The Double-Edged Sword
The last piece of armor described is the only offensive piece listed – the sword of the Spirit – which is the word of God. The sword that would have come to mind to those reading the book of Ephesians was the Roman sword called the Gladius. This sword was a short sword that had both edges sharpened and came to a very sharp point at the end. It was known for its powerful thrust and its exceptionally sharp edge.
If you joined the military today, they would not send you out to the battlefield immediately. You would be required to go to boot camp. In the same way, when you joined the Roman army there was an intense 4-month training period which included weapons training. You had to learn to properly use your weapon before you were allowed into battle.
When we join the Lord’s army, we are also heading into a battle, and being in a battle requires an offensive tool. However, as is so often the case, the wisdom of God is completely opposite of our wisdom, and the irony is that before we can properly wield this sword against our spiritual enemy, it must be turned back on ourselves in surgery. Jesus told his disciples in John 12:24-25 that in order to bear fruit, we must die. Paul repeated this thought earlier in Ephesians 4:22-23 when he stated we must put off the old man and put on the new. In other words, we must turn the sword on our old selves.
We read about men in battle falling on their swords – being desperately wounded, they save their pride (1 Sa. 31:4). Is this what I mean? No, this is not an attempt to save our pride – and this is not a surgery WE can perform – but instead one that God performs for us with our consent. In Hebrews 4:12-13, we read the following about the word of God: “For the word of God is living and effective and sharper than any double-edged sword, penetrating as far as the separation of soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. No creature is hidden from Him, but all things are naked and exposed to the eyes of Him to whom we must give an account.” We are told here that the word of God can penetrate as far as the separation of soul and body. What does that actually mean though? While living here on earth, there is no separating these two components. Our soul is housed in a physical body. Sin can many times be manifested in the physical but always impacts the soul. The word of God is a tool used to cut out the sin-fed cancer in our souls.
Proverbs 27:6 states, “Faithful are the wounds of a friend; profuse are the kisses of an enemy.” Of course, that can be viewed in light of our physical friends and enemies. However, it is most certainly true of our best spiritual friend – our Savior and Lord and our worst spiritual enemy – Satan. You see, just like a surgeon who may need to cut us open in order to heal us, the word of God will sometimes make deep wounds. But these are faithful wounds meant to heal and correct. In Ezekiel 36:26, God promises us a new heart. But that will require a heart transplant, and that will require you to be willing to go under the knife for that surgery.
Meanwhile, our enemy Satan would prefer “kisses”. He pretends to be our friend and whispers to us in soothing tones of “you deserve this” and “that wasn’t so bad” or “at least you aren’t like….”. These words sound like those of a friend but will ultimately lead to death. They are words that don’t wound and instead let the cancer keep growing.
C.S. Lewis wrote a beautiful picture of this process in his book The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. There is a selfish and cruel cousin named Eustace who is part of the narrative. Through a series of events that includes him dwelling on his greedy and vengeful thoughts, he becomes a dragon. He is afraid he will stay in this lonely and desolate position for life, but eventually, Aslan comes on the scene and leads him to a pool of water and tells him to undress and jump in. Finally, Eustace realizes that undressing means removing the dragon skin, and he tries and tries but is unable to do it alone. Aslan tells him: “You’re going to have to let me go deeper.” He must submit to Aslan removing it for him through a deeply painful, but also restorative, process. Eustace, when he is recounting the tale, states, “The very first tear he made was so deep that I thought it had gone right into my heart.” It is a beautiful and poignant scene that depicts the very surgery we must submit to. You see – we are the first that need to experience the sharp sting of the word of God. We must submit ourselves to the process of removing the plank in our own eye, replacing the heart of stone, and dying in order to live.
The other irony in this process is that it is not just a 4-month boot camp. This will be a surgery we will need to submit ourselves to for the rest of our lives. We need to be continually looking to the Word to show us where we need healing and restoration. Just as James warns us in James 2:22-25, we can’t just hear only, we have to act on what we have heard.
At the beginning of the passage around the armor of God, Paul specifically states it is the armor OF GOD. It is not armor you or I have made – this is armor God has provided. He then states who the enemy is – not a physical enemy, but “spiritual forces of evil in heavenly places.” Knowing this, the spiritual surgery is needed so that we can “withstand in the evil day” and “stand firm”. So, I would ask you – have you submitted yourself to the double-edge sword? Are you allowing God’s word to transform you into a soldier that can “stand firm”? May the word of the Lord dwell in us richly so that we may rightly handle the sword of the Spirit.
