Ephesians 6:15 “…and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.”
Have we ever thought about the important role our feet play in everyday life? Our feet touch the ground whenever we are standing, walking or running and they are an extension of your legs, which help move you. They are the foundation of your body and keeping them healthy can help keep you healthy.
This third piece that we are to put on in order to be “strong in the Lord and the power of His might” has reference to our feet and shows that our entire personality is involved. Nothing is more important in the Christian life than balance. If we were to think through our life we would find that many of our troubles are due to a lack of balance and the enemy capitalizes on it. We must keep in mind that our Christian life does not consist of sections and portions, but our faith takes up the whole life, the whole man and we need protection at every point.
Paul, in Corinthians 12, shows us the unity of the body and how every part is important and we are to treat each member with respect. This is true with the Body of Christ, the true church. So just like the internal organs have their importance – so it is with the feet.
We know that in any physical warfare the feet are important. Soldiers in battle are always told to keep an extra pair of socks that were dry to be able to put on the feet in order that they might stand, run and fight.
Paul tells us here in Ephesians 6 that in this spiritual battle we are to have on our feet the preparation of the gospel of peace. But what does this preparation mean? A number of ways to interpret this word is: readiness, prepare, provide, equipment, etc. So, what does Paul mean here? The RSV translation brings out the idea of ‘equipment,’ so could this be what Paul is meaning here? We have the ‘right equipment’ on our feet to be ready with the gospel of peace. Titus 3:1 brings out the same idea. “Remind the people to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready to do whatever is good.” The word ‘ready’ is the same word in our text for ‘preparation.’
So does this mean that we need to be ready to take the gospel of peace to the places where the gospel has not gone before? Does it mean that we are to be ready to preach and to evangelize with how we’ve been equipped by the Lord? Yes, we should be ready for all of this, but we must keep in mind that the footwear we put on is for battle. It brings out the idea of being firm in our standing, confident in what we believe – so that we stand strong.
1 Corinthians 16:13 says that we are to “stand fast in the faith.” Faith here could be translated ‘the truthfulness of God,’ keeping in mind that God is not a man that He should lie, or that He does not keep His promises.
The writer of Hebrews tells us in Hebrews 2:1 that we must be careful in paying attention to what has been said lest we drift or slip away. The reason for the footwear is to make sure that we do not slip in the battle that we are in. Here in this passage we see that many of God’s people are slipping, drifting, sliding – simply because they do not understand or know what to believe. Are we ready to stand on the Gospel?
In first Corinthians Paul spends 14 chapters telling the Corinthian Christians that they are standing on and dividing over the wrong issues. Finally, in chapter 15 Paul says: “Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand.” What are we to stand on? The pure and simple Gospel! The question in this battle is: Are we ready to stand on the gospel that is outlined in 1 Corinthians 15:1-4?
We have propaganda telling us what to stand on. For example, the modern fads for today, or what the powers to be tell us what to stand on. This is where political correctness has come in. We live in a world where there is a tremendous spin or smear machine telling us what is real and what is not.
What Paul is telling us is that we are to have our feet shod or equipped with the gospel of our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ. This is what we are to stand on.