The Full Armor Of God or Who Is Covering Your Backside?

I was reading an entry in my friend John Kuvakis' blog that mentioned the full armor of God described in Ephesians 6:10-18:

10Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. 12For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.

Unfortunaly, I can't recall the exact date of his entry so you'll just have to go over to The View From My Chair blog and track it down yourself. While you are there, feel free to read some of his other entries, they are good too.

I've read this passage of scripture a few times before, but for some reason when I recently read it again it struck me that only the front side of the body is protected. I suppose the belt goes around the body or, as shown in the picture, the breastplate covers some of the back, but lets assume that the majority of the back and backside are still exposed.



I wondered why God would leave us so exposed when He knows that attacks come from all sides?


Here are some of the thoughts I had while reading and pondering this topic a little.


It is interesting (in a "I've got nothing better to do" sort of way) to think about what a warrior in battle might do if only his front was protected. One thing for sure is that he would have to take an offensive position facing the enemy and launch head-on into the battle. If he coward or retreated, then his exposed backside would be an easy target for his enemies sward blows and arrow strikes.

Now one might think that his fellow soldiers could cover his backside, but taking that thought to the extreme that would lead to the soldiers running or standing back-to-back or in a circle facing outwards with the enemy surrounding them all-around. That would seem to be a losing position to be in out in the middle of the battle field.

I suppose that is why people end up in so much trouble when we rely on ourselves or on one another without including God in our plans.

In some places I read that Greek heavy armor did not provide any protection for the back. However, there are translations of verse 14 that read "the loins are to be girt about with truth". The loins are the parts of the back on each side of the spine between the hips and the ribs. So in that case there would be protection of vital organs by the belt of truth. Even still, with some or all of the back exposed, a Greek soldier was still forced to face his enemy, and would never consider turning away from the enemy because his back was exposed.

We too should never turn our back on the enemy, we must stand and face him, but by ourselves we are no match for the full strength of the most evil of enemies. Of course we know that when we are clothed in God's armor there is no enemy that can defeat us.

So we know that God must be covering our backside in order for us to be triumphant. Fortunately, He has provided us assurance of that truth once again in His Word:

But you will not leave in haste or go in flight; for the LORD will go before you, the God of Israel will be your rear guard. (Isaiah 52:12)

I need to go get dressed for battle now. I have this bad feeling of something lurking in the darkness, waiting for a chance to strike. Thank God for a strong rear guard!