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Peace Feet Shod Stand therefore, having … your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace.—Ephesians 6:14,15 Richard Doctor A contradiction confronts us as we read these words in Ephesians, though ..we may be assured that Paul knew exactly what he was doing when he dictated them. Why take up the “sword of the spirit” (Ephesians 6:17) and other battle armor and at the same time the preparation of the gospel of peace? Are we preparing for War? Or, are we preparing for Peace? What the Armor Is NOT For There are many blessed and lovely havens of rest that are not the object for which we are called to take up the whole armor of God. Clearly the call to take up this armor is not for us to fight upon holy ground sanctified by the presence of God, for on such blessed ground sandals are never appropriate footwear, nor are weapons. Moses, when confronted by the miracle of the burning bush, said, “I will turn aside now, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt. And when Jehovah saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I. And he said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground” (Exodus 3:3-6, ASV). Clearly the call to take up armor is not so we can fight in the anti-typical Tabernacle, a place where neither sandals nor weapons are appropriate. The priests had bare feet when serving in the Tabernacle. The very ground upon which they walked in the court, the Holy, and the Most Holy, like the ground surrounding the burning bush, was “holy ground.” He who walked thereon need not fear it would contaminate him; but there was the danger he might contaminate it. It was for this reason, undoubtedly, that the priests were instructed to wash their feet as well as their hands when engaged in serving (Exodus 30:18-21). Any covering of the feet would have suggested that one might have brought in defilement from without.{1} The call to take up this armor is not to conduct war within the houses of our loved ones—family, friends, and brethren in Christ. Neither sandals nor weapons are appropriate in the home environment. Custom in biblical times called for the outermost footwear to be laid aside when entering a house. As we learn from our Lord’s last supper with his disciples, it was the custom for feet to be washed when entering a friendly environment. Removing the shoes and then washing the feet provided for welcome refreshment from the heat of the day. Even in homes of modest means, a guest’s feet might then enjoy the feel of a woven carpet as they were being entertained. Clearly the call to take up this armor is not aligned with the various styles of inner peace set forward in our day. Living in our day takes so much energy and the demands may prove so exhausting that we can sympathize with those who seek such peace. However, tranquility of spirit will only truly come if we have the oil of God’s holy spirit to fuel our lamps. Without this oil being constantly renewed through a life lived in full consecration, our efforts to shine forth into the world’s darkness will be feeble. As in the parable of the wise and foolish virgins, eventually our lamps will sputter and go out. Our master gave us the perfect example of wearing these sandals of peace and striving against the urges of flesh towards anger, especially anger towards those who are our natural enemies. In the gospel account Jesus and the apostles were tired from their day’s journey somewhere in the land of the Samaritans. Their interest in securing provisions and rest were reasonable, but a nameless village refused them provisions because it was clear that Jesus was not interested in ministering to them, but would continue on to Jerusalem (Luke 9:52-56). The apostles were enraged, and James and John, serving as their spokesmen, urged Jesus to permit them to call down fire from heaven. Instead, it was they who received a rebuke and the group continued on to another village. Our gracious heavenly Father taught this same lesson to his errant servant Jonah. Like James and John, Jonah eagerly desired the destruction of his enemies in the city of Nineveh (Jonah 4:1-11). God urged Jonah to have compassion and provided a practical example of wearing these sandals when he said, “Should not I spare Ninevah?” (vs. 11). Our flesh wants to justify anger. Hence, the need for Paul’s admonition to wear the sandals of peace so we might work the works of our heavenly Father’s righteousness in full conformance with his plans and purposes. This is why Isaiah testified: “And the work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever” (Isaiah 32:17). While having our mind “stayed” on the heavenly Father indeed brings “perfect peace” (Isaiah 26:3), the peace of which Paul wrote takes work, engagement, and even running (c.f., Psalm 34:14). Yes, these words of Ephesians are a strange call to war indeed. It is a war like none other. The objective is not to utterly destroy our enemies or, failing that, to maim them; nor is the object to capture our enemies as trophies of war to enter a life of servitude. Love Your Enemies—The Life of Peace What then is our object? As warring soldiers for Christ Jesus, our object is to destroy those against whom we bring the sword of the spirit —as enemies. A wise man has said: “A merely fallen enemy may rise again, but the reconciled one is truly vanquished.” When this word “preparation” (Strong’s #2091) is used in the context of placing on our feet sandals of “the preparation of the gospel of peace,” the thought is that of footwear that has been properly fitted and adjusted to our feet. Having been thus outfitted, “preparation” has the thought of continuously keeping this footwear on our feet so that we might be ready for action at any time. Today, joggers and hikers take great care to secure properly fitting footwear. In addition “preparation” seems to be related to the type of preparation we find during the first Passover. The Israelites were told how they should eat the meal: “And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: it is the LORD’s Passover” (Exodus 12:11). Both our path through life and our attitude should find “peace” marking our every action. We are admonished, that as much as lies in us, our methods are to be peaceable towards all (Romans 12:18). Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount that we are to love our enemies: “Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust” (Matthew 5:43-45). God, himself, follows the very rule laid down for us. He does not now destroy his enemies, but feeds them; sending rain upon the just and upon the unjust and causing the sun to shine upon the evil as well as the good. Even when by feeding our starving enemy we really help perpetuate a being unworthy of life and whom God has declared should be destroyed, the Lord tells us to leave that to him. He has not yet made us the representatives and executors of his laws. However, God assures us that no real enemy of his and ours, no informed and really willful enemy of righteousness, shall escape just punishment because of our exercise of leniency. Mahatma Gandhi of India in a conversation with his friend, the Rev. J. J. Doke, a Baptist minister of Johannesburg, South Africa, said that he took up his famed idea for passive resistance from these very sayings of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount.{2} Gandhi then recast our Lord’s words within his belief system and said this: “It is easy enough to be friendly to one’s friends. But to befriend the one who regards himself as your enemy is the quintessence of true religion. The other is mere business.” Considering the practical issues of “Love your enemies,” Pastor Russell wrote: “God has never purposed or promised blessings upon willful enemies. Eternal life and kingdom favors are not for such. Had the entire race been such characters, no redemption and no restitution would have been provided. God foresaw, however, that many—the vast majority, we doubt not—would, after seeing clearly and in some degree experiencing both good and evil, right and wrong, and their respective consequences under God’s law, be glad to recognize and serve God and the right—with all their heart, mind, soul and strength; and to observe the same law in their dealings with their fellow-creatures—loving their neighbors as themselves. It was because God foresaw these would-be friends in the Adamic race that for such he provided redemption and reconciliation through the blood of the crucified one.” (Reprints, pp. 1175, 1176). Having put on the armor and the sandals of peace we need to recognize that the enmities and oppositions of the present time among men are mostly attributable to weaknesses, imperfections, and misunderstandings. We are totally incapable of reading and judging the hearts, the underlying motives and the wills of our fellow-men (cf., 1 Samuel 16:7). We do not have the judgment to distinguish between the few real enemies of righteousness and the many crippled by sin, blinded, deceived, partly informed, caught in temptation, or lacking of sane faculties. Therefore, if our enemy hungers, feed him. He is probably a deceived friend of God and hence of ours. This is not preaching universal salvation, for this is what God has said of his willful enemies: “[they] shall lick the dust” (Psalm 72:9). Further, God declares, “Behold, all souls are mine … the soul that sinneth, it shall die” (Ezekiel 18:4; Psalm 145:20). The enemies of righteousness will be dealt with in the kingdom, where, “[They] shall be punished with an everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power; when he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired by all them that believe … in that [Millennial] day” (2 Thessalonians 1:9,10). For the wicked such as Satan, all his children, and all who willingly prefer his course of enmity to God and righteousness, there is no peace (Isaiah 57:20). These shall go into everlasting destruction symbolized by the lake of fire, “the second death” (Revelation 20:14). God does not seek to bend the unwilling, but is pleased to receive and help and restore the willing ones. Therefore, we should not avenge ourselves. Instead, we are to follow Jesus’ instructions to feed our enemies and trust in the Lord who will, in his due time, render vengeance to his enemies (Romans 12:19; James 5:1-6). Dynamically Pursuing Peace Long before Paul spoke of the armor of God and the placing on our feet of “the preparation of the gospel of peace,” the prophet Isaiah associated feet with the same message of peace: “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace, that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth!” (Isaiah 52:7). This indeed is our privilege, to publish the glad, heart-warming tidings of Millennial joy and peace by preaching the good tidings of the ransom for all and its consequent blessings for all (1 Timothy 2:5,6; Hebrews 2:9). Peace does not come passively, and the idea that we need some sort of footwear to run after peace seems clear when the psalmist sings, “Seek peace and pursue [chase] it” (Psalm 34:14). Passiveness is not peace. When it comes to seeking peace—finding common ground on which we can agree with the enemy we hope to reconcile—we should not be overly insistent upon our own rights. Insisting upon our rights and seeking peace are really contradictory. Seeking peace means humbling ourselves and not seeking our wills or our preferences except where matters of principle are involved (see Reprints, p. 4407). Solomon saw pursuing peace as a dynamic process of moving along a path, and he linked the path of peace with following the commandments and wisdom of God. Our peace comes from the gospel and following its commandments, applying the wisdom of God in our lives. Trying to walk in peace in any other way is doomed to failure. “My son, forget not my law; but let thine heart keep my commandments: for length of days, and long life, and peace, shall they add to thee. … Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding. Length of days is in her right hand; and in her left hand riches and honour. Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace” (Proverbs 3:1,2,13,16,17). While the most important part of our walk is to make certain that we are walking with our Lord Jesus in the paths of peace, we do not walk this path alone. There are “many with us”—our dear brethren—also armed with the same armor, fighting the same battle, and wearing the same footwear of peace: “As for me, I will call upon God; and the LORD shall save me … He hath delivered my soul in peace from the battle that was against me: for there were many with me” (Psalm 55:16,18). How important it is that we walk with the sandals of peace with respect to our brethren! Are there ever disagreements among brethren? Are there conflicts? Then peace must be pursued. Sad to say, this is one of the areas where peace has not always been pursued. Differences, which for the most part have been minor, have oftentimes been magnified until a breach is inevitable. If we are to love our enemies, how much more are we to love our brethren! (1 Peter 1:22; John 13:34,35; Romans 12:10; Hebrews 13:1; cf., Matthew 18:21, 22) Here also, the sandals of peace must be kept on our feet when these conflicts arise. What a privilege we have by faith that we can walk and run on these paths of peace even now, for this is a peace that coexists even with much disorder and trouble (see Reprints, p. 1833). The world of mankind, despite their best efforts, or more often, despite their worst efforts, have found the rapturous image of righteousness and peace meeting together as rare, tantalizing, and as elusive as true love. This peace will not become a reality in this age. It is not until the kingdom that they will join with the psalmist and say: “I will hear what God the LORD will speak: for he will speak peace unto his people, and to his saints: but let them not turn again to folly. Surely his salvation is nigh them that fear him; that glory may dwell in our land. Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other” (Psalm 85:8-10). We, who love God’s Law, should have great peace (Psalm 119:165). It is by personally applying the principles laid before us in the law and all the written Scriptures that we can best keep our wandering footsteps in the path of peace and our fretful minds “stayed” on the heavenly Father (Isaiah 26:3). While we are dynamically pursuing the paths of peace, wearing the sandals of peace, there is also a promised rest. But even when fully entering into this peace, the Scriptures do not speak of this peace as a deep, still pond. No, a dynamic image is used instead: “O that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments! then had thy peace been as a [flowing] river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea” (Isaiah 48:18). What is our blessing as we keep these sandals of peace fast on our feet, along with the rest of the armor? It is peace with God through Jesus Christ (Acts 10:36; Romans 5:1). And we are admonished, “Let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom” (Colossians 3:15,16). The peace of God is not the peace of the flesh, but peace of the heart. This peace should have such control of us that a hallowed influence would go with us through all of our experiences. This peace can only come to us if we have given ourselves unreservedly to God and “chase” peace upon his paths shod with the sandals of the preparation of peace. This peace is the direct result of a close personal relationship between ourselves and God. This peace can look up through its tears with joyful expectancy for the glorious fruition of our hopes (see Reprints, p. 5432). We are at a loss to even properly express to others except our brethren the effects that wearing sandals of peace will have in our lives: “And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:7). We know this is sure, for our master and the captain of our salvation in this warfare has promised: “My peace I give unto you!” (John 14:27).
___________________________ 2. Charles Joy, The Spiritual Life—the selected writings of Albert Schweitzer, Ecco Press (1996), p. 69.
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