We are looking at the armor of God from Ephesians 6:10 – 20 and let’s look at each part and its purpose. Verse 14 has the belt of truth and breastplate of righteousness:
Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;
Many translations talk about the belt of truth, but the KJV the “loins girt”. What exactly is that? It is more than a belt but a protective piece of armor that hold the breastplate in place and had protection for the privates. When you are in a boxing match most say no hitting below the belt, but in war and hand to hand combat when your life is at stake, those rules go out to the door. Hence why they needed protection.
Why did Paul pick the “loins girt” to describe truth and not the breastplate? I could argue the two should be reversed because the heart is deceived often and the loins are where most unrighteous comes from with men. But I can see the logic. The girt not only protects the privates, but the lower stomach, so the “gut check” when believing something is true or not has Biblical support I believe. One needs to know truth, especially when battling a spiritual level that is often unseen.
The breastplate of righteousness is key to protecting the heart because that is what needs to be pure when battling evil. We need to maintain virtue to maintain or connection with God and therefore live right, otherwise we could be compromised in our fight. The adversary knows our weaknesses and will take advantage of them if allowed. The breastplate protects the heart and the life blood from evil schemes and compromises.
The girt of truth and the breastplate hold each other in place. Without each other the system could fail since the girt could slip down or the breastplate could flop away in the heat of battle. So focus on knowing the truth and living righteous.
Today knowing the truth is so difficult since the focus on my study of the KJV is because so many verses are missing from the NIV that are in the KJV. The KJV defenders will say they are key doctrinal issues that need to be in the Bible and were original. While the NIV and others defend that the new translations are using older texts which are closer to the original. They also claim the missing parts are not a big deal since the main point of salvation through Jesus is key. The KJV defenders say the parts removed make it ok to find other paths to salvation and to worship other gods or people. So my quest for truth begins!