Ephesians 6:14

‘And having put on the breastplate of righteousness.’

We are to put on the new man which after God has been created in righteousness and true holiness (Ephesians 4:24), the new man in which we have been reconciled to God through the death of His Son on the cross (Ephesians 2:16), the new man through whom we are to reveal the fruit of the Spirit in righteousness (Ephesians 5:9). This is accomplished by submission to Christ, steady commitment, and response to the Holy Spirit, walking step by step by the Spirit and allowing Christ to live out His life through us.

Thus it includes trusting in the righteousness put to our account in Christ (Romans 10:4; Philippians 3:9; Romans 10:10; Galatians 3:6), by Him Who has been made to us righteousness (1 Corinthians 1:30). For we have been made righteous in Him (2 Corinthians 5:21). It also includes the righteousness that we are to reveal through the Spirit at work within us (Ephesians 5:9; Rom 14:17 ; 1 Corinthians 15:34; 1 Timothy 6:11), being righteous as He is righteous (1 John 2:29; 1 John 3:7). For it is this recognition that we are accepted as righteous in the sight of God with a righteousness that can never be sullied, and the resulting fruit of righteousness in our lives that results from it, that will protect our hearts from the sword strokes of the forces of evil, for our breastplate will be impenetrable. No accusation of Satan to God will be able to hurt us when we are confident that we are clothed in the righteousness of Christ. And though men may accuse us, if our lives are righteous they will put them to shame. In 1 Thessalonians 5:8 the breastplate is one of faith and love, faith in the promises of God and in the crucified One, and a dwelling in the love of God. Here it is the breastplate of both imputed and imparted righteousness.

The idea of the breastplate of righteousness, along with the helmet of salvation, comes originally from Isaiah 59:17. But there the intention is attack, and they are worn by The Lord as He goes forward as vindicator and deliverer. The righteousness there refers to vindication and true righteousness, the helmet to deliverance. Here they are for our defence, covering us with His righteousness and surrounding us with His salvation, His power to deliver. But it is good to know that we have the same protection as He had, as those who are vindicated and being delivered.