The Sword of the Spirit part 1
Welcome to “Called to Glory,” the cutting-edge weekly podcast dedicated to helping you know Christ, the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings.
In this three-part series, we’re going to look at what the apostle Paul described in his epistle to the Ephesians as the sword of the Spirit. If you’ve been a believer for any length of time you’ll know exactly what I mean.
Almost everyone seems to assume that because Paul said the sword of the Spirit is the word of God he was referring to the Bible. And since the Bible is almost universally taught and understood to be the word of God, according to this reasoning it's also believed to be the sword of the Spirit.
In other words, the sum total of what Paul meant in Ephesians 6:17 by taking up or wielding the sword of the Spirit is to read or quote Scripture, or perhaps stand on some biblical promise.
And virtually no one questions it.
But is that really what Paul meant when he wrote about the sword of the Spirit? Your first reaction may very well be of course it is! And given how this is generally taught and understood in Christian and Messianic circles, that would be perfectly understandable. As we’ll see, however, there are some major problems with this view.
Not the least of which is that it's a gross oversimplification of what he said and meant
Fortunately, God has not left us without clear guidance on this. And that’s exactly what we’re going to be looking at in this three-part series. Using the original biblical text, I will show beyond any reasonable doubt that Paul was in fact NOT referring to the Bible – at least not directly - when he exhorted the saints to “take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”
And by the time we’re done, I believe you’ll be quite blown away. Not just at the shallowness of the modern understanding of the sword of the Spirit but also at the richness, power and importance of what Paul actually said and meant!
Soundtrack music:
"Advent" by Ben Winwood
"Awakening" by LNDÖ
"Mind Heart" by Tristan Barton
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used with permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com
Scripture quotations marked (ESV) are from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations marked (CJB) are taken from the Complete Jewish Bible by David H. Stern. Copyright © 1998. All rights reserved. Used by permission of Messianic Jewish Publishers, 6120 Day Long Lane, Clarksville, MD 21029. www.messianicjewish.net.