Ephesians 6:15, "And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;"
Let us examine this verse starting from the one concept that is pretty much universally understood, peace. The word is translated from the Greek 'eirene' {pronounced i-ray'-nay} [strongs number 1515]and it speaks of "a state of national tranquillity, exemption from the rage and havoc of war, peace between individuals, i.e. harmony, concord, security, safety and prosperity." The peace spoken of here is all of this and more. It is also the ability to rest spirit, mind, and body, knowing that God has accepted us because of the sacrifice of Jesus and that we have citizenship in the kingdom of heaven. It is knowing that God will provide all of our needs according to His riches in glory by Christ (The Anointed One and His Anointing), Jesus. (Philippians 4:19) this peace means that we do not have to be concerned about any kind of attack, be it from satan or anyone else, because we know that we are equipped by God with His power, His armor, and His authority, and His love to deal with literally anything that comes along.
The word 'gospel' is from the Greek euaggelion {pronounced yoo-ang-ghel'-ee-on} [strongs number 2098] and means 'good tidings'. Good tidings are precisely what the message of Jesus is. It's the good news that God doesn't want any of us to perish, and has made a way for us to be accepted by Him and make the kingdom of heaven our home. The good tidings are that we do not have to share the devil's sentence in the lake of fire if we will only accept this free gift of forgiveness and be reborn, literally born again with a new nature, able to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit and to become His children.
The word 'shod' is one of those old English words that isn't used much anymore, and because of this, its meaning is lost in this verse. It is translated from the Greek 'hupodeo' {pronounced hoop-od-eh'-o} [strongs number 5265] and means 'to bind under one's self.' This is the key message of this verse, that we should bind under ourselves the good news of Jesus and the peace that He has given to us. The peace that Jesus preached, which Peter referred to when he was sent to Cornelius:
Acts 10:36-38, "The word which God sent unto the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ: (he is Lord of all) That word, I say, ye know, which was published throughout all Judaea, and began from Galilee, after the baptism which John preached; How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him."
For the message that Jesus preached everywhere He went, take a look at Luke 4:18-19, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord."
This message could only be one of peace, and trashes the traditional view of God sitting on His throne ready to instantly punish us for the least little sin. Instead, it shows that God wants the best for us, He wants those that are held captive to be free. People can be held captive by sickness, lusts, addictions, tradition and many other things. He wants to restore our ability to see and know the truth that we are blinded to by tradition and ignorance of the truth of God's will. If we are set free of these things, we can become the matured and empowered people that He wants us to be, confidently trusting in Him to take care of us and protect us.
Another aspect of peace is that where there is peace, confusion is not possible. Confusion is not something that comes from God: 1 Corinthians 14:33, "For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints." This means that when we bind under ourselves the good news of the peace of God, we can be confident in our knowledge that God wants the best for us. We don't have to be confused about what His will is concerning anything because we allow ourselves to be led by the Holy Spirit, one of whose functions is to guide us into a knowledge of the truth.
So we are to wear the good news of peace with God like a soldier wears combat boots. In so doing, we have a firm footing and can stand our ground in the battle against everything that tries to rob us of what God has given us.
Click here for 'This means war!', the beginning article of this series on the armor of God.
