The Breastplate of Righteousness

Q
Oct 10, 2025
5 min read

"... having put on the breastplate of righteousness (Ephesians 6: 14b).

The Breastplate: Protecting the Army of God's Vital Core

In both ancient and modern warfare, the breastplate serves one primary, life-saving purpose: to protect the vital organs in the soldier's torso—the heart, liver, kidneys, lungs, and the gut. Interestingly, despite its name, the breastplate typically covers both the front and back, providing protection from all directions, even when a soldier is forced to flee. This crucial piece of armor symbolizes the importance of what it protects, and this symbolism extends powerfully to the Army of God.

Trunk Armor (Breastplate) Covered Front and Back

Life-Supporting: The Vital Organs and the Five-Fold Ministry

The organs housed within the trunk are critical for sustaining life and ensuring its quality. They are the foundation of a healthy human:

Heart and Lungs: They regulate and circulate the very essence of life - blood and air.
Liver and Kidneys: They cleanse the body and regulate its chemical and hormonal balance.
The Gut (GI Tract): This system provides the essential fuel for all other organs to function by ingesting, digesting, absorbing, and excreting food. It also removes toxic waste.

A malfunction in any of these significantly impacts the entire body's functioning and the individual's quality of life.

It's fascinating that these organs and the GI tract total five main divisions. This resonates strongly with the five-fold ministry roles that are vital for sound and transformative church and ministry work, as introduced by Paul in Ephesians 4:11–13: "And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ;"

This powerful symbolism emphasizes the critical nature of these ministry roles to the Army of God. A weakness in even one of them puts the entire body at great risk. This highlights the need for each role to be "covered in righteousness".

Replaceable: The Necessity of Righteous Task Performance

The human body is fallible, susceptible to disease, malfunction, and total failure. The organs discussed here can and do fail. However, modern medicine allows them to be repaired, replaced, or transplanted.

The very fact that these life-sustaining organs are replaceable suggests something profound: they do not define the individual but are designed simply to perform their specific, measurable tasks. Therefore, they must perform their duties righteously—that is, exactly as designed. Failure to do so can lead to affliction, pain, and, ultimately, removal and replacement.

Of Righteousness

Righteousness is the quality of being morally upright or justifiable. Biblically, it's about being morally upright, just, and most importantly, in a right relationship with God and others.

Because human morality is often a social construct - what’s acceptable in one group may be deplorable in another - defining the foundation of a Christian’s righteousness is essential. Just as every military outfit has specific codes of conduct that every soldier must follow, so too does the Army of God. Every soldier assents to God’s code of conduct, which is the very basis of godly righteousness, defined by the Word of God and demonstrated ultimately by Jesus Christ Himself.

The central problem is that, like the fallible organs, humanity is inherently unrighteous. Scripture is clear: the human heart is wicked, and "There is none righteous, no, not one" (Jeremiah 17:9; Romans 3:10–12). We cannot achieve Godly righteousness by our own will or might.

Since God is perfectly righteous, He expects others to reflect His nature. If He can design our vital, replaceable organs to save a physical life, how much more would He provide a perfect, infallible righteousness to replace our own human righteousness?

This leads to the greatest gift ever given: Imputed Righteousness.

Imputed Righteousness: The Great Exchange

The concept of a replaceable organ suggests that the righteousness of one can be applied to another. The Bible contains powerful examples where the righteous action or intercession of a leader - a type of temporary transplant - saved an entire group from judgment.

Abraham negotiated with God to spare Sodom for the sake of just ten righteous people (Genesis 18:23-32).
Hezekiah prayed for the unclean people, and "The Lord heard Hezekiah and healed the people" (2 Chronicles 30:20).
Moses interceded multiple times for Israel, appealing to God's nature and covenant promises, saving the people from utter destruction (Exodus 32:7-14; Numbers 14:11-20).

However, these instances were temporary remedies. The people always returned to sin because the righteousness applied was still human, fallible righteousness.

The clearest and most significant illustration is centered on Jesus Christ. He is the perfectly sinless "Last Adam". Through His obedience and sacrificial death, He secured an everlasting righteousness for His followers. This is the "great exchange":

"For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous." (Romans 5:19).
"For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." (2 Corinthians 5:21).

Because our human righteousness is deemed "filthy rags" (Isaiah 64:6), Jesus took our sin upon Himself and gave us His perfect righteousness, opening the way back to a righteous God. This is not a temporary fix like an organ transplant; Jesus' righteousness is a sure and everlasting solution to our spiritual death.

Right, All Together Now: The Breastplate of Christ's Righteousness

The breastplate protects the vital systems that keep the soldier in the fight, particularly when the battle is most intense. This is precisely what being right with God does for every soldier in the Army of God.

Conformity to God’s code of conduct keeps the Christian and the church in the war for salvation. As it is written, "… Therefore, His own arm brought salvation for Him; And His own righteousness, it sustained Him" (Isaiah 59:16).

The only way to be Right with God is to accept Jesus' perfect righteousness - defined by His sinless life, tested by His sacrifice, and proven by His resurrection.

By accepting and putting on Christ’s righteousness as our breastplate, we commit to living in accordance with God's commands and guidance. We then work All Together Now as one coherent battle force against the enemy's attacks, much like our vital organs and systems work together against the attacks of the physical world.

It's worth noting that, unlike the organs mentioned here, there is one other organ whose function affects the whole body but cannot be transplanted. That one requires a different kind of protection... but that is a discussion for another post. Till then, stay in the fight!

Be Blessed.