Three times in his epistles Paul speaks of the Christian's armor. He speaks of it to the Romans, to the Corinthians, and to the Ephesians. It is the Ephesians that he admonishes to "put on the whole armor of God."
It is interesting to consider the significance of armor in the eyes of Paul and his insistence that it be put on in its entirety. In speaking of armor to the Romans, Paul describes it as light. "Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light," he writes (Rom. 13: 12). And it is as light that the Christian Scientist learns to regard his armor.
Christian Science teaches that spiritual enlightenment is the only armor which is able to resist the darkness of fear, of confusion, of divided allegiance. He who has put on this armor is unafraid. He may be unaware of what the demands upon his skill, his endurance, his fortitude, will be, but equipped with the discernment whereby he is alert to what is real and what is unreal, he is confident of victory. And this, because armor of light is also, in Paul's words to the Corinthians, "armor of righteousness." In this armor of right knowing the Christian warrior is enabled, as he points out, to cast down all that is not of God, thus "bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ" (II Cor. 10:5).
To her followers Mary Baker Eddy writes in "The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany" (p. 189), "Clad in invincible armor, grasping the sword of Spirit, you have started in this sublime ascent, and should reach the mount of revelation." From the writings and example of their Leader, and then as the result of their own experiences, Christian Scientists learn that the only invincible armor is that of Spirit. At the call of duty the individual may find himself taking part in what would appear to be physical warfare, but whatever the circumstance, he recognizes that the actual conflict is always a mental one; it is always a call to reject material testimony, to acknowledge and be allegiant to but one reality and power, that which recognizes God as its source. Equipped with the armor of light, the Christian Scientist is enabled to repudiate mortal evidence as without a cause or jurisdiction and to maintain the divine fact that man is forever the idea of infinite Mind.
Since the nature of spiritual armor is always light, he who puts it on can be assured of its invincibility. Whatever the apparent darkness with which he is confronted, he acts not only with vigor but with intelligence; his armor illumines as well as preserves him in the way.
If we consider the experience of David with Goliath, we see that while David equipped himself with what appeared humanly natural and necessary for the battle, he did not depend on it either for his sense of security or for his assurance of victory. He relied upon God. Neither the horrifying reports meant to prepare him for his actual meeting with Goliath, made by those who were greatly afraid, nor the final appearance of the one who had made all Israel to tremble shook the confidence of David. The nature of his armor, invincible though invisible, brought him the strength, both physical and spiritual, that he needed. The complete defeat of the enemy was due to the fact that David relied wholly upon what he had proved and therefore knew to be power.
On page 210 of Miscellany Mrs. Eddy writes, "Good thoughts are an impervious armor; clad therewith you are completely shielded from the attacks of error of every sort." This is indeed the whole armor of God. He who thinks of himself as a mortal, vulnerable and assailable, the possible victim of disease, of malpractice, of failure, of misfortune, has failed to put on or else has laid down his armor. In the place of light he has allowed darkness to creep in. It is not that his armor was not available, for spiritual enlightenment is the property of everyone equally; there is never any shortage of good thoughts, of the light which dispels darkness, of Truth which refutes the lie. The boundless resources of Spirit are ever present. It is simply that he had somehow neglected to put it on.
Had David listened to the mortal arguments which assailed him, had he given power to that which claimed the preponderance of power, had he sought to escape from rather than to conquer evil, his armor would not have been on, and how different would have been the event which history had to relate; how different David's own individual experience.
The problems which beset humanity, the mesmerism of fear, of disease, of lack, of unhappiness, may claim to assume Goliath proportions. On all sides there may be prophecies of disaster befalling men and nations. Yet the immediate remedy is here. Clad in the armor of light, we can remain confident of good. Refusing to be involved in the burden of fearful anticipation, repudiating the belief of good's helplessness in the face of evil's inevitability, we shall press forward, bearing ever in thought the "sublime ascent, ... the mount of revelation." Even as deliverance from the grievous menace which would have robbed the children of Israel of their peace was to be found only in divine reliability, so today that only will lead humanity out of sickness and sorrow, out of aggression and tyranny, which is inspired and enlightened of God.
In Christian Science we learn that every human problem, whether seemingly our own immediate concern or involving others, whether personal, national, or world-wide, can be finally solved only as the result of replacing fearful thinking with spiritual knowing. Only the armor of light is invincible. It can be trusted because it is not only power, but all-power. The thought which finds its reliance in God is eternally equipped to overcome everything unlike the Christ.
In the very darkest hour of his human career Jesus did not doubt his ability to prove evil powerless. Hence his resurrection. Whatever the resistance, the persecution, the misrepresentation, which confronted her, Mrs. Eddy never doubted her mission. Hence the establishment of the Cause of Christian Science.
The armor of the Christian Scientist is made evident, is made practical, in his conscious oneness with God, in his obedience to the divine will, in his unceasing prayer, in his alertness to every subtle effort of the enemy to entangle him in the ways of personal sense.
The individual may find that somehow, however earnest his endeavor and faithful his allegiance, there has been a weak place in his armor. The shield of faith has slipped, so that the fiery darts have penetrated; the helmet of salvation has been temporarily forgotten; the sword of the Spirit has failed to reach its mark. If this is so, his remedy is immediately at hand. In the now of identification with Mind he can find himself divinely empowered to renew that which calls for renewal, abiding in even greater steadfastness with those thoughts which, being of God, are an impervious armor. He can wipe out the past of mortal seeming and maintain that which alone is to be found in the consciousness of God and therefore of man, His likeness.
Today men recognize increasingly the need for divine direction—for the wisdom of Spirit, the illumination of Soul—which preserves them from the darkness of material thinking, boasting that there is no God; from the rapacity of greed fostering corruption and inciting crime. The distinguished historian, Arnold J. Toynbee, in his book entitled "Civilization on Trial," has summed up this call to all those who accept the ideal of Christianity as the need "to know God better and come to love Him more nearly in His own way."
The world in which we find ourselves today entitles us neither to complacence nor to indifference. It can be faced with confidence, with the certainty of spiritual victory, only by those who know that they are armored—and in light. Mrs. Eddy asks us this question on page 176 of "Miscellaneous Writings": "Are we duly aware of our own great opportunities and responsibilities? Are we prepared to meet and improve them, to act up to the acme of divine energy wherewith we are armored?"
Christian Science has revealed to us the nature of our armor. It has shown us how in this light of invincibility the spiritual initiative is ours. The acme of divine energy is not lacking; it will be manifest in the measure of our recognition and acceptance of its opportunities and responsibilities. "Power... over all the power of the enemy"—this is the Christly assurance, completed, climaxed, by the words which, if understood, must banish finally all fear (Luke 10:19), "Nothing shall by any means hurt you."
