The Breastplate of Righteousness

I once got into a spirited discussion with one of my professors about the story of David and Goliath in 1 Samuel 17. Goliath was shouting out his treats and taunts to the army of Israel near Bethlehem. Little David came to the front, not to fight, but to bring a care package from home to his older brothers. When he saw the situation, little David took up to challenge Goliath. King Saul took an “it’s your funeral” attitude and let the boy do it. But before he did, King Saul offered little David his armor to wear. Little David refused. The armor did not fit. He got out his stones and sling instead.


Now my professor said that this was a sign of David’s great faith. Little David said that God would fight for him, so why should he need armor? It was all about Israel.

“That may be,” I said, “But if I were David, I would rather be able to run quick stand at a distance, and throw rocks.”

That’s the problem with armor. If it works, it’s great, if it fits, but if it doesn’t it is a real problem. We’ve all seen the pictures of knights in shining armor, but what we fail to recognize is that this was not battle armor. This was jousting armor. It was used for tournaments. If knights had tried to use those helmets with the little restrictive visors in battle, they would have been easy pickings for anyone attacking their flank, They were only designed to hold off an attack directly in front of them.

The medieval armor was more of a burden than a blessing in many ways. The Moslems discovered that in the Thirteenth Century fighting the Crusaders in Palestine. At the battle of the Horns of Hattim, the Muslims discovered that if they just set fire to the field, nights in shining armor were doomed. In the Fourteenth Century at the battled of Crechy the English discovered that their longbows could penetrate French armor, and the French did not stand a chance. Ten thousand knights died, but only a few dozen archers.

If armor to be of any help it must be suited for the occasion, and it must fit like a glove.

So why does Paul say to us “put on the breastplate of righteousness?” Doesn’t he know who owns that armor?

The breastplate of righteousness” comes from the Old Testament—Isa. 59:17



The LORD looked and was displeased

that there was no justice.

16 He saw that there was no one,

he was appalled that there was no one to intervene;

so his own arm worked salvation for him,

and his own righteousness sustained him.

17 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.



The breastplate of righteousness is God’s armor, not ours. So why is Paul telling me to put it on? There is no way the breastplate of righteousness would fit us, any more than Saul’s armor fit little David.

If I were David and Saul were to ask me to go up against Goliath, unless Saul bought his amor from the local big and tall shop I couldn’t get in it. Some of us are too small for God’s armor, some are too fat. Some are too weak to get into it. Others just look ridiculous. God’s armor fits on one, not the way it fit Him. So why does Paul want us to put it on?

That armor is symbolic. God doesn’t literally wear armor. When Isaiah coined the term he was expressing something of God’s righteous nature. God comes down from heaven and fights for righteousness.

God is love, of course. He is our shepherd. He is our friend, and our gentle Father. Isaiah said of him that he would not break a bruised reed. But God is not always that way. He can be a warrior, too.

God looked down from heaven and saw how wicked the world had become. The enemies of God’s people were getting the upper hand. So God decided to show another side of his nature. He put on his armor and came down to wreak havoc.

What does God need with armor? Nothing. Armor is defensive. God does not need defending. The putting on of armor is strictly a way of showing His intention, not for any other purpose. It is a display of power.

It is interesting that Isaiah used a term for armor that is not specific, but generic. He does not refer to chain mail or plate armor, but he uses a term that can mean any kind of breastplate. It can refer to the breastplate that the priest uses in the temple. Or it can refer to a lady’s corset. It is an artificial skin put on so that other people can know you mean business. It is a sign of someone who is ready to fight for righteousness.

Now Paul takes this metaphor of the wrath of God and turns it around. Now, it is not God who wears the breastplate. We do.

How can we wear a breastplate that belongs to God?

There is a passing of responsibility here. In the Old Testament, God comes out of heaven and wreaks vengeance upon His enemies. They come to fear the gleaming of his armor. But now, in the New Testament, God comes as a lamb, not a lion. He comes as a human being, with human limitations. Now, he does not promise to fight our enemies, but to help us fight them. He will not fight—we will fight.

It hardly seems fair, does it? We are not up to the challenge. When we knew that God would come out of heaven and fight for us, wearing the breastplate of righteousness, we felt safe and secure. But when God gives us that same breastplate and says “Here, put it on and fight,” we would just as soon leave it where it is and let someone else take up the challenge. Like the Israelite army of old when faced with Goliath, we wait for someone else to take up the armor.

I have known many confident, even arrogant people in my life. People with confidence and bravado achieve the admiration of others. But they are unrealistic. Sooner or later, we all meet our match. There is always someone bigger and stronger. Even if there isn’t, sickness and death comes to us all.

There are those who think they are a match for the Devil, too. They will never fall to temptation. They will never cower in fear. They will never let the world get them down. But sooner or later, we all do. We all fail, we all fear, we all fall.

But Paul does not mean that we ought to feel helpless and impotent, nor does he mean we should be arrogant and naïve--far from it! Paul says that God has given us His breastplate. This breastplate is one size fits all. His breastplate is never any more than we can handle. It is made of the most amazing material—the righteousness of God, which will not break or shatter, neither will it weigh us down with an impossible burden. When we put it on, we are completely protected from harm.

The armor of God does two things for us. First it gives us authority. By virtue of wearing the armor, we claim the authority of God over the world.

The armor of God changes our identity. Like a supehero’s mask, when we put it on, we assume the authority and the power of someone else. We become God’s righteousness. We must claim that identity as our own, and exhibit His power and might, so we may be able to fight against the Evil one

The word Christian is an interesting word. It does not mean ‘one who believes in Jesus.” It literal means more like “one who lives in Jesus.” We are the same inside. We are frail and sinful human beings. But in the spiritual realm, we are viewed in an entirely different way. We bear the power and love of Jesus. He becomes us and we become Him. We become His soldiers, wearing his uniform, representatives of his power and love.

One of minister friends occasionally wore a clerical collar. (Personally, I’ve never even owned one.) The reason he did it, he said, was that when he wore it in public, people treated him differently. Some people avoided him Some people even insulted him, but he did not mind. tHe were not insulting him personally, but they were insulting the collar. Other people were drawn to him. Total strangers would come up to him and start telling him their problems. Nurses in hospitals would stop him on visits and ask him to see other patients. It was the collar that did it. People knew that he was God’s man walking the halls

When we put on the armor of righteousness, we have something of the same reaction. We are not personally attacked, God is attacked, and He an bear it. When the Devil comes after us, God’s armor deflects it. When people run from us, we know it is not our power, but his. The Blood of Jesus defends us and covers us, so that people can only see Christ when they see us.

Second, we claim His power. Authority without power is merely an empty threat. If all we could do is to give orders, and we did not have the coercive power to back up those orders, then our authority will not hold.

God battles through us for the sake of righteousness. We don’t have to be strong. He will strong through us. We don’t have to love, He loves through us. We don’t have to take the blows of the enemy. He has already takes the blows on our behalf.

This requires on our part a change of attitude. We have to recognize that armor before it can be effective.

Let’s say that there is someone you don’t love, but you recognize that God wants you to love Him. We are in Christ. Christ is our strength. Though we may be full of anger and hurt feelings, Jesus still loves the man. So we respond, not on our own strength, but His. We let Him use our hands and arms, and let Him love through us.

Let’s say that there is some temptation we cannot resist. Then we must pull all the closer to God, and to his Son. If we rely upon Him, the temptation has no power over us.

Let’s say we are under attack for our beliefs. We must realize that it is not us they are attacking, but Jesus in us. Jesus is big enough to weather the attack.

Let’s say we know ourselves to be failures. Whenever we take on Satan by ourselves, without the help of Jesus, we will fail. But when we allow Jesus to work through us, we will succeed. It does not matter that we have failed a hundred times, Jesus never fails, not even once.

Don’t despair when you face Goliaths. You wear the armor ofGod. You may fail God a thousand times, but he will never fail you.