z Archives - Page 15 of 53

It has been said “You are what you eat.” A truer statement however is that “You are what you think.” Few people realize the significance of our thoughts. It is our thoughts that guide our lives, control our world, shape our future, and create our destinies.

This does not happen in a magical way, or through the much-discussed and often-mocked “power of positive thinking” but rather through a single basic principle of human psychology.

If you have ever been to a counselor, therapist, or psychologist, they will likely tell you at some point in your session that thoughts create emotions, and emotions lead to certain behaviors and actions. So our actions and behaviors are determined by how we think.

Therefore, if we want to change our actions, we must begin by changing our thoughts. To change how we act, we must begin by changing how we think.

If there is destructive habit in your life you wish to change, or a negative behavior you desire to get rid of, the first step in this process is to start thinking in new and different ways. These different thought patterns will lead to different emotions which will, in turn, generate new actions and behaviors.

This basic connection between thought patterns and human behavior is revealed all over the place in Scripture.

For example, Paul writes in Romans 12:1-2 that we can begin to transform our lives into what God wants and desires by the renewal of our minds. As we learn to think differently about ourselves and others, this leads us to live differently as well.

It is for this same reason that Paul instructs the Corinthians to take every thought captive, making it obedient to Jesus Christ (2 Cor 10:5). As we learn to control our thinking, conforming our thought patterns to the values and vision of Jesus Christ, our lives will change as well, becoming more like Jesus every day.

And then there is Philippians 4:8, where Paul tells his readers to think on whatever is true, noble, just, pure, lovely, right, and praiseworthy. Why? So that we can experience the peace of God in our lives and with other people (Php 4:7, 9). The entire world wants peace, and Paul says we can have it by changing how we think.

This is the truth we come to in Ephesians 6:17a as we look at the fifth piece of spiritual armor, the helmet of salvation.

We have seen already learned about the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the sandals of the gospel, and the shield of faith, and now we learn about the helmet of salvation.

As with the previous four pieces of spiritual armor, we will consider the helmet in three ways. First, we will learn how the helmet helped the Roman soldier in battle. Second, we will look at what the helmet is for the Christian, and how it can help us in life. Finally, we will learn how to put on the helmet of salvation.

The Helmet for the Soldier

The Roman soldiers had the best helmets in the ancient world. While many other nations used helmets made by wrapping cloth or leather around animals bones or hooves, the Roman helmet often had a chinstrap, a visor, and was designed to cover the back and sides of the neck.

The helmet in Paul’s day was most often made of heavy bronze or iron, and had additional pieces of metal which came down to protect the side of the face. The soldiers would often pack their helmets with some sort of cloth or padding to make them more comfortable on the head.

The highest ranking officers might also have helmets that were plated in gold or silver. Many helmets also sported large, colored crests or plumes made from feathers or horse hair. These were often used to signify rank or to show identification with a particular legion, but most archaeological evidence suggests that these decorations were not used in battle, but were only used during celebrations and military parades.

The helmet often had a little ring attached to the top of it, by which the soldier could fix the helmet to his belt or backpack when marching. The plume could also be attached to this ring. But since the helmets were hot and uncomfortable, the helmet was typically only worn during battle or military parades. At most other times, it would be taken off and set aside.

But what purpose did the helmet serve?

Obviously, just as with any helmet today, the helmet was designed to protect the head. Construction workers wear helmets to protect their heads from falling objects, football players wear helmets to protect their heads during clashes on the football field, and motorcycle riders wear helmets to protect their heads for when they get in an accident.

Similarly, the Roman soldier’s helmet protected his head from damage that would come from swords, arrows, and rocks on the battlefield.

In this way, the soldier’s helmet was a last line of defense.

The shield, which we considered in the previous section, was the first line of defense. The shield took most of the damage and was used to fend off the worst of the attacks. If any attack got past the shield, the soldier would hopefully be able to fend it off with his sword, which will be considered next. If the sword missed, it was probably best to take the attack on the breastplate.

But the helmet was the last line of defense.

Nobody wants to get hit on the head, even if they are wearing a helmet. If you have ever worn a helmet, you know that it does not feel good to have your head hit, even with a helmet on. No soldier would go into battle and stick his head out into harm’s way, thinking, “Go ahead and whack away on my head with your sword. It’s okay, because I’ve got my helmet on.”

No, the helmet is there so that if you get hit in the head, it will protect you from getting greater damage.

After all, it is much better to get a dent in the helmet than to get an arrow or sword in the head, right? Even a person who is wearing a helmet can receive great damage—such as a concussion—if they are hit in the head, but the helmet will protect the head from receiving even greater damage than if the helmet had not been worn at all.

But why is it so important to protect the head? Obviously, because that’s where the brain is! You protect the head because of what is actually inside your head—the brain. Without the helmet, if you sustain an injury to your head, depending on the damage, anything can happen from loss of certain bodily functions like walking or talking, to partial or complete loss of memory. You can get something like a concussion, or enter into a coma.

If the damage to the brain is severe enough, you could become paralyzed or even die. Furthermore, it is not just the brain that the helmet protects, but also the eyes, nose, ears, and mouth. Humans have five senses, and the helmet protects four of them.

With all of that in mind, let’s move on to discuss what the helmet is for the Christian.

The Helmet for the Christian

So what is the helmet for the Christian?

In Ephesians 6:17, Paul compares the helmet to salvation.

But what is salvation? When most people hear the word “salvation” they think of having their sins forgiven so they can escape hell and go to heaven when they die. Or something along those lines.

But this is not what “salvation” means in the Bible.

The word “salvation” (and similar words like saved and Savior) is the most misunderstood word in the Bible. Despite how the word is used by most Christians, there is not a single passage in Scripture which clearly equates it with gaining eternal life or going to heaven when we die.

So what does the word mean? The basic definition of “salvation” is “deliverance.” It means “to be rescued, delivered.” (My course, The Gospel Dictionary, will eventually have a lesson on the word “Salvation”.)

And we can be delivered, or rescued, from almost anything negative. Whenever you see the words “salvation” or “saved” in the Bible, you should pause, substitute in the word “deliverance” or “delivered” and then look in the context to discover what sort of deliverance is in view.

When you do this, you will see that salvation in the Bible is deliverance from enemies, sickness, premature death, the devastating consequences of sin in our life, and a wide variety of other calamities.

But not once does “salvation” refer to going to heaven when we die.

When the disciples are out in a boat on the Sea of Galilee and a great storm comes upon them, they cry out to Jesus, “Lord! Save us!” (Mark 4:35-41). When they say this, are they asking Jesus to forgive their sins and help them go to heaven? No. They want to be delivered from the storm. They don’t want to drown.

So here in Ephesians 6:17, when we see the word “salvation,” we should stop, substitute in the word “deliverance,” and then look in the context to discover what kind of deliverance is in view.

When we do this, we see that in the immediate context, we are struggling against the wicked spiritual forces that Paul listed in Ephesians 6:11-12. So the salvation of Ephesians 6:17 is the deliverance from wicked spiritual forces and their evil schemes. The helmet of salvation protects our minds, thoughts, will, and emotions from the wiles of the devil and the evil plans of the principalities and powers of this dark age.

Once we realize this, the astute student of Scripture might recall that salvation was also mentioned back in Ephesians 2:8-9. And not surprisingly, in the context of talking about salvation, Paul referred to the prince of the power of the air which is at work in this world to deceive and destroy (Ephesians 2:1-3).

So even in Ephesians 2, the salvation, or deliverance, that Paul has in mind, is deliverance from the wiles of the devil and the ways of wickedness that dominate this world. When Paul writes about salvation in Ephesians, he is not thinking about going to heaven when we die, but about living in this life free from the deceiving powers of wickedness that guide and direct the lives of most other people.

“Salvation” in Ephesians is to live free of satanic deception in this life, with our eyes open to see things as they really are so that we can know how to think about and treat other people.

Specifically, in Ephesians 2, Paul describes the exact form of deception he wants his readers to be liberated from. In Ephesians 2:11-22, Paul writes about the racial and religious divisions that occur between various people groups, and how these divisions were caused by the spirits of accusation and wickedness, but Jesus has torn all such divisions down.

In Jesus, we have seen the truth that all are accepted, all are loved, and all are forgiven by God. Since this is the truth revealed in Jesus, we can now live at peace with other people rather than at war with them. We can love and accept, rather than condemn and kill.

The greatest deception of the devil in this world is that God hates people who are not like us, who do not look like us, who do not behave like us, who do not believe like us, and that God wants us to condemn and shun them. Such ideas are the lies of the devil.

Jesus revealed the truth, and now, we who have seen that God loves, accepts, and forgives all, can live in similar ways toward others. When we do this, we will experience the salvation of God. We will experience peace with other people (Ephesians 2:14-18). This is what Paul has in mind when he writes about salvation in his letter to the Ephesians.

Salvation in Ephesians is not about going to heaven when die, but about living at peace with other people in this life.

Salvation in Ephesians is deliverance from the lies and deceptions of the devil that cause us to hate, condemn, and kill other people.

Salvation in Ephesians occurs when we change how we view and treat other people, especially those people we would rather hate.

So the helmet of salvation is a change in the way we think, view, speak, and talk about other people, especially those people we used to consider our enemies. How we view and treat other people all begins in the head, with how we think about them.

And since our thoughts come from the brain, this is why Paul equates salvation with the helmet. The helmet protects our head.

Our head, or our brain, forms our thoughts. Our head also contains our eyes, allowing us to properly see other people as loved, forgiven, and accepted by God. Our head contains our ears, allowing us to hear other people, with their perspective, ideas, and concerns. Our head contains our mouth, allowing us to speak friendly words of encouragement and acceptance toward others.

And this truly is what spiritual warfare is all about.

Previously, in Ephesians 6:12, Paul stated that our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the spiritual forces of wickedness.

Yet we humans continue to think that we struggle against other humans. The helmet of salvation reveals to us that we can be saved, or delivered, from thinking about other humans as our enemies. We can see that they are victims of spiritual lies and oppression just as we are, that they also are fellowship solders in this battle against the spiritual forces that wish to tear us down and pit humans against one another.

So in order to be saved from the lies that create disunity, hatred, bloodshed, and violence in our world, we must put on the helmet of salvation and learn to see others, think about others, and talk to others in ways that reflect Jesus, rather than in ways that reflect Satan.

Toward this goal, let us turn now to learn how to put on the helmet of salvation.

Putting on the Helmet

To begin with, we must first of all recognize that the helmet, like all the other pieces of spiritual armor, belongs to God. Isaiah 59:17 speaks of God putting on the helmet of salvation when He goes out to do battle against wickedness.

The fact that the helmet is something God wears when He battles against wickedness proves that this salvation does not occur when we gain eternal life so we can go to heaven when die, for God does not need such salvation.

But God does work to bring peace to this world by destroying the wicked works of the devil. God puts on the helmet of salvation to deliver the world from the lies and deceptions that lead people to hate and fight one another. God wants us to join Him in this struggle for peace, and so gives to us His helmet of salvation to wear.

So how do we wear it? How do we put on the helmet of salvation?

It begins with how we think about other people. The helmet protects our brain, and the thoughts of our brain guide our emotions, which in turn determine our actions. So if we want to treat people like Jesus treated them, we must learn to think about people the way He thought about them.

And what did Jesus think about people?

He thought every single person on earth was worth dying for. Jesus thought that each and every person had unsurpassable worth. Jesus infinitely loved every person, including those who hated Him and wanted to kill Him. When Jesus thought about people, He didn’t think of anyone as an enemy, but only as people who had been trapped by sin and the devil.

So we can begin to think about people in similar ways.

Rather than judge and condemn people who are different from us—whether they are of a different race or religion, of a different economic or political position, or of a different age or sex—we can start thinking about people as worthy of our love and concern.

We can refuse to believe that anyone is our enemy. We can begin to think about others as trapped in sin and deception, so that our job is not to fight against them, but to rescue and deliver them from their enslavement.

When we put on the helmet of salvation, we begin to think about other people differently.

But we also begin to see other people differently, for the eyes also are part of the head. We can view people as God views them.

God views all people as His children. He infinitely loves each and every person. He sees the dignity and value of every person, and desires that each person discover and develop their unique characteristics so that each person can shine with glory and beauty in this world.

God does not view any person with loathing or hate, but only with love and respect. God views each person as worthy of His time and attention. God never rejects anybody based on how they look, how they dress, or how they behave.

In God’s eyes, every person is beautiful and amazing to behold.

We can learn to develop similar eyes in viewing other people. Rather than try to get on another to conform to a mold or pattern of what we think the perfect Christian looks like, we can encourage one another to discover our unique areas of giftedness and passion, and then help one other pursue those with wild abandon (See my course on Spiritual Gifts for more about this.)

We can look at people as God views them, with eyes of wonder and amazement at our diversity.

We can view people as worth loving and knowing.

We can put on the helmet of salvation by learning to speak differently about other people. The Bible warns us everywhere about the dangers of the tongue, and so if we are going to fight for peace, love, and unity among all people, we must watch the words that come out of our mouths. We must speak the truth, but say it in love (Ephesians 4:11), so that others are built up, encouraged, and edified by what we say.

We must tell people that they are forgiven and accepted, not just by God, but by us as well. We must speaks words of beauty and praise to other people for the good things they do and the accomplishments they attain.

The words that come out of our mouths are one important way of donning the helmet of salvation.

Finally, related to the words we say, we can be careful about hearing the words that others say.

The Christian soldier who wears the helmet of salvation seeks to protect what comes into his or her ears, especially in regard to other people.

We will not listen to baseless accusations, slander, or gossip about others. We will not listen to negative and cutting remarks that someone might say about someone else. We will allow only statements about others that are positive and uplifting to enter into our ears. In this way, we will make sure that the helmet of salvation stays strapped firmly on our heads.

In all these ways, we wear the helmet of salvation, thereby creating and encouraging peace in this world. As we think about people, view people, and talk about people in ways that reflect Jesus, we will no longer view others the way the world does, as people who are different from us, and need to be shunned, condemned, or even killed.

Instead, we will begin to see that the vast array of differences are all part of the beauty of humanity, and that we can celebrate these differences with wonder and joy. In this way, we will be wearing the helmet of salvation, and will be led into the way of peace.

Conclusion

As you know, the Roman Empire eventually crumbled and no longer exists. At least not as a political power upon the earth.

And do you one of the factors that led to the decline of the Roman Empire? Some historians argue that the beginning of the downfall of the Roman Empire was when Roman soldiers stopped wearing their helmets. Gibbon, in his book (#AmazonAdLink) The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, notes that relaxation of discipline and the disuse of exercise made the soldiers unable to survive the fatigue of service. They complained of the weight of the armor and finally obtained permission to lay some of it aside—in particular, the helmet.

This lack of protection and discipline led to weaker armed forces and ultimately, to the decline and fall of the Roman Empire.

The church has been given an important piece of spiritual armor with the helmet of salvation.

It helps us maintain unity, love, and forgiveness within the church and in how we treat other people. The helmet of salvation creates peace between people groups who formerly were at war. It creates love where there was previously only hate.

But if the church sets aside the helmet of salvation and returns to the ways of accusation, blame, slander, hate, and violence toward other people, we will crumble and fall, just as did the Roman Empire.

So wear the helmet of salvation. Watch what you think and say about other people.

Make sure you view people with the eyes of Jesus Christ, as people of unsurpassable worth.

Speak to other people, or about other people, with words of love, grace, compassion, and forgiveness.

When we think, see, hear, and talk about other people in this way, we will be wearing our helmet of salvation and will be transforming this world into a place of love as peace, allowing the kingdom of God to live, thrive, and grow in our midst.

Do you want to learn about spiritual warfare and how to put on the full armor of God? If you want to defeat sin and gain victory in your life over temptation so you can better follow Jesus, take my course on the Armor of God as it is explained in Ephesians 6:10-20. This course costs $297, but when you join the Discipleship group, you can to take the entire course for free.

Taking Up the Shield of Faith (Ephesians 6:16)

By Jeremy Myers

The Shield for the Soldier

The Greek word Paul uses for shield in Ephesians 6:16 is thureon, which is the generic word for shield, but there were two kinds of shields used by soldiers in Paul’s day.

The first, called a parma shield, was smaller and round and could be used by moving the arm to defend a certain part of the body which was being threatened. It was about 3 feet in diameter, and was the lighter of the two shields. However, while this is generally the type of shield we think about when we imagine a soldier carrying a shield, it was not the shield of choice for the Roman legions.

The shield of choice was the scutum shield. It was somewhat larger in size, nearly four feet tall and about 2.5 feet wide, and weighed over 20 pounds. The shield was made by gluing several layers of wood together, similar to how plywood is made today, and was then covered with leather for extra protection and durability.

It was not a flat shield, but was somewhat curved so that the soldier could hide behind it if needed. This curve also allowed for rocks and arrows to be deflected from the shield, rather than hitting it directly. If the shield was flat, a rock or sword hitting the shield would cause more blunt force, requiring the soldier to expend more energy in absorbing the blow. But the curve of the shield allowed a large percentage of that power to be deflected off to the side, thereby conserving the soldier’s strength.

Due to its size and weight, the soldier was not able to move this shield around very well, and so once a soldier was in position, he would typically plant it on the ground and crouch behind it for protection while darting out with his right hand to attack enemies with his sword.

Remember, the strength and genius of the Roman military was their ability to stand firm and stay in once place on the field of battle, defending their small piece of land from any and all attackers. The shield served a significant role in this strategy.

Due to the nature of this shield, it was sometimes referred to as a “door.” To would a Roman soldier, the enemy first had to get past the door, that is, past the shield. These shields could also be interlocked by a line of soldiers to create a nearly impenetrable wall against attacking forces. Sometimes the front line of soldiers would create this shield wall, allowing a second line of soldiers to thrust with their spears over the top of the shields at the enemies on the other side. The shields could also be raised overhead to create a barrier against arrows and rocks from above.

Often, when seeking to advance on the field of battle, a number of soldiers would create a formation called a testudo, or “tortoise,” in which the soldiers would gather close together in a tight, square group, with the soldiers on all four sides creating a wall of shields, and the soldiers on the inside raising their shields above to protect from arrows and rocks.

In this way, they could advance onto almost any area of the battlefield with minimal damage, or even up to the gates of a city to set it on fire or to start tearing them down with a battering ram.

In this way, the shield also helped the Roman soldiers work together as a unit. The shields not only protected the soldier himself, but also the soldier on either side of them. The soldiers, remember worked as a band of brothers, as a unified whole, and the shields were one of the primary methods of defense for the soldiers on the shield of battle.

When a soldier fell, the two soldiers on either side would close ranks, protecting their fallen comrade from further damage, while the soldiers behind would drag the fallen soldier backward into safety and protection. So the shields were extremely effective in helping maintain unity and mutual protection among the soldiers.

Finally, the center of these shields often had a raised mound of bronze or iron that could be used as a weapon. The shield could be raised and bashed into the chest or face of an enemy soldier, causing blunt force trauma, possibly disabling the other soldier.

In light of all this, Paul’s choice of words in Ephesians 6:16 is interesting. He introduces the shield in a way that is unique from the other pieces of armor. He says, above all, taking the shield of faith. Some Bible translation say, “in addition,” which loses some of the force of what Paul appears to be saying. When Paul talks about the shield, he is not just writing about another piece of armor we are to take up and put on. He wants this one to be above all.

This doesn’t mean the shield is the most important piece of armor, for all of the pieces are critically important. Instead, Paul means that the shield is above all, over all, before all, or in front of all. The shield is the first line of defense for the Roman soldier. It was “the door.” You can’t get to the soldier unless you first all get past the door.

To get to any other piece of the armor, or to get to the soldier himself, the enemy had to get past the shield first. The shield not only protected the body of the soldier, but the other pieces of armor as well. Since the shield was over all, in front of all, and above all, the shield protected everything.

Specifically, Paul says in Ephesians 6:16 that the shield is the primary form of defense against the fiery darts of the wicked one. These fiery darts Paul writes about were the most advanced weapons in Paul’s day.

Archaeologists have discovered that some arrows and spears had tips made of a combustible material which was then lit on fire and shot or thrown into the enemy forces where it would ignite or even explode. Military forces also used some arrows and spears with hollow tips which were then packed with this combustible material. When it struck a soldier or a shield, it would splatter and burn.

This was before the days of gunpowder, so these weapons were ingenious and effective at decimating enemy forces. These fiery darts came in quickly so they were hard to see, and when they hit, they would burn or explode.

But Paul says that the shield is effective at quenching the most dreaded and cunning weapons of his day. They come in too quickly to react, but if the soldier has his shield in place, then he doesn’t need to see the flaming darts, for the shield will stop them.

In this way, the shield protected the Roman soldier from all sorts of attacks; the swords and spear attacks he could see, the rock and arrow attacks from above, and the flaming dart attacks that came in too quickly to see. The shield was above all and over all, protecting the soldier himself as well as the soldiers on either side.

So that how the shield worked and functioned for the Roman soldier in Paul’s day. Let us now consider what the shield is for the Christian.

The Shield for the Christian

(#AmazonAdLink) Paul states in Ephesians 6:16 that the shield is faith. He instructs us to take up the shield of faith. So what is faith? How do we get faith? And how do we know that we have faith? For example, since Scripture tells you to believe in Jesus for eternal life, how do you know that you have really believed? I have written a book on (#AmazonAdLink) the topic of faith, which answers these sorts of questions in much more detail, but let me summarize the content of that book for you here.

Many people are confused about what faith is, how faith works, and how to know if they have really believed something. Part of this confusion is because there are numerous popular illustrations used to describe faith which really only just obscure the reality of faith.

There is the illustration of the man pushing a wheelbarrow across Niagara Falls, saying that unless people get into the wheelbarrow with him, they don’t really believe he can do it. There is the illustration of faith as a deck of cards so that if you pull one out, the entire deck comes tumbling down. There is an illustration about faith being one wing on an airplane, with good works being the other wing, so that you need both to properly fly. All of these illustrations mislead and confuse people about the true nature of faith.

Then there are adjectives used to describe faith, such as head faith, heart faith, temporary faith, spurious faith, false faith, small faith, great faith, and numerous others which usually only create confusion about the nature and character of faith. Curiously, only two of those—small faith and great faith—are biblical and even these two are widely misunderstood and misapplied.

So what is faith?

Faith, as taught in the Bible, can be defined as a reasonable certainty about any truth claim or statement of fact.

In other words, if you know that something is true, then you believe it. We believe, or have faith, when we agree or give assent to a factual statement.

If you know that the earth is round, then you believe the earth is round. If you know that 2+2=4, then you believe that 2+2=4. If you know that the sky is blue, then you believe that the sky is blue.

So we have faith about something when we know it to be true. I know this explanation might raise more questions than it answers, and if so, I direct you to my book, (#AmazonAdLink) What is Faith? Let us turn now to see how to get faith, grow our faith, and know that we have faith so that, as Paul writes, we can quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.

And what are these fiery darts of the wicked one? While looking at how the shield worked for the Roman solider we also briefly considered how the fiery darts and flaming arrows functioned on the field of battle, so what are these fiery darts for Christians in spiritual warfare?

Since the wicked one is a reference to Satan and the wicked forces that Paul mentioned in Ephesians 6:12, the fiery darts are the weapons that Satan uses to trick and deceive us.

We previously discussed the one tactic and the three types of temptations the devil uses in sending these temptations. The wicked forces arrayed against us always questions the promises of God in an attempt to get us to fall prey to the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.

Yet even though we know what sort of weapons these wicked forces use, it doesn’t mean that we are always ready for them when they come. They are fiery darts that come in quickly and without warning.

Sometimes they come one at a time, like sniper fire from afar, while other times they fall in a heavy barrage, as a storm of arrows falling from the sky. When the hit, they are painful and destructive, causing great devastation in our lives.

Thankfully, the shield of faith causes the flaming darts to lose their fire and their force. The shield is able to protect us from each and every one of the trick, traps, and temptations that the devil sends our way. Not just some of them, but all of them.

And the shield doesn’t just stop the arrows; it is able to quench them. It snuffs out the flame of the fiery darts so that when they strike the shield, the shield does not burn, but remains intact and able to defend us on the field of battle.

But, just as with all the other pieces of armor, this protection is not automatic. Just as we have to put on the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness and the sandals of the gospel, so also we have to take up the shield of faith.

Taking up the Shield

Before we look at how to take up the shield of faith, it is important to be reminded that, just like all the other pieces of armor, this piece also is from God’s armory. The image of faith as a shield is everywhere in Scripture, but with a small twist.

For example, when we read that Abram believes God and his faith was credited to him as righteousness, we are told in Genesis 15:1 that God Himself will be Abram’s shield. God will protect Abram as Abram places faith in God.

We find this same idea throughout the entire Old Testament. The concept of God being our shield when we place faith in Him is found at least twenty times in the book of Psalms alone. Over and over again, God is described as our shield and fortress, the One who protects us from the enemy. In Psalm 91:4, God’s faithfulness itself is described as a shield, and in Psalm 76:3 we read that God breaks the arrows of our enemies. In Proverbs 30:5, we read that God is a shield to those who put their trust in Him.

So the little twist or surprise in Ephesians 6:16 is that when Paul tells us to take up the shield of faith, we learn from the Old Testament that the shield is actually God Himself. When we believe in Him and His promises, it is He Himself that protects us.

Think about what this means.

Remember that the shield Paul has in mind was like a wall, or a door, behind which the Roman soldier hid. The shield was considered to be the first line of defense. For an enemy to get to the soldier, the enemy first had to get past the shield.

But with God as our shield, what have we to fear? Nothing! There is nothing that is large enough, powerful enough, or strong enough to get past God when He has set Himself to protect us from harm.

Therefore, as Christians, we have nothing to fear from Satan, or wicked men, or future events. God is on our side. To get through to the other pieces of armor, the enemy has to get past God first.

As Paul writes in Romans 8:38-39, nothing in death or life, among the angels, principalities, or powers, in the present or the future, in heaven above or the depths below, nor any created thing, can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. He shields us and protects us from all such things.

Like the shepherd protecting the sheep in the pen by laying himself down as the door so wolves have to go through the shepherd to get to the sheep (cf. John 10:11-18), so also any fiery dart of temptation that comes our way has to first go through God, because He is our shield; He is our door.

When temptations do get through, and when we get wounded by the fiery darts of the devil, it is because we have dropped our shield. The only way the fiery darts of temptation get past the protective shield of God is when we have not properly taken up the shield of faith, as Paul instructions in Ephesians 6:16. When the shield drops, when we let down our guard, it is then that the fiery darts are able to get through and wound us.

So how do we take up the shield, and how do we keep it up? Since this is the shield of faith, we take it up by believing in what God has said. The more we believe, the more effective our shield becomes at protecting us from the fiery darts of the wicked one.

As we believe in God’s Word, God’s promises, and the truth revealed by God in Scripture, we are taking up the shield of faith and gaining the protection God provides.

But this is where the problem begins, because some people think that faith has to be “all or nothing.” I have talked with numerous people throughout the years who want to believe the Bible and what God has said, but there are some things in the Bible that they just cannot believe, such as the idea in Genesis 5:27 that Methuselah lived to be 969 years old, or that the world was created in six days (Gen 1), or that an ax head could actually float on water (2 Kings 6:1-7).

Some people don’t believe in God or some of the various truths of Scripture because they cannot believe that God would allow bad things happen in this world, or that God wants blood sacrifice and commanded the genocide of the Canaanites (I don’t believe God wanted the genocide of the Canaanites either … but I do believe God wanted the historical record of Canaanite genocide in the Bible… I will explain why in a future book).

And since they cannot believe some of these more difficult truth claims of Scripture, they decide they cannot believe any of it. They stop believing in God, in Scripture, and in what Jesus has showed us through His life, death, and resurrection. As a result, they drop their shield of faith entirely, and leave themselves open to the attacks of the devil.

But thankfully, faith does not work like this.

Biblical faith is not an “all or nothing” house of cards. It is completely possible to believe some, or many, of the things taught in the Bible, while being unsure about, or even not believing, many other ideas and concepts of the Bible.

Nobody becomes a Christian by knowing and believing everything in the Bible.

We become a Christian by knowing and believing a few simple facts about God, ourselves, and Jesus. We become a Christian by believing in Jesus for eternal life. Our shield of faith strengthens as we build upon these facts over time and as we come to learn and believe more truths from Scripture.

In other words, our set of beliefs grow over time as we follow Jesus on the path of discipleship and as believe more of what God has revealed in the Bible.

So to grow our faith, to walk by faith, to live by faith, and to take up the shield of faith, we must begin with the facts and truths we know to be true, and then build upon these ideas with more truths and ideas from Scripture.

Building our faith in this way allows our faith to act as a shield against the tricks, traps, and fiery darts of the devil. Our enemy tries to get us to doubt God’s promises and fall into the pitfalls of sin.

When we begin to think that God cannot love us because of what we have done, we can remember the promise of God in Romans 8:38-39 that nothing, absolutely nothing, can separate us from the love of God.

When we are tempted to think that God cannot forgive some sort of sin we have committed, we can remember the truth of Scripture that God has already forgiven us for all sins we have committed, past, present, and future (Col 2:13).

If you ever begin to wonder if you matter to God, all you need to do is believe the promises that God knows your name (Isa 43:1), knows every detail about you, even to the point of numbering the hairs on your head (Luke 12:7), has specifically gifted you with special talents and abilities so that you can serve a significant role in His plan for the world (1 Cor 12; Rom 12; Eph 4; 1 Pet 4), and wants nothing but the best for you and your life and He works nonstop to bring these good plans to fruition in your life (Prov 3:5-6; Heb 13:20-21; Jas 1:5).

When temptations to sin come our way, we can believe the promises of God that sin only leads to destruction (Matt 7:13-14; Rom 6:23; Jas 1:15).

When we face doubts about whether or not we have eternal life, we can remember the numerous promises of Jesus that anyone who believes in Him has everlasting life (John 3:16; 5:24; 6:47).

Do you see? As we come to learn and believe these promises of God, they become a shield and a barrier protecting us from all the lies of the devil.

Faith in the promises of God keeps us bold and strong in the face of sin, temptation, and doubt. This is why faith is so important to our life as a Christian.

Believing what God has said is the shield that protects us from the darts of the devil which question and challenge what God has said.

So where are you at with your faith? What is it that you believe? Start with the basics, and then go from there.

For example, do you believe that God exists? This is a basic biblical belief, but many people are not sure that there is a God. But a person cannot move on to believe much of anything in the Bible until they first believe that God exists. Thankfully, there are ways to learn that God does indeed exist, such as (#AmazonAdLink) books on apologetics and various evidences for the existence of God.

And once you come to believe that God exists, you can move on from that belief and add further beliefs to your system of beliefs. You will come to believe that God wants to communicate with humans, as He has done in various ways, such as through Jesus and the revelation of Scripture.

You will come to believe that Jesus is God in the flesh, and that Jesus explains how to receive eternal life and live this present life in the best way possible. You will learn how to treat other people with love, grace, and forgiveness.

As you learn all these things, you come to believe them, because you see that they are true. And as you develop this ever-widening system of beliefs that are based on the truth reveled in Scripture and through Jesus Christ, your shield of faith becomes ever-more effective at protecting you from the fiery darts of the wicked one.

The temptations and doubts he shoots at you are quenched before they can reach your mind and heart.

God, as our shield, protects us from all harm. Living by faith in the promises of God eventually allows you to walk by faith in what God has said He will do, for you know that God is on your side and God will do what He has said.

So take up the shield of faith. Believe in what God has said. Then go forth with the certain knowledge that victory is at hand.

Putting on the Sandals of the Gospel (Ephesians 6:15)

By Jeremy Myers

2 Comments

In Ephesians 6:15, Paul instructs Christians to “shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace.” This is another piece of the armor of God, even though Paul doesn’t specifically mention a piece of armor. Since he writes about having something on our feet, he is clearly referring to the sandals that Roman soldiers wore into battle.

So Ephesians 6:15 is referring to the Sandals of the Gospel. And as we did with the belt of truth and breastplate of righteousness, we will consider the sandals in three ways.

First, we will look at how the sandals were used by the Roman soldiers in battle. Second, we will consider how Christians are to use them in spiritual battle. Finally, we will learn how Christians can put on the sandals of the gospel as we fight alongside Jesus in spiritual warfare.

The Sandals for the Soldier

The sandals of the Roman soldier were very similar to some sandals you might see today. They were made primarily from leather and were fastened to the feet with leather cords that went around the ankle and partway up the calf.

Upon initial inspection, the sandals appear to be quite flimsy, providing little protection or stability to the soldier. But such was not the case.

The sandals were light and airy, which allowed the feet to breathe and stay cool and dry, even when the soldier marched, worked, or stood guard all day long.

While a soldier might have sore feet after marching 25 miles, they would not have blisters, and they would quickly and easily dry after marching through a stream or river. The leather strips were designed in such a way so that they did not rub or cause sores on the feet, ankles, or calves.

One aspect of the sandals, however, made them essential pieces of armor for the Roman soldier, and this aspect to the sandal set these sandals apart from those that the average Roman citizen might wear around town or in the marketplace.

The Roman soldier sandals were fitted with metal spikes on the bottom of the sole. These spikes helped them maintain their footing. The spikes allowed them to—in the words repeated four times in Ephesians 6:10-14—stand firm in the battle.

Often, the soldiers would be fighting in slick or muddy terrain. The grass and soil might get trampled and become slippery with dew, rain, or blood. The spikes on the bottom of the sandals helped the soldier maintain his footing in battle. It helped the soldier stand firm.

It is similar to the shoes that many athletes wear today. Track, soccer, football, and baseball shoes all have some sort of spikes or plastic knobs on the bottom to help the athlete maintain their speed and footing while playing on the field.

The sandals of the Roman solider provided similar stability. While they sandals did not provide much in the way of protection, they certainly helped soldiers stay on their feet in the midst of battle. After all, a soldier flat on his back because he tripped or slipped is at a great disadvantage to an enemy solider who is still on his feet.

So these sandals had one purpose: to keep the soldier on his feet.

The spikes and studs on the bottom of the sandals were also used as weapons. When enemy soldiers fell before an advancing Roman legion, the Roman soldiers would stomp on the fallen combatants, thereby inflicting greater harm and damage on the soldier, making it much less likely for them to rise up and fight again.

What then are the sandals for the Christian?

The Sandals for the Christian

In Ephesians 6:15, Paul states that the sandals are the preparation of the gospel of peace.

There are three key terms in this phrase that must be considered before we can know what the sandals are for the Christian: preparation, the gospel, and peace. Let us consider the central term first, the gospel.

The word gospel means “good news,” and when it is used on Scripture, it refers to all the good news about Jesus.

The gospel is not just the good news about everlasting life and how to spend eternity with God. The gospel is also about how to live this life now, in friendship and fellowship with God and with each other, and also in fulfillment of who God made us to be. The teachings and example of Jesus show us the truth about all such things.

So the biblical gospel is every truth related to the person, work, and teachings of Jesus Christ, not just about how to gain eternal life, but also how to live our lives now as God wants and desires.

Lots of people get confused about what the gospel is and how to share it with others. That is why there is so much confusion in Christianity today about the nature and message of the gospel.

And while it is true that the gospel is centered on the person, work, and teachings of Jesus Christ, it is essential to recognize that there is one central truth of the gospel which forms the foundation for all other gospel truths.

The one central gospel truth is this: Jesus gives eternal life to those who believe in Him for it.

This truth can be stated in various ways. For example, we could say, as Paul does, that justification is by faith alone in Jesus Christ alone, or as we read numerous times in the Gospel of John, eternal life is by faith alone through Jesus Christ alone.

The gospel is good news and this is the best news there is. But you must get this central truth firmly set in your mind before the rest of the gospel makes any sense. If this central gospel truth is not firmly planted in your life and theology, the gospel of good news quickly becomes bad news.

You see, there are lots of Christians who think that in order to gain eternal life, or keep eternal life, they have to perform a set of good works.

Some Christians think they have to get baptized, or attend church, or read their Bible and pray every day. Others believe that they have to live a good life and try to obey the Ten Commandments in order to keep their eternal life or prove that they have it.

But as soon as they start to add these sorts of good works to the central promise of the gospel, eternal life is no longer free, but becomes something we have to work for in order to gain or keep.

And when eternal life is something we have to work for, it is no longer attainable, because we can never be good enough, or work hard enough to gain, keep, or prove that we have eternal life.

Eternal life is based solely and completely on the promise of God that He gives eternal life to anyone and everyone who simply and only believes in Jesus for it (cf. John 3:16; 5:24; 6:47). Only by recognizing the freeness of the gospel are we then able to live our lives with assurance, stability, and peace.

This is why Paul calls refers to the gospel as the gospel of peace.

Once we know that we have eternal life through faith alone in Jesus Christ alone, peace enters into our lives because we no longer have to worry about where we stand with God.

We no longer have to strive to perform enough good works.

We can know with complete certainty and assurance that we are part of the family of God, that He has accepted us and welcomed us into His family, and that there is nothing we can do to separate ourselves from His love (Rom 8:38-39).

There is great peace in knowing that we are safe and secure in the arms of God.

When you do not know that you are safe, your life becomes filled with doubt and fear, which causes you to stumble and fall into the mud and muck of life. You also become fearful of stepping out in faith to follow Jesus into dark and dangerous places on the battlefield of life.

If you don’t know for sure that you have eternal life, or if you are afraid that there is something you can do which will cause you to lose your eternal life, then you will become immobilized with fear.

But when you know without a shadow of a doubt that you are safe, then you can step out in faith to follow Jesus wherever He leads, because you know that He will never let you fall, that you are safe and secure with Him.

Such knowledge will also allow you to interact with other people in ways that bring peace to their lives also.

Paul calls these sandals the gospel of peace, and this is not just peace with God, and personal peace in your life, but also peace with other people.

Ephesians 2 is all about how Jesus created peace on the cross, not just between God and ourselves, but also between ourselves and all other people on earth. Jesus broke down the religious dividing walls of hostility that exist between various groups of people.

Jesus showed us, through His sacrificial death on the cross, how to die to ourselves and create peace with other people.

So the gospel truly is a gospel of peace. It brings peace to our own lives, and it also creates peace between ourselves and other people.

So the gospel of peace is the good news about Jesus that leads to peace in all areas of our lives.

The third key term, then, is preparation.

Paul writes that we are to shod our feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace. The sandals are not precisely the gospel itself. Rather, the sandals are the preparation of the gospel.

The preparation of the gospel is accomplished in two ways. We become prepared in the gospel by first knowing what the gospel message is, and then secondly, by preparing and planning to share it with others through our words and our actions.

Just as the sandals helped keep the soldier on his feet in battle, being prepared to share the gospel with others will help you stay on your feet as a Christian.

If you are not really clear what the gospel is, and if you don’t really know how to share the gospel with others, then you don’t really know if you yourself have believed the gospel or if you have believed the right thing, or believed enough.

We must, as Peter writes, always be prepared to give an answer to anyone who asks to give the reason for the hope that we have in Jesus Christ (1 Peter 3:15).

Just like with the other pieces of spiritual armor, it is not enough to own the sandals, you have to put them on. In order to get firm footing on the slippery ground of life in this world, you need to put on your sandals.

You need to get those steel-studded soldier sandals so that you can have firm footing and not slip around in fear and uncertainty while on the field of battle. And Paul says we put on the sandals by being prepared with the gospel of peace.

You must be prepared by knowing how the gospel impacts your own life, and you must be prepared in knowing how to share and live the gospel with others. This is what we learn in the final section: how to strap the sandals of the gospel on your feet.

Putting on the Sandals

We already know from the previous section what the gospel is, but it is important to elaborate on the gospel a little bit further in order to properly prepare ourselves with the gospel.

The gospel is every truth and concept related to the person, work, teaching, and ministry of Jesus Christ.

This means that there are thousands and thousands of gospel truths. After all, since the entire Bible is somehow related to the person and work of Jesus Christ, this means that every biblical truth is a gospel truth.

Since there are so many gospel truths, this is why the gospel presentations of Christians becomes so garbled. Some Christians prefer to share one set of truths, while other Christians prefer to share a different set of truths.

For example, many Christians like to talk about the death and resurrection of Jesus. And these are good things to talk about, for they are gospel truths (cf. 1 Cor 15:1-8). But other Christians like to get into prophecies about Jesus, or how all people are sinners in need of grace. These too are gospel truths and can be mentioned.

But you can see how it gets confusing for Christians and non-Christians alike. One person shares one set of gospel truths and another person shares a different set, and both claim that they are sharing the gospel.

But if we can focus on one central idea, this helps bring every gospel explanation into proper focus. There is one central gospel truth to which all other gospel truths point, and it is this: Jesus gives eternal life to anyone who believes in Him for it.

Or to state it another way, eternal life is received by grace alone through faith alone in Jesus Christ alone.

This is the central truth of the gospel which must always be kept in mind, and which must always be our focus. Once we keep this truth in the center, all other gospel truths flow from it and support it.

So is it true that Jesus died on the cross and rose again from the dead? Yes. And you can share these gospel truths with people if you want. These truths helps support and defend the idea that the promise of Jesus can be trusted. If Jesus was just any other person, then when He died, He would have stayed dead.

But the fact that God raised Jesus from the dead, proves that Jesus was who He said He was, and is able to offer what He offered, namely, eternal life. The death and resurrection of Jesus proves that Jesus can give eternal life to those who believe in Him for it.

Can we talk about prophecy and human sinfulness? Sure! Prophecy about Jesus helps show that God was planning and preparing the world for the truth that would come through Jesus, which is that we don’t need good works and religion to earn our way back into God’s good graces.

From the very beginning, God predicted and promised that He would send a Messiah who would show the world the one true way back to Him, which is through faith alone in Jesus. Due to our sinfulness, we can never be good enough to work our way into God’s family, so He freely welcomes us into His family when we believe in Jesus.

Do you see how the one central truth of the gospel helps bring clarity to every other truth of the gospel? The truth of eternal life by grace alone through faith alone in Jesus Christ alone is the central, unifying truth of the gospel which pulls all of the rest of the gospel truths together into a coherent whole.

When you keep this central truth in mind, you can share a lot of other gospel truths with others without sounding like you are speaking gibberish. You can share a lot of truths, or a few truths. You can answer questions and objections they might have. The gospel becomes simple to share with others, because you no longer have to worry if you have shared enough truth or the right truth. You have one simple truth to share, and everything else flows from that.

When you share the gospel with others, keep it simple and keep it scriptural. Share the central gospel truth with others the same way Jesus did. Whenever Jesus told someone about how to receive eternal life, He told them to believe in Him for it. If this was good enough for Jesus, it should be good enough for us. We do not need to try to change these words or improve upon them. For example, I hear many Christians invite others to do one of the following things:

Believe and ___________ (Repent, confess, be baptized, etc.).
Accept Christ as your Lord and Savior.
Repent of your sins.
Confess your sins.
Be sorry for your sins.
Be willing to give up your sins.
Confess Christ.
Follow Christ.
Accept Jesus as your personal savior.
Commit/submit/surrender your life to Christ.
Put Christ on the throne of your life.
Turn your life over to Christ.
Give your heart/life to Christ.
Let go and let God.
Believe in God.
Have faith.
Believe that Jesus died on the cross.
Ask/invite Christ into your heart/life.
Pray this prayer.
Walk an aisle.
Come forward.
Raise your hand.
Sign this card.

Some of those things are good things to do. Some of them are even biblical things to do. But not a single one of those is stated anywhere in the Bible, or ever used by Jesus, Paul, or any other biblical author, as a way to receive eternal life.

In fact, a person can do or believe every single one of the items on that list, and still not believe in Jesus for eternal life.

Some of the items on that list are good works, so when we use them, we are telling people to perform good works in order to receive eternal life.

So when Christians start to use practices and phrases like these as a way to share the gospel, it gets confusing for them and for those who hear us.

Rather than use such muddled messages, let us use the words that Jesus used and simply invite people to believe in Jesus for eternal life. It’s simple; it’s clear; and it’s biblical.

Now, this central gospel truth about eternal life also helps us in our own life. As indicated earlier, it helps keep us on our feet as followers of Jesus. If you don’t know that you have eternal life, then you will be uncertain about what you need to do, or how good you need to be, in order to gain eternal life.

This uncertainty creates much fear and instability in your life.

But once you believe in Jesus, and you know that you have eternal life as a result, you no longer have to worry about whether you are doing enough, or obeying enough, or performing enough good works.

Instead, you can step out in faith to follow Jesus without fear because you know that He will keep you safe and secure, no matter what.

Once we know we have eternal life in Jesus, we can begin to practice all the rest of the gospel truths that are contained in Scripture. After all, if the gospel contains every truth related to the person and work of Jesus Christ, and since many truths related to Jesus are about how to live our life here and now, then this means that the gospel contains many truths about how we are to live.

The gospel is not just about what we believe or what we say, but also about what we do.

But again, if we think that we need to live a certain way in order to gain or keep eternal life, then we will live in constant fear and will never be surefooted on the field of spiritual battle.

But maintaining a hold on the central truth of the gospel, that eternal life is the free gift of God to anyone who believes in Jesus for it, helps us then maintain a proper perspective on the purpose of every other gospel truth. Many of the other gospel truths are given to help us live in this life the way God wants and desires.

When we live out the truths of the gospel, we will get rid of sin in our lives, because sin trips us up and causes us to stumble into the muddy ground at our feet. When we live out the truths of the gospel, we will love our enemies, forgive others, and serve those who mistreat us and abuse us.

In other words, we will be creating pockets of peace in our lives and in the lives of those around us. We will be standing on our feet in the field of battle, living out the truths of the gospel of peace with those who surround us. We will have our feet firmly planted on the ground.

So do you have your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace?

You must first know that you have eternal life by faith in Christ.

This will then allow you to know how to simply and clearly share this message with others.

And finally, the clear and central gospel message will enable you to live out the rest of the gospel in your life right now.

This is how you shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Knowing the central truths of the gospel, knowing how to share it with others, and knowing how to live in light of the gospel will greatly aid you in staying on your feet during spiritual battle. It will keep you from becoming muddled and unclear as you bring good news of peace to a world that needs to hear.

Good Questions About the Death of Jesus that Make no Sense

By Jeremy Myers

11 Comments

A reader sent an email today with these questions:

If Jesus died in the place of others, why does everyone else also die?
If the penalty for sin is hell forever, and if Jesus paid the penalty for all the sins of the world, why is Jesus not the only one in hell forever?
Did God punish Jesus by making him die and go to hell, or did God reward Jesus by raising him up from death and lifting him up to heaven?
If Jesus died on a Friday afternoon and rose from the dead by the next Sunday morning, was the penalty for all the sins of the world less than two days dead?
If God punished Jesus for all the sins of others by making him die on a cross, why are Judas Iscariot, Pontius Pilate, and Caiaphas not all heroes and saints for fulfilling the will of God?
If people should rejoice at the suffering and death of Jesus, as if his pain were their gain, should they mourn his resurrection and ascension, as if his gain is their pain?
If we live because Jesus died, do we die because Jesus rose to live again?
If people go to heaven because Jesus went to hell, do people go to hell because Jesus went to heaven?
Did the crucifixion of Jesus cancel the sins of others, or was it really the worst sin of all?
Would God be just if He punished the innocent in place of the guilty?
If Jesus paid the penalty for all the sins of others, and salvation in unconditional, is not everyone saved, no matter what he believes, says, or does?
If the purpose of Jesus was to die, why did his story not end with his death?
If good deeds make no difference, because no one can earn salvation, why did Jesus say so much about what persons should and should not do?
How could the penalty for sins be paid hundreds of years before those sins were done?
If Jesus, like a scapegoat, took away our sins when he died, did he bring back our sins when he came back from the dead?
How could Jesus be a substitute to go in our places and also be a leader and example whom we should follow?
If we do not follow Jesus, but he goes one way so that we can go another way, how do we expect to end up where he is?
If Jesus were God, and God demanded that Jesus die to pay the penalty for the sins of everyone else, did God commit suicide?

As I read through these excellent questions about the death of Jesus, I realized that I couldn’t answer ANY of them because I didn’t accept the presuppositions that were within each question.

For example, with question #1, I do not believe Jesus died in the place of others. I do not believe in “substitutionary” atonement.

With question 2, I do not believe that the penalty for sin is hell forever.

With question 3, I do not believe that God punished Jesus by making him die and go to hell…

And so on throughout the list of questions….

This is the problem with the vast majority of theology today. We are asking wrong questions because we are beginning with wrong ideas about God, Jesus, sin, and hell.

All of the questions above disappear when we learn just a few things from Scripture. Like what?

God does not require punishment for sin, or blood payment to forgive.
God is infinitely gracious, forgiving, and loving.
Jesus didn’t die to appease God or buy forgiveness from God.
Hell isn’t what you think…

Start with those ideas, and the way you read and understand the Bible will forever be transformed. If you want help, here are three books to get you started:

(#AmazonAdLink) The Atonement of God
(#AmazonAdLink) Nothing But the Blood of Jesus
(#AmazonAdLink) What is Hell?

Enjoy!

Putting on the Breastplate of Righteousness (Ephesians 6:14b)

By Jeremy Myers

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As we continue to look at the spiritual armor God has given us for our spiritual battle, we look at the breastplate. Specifically in Ephesians 6:14, Paul calls it the breastplate of righteousness.

And just as with the belt of truth, we will look at this second piece of the armor in three ways. First, how it was used on the soldier, second, how it is to be used for us as Christians in spiritual battle, and then finally, how we can put it on for battle.

Let us begin with what the breastplate did for the soldier.

The Breastplate for the Soldier

As the name implies, the breastplate of the Roman soldier was worn on the chest or torso of the soldier. Although at times, they were made out of leather, the breastplates worn by soldiers in Paul’s day were typically made from iron.

But the breastplates were not made from one solid piece of metal the way we might imaging seeing on a knight in medieval England. It was not plate armor.

The Roman soldier’s armor was scale armor. The Roman military breastplate was made of overlapping bands of metal that were then tied together with leather cords. This made the Roman breastplate more flexible and maneuverable than the kind of breastplates the knights wore.

The scale armor of the Roman soldier was much lighter and more flexible than the suits of armor worn by medieval knights. Remember, the Roman soldier had to run 24 miles in five hours while wearing his armor. I doubt that a medieval knight, wearing a full suit of armor, could run five miles in five hours.

This type of breastplate construction helped the Roman soldier on the field of battle. They were light on their feet, and the flexible breastplate enabled them to make quick maneuvers and changes during the battle.

And what was the purpose of the breastplate? It helped protect the soldier’s vital organs, such as the heart, lungs, and the entire digestive tract. If any of these organs were damaged in battle, the soldier was almost certain to die.

So the breastplate was obviously important. It was made of strips of metal so that it could be light and flexible, and it’s main purpose was to protect the vital organs of the soldier.

With this in mind, let us move on to see how the spiritual breastplate is to be used for the Christian in spiritual warfare.

The Breastplate for the Christian

As we seek to discover the role and function the spiritual breastplate serves for the Christian, it is important to remember that the breastplate is connected to and held in place by the belt of truth (cf. how the two are connected in Ephesians 5:9).

And the belt of truth is Scripture, the Word of God. We put on the belt of truth by reading, studying, and learning what Scripture says. The breastplate of righteousness then, is the right way of living that comes from learning and obeying the truth of Scripture.

There is a major difference between understanding the truth and living the truth.

There is a difference between being able to recite verses and list Bible facts, and actually living or applying those verses and Bible facts to your life.

Do you remember the Pharisees? They were Bible scholars. They were experts of the law. Most of them had the entire Torah—the first five books of the Bible—memorized. They knew the history of Israel forward and backward. They prayed and sang the Psalms. They could recite passages from the Prophets.

But this group of religious leaders disagreed with most of what Jesus said and taught, and it is for them that Jesus reserved His most scalding rebukes. For example, in Matthew 23:27-28, Jesus says,

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

These men were outwardly righteous. They appeared righteous to others. They had all the right words, and all the right actions, and all the right behaviors. But Jesus says to them, “It doesn’t matter what you look like on the outside. All that matters is how you look on the inside. What does your heart look like?”

This is what the breastplate of righteousness is for. Just as the breastplate was made of many interlocking strips of metal tied together to protect the vital organs of a soldier, so also, all the numerous passages of Scripture, when they are rightly understood and applied, work together as interlocking truths, to protect the vital functions of our life as a Christian.

Scripture keeps the desires of our heart on the right track, so that we desire the things of God, rather than the things of this world. In other words, to wear the breastplate of righteousness, we have to protect our heart, the center of who we are, by keeping our conscience pure.

Scripture also keeps our spiritual lungs breathing deeply from the indwelling life of the Holy Spirit so that we can be guided and shaped into the image of Jesus Christ. Scripture allows us to properly digest and comprehend the things we experience in life so that these experiences can be used to guide and direct ourselves and others on the path toward peace and unity.

When properly protected and informed by Scripture, our godly desires, the indwelling Holy Spirit, and our life experiences lead us into the life of righteousness that God wants for us.

But what is righteousness?

Before we can learn how to put it on, we must know what it is. There is a whole set of English words that are all related to one another and attempt to explain a single biblical concept. The words include terms like justification, justice, justify, righteous, and righteousness. They all come from the Greek words dikē, dikaiosunē, dikaioō, and dikaios. If you want to learn more, my Gospel Dictionary Course will eventually have a lesson on “Righteousness”

The words are all related in concept and themes, and refer to the judgments, decisions, or announcements of an authority figure about the condition or “rightness” of someone or something else. All of these words carry the idea of something being “in the right.”

So, for example, a judge or justice might declare a person to be “in the right,” that is, not guilty (cf. Rom 3:23-25). An accountant might declare a set of ledgers or financial records “in the right,” equaled, or properly balanced. Government officials might ratify (or “rightify”) a treaty with another government or organization, thereby stating that both parties of the treaty agree that the terms of the treaty are correct, or “in the right.”

So this word family is one of those biblical terms where various English words have been used to translate the one set of Greek words, which then leads to some confusion about the meaning of the words. Some of this conclusion could be cleared up if Bible translators picked a word and stuck with it.

The two best options are the English words “right” and “just.” If they went with “right” then we would talk about righteousness, rightness, being in the right, and ratify. If we went with the word “just” we could speak of justice, justification, and justify.

Regardless of which term is used, however, there is something that must be noticed about this particular word family. When something is ratified, justified, or declared right, it is only a statement about the present and current condition of the person, ledgers, or treaty. It says nothing about their future condition.

If an accountant looks at a set of financial books and discovers that they are balanced, he will declare them to be justified. They are balanced. But this does not mean that an error or mistake will not be made tomorrow or next month which will put them out of balance.

Similarly, if two governments ratify a treaty, there is the expectation that they will abide by the terms of this treaty in the future, but history has shown that countries and governments break the terms of treaties all the time. So the current agreement on the terms of a treaty do not guarantee that the treaty will always be in effect.

Furthermore, even if a judge declares a person to be “not guilty” of a particular crime, this does not mean that the person will not commit that particular crime in the future. So the declaration of “rightness” is only about the present condition of something; it says nothing about the future.

This brings us back around to the breastplate of righteousness that we are to wear. It’s is God’s breastplate, and He gives it to us. Why? Because we could never achieve it or earn it on our own. God’s standard of “rightness” is perfection. God, as the divine judge, the heavenly accountant, will not and cannot declare any person to be “right” unless they are perfectly holy and without sin.

But that is impossible for any human being. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Rom 3:23). In and of ourselves, not a single human being (other than Jesus) is “in the right.” But this was not acceptable to God, and so He decided to make His own perfect righteousness available to us. This is what Paul has in mind when he writes here about the breastplate of righteousness.

When God gives His breastplate of righteousness to us, He is saying, “No matter what you have done and no matter what you will do, your ledgers are balanced, your accounts are correct, you are justified because I have given My holiness to you.”

But of course, God doesn’t give His righteousness to everyone. As Paul states repeatedly in Romans and Galatians, God gives His righteousness only to those who believe in Jesus for it. God cannot force His righteousness on people; it can only be received by faith.

This righteousness we receive from God by faith then guides us into how God wants us to live the rest of our life by faith. This brings us to the discussion of how to take up and put on the breastplate of righteousness.

Putting on the Breastplate

To put on the breastplate of righteousness, we must first recognize that, just as with all the pieces of Spiritual armor, the breastplate of righteousness belongs to God. In Isaiah 59:17, we read that God wears righteousness as a breastplate. Isaiah 59 further reveals that this righteousness is not the positional, imputed righteousness that God gives to all believers the moment they believe in Jesus for everlasting life. Instead, it is the practical, day-to-day righteousness that God expects and desires all Christians to live by. It is living the holy life.

But before we can wear the breastplate, we must have it. And as just indicated, we receive the righteousness of God by faith alone in Jesus Christ alone. We cannot earn or buy the breastplate of righteousness for ourselves. It is the free gift of God to anyone and everyone who simply and only believes in Jesus for it.

However, receiving the righteousness of God by faith alone in Jesus Christ alone is not the same thing as living the righteous life that God wants and desires for us. Just as a declaration by an accountant that the books are balanced is no guarantee that the books will not make mistakes in the future, so also, though we have been declared right by God, we still often make mistakes in our lives.

Just as a judgment by a judge that a person is not guilty is no guarantee that the person will not break the law in the future, so also, the declaration of rightness by God is no guarantee that we will not break God’s law in the future.

Once we have received the righteousness of God, we must make sure we put it on and wear it. The breastplate of righteousness is only helpful in spiritual warfare if it is strapped around our chest.

So how do we put on the breastplate of righteousness? How do we make sure that the free gift of God’s positional and imputed righteousness becomes the practical and applied righteousness of God in our lives?

How do we make sure that God’s declaration that we are “in the right” with Him becomes the true reality of our life as we walk with Him? Since there is a difference between being declared right and actually living right, how can the spiritual reality of our righteousness from God become the practical reality of a righteous life?

The key to practical righteousness is to recognize that while all of us will continue to sin during this life, there are steps we can take to purify our lives and refrain from sin as we follow Jesus on the path of discipleship.

The breastplate of righteousness, remember, covers the vital organs of the body, such as the heart, lungs, and digestive tract. So when we seek to take up and put on the breastplate of righteousness, we seek to protect the vital and essential elements of our life as a Christian.

We seek to protect our heart and its desires. We maintain contact with the indwelling and purifying work of the Holy Spirit as we maintain a pure conscience before God. We make sure that the spiritual food we eat is healthy for the growth and development of our spiritual bodies.

The biblical practices of confession, purification, and repentance help us maintain righteousness and holiness in our lives. The first letter of these three terms form the acronym CPR, which is interesting because CPR is the practice of reviving a person when their heart or lungs stop working.

The breastplate protects these vital organs, but we can also restore them to proper functionality through spiritual CPR. Heart attacks often occur as a result of poor diet, but we can get a heart beating again and return breath to the lungs through spiritual CPR. If there is an area in your life where you are having a spiritual heart attack, or where you are about to be drowned by sin, God wants to get your heart beating and your lungs breathing again through spiritual CPR: Confession, Purification, and Repentance.

These three practices will help us achieve and maintain the practical righteousness of God in our lives. Let us briefly consider each.

Confession (1 John 1:9-10)

There is much confusion about confession. People wonder what they should confess, how they should confess, and who they should confess to. And then there is the question of how confession differs from repentance.

The basic definition of confession is that it occurs when we admit or agree that something we said, did, or thought was wrong. When we agree, admit, or confess that a behavior were wrong, this stops sin dead in its tracks. See “Confess” in my Gospel Dictionary course for more.

Quite often, we Christians do things we know are wrong. We know we are not supposed to lie, lust, steal, covet, or commit any number of other sins, but sometimes, in a moment of weakness, we engage in such sins anyway.

Afterwards, the Holy Spirit works with our conscience to convict us of our sin. The Spirit points out to us what we already know, that what we did was wrong. And if we agree with the convicting work of the Holy Spirit, then we confess our sin, and the sin does not take further root in our life.

John is teaching that when we sin, God often points out to us that what we did was wrong. When this happens, we are faced with a choice. We can either agree with God that our actions were wrong and then turn from them, or we can disagree with God and continue in our sinful behavior.

If we agree, then we are released from the potential addiction and destruction that this sinful behavior might bring upon us and are cleansed so we can follow Jesus in righteousness again.

If, however, we do not confess, if we do not agree with God that our behaviors were wrong, then we will continue in these destructive behaviors, and will likely become enslaved to a damaging and destructive pattern of sin in our lives. Sin will sink a hook into us, and will drag us down deeper into its destructive tendencies.

All patterns of sin begin by committing the particular sin the very first time. When this happens, God confronts us on it. He might do this through Scripture, or by the convicting work of the Holy Spirit, or maybe even through the gentle words of a trusted friend. If we ignore the corrective prodding from God, we will likely continue in this sin, committing it more and more frequently, until we become enslaved to it.

Sin will sink its claws into it. It will hook into us and not let us go. We will become addicted to this sin, until it becomes a destructive habit or pattern in our life.

John gives the solution to this problem in 1 John 1:9. He says that when we sin and God confronts us about it, we should own up to what we did. We should confess our sin, agree with God that what we did was wrong.

If we do this, then sin will not gain a foothold in our life. Instead, we will be released from the addicting power and destructive consequences of that sin. We will be cleansed from the unrighteous behavior, and will maintain the practical righteous life that God wants and desires for us. See “Confess” in my Gospel Dictionary course for more.

Now, there is a way to break free from the addicting and enslaving patterns of sin in our life as well, but confession will not be enough. We will need repentance for that. However, before we talk about repentance, let us consider purification.

Purification (James 4:8)

While purification and confession are similar, there is one main difference. Confession is necessary when we do something we knew was wrong. We knew it was wrong to lie, but we lied anyway, and then our conscience kicked in, so confessed to God and to the person we lied to.

Purification is different. Purification is necessary when we do something wrong that we didn’t initially know was wrong. Purification is required when we discover that some action or behavior we performed—maybe many years—is actually sinful and wrong, but we didn’t know it.

While confession is necessary when we do something we knew was wrong, purification is necessary when God reveals the truth to us about a sinful behavior we didn’t know was wrong.

God doesn’t really hold these sins against us, for He constantly cleanses and purifies us from all sin anyway, but once He takes our sanctification to the next level and start pointing out new areas in our life He wants us to work on, it is our responsibility to purify our lives from these sinful activities, beliefs, or behaviors.

Believe it or not, there are many sorts of activities in life that most people—including Christians—do not recognize as sinful. We all come to Christianity with a host of bad habits.

And that’s okay.

God doesn’t expect us to get rid of them all before we become a Christian, or even in the first few weeks, months, or years of being a Christian. He takes us just as we are, and works with us slowly over time. The process of sanctification is a life-long process.

After we become a Christian, God begins to deal with us and some of our sinful ways of living, many of which most people don’t even think of as being sinful. As we seek to follow Jesus on the path of discipleship, He begins to show us that some of the things we are doing are not really what we should be doing.

Some of the behaviors God wants to purify from our lives might seem a little surprising, because we didn’t even realize that what we were doing was wrong. Almost everyone knows that murder and adultery are wrong, but there are many sinful condemned by Scripture which few people realize are wrong.

Take money as an example. Many people, Christians included, think that the money they make is theirs to spend. Even though many Christians give a tithe, they assume the rest is theirs to keep, to do with as they please. But all money belongs to God, and He wants us to use money to love, serve, feed, and clothe others.

Gossip and slander also are a normal way of life for most people. We like to hear the newest juicy tidbit of news about other people. We Christians even like to spread gossip under the guise of sharing a “prayer request.” We say things like, “Did you hear about how Mr. and Mrs. Jones are going to marriage counseling? Yes, I heard they had a fight, and he went down to the local bar and had a few too many drinks. He ended up kissing a woman down there in front of everyone, and who knows what else they did… I wonder if they are going to get divorced. We should pray for them.” This is not a prayer request. This is Christian gossip.

Some of us have been engaging in these sorts of practices for years. Maybe even decades. And we never really knew they were wrong, because this is just how the world works. But eventually, through Bible study, prayer, a sermon, or the kind counsel of a Christian friend, we hear that a behavior we have always practiced is actually wrong and displeasing to God.

When this happens, we must make the choice to purify our lives from such behaviors. James 4:8 says, “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.”

When we draw near to God, He draws near to us, and His closeness to us ends up shining light into the dark corners of our life, pointing out dust and cobwebs we never knew were there.

When God reveals to us that these behaviors are sinful, we are to cleanse our hands from such actions, and purify our hearts. In so doing, we will draw closer to God, and He will draw closer still to us. And of course, the process of purification will begin again.

The process of purification is a never-ending cycle of becoming more and more like Jesus, and more like the person God wants us to be.

So purification is different than confession. We purify our lives of sinful behaviors that we didn’t know were sinful until God pointed them out to us. But we are to confess the sins we commit which we knew were sinful when we committed them.

But what about when we engage in sinful practices that we know are sinful, and which we practice for a long time?

In other words, if we refuse to confess the actions we knew were sinful, or refuse to purify our lives from the sinful behaviors God revealed to us, what happens then? In this case, we continue to practice the sin. We will chase after it. It will become a pattern, a habit, or addiction, in our life. When this happens, there is only one way out: repentance.

Repentance (Luke 15:11-32)

One of the classic biblical stories about repentance is the Parable of the Prodigal Son in Luke 15:11-32. It is story about a father who has two sons. The younger son asks for his inheritance early, and then goes off to a far country to squander his inheritance on feasting and parties. He eventually finds himself living among the pigs, without food, shelter, or clothing, and decides to return home. When he returns home, his father throws a big “Welcome Home” party for his son.

Most Christians think this is a story about how God welcomes non-Christians in His family. They think the prodigal son represents non-believer, and the party occurs when this person becomes a Christian.

But that is not true to the story. The son was a son before he ever left home. He did not become a son by going home.

In the two previous parables of Luke 15, the lost sheep belonged to the shepherd before he went looking for it, and the lost coin belonged to the woman before she swept her house clean. It is the same with the lost son. The father doesn’t adopt a son he never had before. The son rebels and leaves and then returns. In this way, the son represents a Christian who went off into sin, and lived in sin for a very long time.

And at the end of the stories, Jesus says that there is great rejoicing in heaven when one sinner repents. Who is the sinner Jesus has in mind? It is the sinful Christian.

The sinner who has turned away from the path of discipleship and decided instead to live in sin and rebellion against God. This sinner still remains a Christian, a son, but they are in a far off land, away from the light, love, joy, and fellowship that is found in the father’s household. But when the wayward Christian returns, God throws a party.

How is this return accomplished? Through repentance. The son journeyed to a far country, then when he realized that his sinful rebellion wasn’t good, enjoyable, or satisfying, he turned away, repented, and started the journey back. He was headed one way, and then he repented and started heading the other way. This is repentance.

It is for those Christians who have refused to confess their sin when God points it out to them, and have ignored God’s revelation about purifying their lives from sinful behaviors. Instead of follow God’s guidance, they continue to follow sin. But eventually, the find themselves wallowing in the mud with pigs. Once they realize how wrong they were, and how right God was, they can then begin the journey of repentance back toward God.

But this journey doesn’t happen overnight. If we spent a decade walking into the woods, we won’t get out in an hour. The journey back toward God will often take less time than the journey away, for after all, when the son was still a long way off, the father ran to meet him.

When God sees us coming back, He will run to meet us as well, so that He might walk with us, and even carry us, on the return journey. But the return journey of repentance must be made. Only through learning from our mistakes and journeying back toward obedience to God will we learn to avoid more mistakes in the future.

And the return doesn’t happen in an hour. If it took us 20 years to journey into the woods, we won’t get out in 20 minutes. Thankfully, it won’t take 20 years to get out of the woods, for the Father, when He saw his son returning from a long way off, ran out to meet him.

God is watching for our return, and when we turn, and begin to journey back toward fellowship with Him, He casts aside all dignity, and runs with haste to meet us on the road, carrying and helping us when we are tired and weary from the journey. But we must journey back, if we are to return to fellowship in the family.

And the return journey requires repentance. It requires us to take the time, energy, resources, and locations that we used to use to aid us in our sin, and transforming or redeeming such items to be used in the pursuit of godliness and holiness. We turn away from our habits of sin and turn toward developing habits of righteousness.

Repentance is turning away from patterns and habits of sinful rebellion, and beginning to take the journey back toward God.

Conclusion

So the three elements of spiritual CPR can be summarized in this way: Confession is for those one-time sins we knew were sinful, but which we committed anyway. It keeps sin from setting its hooks and claws into our lives.

Purification is for those one-time or long-term sins we commit, which we didn’t know were sinful until it is pointed out to us through Scripture, the convicting work of the Holy Spirit, or a good friend.

Repentance is for breaking free from the sinful habits or behaviors we have practiced for a very long time which we knew were sinful, but which we practiced anyway. Repentance is needed when sin has hooked into us deeply, and we need the careful hands of the Great Physician to cut the sin out of our bodies, and the healing touch of the Holy Spirit to restore our life and health. Repentance is often a long process, but it is the only way to recover from sinful habits and patterns.

Together, confession, purification, and repentance allow us to practice spiritual CPR in our lives as Christians. Such practices keep our lives free from sin and on the path of righteousness that God wants for us.

Righteousness keeps us healthy and strong as soldiers of Jesus Christ so that we can fight against wicked forces in spiritual warfare. Righteousness keeps our lungs breathing in the pure air the indwelling Holy Spirit, our heart focused on the desires of God, and our belly fill with the meat of the truth of God’s Word.

We take up and put on God’s breastplate of righteousness by removing our filthy clothes stained with sin and replacing them with His practical righteousness. When we get the breastplate of righteousness on, when we get it firmly in place, it becomes much easier to protect our heart.

Only in this way will you protect your life from the deadly and suffocating consequences of sin. Only then will we be able to stop the fiery darts that the devil shoots our way.

Putting on the Helmet of Salvation (Ephesians 6:17a)

The Helmet for the Soldier

The Helmet for the Christian

Putting on the Helmet

Conclusion

Taking Up the Shield of Faith (Ephesians 6:16)

The Shield for the Soldier

The Shield for the Christian

Taking up the Shield

Putting on the Sandals of the Gospel (Ephesians 6:15)

The Sandals for the Soldier

The Sandals for the Christian

Putting on the Sandals

Good Questions About the Death of Jesus that Make no Sense

Putting on the Breastplate of Righteousness (Ephesians 6:14b)

The Breastplate for the Soldier

The Breastplate for the Christian

Putting on the Breastplate

Confession (1 John 1:9-10)

Purification (James 4:8)

Repentance (Luke 15:11-32)

Conclusion

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