The Belt of Truth
By Caron Cline
Burke County
On the day that an individual bows the knee to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, the devil declares war. He has one blueprint that has been fairly successful in shaking the faith of many a saint and we would be wise to prepare ourselves for his attacks. Fortunately, our Father has provided the armor necessary to sufficiently protect our soul and that armor is Jesus, Himself. The descriptions of the armor in Ephesians 6 are brief because Paul has already described each piece throughout this letter. He uses the belt of the Roman soldier as a word picture to describe the importance of truth in the life of a believer.
Ephesians 6:10-14 says “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist…”
Roman soldiers wore belts that were made of thick, heavy leather. They were called ‘balteus’ and held the soldier’s sword and a small shield as well as holding the rest of the armor in place. The belt also had 5 leather straps hanging over the lower half of the front of the body. Since Paul referred to this as the belt of truth, some scholars believe it refers to the 5 ministry gifts listed in Ephesians 4:11-12. These 5 gifts all involve the teaching of God’s truth to the saints for their maturity in matters of faith. Note that the belt covered the area of the body used for reproduction and elimination. Our responsibility is to produce fruit based on God’s truth and eliminate error that rises up against the truth. A belt encircles and protects our core. The belt of truth is mentioned first because Jesus is our foundation, the strength, and the center of our very being. Everything is contingent upon our decision to operate in the truth. Truth holds everything else in place. We must be people of the Word; living by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. (Matthew 4:4) How much of the truth do we digest each day? It has been said that Martin Luther memorized the entire Bible in Latin and that John Wesley memorized almost the entire Greek New Testament. These men changed the world because they were saturated with truth internally and they lived it out externally. The word of truth is synonymous with the gospel of our salvation. In John 14:6 Jesus tells His disciples that He is the way, the truth, and the life and that no man or woman can come to the Father except through Him.
Truth is not only the gospel message but is also a lifestyle.
A Sunday school teacher asked a little boy to define a lie. He said, ‘it’s an abomination to God and a very present help in time of trouble’. So many have this mindset concerning truth; it is relative. It is easy to justify deception to cover ourselves, but as Christians, we no longer need to cover ourselves, for we are covered by the blood of Jesus. Truth is to be our foundation. Satan and his cohorts are allergic to truth. Keeping people from hearing and believing the truth is their main objective.
In John 8:44-47 Jesus said, “You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies”. The devil is a liar and there is no truth in him. The minds of unbelievers have been blinded by Satan so that they cannot understand the truth. He works overtime to keep them from receiving God’s word.
In Mark 4:1-16, Jesus told the parable of the sower and teaches us a powerful lesson concerning one of Satan’s top priorities: to steal the seed of God’s Word. He understands more than anyone the potential within each seed. Yet, the enemy cannot stop the sovereign will of God and every believer is living proof of that truth. Those who receive Jesus are given eternal life and as if this were not enough, we are also given this protective gear so that we can stand firm against our adversary, the devil.
Our lives must be built on the foundation of God’s word, His truth, or it will fall apart at the first sign of a storm. The saddest thing today seems to be the lack of most Christian’s biblical knowledge. Neglect of the truth has opened the door to demonic oppression and deception for many believers. Unrest and chaos seem to be the rule instead of the exception in the lives and homes of those who call themselves people of the truth. When we choose to deceive ourselves or others, we have joined forces with our Father’s archenemy and that is not the side we must choose.
Warren Wiersbe wrote on this matter of deception. “Once a lie gets into the life of a believer, everything begins to fall apart. For over a year, King David lied about his sin with Bathsheba and nothing went right. When David repented, he wrote Psalm 32. Living a lie forfeited the blessings of God in his life. Dishonesty is a disease in our society and the church. We must remove all deception from our lives”.
In Ephesians 6:14a, my translation says ‘having fastened on the belt of truth’, but many translations say ‘having girded your waist with truth’. Those leather straps that hung down in front of the soldier were a danger during times of combat. The soldier would tuck them into the belt so that he could move without being hindered. We have already established that we are in a spiritual battle day in and day out. Every time the enemy tries to trip us up with a lie, we must combat it with the truth. Scripture memorization is the key to victory over these lies. We must hide the word of God within our hearts and the Holy Spirit will take those words and bring them to our remembrance during every spiritual battle. We must be people of action, unhindered by the lies of the enemy. Each time we choose truth, we are protecting ourselves from the schemes of the devil.
We must abide in the truth of God’s Word by putting on the belt of truth and that truth will set us free to operate in power and authority. We will not be victims, but victors!
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Caron is a follower of Jesus Christ and a member of Pleasant Hill Baptist Church in Morganton, NC. She loves to teach the word of God.
Her desire is to see every believer grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord.
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