Some of the armor stays fastened in place, but the shield, helmet, and sword are actively picked up for use.

It’s necessary to put on clothes suited to each day’s work, but even more essential is putting on our spiritual garments.

The armor of God is not designed to win some nebulous battle on some imaginary battlefield, but to win your heart and thinking to the glory of Christ

The "finally" that kicks off this passage links it–unbreakably–to everything that Paul has written up to this point.

Though anger can be righteous, we tend to act selfishly when we’re angry.

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, ⁹not a result of works, so that no...

—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, ⁷so that in the coming ages he might show the...

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, ⁵even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive...

[And] you were dead in the trespasses and sins ²in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the...

[Now] to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, ²¹to him be...

Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. ³² Be kind to one another,...

Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to...

As a prisoner in Rome, Paul may have had the soldiers putting on their armor in his mind when he was writing about our need for armor in the spiritual battle.

Piece by piece we must dress ourselves in God’s powerful provision for this war. Then, and only then, will we be able to stand.

Since the Apostle Paul used the word “finally” to begin this portion of his letter, we should ask ourselves what came before—what has brought us to this closing?

Righteous anger is accompanied by grieving humility and tempered by wisdom and reason.

fgiftFor by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, ⁹not a result of works, so...

—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, ⁷so that in the coming ages he might show the...

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, ⁵even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive...

[And] you were dead in the trespasses and sins ²in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the...