This episode addresses the belt of truth by contrasting it with the belt of the autonomous self, the outlook of all who reject Christ. The belt of the old self is actually a lie and corresponds with the great exchange of Rom 1:25, where unbelievers "exchange the truth of God for a lie." This episode, following the pattern of Eph. 6:10-17, contrasts the armor of God with the armor of man. Every faculty in unregenerate man is devoted to protecting the autonomous self which is principally defined by devotion to the "lusts of deceit." Some of the armor pieces of the autonomous self are the breastplate of self-confidence, the shield of independence, the shoes of hostility, and the sword of the soul, the word of the self. The episode provides a stark contrast of how believers and unbelievers engage the world. Believers are called to honestly evaluate their lingering sympathies with "the lie," while unbelievers are called to reassess their commitment to the lie.
See His Glory and Repent
This episode highlights the dynamics involved in the reversal of the Great Exchange. When we were not in Christ, we had exchanged the glory of God for images and produced a litany of sins based on this fundamental idolatry. In sanctification the Holy Spirit progressively reverses the Great Exchange, moving us to repent from dead works and live for the glory of God. Very interesting is one of the means that the Holy Spirit uses to inspire us to repent. The Holy Spirit uncovers some of the glory of Christ, and we perceive the vileness of our idolatry contrasted with the glory of Christ. The more we see the glory of God in the person of Christ, the more we sin our sinfulness, losing all hope apart from the mercy and grace in Christ. So when we have degrees of the beatific vision in this life, when we progressively behold God's glory, we repent and change our mind about our particular sins based on self-idolatry. The result is we become more and more like Christ. Struggling to repent of particular sins? Ask God to uncover His glory, and that experience will devastate and transform you.
Glorify God by Regarding His works
This episode contrasts sinners and saints by focusing on the attitude over the "works of the Lord." Psalm 29:4-5 states that the fundamental sin of the wicked is that they do not regard the works of the Lord. Paul in Romans 1 suggests the same thing, "they do not honor Him as God or give him thanks." (Rom. 1:21) The essence of sin is failing to regard the works of the Lord, or "missing the glory of God." (Rom 3:23) and it is followed by the Great Exchange, where man exchanges the glory of God for an image in the form of corruptible man. This sin "problem" is reversed in salvation. God forgives our sin, and Christians, in gratitude for what Christ has done at Calvary, progressively seek to glorify God by marveling at the works of the Lord. And this is principally done by gazing on the glory of Christ. We are transformed as our capacity to give God glory, acknowledging His works, is filled up..with all the fullness of God. (Eph. 3:19)
Identity Politics Rooted in Idolatry
This episode provides the grand Biblical narrative of mankind's problem: mankind was originally called to rule on God's behalf based on the image of God in man, but because of the fall, has exchanged the truth of God for a lie, being consumed by idolatrous worship of himself and his own desires. Identity politics' exaltation of secondary characteristics into primary ones (race, class, sex, etc.) is a natural bi-product of the Great Exchange, in which unregenerate man exchanges the truth of God for a lie, an image in the form of corruptible man. The Biblical solution to mankind's problem centers on the remaking of mankind into the image of Christ.