14 Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness.
The first piece of the armour of God that a Christian is presented with is the belt of truth. Our chief adversary, the devil, is a liar and master deceiver (cf. John 8:44b; Acts 13:10; 2 Corinthians 11:3, 13-15; 2 Thessalonians 2:9-10; Revelation 20:2-3). He uses his lies as a lethal weapon against God’s people, and because of this, the apostle Paul expressed his concern to the Corinthians about the real danger of their being beguiled by Satan (cf. 2 Corinthians 11:3).
What does Paul mean by “having your loins girt about”? In the apostolic period, the Roman soldiers wore loose robes. These soldiers would not go into a battle with their tunics impeding their movements. It was dangerous to be entangled in their own robes while the enemy closed in on them for the kill. So what they did was to gather up their clothing and tuck it under their belt, as they prepared to fight the battle. This is what Paul referred to as “having your loins girt about”. This act of girding up the loins was a picture of preparedness or readiness. Thus, having one’s “loins girt about with truth” implies wearing the truth as a tight lash to gird up one’s thoughts, desires and actions. Just as a Roman soldier girds his loins to prevent his tunic from obstructing his movements, the Christian must also tuck his life under the belt of God’s truth, even His Word. “No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier” (2 Timothy 2:4).
The second piece of armour that God has given to Christians for their spiritual battle is “the breastplate of righteousness”. The breastplate protects the soldier’s vital organs like the heart, liver, lungs and kidneys from being pierced by the enemies’ weaponry. For the Christian soldier, the breastplate of righteousness is the vital protection against the deadly pierce of sin. A believer who lives unrepentantly in his sins will become the target of Satan’s attack. He will try to discourage and even prevent such a one from making spiritual advancement. The only defence against the devil’s deadly blow precipitated by our sinfulness, is the imputed righteousness of Christ upon the believer. When we trust Jesus for the forgiveness of our sins, God justifies and sanctifies us as He imputes His righteousness upon us. Being clothed with the righteousness of Christ, believers ought to live in His righteous ways to leave no room at all for harassment from Satan.