Lesson 3: The Breastplate of Righteousness Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness.   Ephesians 6:14

INTRODUCTION: "Be strong in the LORD and in the strength of His might." Eph 6:10 God has provided for us an adequate defense against the craftiness of the devil.   It is possible to stand; it is possible to overcome.  How do you do this?  How, exactly, do you become, "strong in the LORD and in the strength of his might?" The answer is, "Put on the whole armor of God." In Romans 13, Paul clearly declares this concept: "Put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts." That is where our armor lies. Christ is our defense. Therefore, we need to study this armor in order to learn how to lay hold of Christ in a practical way. -Ray Steadman

Background: Having described for us the nature of our enemy and how we are to stand firm against him, Paul now proceeds to tell us how we are to spiritually arm ourselves for warfare. The second piece of this spiritual armor is called THE BREASTPLATE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS.

The breastplate was the part of the armor that covered the body from the neck to the waist. It was made of metal plates or chains and a modern day equivalent would be the policeman's bullet proof vest or the army soldier's "flak jacket". CAPT Steven A. Bird, a 4th Marine Division Chaplain, describes this important piece of a soldier's equipment in this manner, "The flak jacket is to protect he internal organs-- heart lungs, kidneys etc. from shrapnel." We are to put on the breastplate of righteousness just as a soldier puts on his flak jacket, as our protection against our spiritual enemy. In Romans 13, Paul reveals another aspect of this concept of the armor. "Put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof," Rom 13:14 KJV. Also, writing to Timothy the apostle says, "You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus," cf, 2 Tim 2:1. Ray Steadman summarizes what this aspect means: That is where our armor lies. Christ is our defense. Therefore, we need to study this armor in order to learn how to lay hold of Christ in a practical way....  It is easy for us to say glibly to some Christian who is struggling through a difficult time, "Christ is the answer!" Well, yes, Christ is the answer - but how is He the answer? That is what we need to know, and this is what this armor describes. Jesus Christ is the answer as a specific defense against specific things. (Ray Steadman, sermons on Ephesians) By now you should be getting this concept:  CHRIST IS OUR DEFENSE.  HE IS OUR ARMOR. Each piece of the armor that we study is a different aspect of Christ. We are learning how to use all that is ours in Him. In prayer, ask the Lord to make this point real to you before proceeding with the lesson. Review again the Christian Armory as described by John Bunyan:

Christ Himself is the Christian's armory. When he puts on Christ, he is then completely armed from head to foot. Are his loins girt about with truth? Christ is the truth. Has he on the breastplate of righteousness? Christ is our righteousness. Are his feet shod with the Gospel of peace? Christ is our peace. Does he take the shield of faith, and helmet of salvation? Christ is that shield, and all our salvation. Does he take the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God? Christ is the Word of God. Thus he puts on the Lord Jesus Christ; by his Spirit fights the fight of faith; and, in spite of men, of devils, and of his own evil heart, lays hold of eternal life. Thus Christ is all in all."                   -John Bunyan, Pilgrim's Progress; emphasis mine. What is Righteousness? "Having put on the breastplate of righteousness..."  (6:14) Definitions of Righteousness: Strong's defines Righteousness as 1) in a broad sense: state of him who is as he ought to be, (being made right) righteousness, the condition acceptable to God 1a) the doctrine concerning the way in which man may attain a state approved of God 1b) integrity, virtue, purity of life, rightness, correctness of thinking feeling, and acting the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ,' is the righteous dealing of God with sin and with sinners on the ground of the Death of Christ. The following definition is long but worthwhile: that gracious gift of God to men whereby all who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ are brought into right relationship with God. This righteousness is unattainable by obedience to any law, or by any merit of man's own, or any other condition than that of faith in Christ ... The man who trusts in Christ becomes 'the righteousness of God in Him,' 2Cr 5:21, i.e., becomes in Christ all that God requires a man to be, all that he could never be in himself. Because Abraham accepted the Word of God, making it his own by that act of the mind and spirit which is called faith, and, as the sequel showed, submitting himself to its control, therefore God accepted him as one who fulfilled the whole of His requirements, Rom 4:3. ... "faith is imputed for righteousness. It is clear that in Rom 4:6,11, 'righteousness reckoned' must be understood in the light of the context, 'faith reckoned for righteousness,' Rom 4:3,5,9,22. 'The faith thus exercised brings the soul into vital union with God in Christ, and inevitably produces righteousness of life, that is, conformity to the will of God." (From Notes on Galatians, by Hogg and Vine, pp. 246, 247. Isa 59:17  mentions that the Lord (Jesus Christ) puts on righteousness as a breastplate. He put on righteousness as his breastplate, and the helmet of salvation on his head; he put on the garments of vengeance and wrapped himself in zeal as in a cloak.   This implies the righteous judgment of Christ. He is the only righteous judge.  Satan cannot judge us, although he will try. Man cannot judge us, although he will also try. Righteousness: What is the role of the breastplate? The Role of the Breastplate of Righteousness: "Having put on the breastplate of righteousness" The words "Having put on" refer to something past tense, already done. If you are a Christian, you have already put on your breastplate of righteousness once and need never put it on again. It is a one time only process that occurs when you place your faith into what Jesus did for you on the cross.  However, we must be sure it is there (Are you assured of your salvation? Have you placed your faith into what He did for you on the cross? Has His blood covered your sin?) and remind ourselves of what it means to wear this important part of our armor. (If you are not sure if you have received Christ and thus have your "Breastplate of Righteousness", please click here.) "Put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof," Rom 13:14 KJV. Remember that we are "learning how to lay hold of Christ in a practical way" in this study of the armor of God.  Thus each item of the armor is associated with Him. Therefore in putting on the breastplate of righteousness, we are putting on the righteousness of Christ.  Christ is the ground of your righteous standing before God, your acceptance before him. If you have this on you can rest secure that your heart, your emotions, are securely guarded and adequately protected against attack. There are two forms of righteousness: Imputed and Imparted. The armor represents both. IMPUTED AND IMPARTED RIGHTEOUSNESS: "Imputed Righteousness" refers to righteousness which God attributes or accredits to you  It is the righteousness of God received by faith in Jesus Christ. Imputed righteousness takes place at the moment you believe into what Christ did for you on the cross. He shed His blood. He paid for sin. When you believe into what He did on the cross as being the sufficient sacrifice for your sin, He declares that you are no longer under condemnation and His righteousness is imputed to you.  "Imparted righteousness" occurs after you are saved and for the remainder of your earthly life as you are conformed to the image of Jesus and His righteousness is revealed in and through you.  Other words similar to this are "justification" (imputed righteousness) and "sanctification" (imparted righteousness).  We are "declared" righteous or it is "imputed" to us as we are justified with God (forgiven). The other form of righteousness which is "imparted" is this process of sanctification in our lives.  We begin to yield our wills to the will of the Holy Spirit. His fruit becomes more and more evident in our lives. Illustrations: This process is illustrated in the Old Testament story of the children of Israel in Egypt. Egypt represents the world. Their departure from Egypt represents their salvation and departure from the world or things of the flesh. The 40 years of wandering depicts the process of becoming less like Egypt (the world) and more like children of God ready to cross over into the Promised Land. JUSTIFICATION AND SANCTIFICATION The difference between justification (imputed) and sanctification (imparted) can be understood in the following analogy- "It took one night to get Israel out of the heart of Egypt, but it took 40 years to get Egypt out of the heart Israel."  IMPUTED: If we look at stained glass we may get another illustration. If we look through a piece of red glass, everything is red. If we look through a piece of blue glass, everything is blue. If we look through a piece of yellow glass, everything is yellow, and so on. When we believe into Jesus Christ and His work on the cross as our  Savior, God looks at us through the Lord Jesus Christ. He sees us in all the pure holiness of His Son. Our sins are imputed to the account of Christ and His righteousness to our account. "By one sacrifice He has made perfect forever those who are being made holy." (Heb 10:14) Christ satisfied God on our behalf (I John 2:2) by one sacrifice forever. You began your Christian life on the basis of this imputed righteousness of Christ and there is no change now.  You continue on that basis. The role of the breastplate is to remind us of our RIGHTEOUS STANDING with God. Putting on the Breastplate of Righteousness is Christ as the ground of your righteous standing before God, your acceptance before him. We'll now look at it's purpose in battle. THE BREASTPLATE UNDER ATTACK How Satan attacks the Breastplate: Romans 8:1- There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. Satan loves to attack us in this area. Today if you feel any of the following things:  lack assurance about your salvation,  feelings of worthlessness before God, feel you are a failure in the Christian life, that God is rejecting you, that He is no longer interested in you, if you are constantly reminded of your shortcomings and failures, if your spiritual growth is at a standstill.  if your first joy in being a Christian has vanished, if you feel as if God is angry and blames you, that He is distant and has turned His back on you.. if past sins torment you, and   if you  have constant guilt over previously confessed sin, (I John 1:9) if you're unhappy, miserable, and depressed. if you feel God is blaming you. If you relate to the above list and are nodding your head in agreement, if there is no unconfessed sin that you are aware of that is blocking your relationship with God, then what you are experiencing is Satan's attack on your righteous standing in Christ before God. He is opposing and attempting to destroy God's working in your life. Satan is a liar, but if we believe his lies we will experience things such as listed above. The Answer to the Attack Romans the eighth chapter holds the key: Romans 8:1- There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. To believe anything else is to believe a lie from Satan. There is NO condemnation! You are believing a lie when you believe that God is condemning you and that he rejects you. Remember, you stand on Christ's merits, "accepted in the Beloved," (Eph 1:6 KJV). Later on in the eighth chapter, "Who can accuse us?" (Rom 8:33). It is God who justifies. Christ (the righteous judge), who died for us, is the only one who has the right to accuse us, and He loves us. Therefore, there is no separation. "Who can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus?" (Rom 8:35) How do we answer such an attack? Use the Sword of the Word (Scripture) using such verses as above: Eph 1:6, Rom 8:33, 8:1, 8:35. We will study this more when we get to our lesson on the Sword of the Word. Remind yourself that as a Christian you HAVE ALREADY PUT ON the breastplate of righteousness, and need never put it on again. You do not stand on your own merits before God. You gave all that up when you came to Christ. Quit trying to be good enough to please God! None of us can achieve this!  You come to God by Christ's merits, you come on the grounds of His imputed righteousness - that which He gives to you. You began your Christian life like that and there is no change now. You are still seen by God on that basis, regardless of how your are feeling! Your feelings cannot and do not change who God is or what He has done! You have the imputed righteousness of God through His Son! You do not have to "feel" this standing in order for it to be true! However, once you begin to accept it and thank God for it, you will begin to experience His peace. The breastplate of righteousness protects the emotions. "You do not need to be discouraged. Of course you have failed -- I fail, we all fail -- but that is what we are here to learn to overcome. The One who has come understands all this. He knows we are going to fail, and he knows we are going to struggle. He knows it will be an up-and-down experience, and a time of battles -- and we will lose some of them. But He says, 'I have taken care of all that. You do not have to stand on your merits. You stand on mine. Do not be discouraged, do not be defeated, we will win through. I know what I am doing, I know how to lead you, I know what circumstances to bring you into and I will bring you through.'" (Steadman) Illustration: The Chinese language creates the word righteousness by placing the character for 'lamb' above the character for the pronoun 'I.' Our righteousness is secured by, "The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world." (John 1:29) Is my Back Covered? (3) When the soldier was wearing his breastplate, it reassured him to know that it also covered his back. (See Note 3 below) The enemy could not sneak up from behind him and attack an unprotected part of the armor.  So it is with our spiritual Enemy.  He wants to attack you from behind, bringing up your past.  Christ's righteousness covers your past sins, He paid for all your sin past, present and future. Satan's attempts to torment you by reminding  you of your past sins is for one purpose. He wants to keep you from leading a productive fruitful life as a Christian.   When we begin to dwell on these past sins we forget the forgiveness that we have received. We feel we are not worthy to serve the Lord. God has given us the proper weapon in which to fight these attacks. It is the breastplate of righteousness. If he can get you to focus on your past unrighteousness he is attempting to convince you that you are "disarmed" and thus defeated.   Does this mean that the things that are wrong in my life right now do not matter to God? God does not look at the current sins in our life and say "These things do not matter, don't worry about them."  What He does say is confess them to Me! See I John 1:9. He also says, "I see that in his life and he hasn't learned yet. I intend to teach him (discipline) on that." Proverbs 3:11-12 Then he deals with us as a Father deals with a much loved son. He deals with us in love and in patience as our Father. PRIDE Pride is the greatest sin because it is the living heart of all sins. Every sin says to God, "my will be done." Pride is not some heinous sin that is practiced only by the worst of men and women. Pride is heinous because it is the heart of the spiritual cancer that affects mankind. But we need not live, therefore, in depression. We need to admit our essential human defect and call upon the Lord. We cry out, Lord, become my righteousness. Take my life in all of its useless and petty and deadly pride, and overcome it, I admit my pride. Help me in it, with it. Use that very battleground to train me and disciple me. Make my fatal flaw of pride the occasion of my growth. And we find that Christ is not only willing to forgive us, but to stand with us and absorb our shame, to cover our sin and hide it from the scrutiny of the Accuser. -(6)(Kreeft) Concluding Prayer Read over the following words prayerfully in thanksgiving for His righteousness imputed and imparted to you! The Rock of Righteousness My HOPE is built on nothing less than Jesus blood and righteousness, I dare not trust the sweetest frame, But wholly lean on Jesus' name. On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand, All other ground is sinking sand. All other ground is sinking sand. When darkness veils His lovely face, I rest on His unchanging grace, In every high and stormy gale, My anchor holds within the veil, On Christ the solid Rock I stand, All other ground is sinking sand, All other ground is sinking sand. His oath, His covenant, and blood - Support me in the whelming flood; When every earthly prop gives way, He then is all my Hope and Stay. On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand; All other ground is sinking sand. When He shall come with trumpet sound, Oh, may I then in Him be found, Clothed in His righteousness alone, Faultless to stand before the throne! On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand; All other ground is sinking sand. Edward Mote, 1834 Thank you Jesus for putting on us the breastplate of your righteousness, imputed to us for our salvation and imparted to us through your sanctifying work in our lives. May we live in gratitude and praise for all You have given to us through Your finished work on Calvary. In Your Name we pray, Amen. Concluding Thoughts

Table of Sources and Terms:

1. The Breastplate

2. Wiersbe, Warren W.  Be Rich, A New Testament Study on Ephesians. Chariot Victor Publishing, 1979.

3. Some have taught that the breastplate covered only the front of he soldier's body and that it did not protect the back, and therefore one should not turn and run.  However, Paul was thinking of a Roman soldier when he wrote the letter to the Ephesians.  The breastplate he was writing about covered the entire upper body and protected vital organs from injury. (Wiersbe, Warren.  What to Wear to the War: Studies from Ephesians 6 pg 36)

(4) Steadman, "Defense against Defeat, Part 1"

 (5) What is imputed righteousness?  It is important to note that we are "declared" righteous or it is "imputed" to us. (Justified)
There is another form of righteousness called "imparted" which is the process of sanctification in our lives.  The difference between justification and sanctification can be understood in the following analogy- "It took one night to get Israel out of Egypt, but it took 40 years to get Egypt out of Israel." 

(6) Peter Kreeft, For Heaven's Sake: The Rewards of the Virtuous Life (Thomas Nelson, Nashville, 1986) 95-105

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