Ephesians 6:15 (NKJV) 15 and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace;
God has provided access to some powerful weapons so that the believer may be “strong in the Lord and the power of his might.” This strength creates an atmosphere where favor flows to the Christian by the hand of God. We have studied two elements of the armor, the belt of truth and the breastplate of righteousness. Now we need to look at the footwear we must put on before we enter the fray.
The Apostle Paul uses the battle armor of the Roman Soldier as his pattern for the armor God provides his people. One of the key elements of the Roman armor was their footwear. We would not think of shoes as being important to the soldier. We might focus on the sword or the shield as being more important. The breastplate and the helmet would seem to protect more vital areas than the shoes. However, we must remember that the army in Roman days was primarily infantry. If an infantry soldier cannot march or stand, he is useless. Injure the feet or legs and the infantry soldier is out of the fight.
One of the most troublesome problems in WWII was something called “trench foot.” Although the soldiers were sometimes transported in vehicles, they were still infantry. They usually got to the battle on foot. The boots in WWII were leather. They were not waterproof. In rainy and snowy conditions, they got wet and stayed wet. The soldiers could not just take them off and dry them out. They were in battle and the threat was continual. As a result, the men’s feet would often become frostbitten and gangrenous. Once that happened the soldier was effectively out of the battle.
In modern warfare, a soldier who is unable to stand might still be able to fire his weapon. The Roman infantry did not fight with rifles and machine guns. They used swords, shields and many other kinds of hand to hand weapons. If their legs were damaged, they could not wield the weapons available to them. They were out of the fight.
The Roman battle sandal was superior to that of any other army. It was high technology of its day. It consisted of two basic parts. The first was the part that covered the foot itself. The sole of the shoe was very thick and fitted with spikes or nails to increase traction.
The thickness of the sole provided protection from the traps set by the enemy. They would often hide spikes or other sharp objects along the way so that the soldier would step on them. If that happened the soldier’s foot would be injured. Infection might set in. The soldier thus injured was out of the battle.
Another hazard for the foot soldier was the debris of battle. Hand to hand combat of that day would leave the battlefield littered with all kinds of sharp objects. As the soldier pressed forward against the enemy, he had to be able to walk over this debris without injuring his feet. The Roman sandal provided the protection he needed.
Finally, the soldier had to march over all kinds of terrain. There might be rocks or other objects that he would have to negotiate that could cut his feet. If he did not have excellent footwear, he would be useless for battle by the time he got to the field. The Roman battle sandals were the best in the world for protecting the feet of the soldier.
The other thing these sandals provided was traction. The spikes or nails in the bottom of the shoes caused them to dig into the ground so that they would not slip and fall during the fight. One can only imagine what would happen to a soldier who fell to the ground during the kind of fighting they did. There would be large numbers in close proximity. To fall probably meant serious injury or death. The Roman shoes provided traction to keep them from slipping and falling in battle.
The traction was also important to the way they fought. I have talked before about the strategy of allowing the enemy to attack against the shield wall until they Romans felt them weaken. Then the Romans would push forward moving the line farther and farther into the enemy territory. Eventually the enemy would break and then the Romans would destroy them. The traction provided by the shoes gave them the leverage to stand against the enemy attacks as well as the leverage to push them back when they chose to do so.
The other component to the Roman battle shoes was called greaves. They were metal boots that covered the lower leg and the tops of the feet. Their purpose was to protect the soldier from the direct attack of the enemy against his legs and feet. Once again, we must understand that if an enemy could not be killed, the next best thing would be to injure his legs or feet. He might not be dead but he would be out of the fight.
The shoes in Paul’s list of armor provide the same things that the shoes in the Roman armor did. Just as the feet of the infantry soldier are vital to his success in battle, our spiritual “feet” are vital to our success in the Christian life. There is a word used between 40 and 50 times in the New Testament Epistles to describe our Christian life. That word is “walk.”
In many ways, we are infantry in the army of the Lord. Here are just a few examples. In Romans 6:4, it tells us we can walk in newness of life. In Romans 8:1 were are exhorted to walk in the spirit and not in the flesh. In Romans 13:13 we are to walk “properly” in the day and not in the lust of the flesh. 1 Corinthians 7:17 says we should walk in the things he has provided. Ephesian 2:2 says that we used to walk according to the course of this world and of the prince of the power of the air. Ephesians 4:1 says we should walk worthy of our calling in Christ. Finally, look at 1 John 1:6-7.
1 John 1:6-7 (NKJV) 6 If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.
If we walk in darkness, we do not have fellowship with the Lord, but if we walk in the light as he is in the light, his blood cleanses us from sin. The devil wants to hinder or destroy your walk. These are just a few of the verses that use this word to describe our Christian life. Why does God use this word?
The term walk in this context means the outward manifestation of the inward reality. I am born again. I am a new creature in Christ. I am going to live forever with heaven as my eternal home. That is a fact. The devil cannot change the reality of the new birth. However, if he can keep that inward reality from affecting the outward life, he can keep us from being effective in winning the lost and fulfilling our Godly destiny.
My walk is how my faith manifests in my outward life. If my walk is compromised, I am vulnerable. If my walk is destroyed, I am out of the fight. I will go to heaven, but I will not be a threat to the kingdom of darkness. The devil is after our walk.
Thank God, for the shoes he provides us for the journey. They are just as effective to the Christian as the Roman battle sandals were for the Roman army. God has provided something that will protect us from the traps of the enemy. They will protect us from the debris of life’s battles. They will protect us from the terrain we must navigate as we walk in this ungodly world. They will give us traction as we navigate life. Finally, they protect us from the targeted attacks of the enemy against our walk before men.
We need to learn about these shoes and make sure we have them on daily.
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