The Breastplate

Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place . . . Ephesians 6:14

I want to begin today by making sure that I am clear and transparent with you - how ever many "yous" there may be.  I am not a scholar or theologian, and while I study and try to present truth, yet I still recognize how limited my brain is.  I pray that if I am presenting something incorrectly, God will stop me!  And I pray that He will correct me and show me what is right.  But just know that I am basically presenting to you only my understandings. my thoughts.  I'm sharing with you the Bible as I comprehend it.


OK, having said that, let's move on to the breastplate of righteousness.  It's interesting to me that in the Jewish world it would not have been just soldiers who wore breastplates.  The priests also wore a breastplate, as established in Exodus 28.   So a breastplate was not just used by a soldier as a protective piece in a battle; it was also a way of making decisions: 

“Fashion a breastpiece for making decisions—the work of skilled hands. Make it like the ephod: of gold, and of blue, purple and scarlet yarn, and of finely twisted linen. It is to be square—a span long and a span wide—and folded double. Then mount four rows of precious stones on it. The first row shall be carnelian, chrysolite and beryl; the second row shall be turquoise, lapis lazuli and emerald; the third row shall be jacinth, agate and amethyst; the fourth row shall be topaz, onyx and jasper. Mount them in gold filigree settings. There are to be twelve stones, one for each of the names of the sons of Israel, each engraved like a seal with the name of one of the twelve tribes." (vv 15 - 21)

I think it is clear why Paul uses the breastplate as his personification of righteousness - a breastplate protects the heart.  In spiritual terms, it keeps our hearts pure, able to make wise and godly decisions.

So let's speak for a moment about what righteousness is.  I guess it's pretty simple - to be righteous is to be right!  Righteousness is the choice to reject sin and its ways and its consequences, and choose love, and truth, and God.

There are so many scriptures about righteousness, but here a just a couple that I think are special:

I put on righteousness as my clothing; justice was my robe and my turban.  Job 29:14

But from everlasting to everlasting the Lord’s love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children’s children —with those who keep his covenant and remember to obey his precepts.  Psalm 103:17-18

If you would type in the word righteousness in a scripture search, you'd see that many of the verses are about God's righteousness, not ours.  And that tells us that we cannot have righteousness apart from Him.  We cannot make ourselves righteous, we cannot pretend to be righteous, we cannot fake being righteous.  God, our loving father, gives us the gift of His righteousness, so that we too can be right.

The breastplate of righteousness is our decision to be and do right.  This decision, to reject sin and embrace holiness, protects our hearts and our lives.  What a wonderful weapon for us to have.