Lessons #269 and 270
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+ 1. It is best to use this note after you have listened to the lessons because there are +
+ comments given in the actual exposition not in the note. +
+ 2. The Bible abbreviations are as follows: CEV =Contemporary English version, +
+ CEB = Common English Bible, ESV= English Standard Version, +
+ GWT = God’s Word Translation, ISV = International Standard Version, +
+ NAB=New English Bible, NASB= New American Standard Bible, +
+ NEB= New English Bible, NET = New English Translation, +
+ NLT = New Living Translations NJB = New Jerusalem Bible, +
+ NJV = New Jewish Bible, TEV = Today’s English Version. +
+ 3. Notes have not been edited for grammatical errors. +
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Complete spiritual armor in the spiritual warfare (Eph 6:11-13)
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…
Let me refresh your mind that the second major point we are considering in the final exhortation of the apostle with respect to living as a Christian in the spiritual warfare is that living as a Christian in the spiritual warfare requires believers to put on the complete spiritual armor that consists of offensive and defensive weapons in order to be able to resist evil forces that are waging war against us. We had indicated that in connection with this major point, there are several facts the apostle wants us to be aware with respect to the command to put on the full spiritual armor. A first fact, if you recall, is that the full spiritual armor originates from or belongs to God. A second fact with respect to the command to put on the full spiritual armor is that it has a purpose. A third fact the apostle wants us to know with respect to the command to put on the full spiritual armor is that it has a reason. This reason, of course, is primarily that our opponents in the spiritual warfare consist of satanic forces and not fellow human beings. Having stated these three facts, the Holy Spirit through the apostle repeats the command that involves being equipped for the spiritual warfare in verse 13.
Some Christians do not like to hear a pastor or a teacher of the word of God repeat points or doctrines. They say something like “he has said that before why does he not go to something new.” This sounds reasonable on the surface but it is faulty for at least two reasons. A person who thinks that way is in some sense arrogant. How you may ask? Well, it is on the ground that the person thinks that the universe revolves around that individual. Such a person assumes that because that point is a repeat that every other person has heard it. In other words, there is the assumption on the part of that individual that there may not be a person in that audience that needs to hear that point for the first time. If the believer who is irritated about a repeat of a point recognizes that he or she is not the only person that needs to hear God’s truth, then that individual could tolerate repetition on the ground that while he or she has heard that truth or point that there is probably someone else that has not heard it and so that the Holy Spirit is concerned about that person hence the repetition from the pastor or teacher. Another reason we say that the thinking that is irritated with repetition is faulty is because hearing a point of doctrine does not mean that a person has complied or is complying with it. You may have heard a point of doctrine before but repeating it is often necessary to get you to apply that point of doctrine. These reasons aside, the most important reason we should not be irritated because of repetition of a point or doctrine is that the Holy Spirit endorsed that practice in the Scripture. If you are a careful reader of the NT epistles you will discover that exhortations to believers are repeated in the various epistles but in different ways or under different situations. Therefore, we should not be irritated about repetition of doctrine. It is not only that exhortations are repeated in various epistles but some points are repeated in the same epistle as we will seek to demonstrate.
There are at least three other times when the Apostle Paul in the same epistle directed by the Holy Spirit repeated truths taught or exhortations not including our present epistle of Ephesians. A first occasion involved the warning regarding the distortion of the gospel message that involves faith in Christ only without addition of works. The repetition of the warning against such distortion is given in Galatians 1:9:
As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned!
The clause As we have already said, so now I say again is one that implies repetition. By the way, the personal pronoun we is either an editorial “‘we” or a reference to the apostle and his missionary team. Anyway, the clause implies repetition. This is because the sentence we have already said could be understood in one of two possible ways: a reference to something Paul said to the Galatians in his initial visit or it refers to what the apostle had written in Galatians 1:8:
But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned!
The first interpretation has the drawback that there is no indication the apostle warned the Galatian churches before this epistle to them about those who would distort the gospel. Of course, those who take the first view find support in the fact that the apostle warned the elders in Ephesus during his third missionary journey while addressing them at Miletus about those who would distort the gospel message, as recorded in Acts 20:29-30:
29 I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. 30 Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them.
The problem of using this warning of the apostle is that of timing. When the apostle made this visit to Ephesus, the first council of the church in Jerusalem has already taken place so that the apostle has become more aware of those who seek to distort the gospel of Christ. This was not the case in his first missionary journey when we believe the apostle founded the local churches described as the Galatians. Because of this difficulty, it is better to accept the second view, that is, that the sentence we have already said of Galatians 1:9 refers to what the apostle said in Galatians 1:8. In effect, the apostle is repeating what he said in verse 8 here in verse 9, with a slight modification.
A second occasion of repetition of doctrinal point or warning in the same epistle by the Apostle Paul under the directive of the Holy Spirit concerns the lifestyle of teachers as he penned down in Philippians 3:18:
For, as I have often told you before and now say again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ.
This passage conveys the concept of repetition of doctrinal point in two ways. The first indicator of repetition is the clause as I have often told you before. The word “told” is translated from an imperfect tense in the Greek, implying that the apostle kept warning the Philippians about individuals who do not live according to the truth or those who distort the truth. In effect, he repeatedly warned against those who claim to be teachers of God’s word but their lifestyles do not match with what they teach. It is not only the use of the imperfect tense in the Greek of this sentence that implies repetition of instruction but also the adverb often. A second indicator of repetition in Philippians 3:18 is the verbal phrase now say again even with tears. This adverb again indicates that the apostle repeated his warning regarding those who are false as evident in their lifestyle.
A third occasion of repetition of doctrinal point or exhortation in the same epistle by the Apostle Paul under the control of the Holy Spirit involves the issue of rejoicing in the Christian life. This exhortation is given in Philippians 4:4:
Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!
The apostle repeated the exhortation to rejoice in the same verse. Of course, the instruction of rejoicing in Philippians 4:4 is really a second time the apostle stated the exhortation about rejoicing. The first was in Philippians 3:1:
Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord! It is no trouble for me to write the same things to you again, and it is a safeguard for you.
You will notice that the apostle stated he has no problem repeating truth he has taught to the Philippians since such repetition is a safeguard so that they will remember and so be in a position to apply what they have been taught. Counting this first exhortation to rejoice in Philippians 3:1, we realize that the apostle stated the command three times, implying that he repeated the command twice.
Why did the apostle repeat this command of rejoicing twice? I submit to you that it is because of the importance of rejoicing as part of our testimony to the world around us. The apostle perceived the act of rejoicing, especially in difficult situations as one thing that sets the believer apart from the rest of the world of unbelievers. Rejoicing speaks more to the world when the individual rejoicing is in a situation in life that ordinarily calls for being angry, bitter, or depressed. If in spite of such a condition, the believer is found to be rejoicing, that will cause the world of unbelievers to take notice of the believer. The apostle himself demonstrated this when he was put in jail at Philippi for we read in Acts 16:25:
About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.
The apostle was beaten and we can be sure that he was hurting and aching all over his body, but notice what he did despite aching bodies. He was praying and singing to God. But then the Holy Spirit tells us that the other prisoners were listening, indicating that he was not doing this on the inside. Part of the problem we face today in our spiritual experience is that we often want to package ourselves in such ways as to fit the society and so that we would not be labeled abnormal. This was not in the thinking of the apostle. He could care less that there were other prisoners. He showed his rejoicing through singing. It is not hard to imagine some of the things that the other prisoners must have said. For some of them were perhaps saying, “what is wrong with these men that they would not allow us to sleep?” Others might have said, how could men in prison be singing and rejoicing? Still others might have charged them of being drunks. But to the apostle, none of these mattered. What was important was for him to rejoice despite his earthly condition. So what we are saying is that the apostle considers rejoicing an important aspect of outward display of the soul condition. Since he considers it very important, he had to keep reminding the Philippians of its importance. In doing so, he has reminded all believers throughout the ages the importance of rejoicing. We could go on to elaborate on this matter of rejoicing but that is not our concern at this point. Our primary focus is to show that the Apostle Paul under the directive of the Holy Spirit repeated truths or exhortations even in the same verse or in the same epistle. This, he did when it was necessary to focus on that particular doctrine because of its impact. Thus, it should not be surprising to us that the apostle repeats his command with respect to putting on the full spiritual armor that God provides.
The repeated command with reference to the full spiritual armor that God provides is given in the expression put on the full armor of God of Ephesians 6:13. To the English reader, this expression is similar to the command Put on the full armor of God of Ephesian 6:11 so that it is a repeat of the command given in verse 11 but two different Greek words are used in the two commands. There is no doubt that there are similarities in the concept involved so that both commands say the same or similar thing but there is a difference in the two commands. The similarities involve first, the perception of the apostle. In each command, the apostle wants the Ephesians and so all believers to take the command as a matter of urgency. Believers are to make the command issued a top priority because of the seriousness involved in the spiritual warfare since in the Greek both commands are in the aorist tense. As we indicated previously, some believers are woefully ignorant of the spiritual warfare that is going on around them and some believers who are aware of it may be slacking off. Therefore, the two commands are intended to wake up those who are sleeping in the battlefield of the spiritual warfare while educating those who are ignorant of the spiritual warfare. It is in this respect that the two commands are similar. In effect, the apparent repeated command is intended to cause believers to recognize how serious the spiritual warfare is. Recall, we have indicated that the apostle repeats exhortation when it is intended to focus on the subject of the exhortation. It is a serious matter with respect to the spiritual warfare. Hence, it is fitting the apostle repeated the concept of being ready for the spiritual warfare although he used a different word in his repetition of the exhortation that is concerned with being equipped with the full spiritual armor that God provides. Another similarity of the two commands is that both are concerned with the matter of getting ready for serious participation in the spiritual warfare that is raging in the world that we find ourselves as believers.
The command put on the full armor of God of Ephesians 6:13 while similar to the command Put on the full armor of God of Ephesian 6:11 has at least three dissimilarities. First, the Greek used a different word in verse 13 than the one used in verse 11. The expression “put on” of Ephesians 6:13 is translated from a Greek word (analambanō) that outside the NT is used clearly in military sense in the Apocryphal book of Maccabees. Thus, it is used in the sense of assembling an army for battle in 2 Mac 12:38:
Then Judas assembled his army and went to the city of Adullam. As the seventh day was coming on, they purified themselves according to the custom, and kept the sabbath there.
In the same book, the word is used for taking up arms in 2 Mac 10:27:
And rising from their prayer they took up their arms and advanced a considerable distance from the city; and when they came near the enemy they halted.
In the NT the word means to lift up and carry away, that is, “to take up”, thus the Apostle Paul used the word to described the ascension of Jesus Christ in 1 Timothy 3:16:
Beyond all question, the mystery of godliness is great: He appeared in a body, was vindicated by the Spirit, was seen by angels, was preached among the nations, was believed on in the world, was taken up in glory.
The word can mean to take or bring along someone on a journey as it is used by the apostle to instruct Timothy to bring along Mark when he comes to see him in 2 Timothy 4:11:
Only Luke is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, because he is helpful to me in my ministry.
The word also means to take up in order to carry hence to “take up.” It is in this sense that it is used in our passage of Ephesians 6:13.
Second, the command to put on the full armor of God in Ephesians 6:13 is different from that of verse 11 in that the command given in verse 11 has no connective to verse 10 while that of verse 13 has a connective that relates to verse 12. The lack of connectives between the command given in verses 10 and 11 leads to the interpretation that the command in verse 11 is an explanation or answers the question of how to be strong for spiritual warfare commanded in verse 10. In contrast, the command to put the full armor of God in verse 13 has a connective to verse 12. The connective is translated therefore in the NIV where it is used as a marker of inference since the literal phrase in the Greek is because of this. In other words, the command to put on the full armor of God in verse 13 is an inference drawn from what is stated in verse 12. In verse 12, the apostle had identified the enemies involved in the spiritual warfare as the evil forces and so conveyed the nature of the warfare believers are engaged in as spiritual. So, the inference to be drawn is that if a believer is going to be successful in the spiritual warfare that individual should be equipped for such a battle which requires the spiritual armor that God provides. Thus, the command in verse 13 is one that says to the believer based on the nature of the spiritual warfare, the only recourse is to put on the full spiritual armor that God provides.
Third, the command to put on the full armor of God in Ephesians 6:13 is different from that of verse 11 in that its purpose is stated slightly different from that given in verse 11 although both purposes are related in that both involve resistance. The purpose of taking on the full armor of God in verse 11 is stated in terms of resisting some specifics that involve the schemes of Satan but that of verse 13 involves resistance in general without being specific. In fact, the resistance of verse 13 has the element of even opposition. This is because of the range of meanings of the Greek word translated “stand ground” in verse 13. It is translated from a Greek word (anthistēmi) that may mean “to oppose.” The opposition may be towards a person, as the apostle used the word to describe his opposition of Apostle Peter when he acted wrongly by withdrawing his fellowship with fellow believers who are Gentiles because of his desire to please the believers in Jerusalem, as we read in Galatians 2:11:
When Peter came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he was clearly in the wrong.
The object of opposition may be truth as the apostle used it to warn Timothy against Alexander, the metalworker, who opposed the message of the apostle, as he mentioned to Timothy in 2 Timothy 4:15:
You too should be on your guard against him, because he strongly opposed our message.
Another meaning of our Greek word is to be resistant to power or authority hence means “to resist”, as it is used in resisting authority in Romans 13:2:
Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves.
The clause he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted may alternatively be rendered the one who resists authority resists the ordinance which is from God. In our passage of Ephesians 6:13, the word has the sense of resistance that involves also opposition.
In any case, the purpose of putting on the full armor of God in the second command of Ephesians 6:13 involves general resistance and opposition of satanic forces as stated in the clause of Ephesians 6:13 so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground. This clause indicates that the resistance that involves opposition is given in general terms because of the clause when the day of evil comes of the NIV that literally reads from the Greek in the evil day. The question is what does the apostle mean by in the evil day or the day of evil of the NIV? To answer this question, we need to examine the two key words “day” and “evil” used in the Greek text.
The word “day” is translated from a Greek word (hēmera) with a range of meanings. It may mean the period between sunrise and sunset. Under this meaning, the word can be used literally as the Apostle Paul used it to describe how hard working he was when he was with the Thessalonians, as he stated in 1 Thessalonians 2:9:
Surely you remember, brothers, our toil and hardship; we worked night and day in order not to be a burden to anyone while we preached the gospel of God to you.
Figuratively, under this first meaning of a period between sunrise and sunset, the word is used to describe Christians in 1 Thessalonians 5:5:
You are all sons of the light and sons of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness.
The phrase sons of the light and sons of the day is a figurative way of describing believers in Christ. The word may mean “day” in the sense of civil or legal day, including the night as it is used by the apostle in connection with the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ as recorded in 1 Corinthians 15:4:
that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,
Under the sense of civil or legal day is the use of the word to describe festival days as referenced by the apostle in Galatians 4:10:
You are observing special days and months and seasons and years!
Of course, it is in this usage that the word is used for Sunday as the Lord’s Day in Revelation 1:10:
On the Lord’s Day I was in the Spirit, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet,
Our Greek word may mean “day” in the sense of day appointed for very special purposes. Hence it is used for a day of judgment, fixed by a judge, as it is used by the apostle in his epistle to the Corinthians to refer to a day appointed by a human court in 1 Corinthians 4:3:
I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court; indeed, I do not even judge myself.
The phrase human court is literally human day to convey a day appointed by a human judge. It is in this sense of a day of judgment fixed by a judge, that is God, that the word is used in 1 Thessalonians 5:2:
for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.
Our Greek word may mean “time” in the sense of an extended period. It is in the sense of time that the apostle used the word in 2 Corinthians 6:2:
For he says, “In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.” I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.
The phrase the day of salvation refers to the time of salvation. In plural form, our word can refer to time of life or activity. Nonetheless, the word is used in sense of time for an activity of punishment in Luke 21:22:
For this is the time of punishment in fulfillment of all that has been written.
The phrase time of punishment of the NIV is literally days of vengeance. In any event, we have considered the various meanings of the Greek word translated “day” in Ephesians 6:13, so the question is to determine the sense in which it is used in our context. The literal meaning of “the period between sunrise and sunset” is certainly not the meaning in our passage. Likewise, the meaning of civil or legal day also does not seem to be the meaning here. The meaning here is that of time in which an activity takes place.
The second key word in the phrase the day of evil or more literally the evil day is “evil” that is translated from a Greek word (ponēros) that basically means “evil” that is to be understood in both non-moral and moral senses. In a non-moral sense, the word may mean “bad” in the sense of poor quality or unhealthy as it is used to describe fish that is discarded in the Parable of the Net in Matthew 13:48:
When it was full, the fishermen pulled it up on the shore. Then they sat down and collected the good fish in baskets, but threw the bad away.
The word “bad” is used here to describe fish that are not fit for eating. Another non-moral sense of the word may mean “painful”, as it is used to describe the kind of sores that will break out in the bowl judgment described in Revelation 16:2:
The first angel went and poured out his bowl on the land, and ugly and painful sores broke out on the people who had the mark of the beast and worshiped his image.
The phrase painful sores is more literally evil sores. The word in a moral sense of right and wrong behavior has a range of meanings. It can mean “malicious” when used with words as the Apostle John used it to describe an activity of Diotrephes in 3 John 10:
So if I come, I will call attention to what he is doing, gossiping maliciously about us. Not satisfied with that, he refuses to welcome the brothers. He also stops those who want to do so and puts them out of the church.
The verbal phrase gossiping maliciously about us is literally disparaging us with evil words. The word may mean “wrong” as it is used by James in commenting about arrogance in James 4:16:
As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil.
James indicates that every boasting not because of the Lord is wrong; that is what he intended to convey in the sentence all such boasting is evil. The word in a moral sense can also mean “guilty” as it is used by human author of Hebrews in connection with the conscience in Hebrews 10:22:
let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.
The phrase guilty conscience is literally evil conscience. Another meaning of our Greek word in a moral sense is that of “sinful” as the author of Hebrews also used it in Hebrews 3:12:
See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God.
Still another meaning of the word in a moral sense is that of “wicked”, as in 1 Corinthians 5:13:
God will judge those outside. “Expel the wicked man from among you.”
In our passage of Ephesians 6:13, the Greek word is used primarily in a non-moral sense of “painful” or “distressful.”
We have considered they key words used in the phrase the day of evil of the NIV or more literally in evil day so we are in a position to interpret what the apostle meant in it. But before we do, we should make two observations. First, the phrase appears only here in the NT epistles of the apostle. Actually, we do not have an exact phrase anywhere in the NT. However, we have similar phrase in three passages in the Septuagint. The first two occurs in Jeremiah 17:17–18:
17 Do not be a terror to me; you are my refuge in the day of disaster. 18Let my persecutors be put to shame, but keep me from shame; let them be terrified, but keep me from terror. Bring on them the day of disaster; destroy them with double destruction.
The third occurs in Obadiah 13:
You should not march through the gates of my people in the day of their disaster, nor look down on them in their calamity in the day of their disaster, nor seize their wealth in the day of their disaster.
The word “disaster” in these two passages is translated in the Septuagint with the Greek word that means “evil”. Nevertheless, in these passages the phrase the day of evil in the OT refers to a time of God’s judgment. It is different from its use in Ephesians 6:13 although some take our phrase as a reference to a single day of special tribulation just prior to the Second Coming when satanic opposition reaches its climax. Second, the phrase the day of evil of the NIV or more literally in evil day does not mean the same thing the apostle declared in Ephesians 5:16:
making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.
Although some take our phrase of Ephesians 6:13 to mean the same as the passage in Ephesians 5:16 but it does not seem to be the same. As we noted in our consideration of Ephesians 5:16, when the apostle wrote that the days are evil, he meant we live in an age or period when there is increase in the exhibition of sinfulness of mankind. This is different from what he meant in Ephesians 6:13 if for no other reason than the fact the apostle used plural “days” in Ephesians 5:16 but the singular “day” in Ephesian 6:13. Furthermore, the context of both verses are different. The context of Ephesians 5:16 is the immoral conduct of unbelievers that believers are warned to avoid while that of Ephesians 6:13 is the spiritual warfare believers are engaged. With these observations out of the way, we can now interpret the phrase the day of evil of the NIV or more literally in evil day. It refers to a particular time when believers face distressful or painful condition that is associated with the possibility of sin. In effect, the day of evil refers to a time of temptation. It is the kind of time the Lord described in His explanation of the Parable of the Sower as the time of testing in Luke 8:13:
Those on the rock are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe for a while, but in the time of testing they fall away.
The point is that the phrase in Ephesian 6:13 the day of evil of the NIV or literally in evil day refers to any particular time of temptation that comes to the believer on this planet.
Temptation is a stressful or painful condition because the believer who is tempted faces the option of resisting the devil and so be blessed or succumbing, leading to misery and discipline. The time of temptation is distressful or hard because we face the situation of being true to our faith or denying it. This reality was demonstrated with Peter when he was faced with the temptation to deny the Lord. It was a very distressful thing for him when on three occasions he was faced with acknowledging or denying Christ. Of course, we know he failed because three times he denied the Lord so it should not be difficult to understand that a time of temptation is stressful. Anyway, it is our interpretation that the phrase the day of evil refers to a time of temptation. There are two reasons for this interpretation. The first is that the apostle used a definite article in describing the day he had in mind so that he identified one of the times he had in mind in Ephesians 5:16. It is that particular time when the believer is confronted with sinful conduct that must be resisted in order not to become a casualty in the spiritual warfare. A second reason for our interpretation is that the context is concerned with withstanding or resisting something. The thing a believer resists from the devil is primarily his temptation to get the believer to sin. Therefore, the instruction of the apostle this second time in Ephesians 6:13 about putting on the spiritual armor is so that the believer will be in a position to resist temptation of the enemy. It is this temptation that the apostle included in what the devil throws at the believer later in verse 16 that we will get to at the appropriate time.
A believer who puts on the spiritual armor from God is guaranteed to resist temptation that comes from the devil. It is this guarantee that is explained in the last clause of Ephesians 6:13 and after you have done everything, to stand. The translation of the NIV is one possible way to translate the Greek expression since literally the Greek reads and having done everything to stand. Before we get to the possible interpretations of the literal Greek, we should note that the Greek conjunction translated and is probably used here in an explanatory sense so that it means “that is.” This will mean that what follows explains the basis for withstanding temptation.
Be that as it may, the literal Greek expression and having done everything to stand is subject to at least two possible interpretations because we have a Greek participle of a Greek word (katergazomai) with several meanings. The word may mean “to achieve, accomplish, to do” as the apostle used the word to describe his focus in Romans 15:18:
I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me in leading the Gentiles to obey God by what I have said and done—
The Greek word may mean to cause a state or condition, that is, “to bring about, produce, to create”, as it is used to describe what the right kind of sorrow will bring about in believers in 2 Corinthians 7:10:
Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.
The Greek word may mean to cause to be well prepared, that is, “to prepare someone” for something, as it is used in 2 Corinthians 5:5:
Now it is God who has made us for this very purpose and has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.
The translators of the NIV used the word “made” to translate our Greek word but many other English versions use the word “prepared.” For example, the clause Now it is God who has made us for this very purpose of the NIV is rendered Now the one who prepared us for this very purpose is God in the NET. Another suggested meaning of our Greek word is “to overpower, subdue, to conquer”, that is, to be successful in the face of obstacles. It is this meaning that is reflected in the TEV and the GWT. In our passage, there are two possible meanings of the word. It may mean “to do, accomplish” or “to prove victorious,” with each having different implication in the verbal phrase we are considering. Because the first meaning of “to do, accomplish” is the overwhelming use of the Greek word by the apostle, it is the preferred meaning in our passage.
In any case, it is our assertion that the literal Greek expression and having done everything to stand is subject to at least two possible interpretations. It could be understood to convey an action that takes place prior to one being able to withstand temptation leading to the translation after you have done everything of the NIV. Or, it could be considered as giving reason one is able to stand, that is, because the believer has done everything or because the believer has proven to be victorious over everything. While both make sense in the context, it is probably the first interpretation reflected in the NIV that is intended. This means that the believer is expected to withstand at the time of temptation after the individual has done everything necessary to become victorious. In this case, everything will refer to the defensive and offensive weapons the apostle described later. In any event, the believer who obeys the instruction to put on the spiritual armor from God is assured of victory at the time of temptation.