There are dangers that will threaten their walk with the Lord, and these believers need a divine perspective of the world and a divine strength to live successfully in it. The word Finally (Τοῦ λοιποῦ) pertains to closing matters about how to live consistently concerning their new life in Christ. Paul opens his section about our spiritual armor, writing, “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might” (Eph 6:10).

He then mentions the armor available to them-and us-toward the close of his epistle (Eph 6:10-17). The apostle Paul addressed the subject of spiritual forces throughout his letter to the Christians living in Ephesus (Eph 1:21 2:2 3:10 4:27). In other words, as believers, we do not fight for victory-we fight from victory! The Spirit of God enables us, by faith, to appropriate Christ’s victory for ourselves. By His death and resurrection, Christ overcame the world (John 16:33 Gal 6:14), and the flesh (Rom 6:1–6 Gal 2:20), and the devil (Eph 1:19–23). “Society apart from God” is a simple, but accurate, definition of “the world.” “The flesh” is the old nature that we inherited from Adam, a nature that is opposed to God and can do nothing spiritual to please God. “The world” refers to the system around us that is opposed to God, that caters to “the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life” (1 John 2:15–17).

Warren Wiersbe writes:Īs Christians, we face three enemies: the world, the flesh, and the devil (Eph 2:1–3). Furthermore, Satan has an inside agent within every person, which is the sinful nature which naturally resonates with all that is sinful and prideful. These are all things external to us, but which are intended to penetrate our thoughts and impact our values, speech and practices. Satan’s system is philosophical, social, political, economic, religious, and cultural. These people help make up Satan’s world-system that seeks to envelop and enslave everyone it can. In addition to these fallen angels, Satan also has useful idiots-unbelievers and carnal Christians-who assist him in his efforts. They are behind every act of terror the world has ever known, they do not relent of their activities, and they are not reformable. Satan and his fallen angels knowingly and intentionally attack. The assaults ultimately come from Satan who has well developed strategies of warfare and demonic soldiers to command. It is something we intentionally put on and use to defend ourselves when we come under attack. In his letter to the church at Ephesus, the apostle Paul set forth the Christian armor which, in many ways, is a picture of the healthy Christian life.

The forces of darkness