The Believer’s  Armor—part 2 (6:16-17)

28

In addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming missiles of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. (6:16-17)

In addition to all introduces the last three pieces of armor. The first three—girdle, breastplate, and shoes (vv. 14-15)—were for long-range preparation and protection and were never taken off on the battlefield. The shield, helmet, and sword, on the other hand, were kept in readiness for use when actual fighting began, hence the verbs taking up and take.

THE SHIELD OF FAITH

the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming missiles of the evil one. (6:16)

Roman soldiers used several kinds of shields, but two were the most common. The first was a rather small round shield, perhaps two feet in diameter, that was secured to the arm by two leather straps. It was relatively lightweight and was used to parry the sword blows of one’s opponent in hand-to-hand righting.

The second kind was the thureos, to which Paul refers here. This shield was about two and half feet wide and four and a half feet high, designed to protect the entire body of the soldier—who was considerably smaller than the average man today. The shield was made of a solid piece of wood and was covered with metal or heavy oiled leather.

The soldiers who carried these shields were in the front lines of battle, and normally stood side by side with their shields together, forming a huge phalanx extending as long as a mile or more. The archers stood behind this protective wall of shields and shot their arrows as they advanced against the enemy. Anyone who stood or crouched behind such shields was protected from the barrage of enemy arrows and spears.

The faith to which Paul refers here is not the body of Christian beliefs (for which the term is used in 4:13), but basic trust in God—the faith in Christ that appropriates salvation and continues to bring blessing and strength as it trusts Him for daily provision and help. The substance of Christianity is believing that God exists and that He rewards those who seek Him (Heb. 11:6); putting total trust in His Son as the crucified, buried, risen, and ascended Savior; obeying Scripture as His infallible and authoritative Word; and looking forward to the Lord’s coming again. Habakkuk’s great declaration that “the righteous will live by his faith” (Hab. 2:4) is quoted and reaffirmed twice by Paul (Rom. 1:17; Gal. 3:11) and once by the writer of Hebrews (10:38).

Every person lives by some form of faith. We cross a bridge with the faith that it will support us. We eat food trusting that it is not poisoned. We put our lives in the security of airplanes, trains, ships, buses, and automobiles, confident that they are safe. The fact that faith in such things is usually well founded makes life and society as we know it possible. Reflecting on this fact in a more philosophical manner, Oliver Wendell Holmes said, “It is faith in something that makes life worth living.”

But faith in God is immeasurably more reliable and more important than the practical, everyday faith by which we live. And it is far from being simply “faith in something.” Faith is only as reliable and helpful as the trustworthiness of its object; and Christian faith is powerful and effective because the object of faith, Jesus Christ, is infinitely powerful and absolutely dependable. Christian faith never fails, because the One in whom that faith is placed never fails.

When John Paton was translating the Bible for a South Seas island tribe, he discovered that they had no word for trust or faith. One day a native who had been running hard came into the missionary’s house, flopped himself in a large chair and said, “It’s good to rest my whole weight on this chair.” “That’s it,” said Paton. “I’ll translate faith as ‘resting one’s whole weight on God.’”

In New Testament times the tips of arrows would often be wrapped in pieces of cloth that had been soaked in pitch. Just before the arrow was shot, the tip would be lighted and the flaming missile would be shot at the enemy troops. The pitch burned fiercely, and on impact it would spatter burning bits for several feet, igniting anything flammable it touched. In addition to piercing their bodies, it could inflict serious burns on enemy soldiers and destroy their clothing and gear. The most reliable protection against such flaming missiles was the thureos shield, whose covering of metal or leather soaked in water would either deflect or extinguish them.

The spiritual flaming missiles against which believers need protection would seem primarily to be temptations. Satan continually bombards God’s children with temptations to immorality, hatred, envy, anger, covetousness, pride, doubt, fear, despair, distrust, and every other sin.

Satan’s initial temptation to Adam and Eve was to entice them to doubt God and instead to put their trust in his lies. That was the first of his flaming missiles, from which all the others have lighted their flames. Every temptation, directly or indirectly, is the temptation to doubt and distrust God. The purpose of all of Satan’s missiles, therefore, is to cause believers to forsake their trust in God, to drive a wedge between the Savior and the saved. He even tempted God’s own Son to distrust Him in the wilderness—first to distrust His Father’s provision, then to distrust His protection and His plan (Matt. 4:3-9).

Efforts to justify fornication or adultery in the name of God’s grace—arguing, as some do, that sex was created by God and that everything He created is good—pervert logic, contradict God’s Word, and impugn His integrity. Trying to justify marriage to an unbeliever—arguing that the relationship is so beautiful that it must be of God—follows Satan’s will instead of God’s. Doubting God is to disbelieve God, which, as the apostle John tells us, makes a liar of Him who cannot lie (1 John 5:10; cf. Titus 1:2). Whenever and however we try to justify any sin, we degrade God’s character and elevate Satan’s. To sin is to believe Satan, and to follow righteousness is to believe God. Therefore, all sin results from failure to act in faith in who God is and in what He is. Faith, then, is the shield.

Sin forsakes and contradicts God’s promises that the person who listens to Him is blessed (Prov. 8:34), that He will never give His children a stone when they ask for a fish (Matt. 7:9), that He will open the windows of heaven and pour out immeasurable blessings on His faithful children (Mai. 3:10), that He has given “every good thing bestowed and every perfect gift” (James 1:17), that He will “supply all [our] needs according to His riches in glory” (Phil. 4:19), that He has already “blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ” (Eph. 1:3), and a hundred other such promises.

The only way to extinguish Satan’s flaming missiles of temptation to doubt God is to believe God, taking up the shield of faith. “Every word of God is tested,” the writer of Proverbs tells us. “He is a shield to those who take refuge in Him. Do not add to His words lest He reprove you, and you be proved a liar” (Prov. 30:5-6). David reminds us that “the word of the Lord is tried; He is a shield to all who take refuge in Him” (Ps. 18:30). “This is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith” (1 John 5:4).

The evil one (or “vile, wretched one,” poneros) refers to the devil, whose supernaturally evil schemes we are to stand firm against and “to resist in the evil day” with the armor God supplies (vv. 11-13). Paul here again emphasizes that our struggle is against personal forces of evil—not simply against bad philosophies or wrong ideas, as liberal theologians and preachers have long maintained. Our battle is not against abstract evil influences but the personal evil one and his hordes of personal demons.

THE HELMET OF SALVATION

And take the helmet of salvation, (6:17a)

The fifth piece of God’s armor is represented by the Roman soldier’s helmet, without which he would never enter battle. Some of the helmets were made of thick leather covered with metal plates, and others were of heavy molded or beaten metal. They usually had cheek pieces to protect the face.

The purpose of the helmet, of course, was to protect the head from injury, particularly from the dangerous broadsword commonly used in the warfare of that day. That was not the much smaller sword mentioned later in this verse, but was a large two-handed, double-edged sword (rhomphaia, see Rev. 1:16; 2:12; 6:8) that measured three to four feet in length. It was often carried by cavalrymen, who would swing at the heads of enemy soldiers to split their skulls or decapitate them.

The fact that the helmet is related to salvation indicates that Satan’s blows are directed at the believer’s security and assurance in Christ. The two dangerous edges of Satan’s spiritual broadsword are discouragement and doubt. To discourage us he points to our failures, our sins, our unresolved problems, our poor health, or to whatever else seems negative in our lives in order to make us lose confidence in the love and care of our heavenly Father.

As Elijah discovered, we are sometimes most vulnerable to discouragement just after we have experienced success. By calling down fire to consume the sacrifices on a Mount Carmel altar drenched with water, the prophet had demonstrated that the Lord of Israel was the true God. He then killed the 450 false prophets of Baal and reported to King Ahab that rain would at last return to Israel. But when Queen Jezebel, who had brought the false prophets to Israel, heard of their slaughter, she sent word to Elijah, saying, “So may the gods do to me and even more, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time.” Then the prophet who had stood fearlessly before the hundreds of false prophets became frightened for his life at the threat of this one woman. Although he was perhaps eighty years old at that time, Elijah “was afraid and arose and ran for his life” down to Beersheba and on into the wilderness. There he “sat down under a juniper tree; and he requested for himself that he might die, and said, ‘It is enough; now, O Lord, take my life, for I am not better than my fathers.’” But instead of letting his prophet die, the Lord twice sent an angel to him with food and water, and in the strength of that food Elijah travelled forty days and nights farther to Mount Horeb, where the Lord twice asked him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” After Elijah twice replied, in effect, that everything was hopeless and that he was the only faithful Israelite left alive, the Lord assured him in a gentle voice that He was still in control. He then gave His prophet his next assignment and assured him that 7,000 of his fellow countrymen had not bowed to Baal (1 Kings 18:27—19:18).

We learn from Elijah’s experience that we need the Lord’s strength and provision after a victory as well as during the battle. For Satan, the battle is never over, and he loves to attack us with discouragement the moment we think we are safe. The Lord told the disciples the parable of the importunate widow “to show that at all times they ought to pray and not to lose heart” (Luke 18:1).

When the coal truck delivered a ton of coal on the sidewalk in front of her house, a little London girl took her small shovel and began carrying the coal into the basement. When a neighbor man who was watching told her, “You’ll never be able to get it all in,” she replied, “Oh, I will sir, if I work long enough.”

The test of a person’s character is what it takes to stop him. Some people retreat as soon as the first shot is fired, while others fight through battle after battle with no thought of giving up. Satan will try every means to discourage and deter us, reminding us of defeats and dangers and setting every possible object in our way to destroy our assurance in Christ. The Lord allowed Satan to strip Job of every good thing he possessed except his life, yet that man of God declared, “Though He slay me, I will hope in Him” (Job 13:15). The book of Job demonstrates the character of true saving faith in revealing that it is not connected to what benefits and blessings a person has or loses. Job’s helmet deflected every blow against him, and he maintained his faith in God’s love and care. When God first called Jeremiah, He told the prophet that no one would listen to him and that he would be rejected and afflicted; yet he testified, “Thy words were found and I ate them, and Thy words became for me a joy and the delight of my heart; for I have been called by Thy name, O Lord God of hosts” (Jer. 15:16).

Satan also tempts us to become discouraged when we see other believers going through times of trial. Realizing the Ephesians’ deep concern about his imprisonment, Paul told them, “I ask you not to lose heart at my tribulations on your behalf, for they are your glory” (Eph. 3:13). He tempts us to give up when we cannot see results from our service to the Lord. When the Galatian believers faced that problem, Paul told them, “Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we shall reap if we do not grow weary” (Gal. 6:9).

Because the adversary will never lay down his sword against us as long as we are on earth, God’s armor is a constant necessity until we leave this earth forever. Only when our work on earth is finished can we say with Paul, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith” (2 Tim. 4:7). In His brief letter to the Ephesian church recorded in the book of Revelation, the Lord wrote these words of encouragement: “You have perseverance and have endured for My name’s sake, and have not grown weary” (Rev. 2:3).

Discouragement in praying for an unsaved husband who continues to reject the gospel or a child who refuses to follow the ways of the Lord he has been taught is common. The temptation is to lose heart when, like Paul, we repeatedly pray for a physical healing that does not come. God answered the apostle’s prayer in words that apply to every believer in every circumstance: “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” We need to respond as Paul did: “Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may dwell in me” (2 Cor. 12:9). It is also helpful to remember with him that “now salvation is nearer to us than when we believed” (Rom. 13:11).

As my dedicated grandfather, who had preached the gospel faithfully all through his ministry, lay dying of cancer, he told my father, “I wish I could just preach this one last sermon I’ve prepared.” He was never personally able to preach that sermon from a pulpit, but my father had it printed and distributed to the congregation at the funeral. Even from his deathbed he longed to serve, never losing heart or giving up. As Isaiah tells us, the Lord “gives strength to the weary, and to him who lacks might He increases power. Though youths grow weary and tired, and vigorous young men stumble badly, yet those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary” (Isa. 40:29-31).

In the name of grace, some Christians insist that a believer’s only responsibility is to “let go and let God.” The statement made to King Jehoshaphat, “The battle is not yours but God’s,” has been taken to mean that believers have only to sit back and watch God work. That ever-present philosophy was held by the Quakers and Quietists of past centuries, who emphasized surrender and passivity above commitment and self-discipline. Abiding in Jesus does not mean we are to do nothing ourselves. In the same passage in which He tells us to abide in Him, He explains that this abiding involves keeping His commandments (John 15:4-10; cf. 1 John 3:24). The truly surrendered life is the life committed to aggressive, confrontive, and unreserved obedience to all of God’s commands.

Some advocates of that truncated view of the surrendered life have taught that the person who is fully surrendered will never experience temptation, because Christ intercepts every effort of Satan to tempt us. This philosophy is perhaps most clearly and popularly presented in Hannah Whithall Smith’s The Christian’s Secret of a Happy Life. In that book she says,

One of the problems with that view is that it makes no allowance for sin. John says unequivocally that “if we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us” (1 John 1:8). Does such a surrendered believer occasionally jump out of the divine Potter’s hand into sin? If so, what does that say about the Potter, who, according to this view, has complete control over the clay?

Even more importantly, that view is not supported by Scripture. Surrender and submission to the Lord are cardinal and oft-repeated New Testament truths, but they do not stand apart from—much less opposed to—the many other New Testament commands for Christians to be actively involved in the Lord’s work. To “depend on God for everything” and then not use His provision to do the other things He commands is not dependence but presumption.

Paul’s letter to the Ephesians is replete with commands for Christians to do things other than simply submit to God. As soon as he has finished saying, “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, that no one should boast,” the apostle goes on to say, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (2:8-10). Later he entreats us “to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which [we] have been called” (4:1); to “walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk” (4:17); to “be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you” (5:1-2); and to “be filled with the Spirit” and “be subject to one another” (5:18, 21). He commands wives to be subject to their husbands, husbands to love their wives, children to obey their parents, and slaves to be obedient to their masters (5:22, 25; 6:1, 5). In the passage about the Christian’s armor (6:10-17) he commands believers to “be strong,” to “put on the full armor of God,” “to stand firm” (three times), and, as they struggle against the devil and his forces, to “take up the full armor of God,” to “resist in the evil day,” to gird their loins, “put on the breastplate of righteousness,” take up “the shield of faith,” and “take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit.” Paul says nothing here about surrender, but a great deal about fighting, commitment, and disciplined living. The faithful believer must always be submissive to the Lord, but submission to Him is the furthest thing from passivity.

Christians are not onlookers to God’s work. They are called runners (1 Cor. 9:24; Heb. 12:1), fighters (1 Cor. 9:26), soldiers (2 Tim. 2:3), doers of good deeds (Titus 3:8), opponents of Satan (1 Pet. 5:8-9), seekers after holiness (2 Cor. 7:1), and countless other names that denote active obedience.

Spiritual resources given by God are for His children to use, not simply to keep. Peter declared, “His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.” But then he admonished, “Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge; and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness; and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ…. For as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble” (2 Pet. 1:3, 5-8, 10). The Lord gives us commands to obey and equipment to use.

In Philippians 2 Paul presents the two sides of God’s provision and man’s obedience. “So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure” (vv. 12-13). Again, in Colossians he gives the balance: “For this purpose also I labor, striving according to His power, which mightily works within me” (1:29).

The faithful servant of Jesus Christ does not simply look on as His Master works, but continually toils in the Master’s work in the Master’s power. When he does that, he not only receives God’s strength and blessings but also, like Paul, finds himself involved in such things as afflictions, hardships, distresses, beatings, imprisonments, labors, sleeplessness, hunger, glory and dishonor, evil report and good report, punishment, sorrow, and poverty (2 Cor. 6:4-10; cf. 4:8-18; 11:23-28). Those things came as a direct result of Paul’s diligent ministry for the Lord, and he wore them gladly as badges of faithfulness. Christians do not grow and earn reward by minimum effort, much less by no effort, but by maximum effort. And it is the active, working, striving believer who is most tempted by Satan’s sword of discouragement. The person who never attempts anything has little to be discouraged about.

The other, and closely related, edge of Satan’s two-edged sword is the doubt that often brings discouragement. Doubts about the truths of God, including doubt about one’s salvation, are the worst discouragements for a believer. If a believer doubts God’s goodness or dependability, or if his relation to God seems uncertain, he has no ground for hope and therefore no protection from discouragement. The person who thinks he has nothing worthwhile to look forward to has no reason to fight, work, or live responsibly. If our often unpleasant and disappointing earthly life is all we can be certain of, then Christians are indeed “of all men most to be pitied” (1 Cor. 15:19).

Satan’s most disturbing attack against believers is in tempting them to believe they have lost, or could lose, their salvation. Few things are more paralyzing, unproductive, or miserable than insecurity. Jesus said, “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives, do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful” 0ohn 14:27). He said, “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace” (16:33). But how can a doubting heart have peace? How can a person who lives in continual uncertainty about his salvation be comforted by such promises—when he is not sure that they apply to him or that they will always apply to him? If he loses his salvation, he obviously loses those promises as well. How could such a person not have a troubled and fearful heart? Those promises would be a mockery to him.

One of die central truths of John’s first epistle is that of the certainty of the believer’s spiritual knowledge—“By this we know that we have come to know Him” (2:3); “I am writing to you, fathers, because you know Him… to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one … to you, children, because you know the Father” (2:13); “We know that, when He appears, we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him just as He is” (3:2); “We shall know by this that we are of the truth, and shall assure our heart before Him” (3:19); and so on. John’s specific purposes in writing the letter were “that our joy may be made complete” (1:4) and “that you may know that you have eternal life” (5:13).

Satan’s purposes for believers are the opposite. His plan is to cause them to doubt God’s promises, His power, His goodness, His truth, and, above all, His willingness or ability to keep them saved. If he succeeds in those he also succeeds in robbing believers of joy. Knowing Satan’s strategy, Jesus assures us that “all that the Father gives Me shall come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out…. And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day” (John 6:37, 39). Absolutely no circumstance—no failure, shortcoming, or sin, no matter how serious—can cause either Jesus or His Father to disown a person who is saved. Nor can any other person or thing ever snatch them out of the hand of the Son or the hand of the Father (John 10:28-29). That is why Paul could declare with such confidence that “neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 8:38-39) and that “He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus” (Phil. 1:6).

Since Paul is addressing believers, putting on the helmet of salvation cannot refer to receiving Christ as Savior. The only ones who can take up any piece of God’s armor, and the only ones who are involved in this supernatural struggle against Satan and his demon forces, are those who are already saved.

Trusting in Jesus Christ, immediately saves from the penalty of sin. For believers, this first aspect of salvation, which is justification, is past. It was accomplished the moment we trusted in Christ, and that particular act of faith need never be repeated, because we are secure in our Father’s hands—from whom, as we have just seen, we can never be snatched (John 10:28-29). We are forever saved from condemnation (Rom. 8:1).

The second aspect of salvation, which is sanctification, involves our life on earth, during which time we experience a measure of freedom from the dominating power of sin. Being now under God’s grace, sin no longer has mastery or dominion over us; we are no longer sin’s slave but God’s (Rom. 6:14, 18-22). Paul shows these first two aspects of salvation side by side in the previous chapter of Romans: “For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life” (5:10). Christ’s death saved us once and for all from sin’s penalty, and His life within us now is saving us day to day from sin’s power and mastery.

The third aspect of salvation is future, the aspect of glorification, when we shall one day be saved altogether and forever from sin’s presence. Looking forward to that glorious time, John says, “Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we shall be. We know that, when He appears, we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him just as He is” (1 John 3:2). To be like God is to be without sin. We rejoice that this aspect of our salvation “is nearer than when we believed” (Rom. 13:11).

It is this final aspect of salvation that is the real strength of the believer’s helmet. If we lose hope in the future promise of salvation, there can be no security in the present. This, no doubt, is why Paul calls this same piece of armor “the helmet” which is “the hope of salvation” (1 Thess. 5:8). “Having the first fruits of the Spirit,” Paul explains in Romans, “even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body. For in hope we have been saved” (8:23-24). The helmet of salvation is that great hope of final salvation that gives us confidence and assurance that our present struggle with Satan will not last forever and we will be victorious in the end. We know the battle is only for this life, and even a long earthly life is no more than a split second compared to eternity with our Lord in heaven. We are not in a race we can lose. We have no purgatory to face, no uncertain hope that our own continued efforts or those of our loved ones and friends will perhaps some day finally make us acceptable to God. We know that whom God “predestined, these He also called; and whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified” (Rom. 8:30). There is not the loss of a single soul from predestination to justification to sanctification to glorification. That is God’s unbroken and unbreakable chain of salvation (cf. John 6:39-40; 10:27-30).

We have a certain hope, “a living hope,” as Peter calls it. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,” he exults in his first epistle, “who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time” (1 Pet. 1:3-5). When the helmet of that hope is in place, we can “greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, [we] have been distressed by various trials, that the proof of [our] faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ; and though [we] have not seen Him, [we] love Him, and though [we] do not see Him now, but believe in Him, [we] greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, obtaining as the outcome of [our] faith the salvation of [our] souls” (vv. 6-9). That is the salvation which is our helmet. Our helmet is the certain prospect of heaven, our ultimate salvation, which “we have as an anchor of the soul” (Heb. 6:19).

Often when a runner is on the home stretch of a race he suddenly “hits the wall,” as the expression goes. His legs wobble and refuse to go any farther. The only hope for the runner is to keep his mind on the goal, on the victory to be won for himself and his team. It is that hope that keeps him going when every other part of his being wants to give up.

To the persecuted and discouraged believers at Thessalonica, Paul wrote words parallel to the thought here in Ephesians: “Since we are of the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation. For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with Him. Therefore encourage one another, and build up one another, just as you also are doing” (1 Thess. 5:8-11).

To the worldly, fleshly Corinthians who were self-centered, divisive, and confused about the resurrection, Paul said, “If from human motives I fought with wild beasts at Ephesus, what does it profit Me? If the dead are not raised, let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die” (1 Cor. 15:32). If the Christian has no future element of salvation to look forward to, if, as the apostle had said a few verses earlier, “we have hoped in Christ in this life only,” then “we are of all men most to be pitied” (v. 19). Paul’s own spiritual helmet was his firm hope in the completion of his salvation. “Momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal” (2 Cor. 4:17-18). The faithful believer does not “lose heart in doing good,” because he knows that “in due time we shall reap if we do not grow weary” (Gal. 6:9).

To the persecuted and beleaguered Christians to whom he wrote, Jude gave sobering warnings about false teachers, “ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ” (v. 4). But he began the letter by addressing believers as “those who are the called, beloved in God the Father, and kept for Jesus Christ” (v. 1). Teroo (the verb behind “kept”) means to guard, keep watch over, and protect. God Himself guards, watches over, and protects every person who belongs to Him. Jude ended the letter by assuring believers that He “is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy” (v. 24; cf. 1 Thess. 5:23). The word behind “keep” in this verse is not teroo, as in verse 1, but phulasso, which has the basic idea of securing in the midst of an attack. No matter what our spiritual enemies may throw against us, we are secured by God’s own power.

We sing of this assurance in Samuel Stone’s beloved hymn “The Church’s One Foundation”:

THE SWORD OF THE SPIRIT

and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. (6:17b)

The sword to which Paul refers here is the machaira, which varied in length from six to eighteen inches. It was the common sword carried by Roman foot soldiers and was the principal weapon in hand-to-hand combat. Carried in a sheath or scabbard attached to their belts, it was always at hand and ready for use. It was the sword carried by the soldiers who came to arrest Jesus in the Garden (Matt. 26:47), wielded by Peter when he cut off the ear of the high priest’s slave (v. 51), and used by Herod’s executioners to put James to death (Acts 12:2).

Of the Spirit can also be translated “by the Spirit” or as “spiritual,” referring to the nature of the sword rather than its source. From the context we know that it is a spiritual weapon, to be used in our struggle against spiritual enemies. The same Greek phrase (tou pneumatos) is translated “spiritual” in Ephesians 1:3 and 5:19. Although this meaning is perfectly consistent with the context of 6:10-17, the preferred rendering is as a genitive of origin, of the Spirit, indicating the Holy Spirit as the origin of the sword. As the Spirit of truth (John 14:17), the Holy Spirit is the believer’s resident truth Teacher, who teaches us all things and brings God’s Word to our remembrance (v. 26).

The emphasis of the present passage is on how believers are to use the sword of the Spirit. It is not a physical weapon designed by human minds or forged by human hands (as noted in 2 Cor. 10:3-5) but the perfect spiritual weapon of divine origin and power. Like the shield of faith and the helmet of salvation, it is always to be at hand, ready to be taken up (w. 16a and 17a) and used when a battle begins.

Paul explicitly states that the sword of the Spirit is Scripture, the word of God. The Scottish pastor and writer Thomas Guthrie said, “The Bible is an armory of heavenly weapons, a laboratory of infallible medicines, a mine of exhaustless wealth. It is a guidebook for every road, a chart for every sea, a medicine for every malady, and a balm for every wound. Rob us of our Bible and our sky has lost its sun.”

From an unknown source comes this tribute to Scripture:

Of the divine authorship of Scripture John Wesley said, “The Bible must have been written by God or good men or bad men or good angels or bad angels. But bad men and bad angels would not write it because it condemns bad men and bad angels. And good men and good angels would not deceive by lying about its authority and claiming that God wrote it. And so the Bible must have been written as it claims to have been written—by God who by His Holy Spirit inspired men to record His words using the human instrument to communicate His truth.”

Scripture teaches many truths about itself. First, and most importantly, it claims God as its author. “All Scripture is inspired by God,” Paul declared (2 Tim. 3:16). “Know this first of all,” Peter said, “that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God” (2 Pet. 1:20-21).

The Bible also claims that it is inerrant and infallible, containing no errors or mistakes. It is flawless, faultless, and without blemish. As God’s own Word it could not be otherwise. David tells us that “the law of the Lord is perfect,… the testimony of the Lord is sure, … the precepts of the Lord are right, … the commandment of the Lord is pure” (Ps. 19:7-8). The proverb writer tells us, “Every word of God is tested;… Do not add to His words lest He reprove you, and you be proved a liar” (Prov. 30:5-6).

The Bible claims that it is complete. Echoing the words of Proverbs just quoted, as well as those of Deuteronomy 4:2 and 12:32, John said at the close of the last book of the Bible, “I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God shall add to him the plagues which are written in this book; and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the tree of life and from the holy city, which are written in this book” (Rev. 22:18-19).

The Bible claims to be authoritative. Isaiah declared, “Listen, O heavens, and hear, O earth; for the Lord speaks” (Isa. 1:2). It claims to be sufficient for our needs. “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work” (2 Tim. 3:16-17).

The Bible claims to be effective. When its truths are proclaimed and applied, things happen. “So shall My word be which goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me empty, without accomplishing what I desire, and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it” (Isa. 55:11).

The Bible also claims to be determinative. What a person does with God’s Word evidences his relationship to God Himself. “He who is of God,” Jesus said, “hears the words of God” (John 8:47). Those who listen to God’s Word and heed it give evidence that they belong to God, and those who deny and contradict His Word give evidence that they do not belong to Him.

As the sword of the Spirit, the Bible offers limitless resources and blessings to the believer. First of all, it is the source of truth. “Thy Word is truth,” Jesus said to His Father (John 17:17). People today look everywhere for answers to life, to try to find out what is worth believing and what is not. The source of all truth about God and man, life and death, time and eternity, men and women, right and wrong, heaven and hell, damnation and salvation, is God’s own word.

The Bible is also a source of happiness. Speaking of God’s wisdom, the writer of Proverbs said, “Blessed [or happy] is the man who listens to me” (Prov. 8:34). Jesus said, “Blessed are those who hear the word of God, and observe it” (Luke 11:28). No person can be happier than when he discovers, accepts, and obeys God’s Word.

The Bible is the source of spiritual growth. “Like newborn babes,” Peter admonished, “long for the pure milk of the word, that by it you may grow in respect to salvation” (1 Pet. 2:2).

It is the source of power, “living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit” (Heb. 4:12); the source of guidance, “a lamp to [our] feet, and a light to [our] path” (Ps. 119:105); the source of comfort (Rom. 15:4); the source of perfection (2 Tim. 3:16). And the word of God is the source of victory over our great spiritual enemy, our most powerful weapon against Satan.

The sword of the Spirit is first of all a defensive weapon, capable of deflecting the blows of an opponent. It is the believer’s supreme weapon of defense against the onslaughts of Satan. Unlike the shield, however, which gives broad and general protection, the sword can deflect an attack only if it is handled precisely and skillfully. It must parry the enemy weapon exactly where the thrust is made. When Jesus was tempted by Satan in the wilderness, His defense for each temptation was a passage of Scripture that precisely contradicted the devil’s word (Matt. 4:4, 7, 10). The Christian who does not know God’s Word well cannot use it well. Satan will invariably find out where we are ignorant or confused and attack us there. Scripture is not a broadsword (rhomphaia) to be waved indiscriminately, but a dagger to be used with great precision.

Christians who rely simply on their experience of salvation and their feelings to get them through are vulnerable to every sort of spiritual danger. They get into countless compromising situations and fall prey to innumerable false ideas and practices, simply because they are ignorant of the specific teachings of Scripture.

The term Paul uses here for word is not logos, which refers to general statements or messages, but is rhēma, which refers to individual words or particular statements. The apostle is therefore not talking here about general knowledge of Scripture, but is emphasizing again the precision that comes by knowledge and understanding of specific truths. Like Jesus did in the wilderness, we need to use specific scriptural truths to counter specific satanic falsehoods. That is why Paul counseled Timothy, “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, handling accurately the word of truth” (2 Tim. 2:15). The faithful believers of Revelation 12 “overcame him [the accuser] because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony” (v. 11).

The sword of the Spirit is also an offensive weapon, capable of inflicting blows as well as deflecting those of the enemy. Scripture is “living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do” (Heb. 4:12-13). When the word of God is preached, it brings God’s judgment to bear on lives as it infallibly sifts the evidence of sin and guilt.

The word of God is so powerful it transforms men from the realm of falsehood to that of truth, from the realm of darkness to that of light, and from the realm of sin and death to that of righteousness and life. It changes sadness into joy, despair into hope, stagnation into growth, childishness into maturity, and failure into success.

Every time God’s Word is used to lead a person to salvation it gives witness to its power to cut a swath through Satan’s dominion of darkness and bring the light of life to a lost soul.

Testifying to His Word in our family, among our friends, at work, at school, in the classroom or pulpit, or as we travel, uses the most powerful spiritual weapon in the universe, which no power of Satan can withstand.

For the very reason that God’s Word is so powerful and effective, that is where Satan’s greatest offensives are mounted. He will do anything and everything to undermine God’s Word and those who preach and teach it. As Jesus makes clear in the parable of the sower, Satan is quick to snatch God’s Word from a hearer’s heart before it has a chance to take root (Matt. 13:19). Many people gladly listen to the gospel, but before their decision is made, some intrusion distracts them and the effectiveness of the witness is lost, along with the soul of that hearer. In another person’s heart the word is accepted at first with joy, but when Satan sends “affliction or persecution … because of the word, immediately he falls away” (vv. 20-21). Many people seem to be genuine and faithful believers—until hardship, criticism, or persecution come. When the price for faithfulness becomes too high, they reveal that they never had true faith in the first place. Still another hearer also accepts the word in a superficial and temporary way, but as he trusts in his wealth the word is choked and “it becomes unfruitful” (v. 22). Because he wants the world, he forsakes the word.

But when the seed of God’s Word is “sown on the good soil,” the hearer understands it and “indeed bears fruit, and brings forth, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty” (v. 23). It is here that the great offensive power of the sword of the Spirit is seen as it converts a soul from sin to salvation.

Offensively, as well as defensively, the use of God’s Word needs to be specific in order to be effective. Romans 10:17 is more accurately and clearly translated “faith comes from hearing, and hearing comes by a word [rhema, a particular word] of God” (emphasis added). It is not from just any part of Scripture that men come to faith, but from those parts that declare the gospel. Saving faith does not come from believing just any truth of Scripture, but from believing that Jesus Christ died for the sins of the world and trusting in His death to cleanse our own sins.

The Christian who misquotes and is confused about scriptural truths will not be a successful witness. The effective teacher, preacher, and witness must “be ready in season and out of season” (2 Tim. 4:2). The more we know and understand Scripture, the more we will be able to march through Satan’s strongholds and lead people from his kingdom to God’s.

No believer has excuse for not knowing and understanding God’s Word. Every believer has God’s own Holy Spirit within Him as his own divine teacher of God’s divine Word. Our only task is to submit to His instruction by studying the Word with sincerity and commitment. We cannot plead ignorance or inability, only disinterest and neglect.

H. P. Barker gives a graphic illustration that points up the need for both knowing and applying the Bible’s truths.

Some Christians, like that butterfly, flit from Bible study to Bible study, from sermon to sermon, and from commentary to commentary, while gaining little more than a nice feeling and some good ideas. Others, like the botanist, study Scripture carefully and take copious notes. They gain much information but little truth. Others, like the bee, go to the Bible to be taught by God and to grow in knowledge of Him. Also like the bee, they never go away empty.

D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones wrote of Martin Luther:

It was William Tyndale’s vow that every English plowman and every boy that pulled a plow would one day be able to read and understand the Scriptures, and to that end he devoted his life to translating it into the English language. It is essential for the Word of God to be known, and loved, and practiced if we are to win the battle against Satan.