Ephesians 6:14 – cuirass of righteousness

… Stand, then, girded about your loins with truth, with the cuirass of righteousness put on …

 After the girdle, Paul calls the cuirass. The first stands for truth, the second for righteousness. Those two are an inseparable unit. Elsewhere Paul writes that truth in injustice are retained (Romans 1: 18). The love in 1 Corinthians 13 is not rejoicing in injustice yet is rejoicing with the truth (13: 6).

Injustice is another word for ‘serving the lie”. Righteousness means: do what’s right. In the first place that means: do what’s right to the truth. The girdle of truth is mentioned in the same breath with the cuirass of righteousness. Knowing the truth makes us aware and ready in a dark world.  But righteousness also makes that we speak and do the truth. You cannot have one without the other. Without knowledge of truth righteousness is nothing. What would you do right if you didn’t know what it is? But only knowing the truth, without showing it plainly, is of course also senseless.

Earlier in this letter (5: 9) Paul called “righteousness and truth” as fruits of the light. In a dark world we may let the light shine: speaking plainly of GOD’s truth!

Delen: