Ephesians 6:15 NKJV
and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace;
The Power of Gospel Readiness
MY NOTES
and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace;—Ephesians 6:15 NKJV
Let’s be honest for a moment—how often do we try to navigate the rugged terrain of daily life running on empty, spiritually speaking? We rush from one crisis to the next, reacting out of stress rather than responding out of peace. But Ephesians 6:15 gives us a radically different picture. Paul tells us to have our feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. This isn’t just about feeling calm; it is about being anchored, equipped, and ready for whatever the road throws our way. When our footing is secure in God’s peace, even the roughest terrain becomes manageable.
Spurgeon put it plainly: rough roads grow smooth when these blessed Gospel sandals are on your feet. A little stone in the shoe will make the pilgrim’s progress a very wearisome and painful one. So keep out everything that creates a problem or that you know is wrong, and walk in the safe and narrow way set forth in the gospel of peace.
The word “preparation” carries the idea of readiness or a prepared foundation. The gospel gives us firm footing so we do not slip when the ground is uneven. Ancient soldiers often wore shoes studded with nails for grip on rough terrain. In the same way, the gospel of peace gives us traction. It is not just the legal peace of being justified by faith—
“Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1 NKJV)
—though that is foundational. It is also the deeper peace of close, undisturbed communion with God, the kind that lets us move without constant inner conflict.
Christ Himself is that peace.
“For He Himself is our peace” (Ephesians 2:14 NKJV).
Because of Him we can say with the prophet,
“How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who proclaims peace, who brings glad tidings of good things, who proclaims salvation, who says to Zion, ‘Your God reigns!’” (Isaiah 52:7 NKJV).
The same gospel that reconciled us to God equips our feet to walk it out.
A man or woman at peace with God does not dread the ordinary ills of life or the final moment of death. The shoes keep small, unresolved issues from becoming crippling. They let us stand firm when attacked and keep moving when the path is long. Paul later urges,
“And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body” (Colossians 3:15 NKJV).
That ruling peace is what the shoes are made of.
So put them on. Clear out the stones. Receive the gospel of peace fully, and walk in it. The road will still have rough places, but with these sandals the footing holds.
Prayer
Abba, thank You for the gospel of peace that gives me firm footing. Forgive me for the times I have walked with stones in my shoes—unresolved issues, small compromises, or a troubled conscience. Help me clear them out and put on the readiness You provide. Let the peace of Christ rule in my heart so I can stand firm and keep moving, even on rough ground. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Key Takeaways
- The Christian is meant to be active; the shoes of the gospel of peace equip both standing and moving.
- “Preparation” means readiness and firm footing supplied by the gospel itself.
- True peace includes both justification and the deeper peace of communion with God.
- Christ is our peace; the gospel that reconciles us also equips our feet to walk steadily.
Proverb for Today
Evil men do not understand justice, But those who seek the Lord understand all things. Proverbs 28:5 NASB1995
Daily Scripture
For thus says the Lord, Who created the heavens, Who is God, Who formed the earth and made it, Who has established it, Who did not create it in vain, Who formed it to be inhabited: “I am the Lord, and there is no other. I have not spoken in secret, In a dark place of the earth; I did not say to the seed of Jacob, ‘Seek Me in vain’; I, the Lord, speak righteousness, I declare things that are right. Isaiah 45:18-19 NKJV
Closing
“The Lord bless you and keep you; The Lord make His face shine upon you, And be gracious to you; The Lord lift up His countenance upon you, And give you peace.” Numbers 6:24-26 NKJV
Grace be with you. Amen.
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Commentaries:
Charles Spurgeon
He preached a full sermon on the verse titled “Shoes for Pilgrims and Warriors” (No. 3143). Key ideas from it and from his exposition of the passage:
From the exposition (Sermon No. 3143):
And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;
Rough roads grow smooth when these blessed Gospel sandals are on your feet. A little stone in the shoe will make the pilgrim’s progress a very wearisome and painful one, so try to keep out all the stones—everything about which you have any scruple or that you think may be wrong—and walk in the safe and narrow way set forth in the Gospel of peace.
From the dedicated sermon on the verse:
- The Christian is meant to be active and in motion, not motionless. Shoes are provided because the believer is a pilgrim and a warrior who must move.
- The shoes come from a blessed Maker (God Himself) and are made of the finest material: “the preparation of the gospel of peace.”
- “Preparation” carries the idea of readiness or preparedness. The gospel equips the feet so the believer can stand firm and move forward without slipping.
- True peace is more than the legal peace of justification. It includes the deeper peace of close, undisturbed communion with God.
- A little unresolved scruple or known wrong (a “stone in the shoe”) makes the journey painful. The gospel of peace clears the path so the believer can walk steadily.
- A man at peace with God dreads neither the ills of life nor the terrors of death.
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Enduring Word
Having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace: The preparation of the gospel is represented as the protective shoes (or sandals) worn by Roman soldiers. No one can fight effectively or effectively go about his business without this equipment. (Guzik)
i. Preparation is a word meaning “a prepared foundation.” The gospel provides the footing for everything we do. However powerful the rest of your body is, if you are wounded in your feet you are easy prey for the enemy. (Guzik)
ii. On the shoes: “Josephus described them as ‘shoes thickly studded with sharp nails’… so as to ensure a good grip. The military successes both of Alexander the Great and of Julius Caesar were due in large measure to their armies’ being well shod and thus able to undertake long marches at incredible speed over rough terrain.” (Wood)
iii. Paul had Isaiah 52:7 in mind when he refered to having shod your feet: How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who proclaims peace, who brings glad tidings of good things, who proclaims salvation, who says to Zion, “Your God reigns!” (Guzik)
iv. The idea of preparation is really readiness. We must be mobile, flexible, and ready with the truth. This is a place to have in the Christian life, to live in constant readiness and flexibility. (Guzik)
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Albert Barnes
And your feet shod — There is undoubtedly an allusion here to what was worn by the ancient soldier to guard his feet. The Greek is, literally, “having underbound the feet;” that is, having bound on the shoes, or sandais, or whatever was worn by the ancient soldier. The protection of the feet and ankles consisted of two parts:
- The sandals, or shoes, which were probably made so as to cover the foot, and which often were fitted with nails, or armed with spikes, to make the hold firm in the ground: or.
- With “greaves” that were fitted to the legs, and designed to defond them from any danger. These “greaves,” or boots 1 Samuel 17:6, were made of brass, and were in almost universal use among the Greeks and Romans.
With the preparation — Prepared with the gospel of peace. The sense is, that the Christian soldier is to be prepared with the gospel of peace to meet attacks similar to those against which the ancient soldier designed to guard himself by the sandals or greaves which he wore. The word rendered “preparation” – (ἑτοιμασία hetoimasia) – means properly readiness, fitness for, alacrity; and the idea, according to Robinson (Lexicon), is, that they were to be ever ready to go forth to preach the gospel. Taylor (Fragments to Calmet’s Dic., No. 219) supposes that it means, “Your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel; not iron, not steel – but patient investigation, calm inquiry, assiduous, laborious, lasting; or with “firm footing” in the gospel of peace.” Locke supposes it to mean,” with a readiness to walk in the gospel of peace.” Doddridge supposes that the allusion is to “greaves,” and the spirit recommended is that peaceful and benevolent temper recommended in the gospel, and which, like the boots worn by soldiers, would bear them safe through many obstructions and trials that might be opposed to them, as a soldier might encounter sharp-pointed thorns that would oppose his progress.
The apostle figured to himself a soldier, clad in the usual manner. Christians were to resemble him. One part of his dress or preparation consisted in the covering and defense of the foot. It was to preserve the foot from danger, and to secure the facility of his march, and perhaps to make him firm in battle. Christians were to have the principles of the gospel of peace – the peaceful and pure gospel – to facilitate them; to aid them in their marches; to make them firm in the day of conflict with their foes. They were not to be furnished with carnal weapons, but with the peaceful gospel of the Redeemer; and, sustained by this, they were to go on in their march through the world. The principles of the gospel were to do for them what the greaves and iron-spiked sandals did for the soldier – to make them ready for the march, to make them firm in their foot-tread, and to be a part of their defense against their foes.
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John Gill
And your feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace. The Gospel is so called, because it makes men to be of peaceable tempers and behavior, and gives peace to distressed minds: it directs the way to eternal peace, and publishes peace made by the blood of Christ; and has a much better claim to this name, and epithet, than the law has, which is often called “peace” by the Jews: the “preparation” of it does not design a promptitude or readiness to preach the Gospel, or to receive it, or profess it, or to give a reason of faith in it, or to endure reproach and persecution for it; nor that readiness which the Gospel is a means of, as for every good work, for the spiritual warfare, for the Christian’s journey heavenward, or for heaven itself: but the word
etoimasia signifies a “base,” or foundation; and so it is used by the Septuagint interpreters on Zechariah 5:11; and here it designs a firm and solid knowledge of the Gospel, as it publishes peace by Jesus Christ, which yields a sure foundation for the Christian soldier to set his foot upon, and stand fast on; it being that to him, as the shoe is to the foot, its base or foundation: and for the feet to be “shod with” it, does not mean the outward conversation being agreeably to the Gospel, though such a walk and conversation is very beautiful and safe, and such may walk and war with intrepidity: but it designs the constant and firm standing of believers in the faith of the Gospel, and so striving and contending for it, without being moved from it, that it may continue with them. Shoes or boots, which were sometimes of iron, and sometimes of brass, are reckoned among the armor of soldiers.
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Matthew Henry
Resolution must be as the greaves to our legs: And their feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace, v. 15. Shoes, or greaves of brass, or the like, were formerly part of the military armor (1 Sa. 17:6): the use of them was to defend the feet against the gall-traps, and sharp sticks, which were wont to be laid privily in the way, to obstruct the marching of the enemy, those who fell upon them being unfit to march. The preparation of the gospel of peace signifies a prepared and resolved frame of heart, to adhere to the gospel and abide by it, which will enable us to walk with a steady pace in the way of religion, notwithstanding the difficulties and dangers that may be in it. It is styled the gospel of peace because it brings all sorts of peace, peace with God, with ourselves, and with one another. It may also be meant of that which prepares for the entertainment of the gospel, namely, repentance. With this our feet must be shod: for by living a life of repentance we are armed against temptations to sin, and the designs of our great enemy. Dr. Whitby thinks this may be the sense of the words: “That you may be ready for the combat, be shod with the gospel of peace, endeavor after that peaceable and quiet mind which the gospel calls for. Be not easily provoked, nor prone to quarrel: but show all gentleness and all long-suffering to all men, and this will certainly preserve you from many great temptations and persecutions, as did those shoes of brass the soldiers from those galltraps,” etc.
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Calvin’s Commentary
And your feet shod. The allusion, if I mistake not, is to the military greaves; for they were always reckoned a part of the armor, and were even used for domestic purposes. As soldiers covered their legs and feet to protect them against cold and other injuries, so we must be shod with the gospel, if we would pass unhurt through the world. It is the gospel of peace, and it is so called, as every reader must perceive, from its effects; for it is the message of our reconciliation to God, and nothing else gives peace to the conscience. But what is the meaning of the word preparation? Some explain it as an injunction to be prepared for the gospel; but it is the effect of the gospel which I consider to be likewise expressed by this term. We are enjoined to lay aside every hinderance, and to be prepared both for journey and for war. By nature we dislike exertion, and want agility. A rough road and many other obstacles retard our progress, and we are discouraged by the smallest annoyance. On these accounts, Paul holds out the gospel as the fittest means for undertaking and performing the expedition. Erasmus proposes a circumlocution, (ut sitis parati ,) that ye may be prepared; but this does not appear to convey the true meaning.
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