Most readers of the Bible are familiar with the list of armor that the apostle Paul tells us we should put on each day (Ephesians 6:10-18). It’s a much-loved and memorized list of qualities that is fundamental to our survival in everyday Christian life – but it is only half of the story that we need to know. Paul gives “the rest of the story” elsewhere in his writings and we will look at that further teaching in this article.
First, however, think for a moment about what the ‘armor of God’ is that we should put on. Paul’s analogy makes it clear that the various spiritual qualities he lists – the breastplate of righteousness, shield of faith, helmet of salvation, etc. – are defensive. “Put on the full armor of God” he writes, “so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes” (vs. 11). The qualities he describes don’t primarily affect our relationship with others; they are all necessary for our own personal spiritual survival – somewhat like the body armor police officers wear under their uniforms.
But just as a police officer would not go on-duty wearing only his or her body armor, so we need more than the armor of God to function as Christians. Paul tells us what else we need to wear each day in the less-known, but equally important, list of clothing he gives in his letter to the Colossians:
“Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity” (Colossians 3:12–14).
If the armor of God Paul lists in Ephesians 6 consists of our protective under-armor, his list in Colossians 3 of qualities with which we should be clothed are our outer garments – the ‘clothing’ the world sees, and that we need in our interactions with others.
Lists of spiritual qualities, actions, and attitudes that the New Testament gives are rarely randomly arranged, but almost invariably proceed in a specific order – from the least to the greatest, or from the greatest to the least. For example, Paul’s short list of faith, hope, and love tells us “the greatest of these is love” (1 Corinthians 13:13); and we find the same progression in 2 Peter 1:5–7. But in Galatians 5:22–23 the order is reversed.
This helps us understand what Paul says in Colossians 3 regarding the qualities we should ‘wear’ each day. The seven qualities are: compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, forgiveness, and love. The presence of love at the end of the list shows that although all the qualities are important, Paul was ranking them in increasing order of importance. He himself says “over all these virtues put on love.” Knowing the increasing value of the listed qualities helps us in reflecting on them, and perhaps in seeing the relative importance of them in our own lives.
But all the virtues Paul lists are important. The gospels show every one of them in the life of Jesus – for example, compassion, Luke 7:13; kindness, Luke 6:35; humility, Matthew 11:29; gentleness, Matthew 19:14; patience, John 14:9; forgiveness, Luke 23:34; love, John 13:34. Just as Paul reminds us to “clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 13:14), we can profit from studying these and the many other examples the gospels contain.
We can also profit from thinking deeply about how each one of the virtues that Paul lists is expressed in our own lives. It is possible to show kindness, yet not be humble; to have patience, but not forgiveness; and only we can examine our personal spiritual ‘wardrobe’ to see what shape each item of ‘clothing’ is in, and to make sure we have everything we need to properly appear before others and help them as much as possible. Even with the underlying spiritual ‘armor’ that we are given to protect us, we still need to be outwardly clothed with the qualities with which Christ himself was clothed, and that show us to be his followers. It is not so much the armor we wear that helps others see Christ, but what clothes us. What are you wearing today?
