13 Therefore take up the whole armour of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
14 Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, 
having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 
15 and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 
16 above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. 
17 And take the helmet of salvation,
and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; 
18 praying always with all prayer and request in the Spirit, 
being watchful to this end with all perseverance and request for all the saints—

Ephesians 6:13-18

I’ve found the metaphorical picture stays with me easier than it possibly would if it was presented literally. The metaphoric nouns in the verses relating to armour and wearing it, include: loins, breastplate, shoes (shod), shield, helmet and sword. and with a little bit of study, each metaphor can be identified, if it’s not already, such as “sword”. Although I’ve read and heard the passage since I was a kid, I’ve never fully understood the application of all the individual portions, but due to a shared bible study I set a goal with prayer to comprehend the following portion, “Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth“.

“Loins” in the context of this verse is the hips which are the pivotal point and largely the control reference point of the legs, so at this point it was necessary to gird up or gather up the clothing of the period such as in the picture above, and sometimes additional clothing which if it wasn’t gathered with a belt or held collectively with the hand would impede the ability of the wearer to run. Elijah is an example of one girding up his loins (gathering up his long clothing around his hips) to run:

Then it came to pass the seventh time, that he said, “There is a cloud, as small as a man’s hand, rising out of the sea!”
So he said, “Go up, say to Ahab, Prepare your chariot, and go down before the rain stops you.’ ”
Now it happened in the meantime that the sky became black with clouds and wind, and there was a heavy rain. So Ahab rode away and went to Jezreel. 
Then the hand of the Lord came upon Elijah; and he girded up his loins and ran ahead of Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel.

1 Kings 18:44-46

When we read the Word to gain understanding of the Word, It’s clear that in the Ephesians 6 verse, God isn’t concerned about our hips or clothing, as we read in:

1 Peter 1:13 
Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;

I think the application here is subjecting and governing (gathering up or collecting) our thoughts and discarding or prioritising subject to God, those that are apart from what we specifically focus on of God, that come from what we generally read, hear and observe through the course of the day, or of what we have come to mind either intentionally or otherwise from our past experiences. Just as the hips are the pivotal point and largely the control reference point of the legs which are the means of movement, the mind is the pivotal/control point of the entire body, including possibly most importantly of the words we speak, so it’s clearly very important to have our minds constrained, held in submission to God, governed, (girt about) by the Word of God (Truth).

Philippians 4:8
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think on these things.

The points taught in this verse are similar instructions to Ephesians 5:4, where we’re told of  the nature of words that should or should not, be heard from God’s children:

Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks.

So when the thoughts of our minds are governed/restrained/girt by the truth (God’s Word) as God instructs through self discipline, then we’re prepared, equipped and ready to share the gospel as we’re told in:

Luke 12:35 
Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning;

This intentional governing (girding about) of our thoughts by God’s Word, has many applications in our day including by way of only allowing ourselves to hear and look at things that please God, and by disciplining ourselves in such ways as not allowing our eyes to look at others through earthly eyes, but instead as we’re told in 1 Timothy 5:1&2:

Treat younger men as brothers, older women as mothers, and younger women as sisters, with absolute purity.

then instead of the flesh impeding our progress and serviceability to God, we bare fruit for Gods glory and our good, and we’re less troubled by our thoughts, because they’re governed by God’s Word.

…take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ,

2 Corinthians 10:5b


APO22May2024

“Spiritual Warfare” picture courtesy of Rebecca Brogan https://jtbarts.com/gallery/spiritual-warfare-ephesians-6-armor-of-god/