APRIL 18, 2024
“And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:” (Ephesians 6:17)
Ephesians 6:10–20 concludes Paul’s practical application of Christianity with a famous series of metaphors. Here, he describes the ”armor of God.” In this passage, Paul uses the allegory of a Roman soldier’s basic equipment to show how the components of Christianity work together as we strive to serve God. The soldier’s tools include a belt, breastplate, shoes, shield, helmet, and sword, representing the truth, righteousness, gospel, faith, salvation, and the Word of God the Christian receives. Christians are also given prayer. Just as a soldier’s equipment is designed for earthly battle, a Christian’s equipment is meant for spiritual warfare.
Helmets are essential in battle. A helmet can protect against stones, hand weapons, projectiles, fists, impacts with the ground, or other attacks aimed at the head. Soldiers knew one hit to the head could mean disaster in battle. For this reason, the helmet does more to put a soldier at ease than almost any other armor. Paul associates the helmet in the armor of God with salvation. Salvation is ultimately the best protection against Satan since nothing, not even Satan, can separate us from the love of God in Christ.
In addition, Paul mentions “the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” This is the first offensive weapon mentioned. The sword was used to kill and defeat enemies during the attack. The typical Roman sword was not a long, cumbersome weapon. Instead, they were short-bladed, easy to draw, and quick in combat. Paul uses the term “machairan” here, which refers explicitly to a short-bladed sword of this type.
In the same way, God’s Word helps us defeat our enemies during spiritual attacks. During Jesus’s temptations by Satan, Jesus used Scripture on all three occasions to overcome temptation. Those who study and know Scripture can best fight against temptation and prevent the Devil from knocking them off their posts.
The sword was an essential part of an ancient soldier’s armor. His other weapons were the bow, the spear, or the battle axe. But without a sword, no soldier would have regarded himself as well-armed. This sword is the truth that the Holy Spirit has revealed. It is what God has spoken. It‘s only by this that Satan can now be met. We can never hope for victory unless we are armed with truth.
Thus, we should study the Bible to understand the truth. We should have Scripture at command, as the Savior did, to meet the various forms of temptation, and we should not depend on our own reason or our own wisdom.
A single text of Scripture is better than all the philosophy the world contains to meet temptation. The tempter can reason and reason plausibly, too. But he cannot resist a direct and positive command of the Almighty.
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