The Art of Spiritual Warfare
I never fully understood the spiritual warfare metaphors in the New Testament. Maybe it is because I am in 21st century America and I am isolated from war and conflict. I have always known brothers and sisters in Christ who found the idea that the Christian life is a spiritual war helpful, encouraging, and practical. But personally, I never fully understood its significance.
Even when my Pastor preached through Ephesians, it didn’t fully “click.” Reading (part of) the great Puritan work on the armor of God was helpful, but not entirely clarifying. I still did not understand the “warfare” metaphor at a fundamental level.
Finally, I decided to take my own advice and think through the Biblical metaphor of spiritual warfare. I can’t claim to have grasped every aspect of what the Bible says on this topic, but I now see numerous practical implications to God comparing the Christian life to warfare.
New Testament Texts that Discuss Spiritual Warfare
Before I give you my thoughts on spiritual warfare, I think it is helpful to lay out a few texts where “warfare” language is used. This list is by no means exhaustive, but I think these five verses give a good overview of how the New Testament uses warfare language.
The first text is the most famous and well known one: Ephesians 6. This text contains the most extended use of the warfare metaphor. Paul presents the conflict and then details the different armor a Christian has to stand in the conflict.
Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
Ephesians 6:11-12 ESV, emphasis added
Paul returns to the metaphor in 2 Timothy. There, Paul focuses less on the “armor of God” and emphasizes the Christian’s identity as a soldier of Jesus.
Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him.
2 Timothy 2:3-4 ESV, emphasis added
Paul slips in the metaphor again when talking about how Christian’s should behave in the present age. The alternative for continuing in sin is putting on the “armor of light.”
The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light.
Romans 13:12 ESV, emphasis added
Jesus seems to imply spiritual warfare when He says in Matthew 16 that the gates of hell (Hades) will not prevail against the Church. What attacks a gate? An army.
And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
Matthew 16:18 ESV, emphasis added
Finally, Paul uses the warfare metaphor extensively in 2 Corinthians to describe how he does ministry.
For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete.
2 Corinthians 10:4-5 ESV, emphasis added
5 Realities Spiritual Warfare Illustrates
1. It implies you are on the alert
The Bible calls Christians to be on the alert in numerous places. The warfare metaphor helps you comprehend what the Bible is calling you to. In a war, soldiers must be ready and aware of what is going on around them. If you fail to know where your enemies are and where they might attack, you are setting yourself up for defeat.
Contrast this with “peacetime.” There is no real need to be alert. You can go about your daily life without thinking about every aspect of what you do, why you are doing it, and what your goal is. In war, you don’t have the luxury of sitting back and acting like there are not problems around you. You want to get information on any aspect of the enemy you are facing. What is the threat? How soon could this threat engage us? What can be done to mitigate the enemy’s advantage?
Spiritual alertness means a conscious awareness of what is going on spiritually around you. How might the devil tempt you today? Who is going to influence you? Will that music or movie draw you closer to Christ or further away?
Christians should not live their lives passively. Alertness means thoughtfully and reflectively engaging in all you do.
2. Calls you to action (especially before the enemy acts)
Action is necessary in war. Oftentimes, the side that strikes first gains a military advantage. Warfare is often focused on gaining strategic advantage, then acting to exploit that advantage. Action is not just an “available option.” It is a necessity. No one wins a war without acting.
Spiritual warfare is no different. Christians who are aware that they are in a spiritual conflict won’t wait around for temptation to come. They will be proactive, not reactive. God’s word lays out the weapons Christians have in their arsenal. Ephesians 6 and 2 Corinthians 10 clearly lay them out. A Christian takes the weapons he is given and uses them to combat the enemy at hand, whether that enemy is the flesh, temptation, or plain old unbelief.
Know the weapons God has given you. Know your goal and target. Then join with fellow Christians and act.
3. It sets your expectations for how life will be
In times of peace, there is a comfort and a bliss. Things are going well, and you assume things will continue to go well. In warfare, only a fool would think everything is good and that life will be easy and comfortable. In a war, you have a completely different set of expectations than when you are in a time of peace.
I am convinced a lot of the spiritual warfare language God uses in Scripture is to create a certain mindset in the Church. Don’t assume everything is going to be good and well. Don’t be surprised when things are difficult. There will be losses along the way. Some battles you will lose, others you will win. You will need to make tough choices. In wartime, you must act with limited information that is often ambiguous. But you make decisions based on the information you have.
War is difficult. It takes work. It takes all the effort and strength you have. So too in the Christian life. If you expected following Christ to be an easy endeavor, the “warfare” language of the New Testament sets your expectations straight. You are on the front lines. You are giving up your own life, your own priorities, your own comfort for a larger cause. Expect hardship and resistance every step of the way.
4. Sacrifice is the norm and pleasure is not the priority
In war, you must sacrifice now in order to gain later. Self-denial is not a choice, it is a necessity. In times of peace, it is easy to prioritize self and spend your time maximizing your own pleasure. God calls Christians to arms. God’s glory is at stake, people are perishing, and there is no time for a holiday.
That isn’t to say the Christian life is drudgery. There is happiness presently for the Christian and happiness promised in the future. But Jesus calls us to take up our cross and deny ourselves. The warfare language Scripture uses clarifies what Jesus is calling us to. In war, you aren’t surprised when sacrifice is required of you and you aren’t disappointed when your pleasure isn’t the most important thing in your world.
As a Christian, there is a higher cause that you are living and dying for. Christ. The gospel. The glory of God displayed in all things. If this cause is your priority, you will joyfully accept the sacrifices that Christ, your great commander, requires of you.
How you respond to suffering and calls for self-sacrifice will reveal whether you have a peacetime or wartime mindset
5. Implies strategic action
You don’t have to have a strategy in peacetime. You just live. Go about your day. Do what you feel like you want to do. But in war, everything is done strategically. There is a problem, there is a battle plan, and then you execute the plan. I think a lot of difficulties in local Church ministries comes down to failing to strategize. Just as most defeats in warfare occur due to poor or non-existent strategy, so too are many spiritual defeats caused by the Church failing to strategize.
Christians are at war. We have goals and people side by side working towards those goals. To execute on a plan, you first need to make a plan. You have to think about what you are doing, why you are doing it, and how best to do it. Christians need strategy sessions where they go to Scripture to understand their call, look out at the local context around them, and ask the question “how best can we live out these commands in this outpost God has called us to man?”
Your local Church is an outpost where God is equipping you to strategically engage those around you with the Gospel
Conclusion
So much more could be said about spiritual warfare. It is a rich Biblical metaphor with dozens of implications. God wants us to have proper expectations of what our life will be as Christians. Thankfully, Christ has already won the victory and we are “more than conquerors” through Him.
But until Christ returns, we have work to do. A war to fight. And you are on the front line. The battle is raging at work. In our homes. Within our communities. In our local Churches. At our Schools. God has given us all the weapons of spiritual warfare we could possibly need. We simply need to wake up, realize we are on the front line, and heed the orders of our sovereign and powerful Commander.
If you want to try to meditate on a Biblical metaphor yourself, check out this tool I made to guide you through the process. If you found this post helpful, subscribe and share below. Follow The Average Churchman on Instagram to get more content.