful Corps night with the work on what I believe is the
sense of this whole section, 13 through 17. And perhaps it might just be best for you to
listen. And if you’re interested enough you can always take it off of the tape later and put it
together for yourself and check it out. I put the number 13 to the left of this first section
and then 14, 15, 16, 17 and I’ll read them in this order and give them to you. Thirteen.
Ephesians 6:13-17 Expanded translation
13 Take unto you everything God makes available so you can withstand the
adversary and so you can continue to stand all the way through to the bēma
to stand is to withstand and that means to become a champion athlete for
God.
14 You must [verse 14] envelope; enwrap your whole self with and in the
truth of the word putting on all of his righteousness in your renewed mind
and with your renewed believing
EPHESIANS 6:13-17—June 2, 1982 317
15 [verse 15] witness the word to others that brings peace
16 [sixteen] and finally to stay a champion athlete, well trained and in top
shape for God take the discus which is believing and the javelin which is
the Word of God and with these two you will be able to quench all of the
fiery darts of the adversary
17 [seventeen] and stand to receive the crown of wholeness at the bēma.
That I believe is the sense of verses 13-17 [Dr. Wierwille’s taps twice and his voice
cracks], good night Corps, God bless. I love you. {Audience applause