The Shield of Faith

The Shield of Faith

The Apostle Paul, in Ephesians 6:10-17, presents a military metaphor using the Roman soldier's uniform to teach the principles of defense in the spiritual realm. In verse 16 he uses the shield of faith.

Ephesians 6:16  in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.

The Roman soldier’s shield covered most of the body. The shield was constructed of a double thickness of planks joined together with glue.  The shield’s outer surface was then wrapped with canvas and covered with calfskin. Along the top and bottom edges, the shield had an ornamental metal rim made of iron which protected the shield from being damaged when set on the ground.  The rim also helped ward off the cutting strokes of enemy swords in combat. The shield was fitted with an iron boss in order that it might deflect the more destructive blows of stones, long javelins, and fire missiles.

God issues every believer a shield that far surpasses that of the Roman soldier – “the shield of faith.”

The Apostle Paul doesn’t mention what, if anything, might be written on the shield of faith God issues the believer. I like to think we might find on it our Lord’s desires, His two objectives for the entire human race: Believe in Me – Think Like Me.

This shield protects the believer in every exigency of life. Faith removes dependence on self and substitutes dependence upon the one who is the source of joy and strength, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Believers must hold up to the Devil not merely their subjective faith, but the Word of God, the pertinent passage of scripture, the objective content of faith. Of course, they must believe it with their whole heart, rely on its truth and power.

The believer must remember that even with all of his power, all of his devices, Satan has no weapon powerful enough to destroy or penetrate the shield of faith. His blazing arrows fall harmlessly to the ground.

The classification of objects of faith is very important to the believer:

The first object of faith is the Lord Jesus Christ — Acts 16:31a Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved – Believe in Me. This is faith decision: a one-shot decision, a tiny little bit of faith in Jesus Christ that secures eternal salvation.

After salvation, the Word of God, the thinking of Christ, becomes the object of faith. This is faith perception: the consistent decisions we must make after we are saved to take in the Word of God, and most importantly, to believe it; to make Christ’s thinking our thinking.  Think Like Me.

‍Philippians 2:5  You should think in the same way Christ Jesus does. (NIrV)

Conclusion

Everything that any human being can ever do in relationship to God is based on His grace. The only thing we can do to appropriate His grace that is compatible with His grace is to exercise faith. The efficacy of faith always lies in its object and is related to either the living Word, the person of Jesus Christ, or the written Word, the thinking of Jesus Christ.