'Put on the full armor of God,' for the silly season of politics has arrived

Ron DeSantis, the Miami Herald, and Ephesians 6

“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of the dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

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.”

— Paul in Ephesians 6:10-13

“DeSantis’ ‘full armor of God’ rhetoric reaches Republicans,” reads a Miami Herald headline, topping a story about Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. “But is he playing with fire?”

Any reader familiar with the phrase “the full armor of God,” and the book of Ephesians from whence it came, has the same question right about now: What?

How could anyone draw that conclusion from that book?

Ephesians is a letter from Paul to the Jesus people in Ephesus, in modern-day Turkey.

Paul’s letters to the churches provide guidance and encouragement to members of a minority cult whose membership, in some places, could cost them their lives. Long before there was “Christendom,” Christians were lion fodder.

Throughout, the Bible encourages the faithful to “be of good courage.”

The armor of God does not refer to a taking up of arms, as armor is defensive. It does not refer to the faithful protecting themselves physically at all, but in submitting themselves to God’s protection. Have you not read that martyrdom was a common outcome for the early Christians?

“In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” — Ephesians 6:16-17

How embarrassing, for the Miami Herald.

When Ephesians 6 does mention a sword, it refers to the Bible. As for the Herald’s accusation that DeSantis is “playing with fire” — if they’d read the entire chapter, they’d know that the shield of faith is flame-retardant.

“Put on the full armor of God. Stand firm against the left’s schemes. You will face flaming arrows, but if you have the shield of faith, you will overcome them, and in Florida we walk the line here,” DeSantis told the audience at Hillsdale College in February. “And I can tell you this, I have only begun to fight.” — Ron DeSantis at Hillsdale College, as quoted by the Miami Herald

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is sporting the armor of God under his suit coat.

The Christians of Ephesus were a minority in a pagan culture. Man’s power, or at least the appearance of it, was everywhere. There was plenty of reason to “go along and get along,” to do as the Ephesians did. Ephesus was part of the Roman Empire.

Instead, the Christians chose to carry themselves differently than their neighbors, and to witness for Christ. This could be dangerous. Paul was writing to encourage them to be courageous.

Going along and getting along is our natural instinct. Nobody wants to be persecuted, and most people would do anything to get it to stop. They’d tap out. They’d give in. For the false promise of normal.

The early Christians faced a struggle familiar to us today, post-Christendom: Being “in the world, but not of it.” That was one of my Grandma’s favorite phrases, and it describes our challenge so well.

How do we live faithfully in a pagan world? The early Christians have so much to teach us.

But we can’t learn any of it in the Miami Herald.

The normal thing to do, when accusing someone of “playing with fire” by quoting a Bible verse, is to examine the source in detail. Who is saying the words? In what context? What else is said? These things matter every time we tell a Bible story.

The Herald didn’t do this, because there wasn’t any smoking gun in Ephesians 6. Nothing that could be used to pretend DeSantis was urging political violence.

So the Herald did the next best thing, and gets a source to offer the react quote it needs:

“I think, at best, DeSantis is playing with fire,” said Brian Kaylor, a Baptist minister in Missouri who has studied the interaction between religion and politics for over two decades. “If asked, I’m sure he would tell you he is not telling people to literally go and fight. But this rhetoric in this political environment is dangerous.”

If Brian Kaylor’s studies extend to the Bible itself, perhaps he could explain how the words of Ephesians 6 are “playing with fire,” whether “at best” or otherwise.

There is no there there. Just a pastor who doesn’t bother quoting from the Bible.

Kaylor’s take is not truthful. What is true is that Someone Said It.

And with that, the Herald had its headline. The Herald could even say it was Just Asking Questions, and was less definite than its source.

The point of the story was to taint DeSantis with “Christian nationalism.” The blue team believes that phrase will scare people off, and perhaps cost DeSantis the presidency. Its news division is hard at work to make that linkage.

The point of DeSantis’ speech is that these are the tactics you can expect from the left. Smear stories that paint faith as a four-letter word. A pastor who doesn’t quote the Bible. Thousands of words about a Bible passage, without ever wrestling with the words in that passage.

Put on the armor of God, because the hits just keep on coming.