Putting On the Breastplate of Righteousness

Welcome back to our series on the armor of God, where we’re giving you practical tips on how to put on or take up each piece of God’s armor!

Before we get into today’s topic, the breastplate of righteousness, let me strongly recommend starting with our introduction to the armor of God. It details out why we need the armor of God and what it is. Then, in case you want to go through the series in order, you can read this post on the belt of truth

And just to keep first things first, here’s the piece of scripture we’re studying again:

“Therfore, put on every piece of God’s armor so you will be able to resis the enemy in the time of evil. Then after the battle you will still be standing firm. Stand your ground, putting on the belt of truth and the body armor of God’s righteousness. For shoes, put on the peace that comes from the Good News so that you will be fully prepared. In addition to all of these, hold up the shield of faith to stop the fiery arrows of the devil. Put on salvation as your helmet, and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.”

Ephesians 6:14-17

What is the Breastplate of Righteousness?

What is the Purpose of a Breastplate?

To start with the basics, a breastplate is defined by Merriam-Webster as “a usually metal plate worn as defensive armor for the breast.” Furthermore, Wikipedia says a breastplate is “a device worn over the torso to protect it from injury, as an item of religious significance, or as an item of status.”

Ok, pretty straightforward. The physical, literal breastplate protects our torso and all the delicate organs it holds. What are those organs? Well, the stomach, the liver, the lungs, and the heart. All of them are necessary for us to remain alive, so it makes sense that they need to be protected.

The Breastplate of Righteousness Meaning

But let’s look at the breastplate from a more symbolic standpoint. The heart not only has a physical purpose; it has a symbolic spiritual purpose as well. It connects us to God and is the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit. So the metaphoric breastplate spoken of in Ephesians…

“Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place…”

Ephesians 6:14

…is there to protect our connection to God and to keep our hearts pure. Whoa! I know, right?!?

Righteousness Definition

Before we get to the practical ways we can put on the breastplate of righteousness, let’s talk a little bit about righteousness, so we can get a better understanding of what it means to wear it.

The definition of righteousness is “the quality or state of being morally correct and justifiable (Wikipedia).” From a religious standpoint, this means that a righteous person lives in a way that lines up with God’s commands and truths. A righteous person has a pure heart. And pure hearts must be protected from corruption…see where I’m going here?

As humans, though, it is impossible for us to be righteous on our own. We are sinful by nature from birth, like it says in Psalms 51:5. But Jesus, by dying on the cross for us, gives us His righteousness as a gift, so God sees us as holy and clean and protects us when we fight for our faith. Here are some Bible verses about righteousness that prove righteousness is a gift and not earned:

“But people are counted as righteous, not because of their work, but because of their faith in God who forgives sinners.”

Romans 4:5 (NLT)

“For the sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and His gift of righteousness, for all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one man, Jesus Christ.”

Romans 5:17 (NLT)

How to Put on the Breastplate of Righteousness

Like I said in the first part of this series, I sometimes don’t understand the metaphors in the Bible, being the literal person that I am. What really helps me when I’m in this position is to use the YouVersion Bible app (find it for PC here) to research using their search tool. Or, if you prefer a hard-copy Bible, I’m sure a concordance would work, too. When I searched for the term “righteous,” I found a lot of information that was helpful for this post. But here is what I found specifically on how to be righteous:

• Seek the Kingdom of God
• Do the right thing
• Have faith in God alone
• Intervene when God’s people stray
• Be a peacemaker

Seek the Kingdom of God above All Else

In what is perhaps the most famous of all the righteousness Bible verses, Matthew 6:33 tells us to “Seek first the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and He will give you everything you need.”

What does it mean to seek the Kingdom of God? First, by reminding ourselves each day that we are here on the earth for God’s glory and by the grace of His son, Jesus, we remember the gift of righteousness given to us. By admitting we are “poor in spirit” we inherit the Kingdom of God (Luke 6:20). Second, we spend lots of time in the Word and praying for wisdom and that God’s will be done in our lives and the lives of those around us. Talking to God has another benefit as well, we talk to God to foster a relationship with Him. In doing so, we develop a deeper desire to do what pleases Him and not just follow the rules (legalism), leading us to…

Do the Right Thing

As 1 John 3:7 says, “…The one who does what is right is righteous, just as [Jesus] is righteous.” Pretty clear and simple, right?

But it’s important to think about our motives here. Doing the right thing for worldly attention and gain is not what these verses are talking about. We want to be doing the right thing because we want to please God. This is the attitude that leads to righteousness. This is especially clear in Deuteronomy 6:24-25, where it says, “And the Lord our God commanded us to obey all these decrees and to fear Him so he can continue to bless us and preserve our lives…For we will be counted as righteous when we obey all the commands the Lord our God has given us.” Like parents who are pleased with their children, God blesses those of us who seek to please Him.

Same goes for Luke 1:6, which states, “Zechariah and Elizabeth were righteous in God’s eyes, careful to obey all of the Lord’s commandments and regulations.” In case you aren’t familiar with the story of Zechariah and Elizabeth, God goes on to bless them with a child, even in their old age.

{Related – “35 Bible Verses About Obeying God“}

Some other verses you might check out are Proverbs 2:20, Romans 2:13

When seeking the Kingdom of God, remember that "…the Kingdom of God is not a matter of what we eat or drink, but of living a life of goodness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit." Romans 14:17 Click To Tweet

Have Faith in God Alone

Romans 4:5 tells us that we are called righteous not because of our works, but rather due to our faith. And Genesis 15:6″ states that “Abraham believed the Lord, and the Lord counted him as righteous because of his faith.” It is said by Paul in Romans 4:23 that God meant Genesis 15:6 to be recorded to benefit us all, so we might know how we can also be called righteous. I just love how God points us back to important messages in His Word so we don’t miss them, don’t you?

Here are a couple of other verses about being righteous through faith – Hebrews 10:38 and Habakkuk 2:4.

{Related – “What Does the Bible Say About Faith?“}

Intervene When God’s People Turn Away From Him

In Psalms 106:28-31, Phinehas intervenes when the Israelites turned against God and adopted the customs of the pagans. Because of this, he is credited with righteousness for generations to come. Like Phinehas, we must have courage to stand up for God’s priorities. In a world where people are becoming increasingly more selfish and worshiping things like money, recognition, success, and appearances, we need to bring people back around to God’s priorities of loving Him and others over ourselves and doing His will instead of our own.

Be a Peace Maker

“And those who are peacemakers will plant seeds of peace and reap a harvest of righteousness.”

James 3:18

There will be more details on peace in the next post in the Armor of God series when we discuss the shoes of peace. But it’s pretty obvious in this scripture from James that if we make it a point to live in harmony with everyone and help others to do the same, righteousness is our reward.

Benefits of Righteousness

Wow, guys! There are a ton of scriptures on the benefits of righteousness, many of them in the Psalms and Proverbs. What this means is that when we seek to do what is right in the eyes of the Lord, we are blessed in a myriad of ways. He knows that doing what pleases Him is the best way for us to have a long good life on the earth, so He rewards us when we please Him, much like a parent rewards a child for good behavior and right attitudes. By rewarding us, He knows that we will continue to strive for righteousness (Prov. 13:21).

• Stable footing (Psalms 55:22, Isaiah 26:7, Psalms 112:6, Prov. 10:25)
• Prayers are powerful and effective (James 5:16)
• Strength (Job 17:9)
• The Lord’s blessing and favor (Psalms 5:12, Psalms 92:12, Prov. 10:6, Prov. 10:24)
• Delivery from troubles (Psalms 34:19, Psalms 37:17, Prov. 11:8, Prov. 12:21)
• Enemies condemned (Psalms 34:21)
• Wisdom (Psalms 37:30, Prov. 10:21)
• Joy (Prov. 10:28)
• Life (Prov. 11:19, Matt. 24:46)

This is seriously just a small sample of the benefits of righteousness recorded in the Bible! There’s no way I can go through them all while keeping this post to a somewhat reasonable length. I strongly recommend researching them and reading through them any time you find yourself with questions about why we should even bother striving for righteousness when so many evil people seem to prosper in the world today while the Godly suffer.

Righteousness Warnings

The father of lies, Satan, tricks us into denying the gift of righteousness by convincing us that we have to earn it and that we aren’t worthy. He also tells us that our own man-made breastplates of success, good looks, possessions, or good works are capable of protecting us. And if that’s true, we think, we don’t need to take the gift of Jesus’ breastplate of righteousness. With this attitude, we are essentially putting our faith in things other than God.

But this is a trap; a trap called self-righteousness.

Self-righteousness

Self-righteousness is defined by the Cambridge Dictionary as “believing that one’s ideas and behavior are morally better than those of other people.” Closely related to legalism, self-righteousness is the idea that we are capable of being righteous on our own, and that God will see us as righteous if we do or say the right things.

In plainer terms, self-righteousness is what happens when you become so proud of yourself, for whatever reason, that you feel you are better than the average person. Some synonyms for self-righteous are having a holier-than-though attitude or acting sanctimonious.

A self-righteous person typically looks down on others with a smug, holier-than-thou attitude. They will often be legalistic, insisting on adhering to religious laws and doctrine apart from a personal relationship with God. They will also usually be “intolerant of the opinions and behavior of others (dictionary.com)” or narrow- or close-minded.

The Urban Dictionary says, “A self-righteous person acts superior to his peers because he believes his moral standards are perfect. This ‘moral smugness’ is condescending by nature and is usually found offensive by others.”

Why and How We Avoid Self-righteousness

As you can see, self-righteous behavior is the opposite of the humble attitude we are called to have as followers of Jesus. Unfortunately, a lot of Christians develop this attitude, thinking they’re better than non-Christians and looking down on those who don’t believe exactly what they believe. It is precisely this type of attitude that turns people off from turning to God. After all, why would anyone want anything to do with such haughty, nose-in-the-air snobs?

Becuase self-righteousness is such a turn off, and also because sanctimonious people can’t be effective doers of God’s Word, it is important that we examine our hearts and uproot any weeds of legalism or self-righteousness present there. Here are some simple steps to use in uprooting these nasty weeds. We must:

• Admit to God that we are sinners in need of repentance and a Savior (see Luke 5:32).
• Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to us any attitudes or habits that need to be adjusted to better manifest true righteousness in our lives (Psalms 139:23-24).
• Finally, we need to take action and make the changes necessary to humble ourselves in word and deed (Ezekiel 33:18).

Putting on the Breastplate of Righteousness Summary

Ok, this post is getting out of hand. LOL! And to think, my original plan was to include the shoes of the readiness of the gospel of peace here, too!

Anyway, the main takeaways from this post are as follows: righteousness is a gift we are given and isn’t earned by anything we could do. The devil wants us to believe that this isn’t the case. When he succeeds, self-righteousness sets in and causes us to drift further and further away from God’s love and grace.

Furthermore, even though sometimes it seems that the righteous suffer while the evil prosper, there are many more benefits to being righteous. So, to sum up, how do we put on the breastplate of righteousness in our everyday lives?

• We seek God’s Kingdom before all else.
• We do the right thing.
• We put our faith in God alone.
• We intervene when God’s people turn away from His ways.

I hope you’re enjoying digging deeper into the practical application of Paul’s instruction to “put on the full armor of God.” I know I am! See you soon for post 3 on fitting our feet with the readiness that comes from the Gospel of Peace! Like us on Facebook to be notified when the next post is published!

Catch ya’ later!

If you don’t have time to read all of my loooooong posts on how to put on the armor of God, consider downloading the free cheat sheet!

This post/series is inspired/informed by the amazing pastors at Woodland Hills Family Church. Thanks, guys! Click here to hear the original sermons.

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