Eph 6:16–17 — The Armor of Christ, Part 3

Over the last two weeks, we’ve been examining the armor of Christ. In our first week, we made some general observations about the nature of spiritual warfare, in light of the context of Ephesians as a whole. Last week we looked at the first three pieces of our spiritual armor, in verses 14-15: the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, and the firm footing provided by the boots of the gospel. We saw that it is essential to interpret these pieces of armor in light of the background in Isaiah. When we do so, it is clear that Paul is not calling us to put on the imparted righteousness of the Christian, but the imputed righteousness of Christ.

This morning we will continue our study of the armor by looking at the next two pieces of our armor in verses 16-17: the shield of faith and the helmet of salvation. This afternoon I’ll deal with the sword of the Spirit. Let me give you a brief advertisement to encourage you to stay for the afternoon service. The sword of the Spirit is the message of the gospel. But the gospel that we proclaim is a message of peace. It is not a message of war and wrath and judgment like that of militant Islamic fundamentalism. Yes, we must proclaim the reality of the judgment to come, but we also proclaim that until that day comes, Jesus is offering amnesty, peace, and forgiveness to all men, without exception. Therefore, I would encourage you to stay for our afternoon service. I think it will be a profitable meditation in light of recent events.

The shield of faith (v. 16)

The fourth piece of armor is the shield of faith. “In addition to all, taking up the shield of faith, with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.”

Before examining the shield, we first need to understand what the flaming arrows are that the shield is given to protect us from. What a powerful image Paul paints before our mind’s eye. The image is of course taken from ancient warfare in which an arrow was dipped in pitch and lit with fire. Imagine a whole army of thousands and thousands of archers, with these flaming arrows, intending to burn down the fortifications of the enemy. It was not just arrows that were lit with fire, but short three-foot, iron-tipped spears designed specifically to be shot like bolts using crossbows. These too were tipped with fire. Flaming missiles of various sorts were perhaps one of the most terrifying weapons of ancient warfare.

There are many situations in the Christian life when we experience the terrors of the Evil. One. For example, Satan assails us by means of our conscience. He will bring to our remembrance sins that we have committed, perhaps even sins that we have confessed and that we know are no longer held against us, since Christ has paid fully the penalty for them on the cross. And yet because of the deep wounds they have left upon our conscience, we find Satan assailing us, bringing those things to our remembrance.

Another situation that is often an occasion for Satanic attacks is suffering. In the midst of suffering we often find ourselves asking, “Why is this happening to me?” We wonder if God has abandoned us or withdrawn his love from us. And so Satan uses suffering as an opportunity to attack our faith and our assurance.

Another form of Satanic opposition can occur when we are persecuted by unbelievers. Oftentimes unbelievers point to our failures and shortcomings, and the ways in which we do not live up to the standards that we profess. Unbelievers love to bring out that old word - “hypocrite!” - don’t they? It’s their favorite objection for not becoming a Christian. Sometimes accusations such as this come even from fellow believers who falsely accuse us, or unjustly treat us, or who are unwilling to forgive us. And so the attacks of the accuser can come through unwitting human agents.

All of these things are what Paul describes using the image of flaming missiles - one of the most terror-inducing weapons of war in the ancient world. But Paul makes it very clear to us in our text that this tactic of the Evil. One is not terrifying to you who have faith in Christ, for with faith you are equipped to be able to extinguish these flames.

The Greek word that Paul uses here denotes a large rectangular shield, not the small round buckler that typically comes to mind. This large Roman shield was four feet high and two and a half feet wide. It is large enough to protect a soldier’s entire body. When a Roman army stood in formation each soldier would link his shield to the next. This created an effect like overlapping roof tiles, and so the army was seamlessly protected against the hailstorm of enemy arrows. Often they were soaked in water in order to extinguish the flames of the fiery missiles.

In the Old Testament, God himself is described as the shield and protector of his people. This sense of divine protection against the enemy is surely implied here in Ephesians. However, it is interesting that Paul does not describe the function of the shield here in such objective terms. It is the shield of faith. It is our own faith that Paul has in view. Now, certainly, faith in itself is nothing. It is only as good as its object. The object of faith is Jesus Christ himself, and so we may say in a sense that Christ is the one who shields us.

This would of course be true, but it isn’t quite Paul’s focus. In fact, of all the six pieces of armor, the shield is unique. It is the only item that is not described in terms taken from Isaiah’s prophetic description of the Messiah. If Paul had wanted to direct our attention to the objective covering that Christ himself provides for his people, then he would have made some allusion to an Old Testament text where Yahweh is described as the shield and protector of his people. Instead, Paul says it is our own faith that provides protection against the foe.

I think what Paul is getting at here has to do with the active dimension of faith. There is both a passive and an active dimension to faith. The passive dimension is that empty hand which receives the gift of Christ’s righteousness. It is when I realize my own spiritual inability and weakness, and look away from myself to the all sufficiency of Christ to deliver me from my sin in spite of my inability. Faith in its passive aspect is extraspective, a looking way from self to Christ, away from my own sin, even from my own righteousness, in order to rest in the righteousness of Christ, a righteousness that has been freely provided and given to me by grace alone, apart from any contribution on my part. To Christ, in his character as all sufficient Savior and Law-fulfiller, I come. I come helpless. I come naked. Nothing in my hands I bring, simply to thy cross I cling. This aspect of faith Paul has already dealt with in the preceding three pieces of armor - especially the breastplate of righteousness, which we saw last week is the imputed righteousness of the Messiah as he comes to redeem, deliver and justify his people.

But here in the fourth piece of armor, there is a shift from the passive, receptive aspect of salvation to a more active engagement of our will in the spiritual battle. Now we have to be careful here. It’s easy, when you hear a reference to the human “will” to immediately think of some kind of active work, of something done in obedience to God. But that would be going too far in the opposite direction. The issue here is still the objective salvation provided for us by God. Indeed, Paul calls this piece of armor, the shield of faith, not the shield of good works or the shield of obedience.

What is Paul referring to then? He is still talking about faith, the self-same faith by which we received the imputed righteousness of Christ as our breastplate. But he talking about faith in its active dimension. This is why it is introduced differently: “In addition to all,” or more accurately, “in all of these things, take up the shield of faith.”

Faith in its active dimension is an act of the will. It is a firm resolve, a solid conviction of the heart by which we hold fast to the gospel in spite of all opposition. When doubts assail us, when temptations get us down, when we are facing persecution or opposition - these are times when we often find ourselves in a crisis point of faith. At such moments, we must lift up the shield of faith. It is an act of conviction and will, by which we steal ourselves with renewed commitment and resolve: “Satan, I don’t care what you do. I refuse to be frightened into submission. I know with unshakable inner certainty, on the basis of the infallible Word of God, that Jesus Christ died for my sins, and rose again from the dead, and is seated at the right hand of God in heaven. I believe it. And that’s final. So whatever you’ve got, bring it on!”

1 Peter 5:8-9: “Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. But resist him, firm in your faith.” 1 John 5:4-5: “And this is the victory that has overcome the world - even your faith. Who is the one who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” Revelation 2:13: Jesus says to the church of Pergamum: “I know where you dwell, where Satan’s throne is; and [yet] you hold fast My name, and did not deny My faith even in the days of Antipas, My faithful witness, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells.” Revelation 12:11: “And they overcame [the Dragon] by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives even unto death.”

This, then, explains why the shield of faith, in contrast with the other five pieces of armor, has no Isaiah reference to back it up. For the Messiah did not need to exercise this kind of faith. Our faith is a holding fast to the Messiah’s name, to the Messiah’s victory, and to the Messiah’s righteousness. It would be blasphemy, then, to say that the Messiah, out of a sense of his own spiritual need, had to hold fast in faith to the work of his Savior. For our perfect Savior needed no Savior. His firm resolve against the enemy was not a holding on to the righteousness of Another, but the active exertion of his own holy will in obediently accomplishing a perfect righteousness to be imputed to his sinful people. The shield of faith, then, appropriately lacks any verbal allusions to Isaiah’s Messianic prophecy. It builds upon and presupposes the previous three pieces of armor, further defining the faith by which we buckle on the Messiah’s truth and the Messiah’s righteousness.

The Helmet of Salvation

We come now to verse 17. The last two items of the soldier’s preparation are the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit. Recall that the first three pieces of armor were presented as grammatically parallel. Then in verse 16 Paul broke the parallelism: “in addition, taking up the shield of faith.” This was appropriate in light of the unique nature of faith as something that could not first be defined as applying to the Messiah himself. Therefore, now in verse 17 he must begin a new sentence. “And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.”

The metaphorical picture that Paul is painting here is of a soldier making his last minute preparations before the battle. The soldier has already fastened the belt around his waist, has strapped on his breastplate and fastened his boots. Now, just before the battle is about to commence, the soldier takes up his shield with his left hand. With one hand now occupied, he needs an assistant to conclude his preparations. A servant would hand him his helmet, probably assisting him by placing it on his head, which the solider would then guide into place with his remaining free hand. Finally, the servant would hand him his sword. The order flows perfectly. If he had taken the sword before the helmet, there would be no free hand to receive the helmet. With the sword as the final piece, he is now ready to go forth into the battle.

By referring to this vivid picture of the soldier receiving his helmet and his sword just before he steps into the battle, Paul seems to be making a theological point. The first three pieces of armor are more or less the permanent possession of the believer, whether or not we are engaged in a specific spiritual battle. The belt of the Messiah’s judicial truth, the breastplate of the Messiah’s righteousness, the firm footing of the gospel - all of these are constants in the Christian life.

The last three items, by contrast, are for specific situations of spiritual conflict. The shield of faith is something that we then take up in those moments when Satan’s flaming arrows are flying toward us. The shield of faith is needed when we are under attack. Likewise, the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit are weapons that we receive from God as we are about to go into the thick of the battle in defense of the gospel.

So let us look at the helmet of salvation. The term salvation here is common in Paul’s writings. As we have said before, salvation does not refer primarily to your personal conversion. In evangelical circles we often use this word in an individualistic sense. “Tell us your testimony of how you were saved.” In Paul’s theology salvation is much bigger. This is because Paul’s usage is rooted in the Old Testament. In the Old Testament salvation has three aspects:

First, salvation is corporate. The salvation of God is not something that occurs one by one in the life of each individual, but a mighty deliverance, a mighty intervention of God himself in which he exerts his saving power to make for himself a redeemed people who are his very own possession. The exodus out of Egypt is the clearest example of the corporate, covenantal nature of salvation.

Second, salvation is eschatological. It is something that is going to happen in the future. Salvation from an Old Testament perspective was expected at the dramatic endpoint of cosmic history, when God was to be revealed from heaven in visible glory and power.

Isaiah 51:5-6 My righteousness is near, My salvation has gone forth, and My arms will judge the peoples; the coastlands will wait for Me, and for My arm they will wait expectantly. Lift up your eyes to the sky, then look to the earth beneath; for the sky will vanish like smoke, and the earth will wear out like a garment and its inhabitants will die in like manner; but My salvation will be forever, and My righteousness will not wane. Isaiah 52:10. The LORD has bared His holy arm in the sight of all the nations, that all the ends of the earth may see the salvation of our God.

This leads to us the third characteristic of salvation in the Old Testament. If salvation is eschatological, then salvation is inextricably connected with judgment. Salvation seems to be the opposite of judgment. Judgment means wrath, judgment means condemnation. Salvation, on the other hand, entails mercy and grace. But in the Bible, these two concepts, though seemingly contradictory, are actually very closely related. The way in which we receive God’s mercy and grace and salvation is through judgment. When Noah and his family were saved, they were not only saved from the flood, but by means of the flood. The flood waters of judgment had a dual outcome. For those outside of the ark, it resulted in death. But for those who were inside the ark, the ark itself became the object of divine judgment, but since they were within the ark, which is a type of Jesus Christ himself - because they were in union with the ark, the very waters that produced death for others produced life and deliverance for them. Therefore, the second characteristic of salvation is that it is always accomplished through judgment.

Isaiah 59:17. He put on righteousness like a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on His head; and He put on garments of vengeance for clothing and wrapped Himself with zeal as a mantle. Isaiah 63:3-5 I have trodden the wine trough alone, and from the peoples there was no man with Me. I also trod them in My anger and trampled them in My wrath; and their lifeblood is sprinkled on My garments, and I stained all My raiment. For the day of vengeance was in My heart, and My year of redemption has come. I looked, and there was no one to help, and I was astonished and there was no one to uphold; so My own arm brought salvation to Me, and My wrath upheld Me.

So that is the Old Testament perspective, as taught by Isaiah, whose writings Paul so clearly has in mind as he writes this concluding section of Ephesians. Paul’s thinking is clearly shaped by that apocalyptic background. The difference is that this eschatological, corporate judgment that was expected to come in the future, for Paul, it has already arrived in the person and work of Jesus Christ. For in Christ, the new Israel of God has experienced this redemptive judgment, this cosmic deliverance and vindication. At the cross, God has acted in Christ to deliver his people by means of eschatological judgment. And all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.

Paul therefore says: If you want to stand firm against the evil one, if you want to walk in the victory of Christ over the powers of darkness, then you need the helmet of salvation on your head.

And notice that Paul particularly connects salvation with that particular piece of armor which is placed upon the head to protect our most vital member. The head stands for the mind. Paul exhorts us elsewhere to set our minds, to set our thoughts, on things which are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. The helmet of salvation, then, is simply another way of saying that if we are to successfully engage in spiritual warfare we need to have our minds shielded with the reality of this eschatological salvation that has already been achieved in Christ. It is imperative that we have our thoughts firmly planted in the heavenly arena, co-raised, co-seated with Christ in the heavenly realms, with all the powers of hell beneath Christ’s and the church’s feet.

Christ himself is the head of the church. He is the one who first put the helmet of salvation upon his head when he entered into the battle on that cosmic day of judgment outside the city of Jerusalem two thousand years ago. And if Christ is the head, then we are his body, joined to him by faith and by the Spirit, partakers with him of his victory. For that which is true of the head is reckoned to be true of the body as well.