The Study Notes...

The other day I was reading the passage from Ephesians about the armor of God. You know the one, Ephesians 6: 10 - 18

Here is the exact quote:

¹⁰ 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, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, ¹⁵ and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. ¹⁶ In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. ¹⁷ Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

¹⁸ And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.


Oh, you've heard it before. And really isn't that kind of the problem? If you've been a believer for any amount of time you've heard this verse a million times. It's hard not to rush over verses you've been hearing since you were small enough to skip Big Church, play with Weeble Wobbles, and eat juice and cookies in Sunday School.


And that's where a Bible with good notes comes in. When I switched over to the ESV I bought the Reformation Study Bible. It has fantastic notes in it. 


Take the aforementioned verse about the armor of God....Specifically the part about 'taking up the shield of faith.'

When you read it with the notes you see that a Roman shield was large enough to cover your whole body and was dipped in water before battle so that it could withstand flaming arrows. 

How did I not know that?

Doesn't that help that verse make so much more sense?

SO, your assignment, and, yes, you should choose to accept it, is to go buy a Bible with good notes.

And then go eat some juice and cookies. Be prepared though, they just don't taste as good as they used to, although Weeble Wobbles are just as fun to play with.