The Belt of Truth
“Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist…” -Ephesians 6:14a Paul, begins his list of the panoply of the armor of God with the “belt of truth.” The belt—known as the cingulum or balteus—played a crucial role in the effectiveness of a soldier’s armor. The belt that Paul’s talking about here isn’t meant to hold up a soldier’s pants. A Roman soldier wore a loose and floppy shirt. It was called a “tunic.” And the tunic was meant to be loose, so that when the soldier was marching, or exercising, or doing his daily work, he wouldn’t get too warm. But, if the soldier ever had to fight with someone, his loose and…