The Breastplate of Righteousness
Continuing our series of posts on the ‘Believer’s Armour’ we come to the second of the
Apostle Paul’s list of defensive items…..the ‘breastplate of righteousness’.
In the Apostle Paul’s day, this piece of armour was designed to protect the heart
and lungs or ‘vital organs’ of the Roman soldier. Initially made of leather and
strengthened with pieces of horn sewn in, the breastplate was improved over
time. Later more sophisticated versions were manufactured from metals such as
copper and were highly polished with elaborate designs on the visible frontal
segment.
What then does the Apostle Paul mean when he talks about believers protecting
themselves with the ‘breastplate of righteousness’?
The answer to this question lies in the holy nature of the Living God, a
characteristic which some believers find hard to understand.
Blogger Tim Challies has recently attempted to clarify the issue: “Holiness is a
difficult term to define. Most Christians know that a dimension of holiness is
God’s set-apartness, his being essentially different from everyone and
everything else, but there is far more to it than that…… If holiness is very near
the heart of what it means for God to be God, it would make sense that it will be
difficult for finite minds to understand and to distil to just a few words.
What does it mean that God is holy? Entire books would not come close to exhausting
it. It means that God is different from everything else that exists in the
universe. God is unique and set apart. Everything God is, everything God has,
everything God does is saturated with holiness and flows out of his holiness. He
is pure and good and perfect in all his works and all his ways. God’s goodness
is good because He is holy; God’s justice is just because He is holy. Whatever
God is, His holiness is right at the very heart.
”The great theologian Charles Ryrie wrote, “…holiness in the Bible means separation
from all that is common or unclean. In respect to God, holiness means not only that
He is separate from all that is unclean and evil but also that He is positively pure
and thus distinct from all others”.
This fact alone, abundantly clear in the Bible, places all human beings in a
quandary: we are separated from God, the very source of life by something which
we cannot fix by our own efforts…our sinfulness.
Today many people continue to put their faith in their own righteous deeds. Jesus
however was very clear that self-righteousness cut no ice with His
Father:
“To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone
else, Jesus told this parable: Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a
Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and
prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers,
adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth
of all I get.’
But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but
beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ “I tell you that
this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those
who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be
exalted.”
As every born again believer knows, God sacrificed His Son on a cross for their
sin, and because of this every true believer is righteous in the sight of God.
They stand justified and free of condemnation. This is God’s great gift to all
who believe. Blogger Dele Oke explains two key aspects of righteousness:
“Firstly, it is imputed to us: this means something we are given free of charge without effort.
This gives us the right to stand before God and speak to him as if we were sinless.
Secondly righteousness is imparted into us: this means something that Christ
works in us and with our cooperation. This grants us the inner strength to live
and conduct ourselves in a manner that is pleasing to God.”
Despite the challenging spiritual environment of 21st century Scotland, God still wants His people to live holy lives, not walking in sin or compromising their faith.
This means being properly equipped inside and out with the power of Christ by wearing
the breastplate of righteousness 24/7
Continuing our series of posts on the ‘Believer’s Armour’ we come to the second of the
Apostle Paul’s list of defensive items…..the ‘breastplate of righteousness’.
In the Apostle Paul’s day, this piece of armour was designed to protect the heart
and lungs or ‘vital organs’ of the Roman soldier. Initially made of leather and
strengthened with pieces of horn sewn in, the breastplate was improved over
time. Later more sophisticated versions were manufactured from metals such as
copper and were highly polished with elaborate designs on the visible frontal
segment.
What then does the Apostle Paul mean when he talks about believers protecting
themselves with the ‘breastplate of righteousness’?
The answer to this question lies in the holy nature of the Living God, a
characteristic which some believers find hard to understand.
Blogger Tim Challies has recently attempted to clarify the issue: “Holiness is a
difficult term to define. Most Christians know that a dimension of holiness is
God’s set-apartness, his being essentially different from everyone and
everything else, but there is far more to it than that…… If holiness is very near
the heart of what it means for God to be God, it would make sense that it will be
difficult for finite minds to understand and to distil to just a few words.
What does it mean that God is holy? Entire books would not come close to exhausting
it. It means that God is different from everything else that exists in the
universe. God is unique and set apart. Everything God is, everything God has,
everything God does is saturated with holiness and flows out of his holiness. He
is pure and good and perfect in all his works and all his ways. God’s goodness
is good because He is holy; God’s justice is just because He is holy. Whatever
God is, His holiness is right at the very heart.
”The great theologian Charles Ryrie wrote, “…holiness in the Bible means separation
from all that is common or unclean. In respect to God, holiness means not only that
He is separate from all that is unclean and evil but also that He is positively pure
and thus distinct from all others”.
This fact alone, abundantly clear in the Bible, places all human beings in a
quandary: we are separated from God, the very source of life by something which
we cannot fix by our own efforts…our sinfulness.
Today many people continue to put their faith in their own righteous deeds. Jesus
however was very clear that self-righteousness cut no ice with His
Father:
“To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone
else, Jesus told this parable: Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a
Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and
prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers,
adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth
of all I get.’
But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but
beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ “I tell you that
this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those
who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be
exalted.”
As every born again believer knows, God sacrificed His Son on a cross for their
sin, and because of this every true believer is righteous in the sight of God.
They stand justified and free of condemnation. This is God’s great gift to all
who believe. Blogger Dele Oke explains two key aspects of righteousness:
“Firstly, it is imputed to us: this means something we are given free of charge without effort.
This gives us the right to stand before God and speak to him as if we were sinless.
Secondly righteousness is imparted into us: this means something that Christ
works in us and with our cooperation. This grants us the inner strength to live
and conduct ourselves in a manner that is pleasing to God.”
Despite the challenging spiritual environment of 21st century Scotland, God still wants His people to live holy lives, not walking in sin or compromising their faith.
This means being properly equipped inside and out with the power of Christ by wearing
the breastplate of righteousness 24/7
