LifeDate Spring 2026 – Stand Firm For Life
by Rev. Dr. Aric Fenske
Many in the For Life camp will use the language of warfare when describing our efforts to defend the sanctity of life. We speak of struggling, battling, fighting, and defending against those who look to death as the answer to life’s problems. And perhaps rightfully so. The work we do to defend life at every stage and in every condition is difficult and arduous, and there are certainly plenty of forces standing in opposition to us. Speaking of pro-life efforts as a struggle or a battle against the culture of death is more than appropriate.
Of course, this is nothing new. St. Paul often used the language of warfare when describing the Christian life in his epistles to the various churches in Rome and Asia Minor. One of the more familiar passages is his encouragement in Ephesians 6:11 to “put on the full armor of God.” In this exhortation, Paul paints the picture of the Christian as a fierce warrior, properly dressed and equipped to fight and vanquish his enemies. It’s quite a powerful image!
However, to properly understand the image that St. Paul paints for us, we must be careful to remember who the true enemy is. It is tempting to think of our earthly opponents, the human proponents of abortion, physician-assisted suicide, etc., as our enemies. Unfortunately, when we do that, we can end up thinking that our true goal is merely to win—to destroy our enemies, either by words, rhetoric, or power. If that were the case, we may become the very thing we fight against, seeing our neighbors as obstacles to be defeated instead of as those created, redeemed, and called by our loving God.
No, we are not to see our neighbors as our enemies in this ongoing battle. Rather we should see them as casualties. They are fallen sinners, people whose hearts and minds have been corrupted by sin and warped by the devil, and who now sit as prisoners and slaves to him. They do not need to be vanquished; they need to be rescued!
And that is precisely what that armor of God is for, at least in relation to your neighbors. Think about those weapons again:
“The belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the gospel of peace, the shield of faith, the sword of the Spirit, which is none other than the Word of God” (Ephesians 6:14-17).
These are the very means that God used to bring you into His salvation. God hasn’t entrusted you with these tools to destroy your fellow men but to save them from the clutches of the evil one!
After all, that is our true enemy in this battle. Satan and the other “cosmic powers over this present darkness, the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12) are our true enemies in this fight. The devil has been a liar and a murderer from the beginning (John 8:44), and it is he who continues to expand the domain of death by corrupting the minds of men.
It is against him that God has equipped us to stand in the battle. “Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil” (Ephesians 6:11, emphasis mine).
And notice carefully the purpose for this armor. It has been given to us that we may stand. We are not expected to defeat the devil in this battle, merely to stand firm against his attacks. Jesus is the One who has been sent to destroy Satan and his might. And this battle has already been won by our Lord. As the writer to the Hebrews reminds us, by His own death, Jesus has destroyed the devil along with his power to frighten us with death (Hebrews 2:14).
We are called to stand firm in this victory that Christ has won for us. As we bear the armor of God and wield His weapons, we are standing behind the protective wall of Christ. Think of the closing words of Psalm 46, the words that inspired Luther to write his famous hymn, “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God.” “The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress”(Psalm 46:11). Jesus doesn’t merely stand behind us to prop us up in this fight or shout encouragement to us from the sidelines. He gathers us into Himself as troops behind an impenetrable wall.
Through His Word and Sacraments, along with the faith He creates by these means of grace, Jesus Himself defends us against the attacks of the evil one and equips us to remain faithful in the battle against death. At the same time, as He equips us to stand firm in this fight, He is also using us to defend our neighbors, that they too might rejoice in the victory that Christ has won for the world.
May God enable us all to don His armor and wield His weapons faithfully, standing firm against every assault of the devil and reaching out in defense of our neighbors.