Book: The Christian in Complete Armour, Volume 1

Overview
Volume 1 of William Gurnall's The Christian in Complete Armour offers an extended, pastoral exposition of Ephesians 6 and the New Testament metaphor of the "armor of God." The book treats spiritual life as a form of warfare that requires divine strength, deliberate preparation, and constant vigilance. Gurnall sets out to show how believers are to be equipped by Christ and sustained by Scripture and prayer as they resist temptation and advance in holiness.
Gurnall writes with the conviction that Christian experience is practical as well as theological: instruction must change behavior and steady the heart under trial. The volume combines doctrinal assertion about the nature of spiritual enemies with concrete counsel aimed at ordinary Christians and pastors seeking to shepherd them.

Content and Themes
The exposition unfolds verse by verse, translating the Apostle Paul's martial imagery into moral and spiritual realities. Gurnall explains what it means "to be strong in the Lord," how truth, righteousness, peace, faith, salvation, and the Word function as parts of the believer's defence and offense, and why each element is necessary for particular struggles. Rather than presenting a purely mechanical set of tools, he emphasizes their organic relation: the Christian's armor is effective only as it is worn by a soul living in union with Christ.
A recurring theme is the intimate connection between doctrine and practice. Gurnall insists that right belief about Christ, grace, and providence must shape watchfulness, mortification of sin, devotion to prayer, and the habitual use of means of grace. He treats temptation not merely as external assault but as a work that exploits inward weakness, and he shows how pastoral experience and scriptural wisdom should guide responses.

Style and Purpose
Gurnall's style is sermon-like, rich in metaphor and homiletic illustration, alternating dense theological argument with plain pastoral exhortation. His prose often moves from careful exegesis to pointed, even urgent application, modeling how ministers might preach the realities of spiritual conflict without descending into abstraction. The tone balances firmness about sin and assurance of Christ's provision.
The purpose is practical sanctification: to equip believers for ongoing spiritual life by knitting together sound doctrine, Scripture reading, prayerful dependence, and moral discipline. Gurnall treats the believer not as a passive recipient of truth but as a soldier actively to put on and keep on the Christian armor, sustained by grace and attentive to the ordinary means God uses to strengthen his people.

Legacy and Influence
The Christian in Complete Armour became a staple of Anglican and Puritan devotional reading, prized for its pastoral wisdom and its ability to make Pauline theology speak to everyday Christian struggle. Generations of clergy and laity have found in Gurnall a clear model of how theological depth and pastoral sensitivity can be combined to foster perseverance and holiness.
The volume's appeal endures because its core concern remains timeless: how Christians are to live faithfully amid spiritual danger and temptation. Its blend of rigorous exposition, pastoral immediacy, and practical application keeps it relevant for readers seeking a serious, godly theology of spiritual warfare and the means by which believers are strengthened for faithful service.