The Sword of the Spirit

Bible Passage: Ephesians 6:17b

As Paul gets to the end of his description of the armour of God, the final piece of equipment that he mentions is the sword of the Spirit, which he explains is the word of God. This is unique amongst the six things he lists in that a sword is not only defensive in nature but is also a weapon that is used to take the battle to the enemy.

The sword of the spirit: Paul doesn’t simply describe the word of God as a sword, but is very specific that he is talking about the ‘sword of the Spirit’. In doing so, he is drawing attention to the intricate connection that exists between the word of God and the Spirit of God. It is the Spirit who inspired the word and it is the Spirit who drives that word home to people and enables them to receive it for what it is. We cannot understand the word without the Spirit and the word is the means that the Spirit primarily uses to reveal Christ to us. As such, we should be careful not to separate word and Spirit today. Sometimes churches or Christians can long for the Spirit to move, but have a shallow relationship with the word through which he speaks. Others can focus a lot on the word and yet hold the manifestation of the Spirit at arms length, as though the sword itself is sufficient without the one who wields it. We must take care to prioritise both word and Spirit and allow the two to work together.

The sword as a defensive weapon: The sword is the only piece of equipment listed that can be used as both a defensive and attacking weapon, and the word of God functions this way in our spiritual battle. The use of the word as a defensive weapon is perfectly modelled by Jesus in the temptation narrative (Matthew 4:1-11). The devil brings three temptations before Jesus, and even backs one up by misquoting scripture. But on each occasion, Jesus is able to reply by quoting from God’s word. All three of the scriptures that Jesus quotes are from the same section of Deuteronomy, and it is most likely the case that Jesus was meditating on these verses while in the desert. By keep Scripture in the front of his mind, Jesus had easy access to what he needed to fend off the attack that came his way. Regularly pondering scripture is an important practice for us if we are to use the sword we have been given to stand firm when attack comes.

The sword as an attacking weapon: It would be wrong to think that spiritual warfare is only about resisting attacks from the enemy. The kingdom of God is on the advance, and Jesus promised that even the gates of hell will not stand against it. As we see the picture of Jesus winning victory in the book of Revelation, the sword he holds is not in his hands but his mouth, indicating that it is through the word that he triumphs over his adversaries. In a similar way, Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 that the kind of war the Christians wage is to demolish the strongholds of false ideas, and it is through the proclamation of God’s word that this happens. As we share the gospel message with others and make God’s word known, we push back the kingdom of the enemy and see victories won in the spiritual realm.

Potential Applications:

• Challenge people to think about their own Bible reading. Are they in a regular habit of it? Perhaps you could suggest a reading plan for people to use.
• Just as Jesus had scripture at the front of his mind in the wilderness, perhaps you want to invite people to memorise a section of Scripture. To link with the series you might even invite people to memorise Ephesians 6:10-17.
• Ask people to think about who they can share God’s word with this week.