Christian Living

The Armor IV —Why Putting on the Armor Hasn't Been Working for You

by J.W. Phillips
02/06/25
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The Armor IV—Why Putting on the Armor Hasn’t Been Working for You

We’ve known about the spiritual armor for years, and yet chances are we don’t use it very much. And the reason we don’t is because what we’re doing doesn’t work.

If it worked, we would have used it.

Trying to get Christians to keep doing what doesn’t work, won’t help them. The better option is to find out why it isn’t working.

We discovered one problem needing to be fixed in a prior post: trying to access power without accessing the presence of God. We’ll uncover another problem in this one.

If the breastplate of righteousness was physical, we wouldn’t have to understand it; we’d just put it on. But because this term is symbolical, we can’t effectively put it on unless we understand what this symbol means.

Did you know that the breastplate used by Roman soldiers, whether made of iron or bronze, had overlapping parts? Well, the same is true with God’s breastplate.

In the previous post, we saw one part of the breastplate of righteousness; the Bible calls this imputed righteousness (Romans 4:22). The word imputed is a banking term. It means a transference from one account to another.

When we accepted Jesus as our Savior, his righteousness was instantly transferred to our account. This means we got credit for his perfect life.

Without this transference, we would have come to the judgement day with only our righteousness—and that wouldn’t be good enough.

We need imputed righteousness.

A second righteousness, and these two do overlap, is imparted righteousness. Imparted righteousness is not some accounting recorded in a celestial book in Heaven. It is the very life of Jesus immediately put inside us the day we got saved.

The Bible calls this a new nature that was created in true righteousness and holiness (Ephesians 4:24), and further states that as a partaker of the divine nature we now have escaped the corruption that is in the world through lusts (II Peter 1:4).

Are you taking all this in? This is perhaps the most astounding doctrine in Scripture! It is also the one least understood.

The average church-attendees freely admit their current righteousness is mixed with unworthy motives and intrinsic impurities, still soiled and spoiled, still stained and smeared. And as for escaping the corruption that is in the world, they would blurt out they have done no such thing!

Christians understand imputed righteousness, the grace of God that has his Son represent us, stand in our stead so we’re judged by his life and not our own. We understand that.

So, is there not another way for Satan to attack us?

Yes, there is. If he can’t attack past deeds, he can still attack who we are right now.

There is a sense in which imputed righteousness is like walking out of the courtroom, guilty as hell, but set free because some lawyer got us off.

Yet everyone would know what we know: On the inside, if that were fully inspected, we’re closer to rotten than righteous. At best, we look great on the outside, but on the inside, not so much.

Imputed righteousness, if that’s all there is, is like putting a white robe around a defiled life. And God will never do that. That’s why he also provides imparted righteousness.

Imputed righteousness eliminates sin. Imparted righteousness provides holiness.

Imputed righteousness deals with our moral history. Imparted righteousness replaces what produced that.

Imputed righteousness deals with the symptoms. Imparted righteousness deals with the source.

At the moment of salvation, the believer’s entire inner life is instantly and dramatically changed. This isn’t just a change of attitude or a change of life’s goals. The very essence of the believer changes!

The Bible says Jesus “is our life” (Colossians 3:4)—not just a positive influence on our life, but the very essence of his life replacing what had been our life.

Is that how you see yourself? That all those qualities that reside in Jesus’ heart are now in your heart?

That’s what imparted righteousness is talking about.

If you’ve been thinking that the fruit of the spirit are qualities the Holy Spirit will help you to produce, think again.

All nine parts of the fruit are already in you, in your spirit—fully! Right now!

God never expected you to produce this kind of life! He simply wants this life, already inside you, released by the filling of his Spirit.

At which point this happens, the power of the indwelling Christ replaces the power of indwelling sin. But without this imparted righteousness understood and activated, you’ll lose battles you never needed to lose—frequently!

Put this fact in context. Here you are, putting on the armor of God, getting ready to do battle with the great enemy of your soul. So do you really think you are going to win?

Why would you think that? You’ve been losing to him every day!

This outcome is typical of those depending on imputed righteousness but not activating imparted righteousness.

What you’ve called normal, God calls carnal. And so far, the way you have been putting on the armor hasn’t stopped that.

Could it be that you are still thinking righteousness is an impossible ideal, a worthy goal but not doable?

Contrary to the assertions of flabby faith and droopy discipline, nowhere does the Bible demote the call to holiness as an impossible ideal.

The word “holiness” is used more than 600 times in Scripture; and when applicable to the believer, there is a clear expectation from Heaven for this quality to manifest.

The reason many Christians fail to meet this expectation is because they don’t understand imparted righteousness.

God never intended that we should fashion a life to please him. He has already done that! Every demand of the law, every command of God, finds its source for compliance in the new nature, imparted righteousness.

But if we don’t know that, if we are still trying to crank this out ourselves, we will repeatedly fail, just like the others around us who also repeatedly fail.

So with all this failure, how are we now ready to fight and win a battle against Satan? He’s been winning almost every day!

The life of gradualism, the life of a slow, staircase-climb to holiness, is going to fail. There may be some progress, but the results will be disappointing. This is always true if imparted righteousness isn’t functional.

Narrowing the focus, consider next one attack Satan will use.

If someone assesses himself or herself as a compilation of that has transacted in life from the past to the present, the good and the bad, then there will likely be a sin-consciousness that surfaces.

But if we have a sin-consciousness, that will shut down our faith.

Scripture says, “If our heart does not condemn us we have confidence toward God” (I John 3:21). But what if your heart does condemn, then you won’t have confidence toward God.

In fact, your faith will never leave the launching pad!

Faith is the victory, the Bible says (I John 5:4). Without that, we’re doomed.

But the good news is this: Based on these two components of our breastplate, these two types of righteousness—imputed righteousness and imparted righteousness—the believer has a right standing with God and can therefore boldly come before heaven’s throne with a complete confidence that he or she will obtain!

The past? Imputed righteousness dealt with that. Who you are inside right now? Imparted righteousness deals with that.

Your new nature, which alone is your identity, is perfect. So the sin-conscious target is gone!

This idea of a right standing before God is one of the most important implications of righteousness. But if we waffle on this issue—we’re not feeling so hot today; we’re not sure how Heaven regards us—boldness won’t be possible.

This is why this second step of the armor-dressing is so crucial. Done right, it give us the boldness, the authority, to make our requests before the Lord and our decrees against Satan.

Having thus put these two parts of the armor on, we have taken significant strides toward the victory that will be ours!

We have alerted ourselves to the battle that is waiting, accessed the power we will need to win this battle, and protected our hearts against future attacks by the enemy.

There is more that we must do, but all these other parts of the armor cannot be used unless and until the belt of truth and the breastplate of righteousness are fixed and fitted, awaiting their accessories.