From Meditation 120
onwards we have seen that the full armour of God is a divine gift to all God’s
children. The apostle Paul takes the armour of a first century Roman soldier to
show us how we can protect Jesus’ life within us against Satan’s attacks. We have already spoken about girding our waist with truth, putting on the breastplate of
righteousness and putting on shoes of preparedness of the Gospel of peace.
Today we will reflect on the shield of faith. Paul writes:
Today we will reflect on the shield of faith. Paul writes:
“In addition to all this,
take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming
arrows of the evil one.” (Ephesians 6:16**)
This text speaks of “the
shield of faith” to extinguish Satan’s “flaming arrows”. Let us
first ask ourselves what Paul means with flaming arrows.
Flaming arrows
About
these ancient fiery darts, Wikipedia writes: “Lit
torches (burning sticks) were likely the earliest form of incendiary device. They were followed by
incendiary arrows, which were used throughout the ancient and medieval periods.
The simplest flaming arrows had oil- or resin-soaked tows tied just below the
arrowhead and were effective against wooden structures. ... More sophisticated
devices were developed by the Romans which had iron boxes
and tubes which were filled with incendiary substances and attached to arrows
or spears. These arrows needed to be shot from loose bows, since swift flight
extinguished the flame; spears could be launched by hand or throwing machine.” (1)
In Ephesians 6:16, the apostle Paul speaks of these Roman missiles
in a metaphoric way when he points to Satan’s temptations. In ancient warfare fiery
darts seemed to come unforeseen ‘from nowhere’ trying to pierce the soldier’s
heart or setting the enemy’s wooden fortifications on fire. In the same way
Satan’s temptations might come ‘out of the blue’ to penetrate the human heart
and mind. I think of the admonition of the apostle Peter: “Dear brothers
and sisters ... I warn you to keep away from evil desires because they fight
against your very souls.” (1 Peter 2:11*)
The
first question is why all kinds of temptations and evil desires can have a hold
on us? To answer that question, God’s Word points us back to the root of
temptation. It all started with man’s desire to be like God, to become his own
authority. Satan seduces man with the words: “God knows that your eyes will
be opened when you eat it (i.e., the forbidden fruit). You will become just
like God, knowing everything, both good and evil.” (Genesis 3:5*). In
disobeying God’s commandment, man has rebelled against God. From that moment
man’s proud heart has been the seat of all kinds of evil desires and lustful
thoughts and temptations.
The
apostle Paul gives some examples of such
a rebellious life when he writes to the Christians in Galatia (Turkey): “When
you follow the desires of your sinful nature, your lives will produce these
evil results: sexual immorality, impure thoughts, eagerness for lustful
pleasure, idolatry, participation in demonic activities, hostility, quarreling,
jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, divisions, the feeling that
everyone is wrong except those in your own little group, envy, drunkenness,
wild parties, and other kinds of sin. Let me tell you again, as I have before,
that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God.” (Galatians
5:19-21*)
God’s
Word shows us that true Christians are reborn by the Spirit of God. The apostle
Paul writes in his letter to the Galatian followers of Jesus: “And because
you ... have become His children, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into your hearts,
and now you can call God your dear Father.” (Galatians 4:6*)
Well,
here is the crux of the matter. Although the Spirit of Jesus lives in the
hearts of God’s children, the old sinful nature is still present. The question
is whether God’s Spirit rules the life of Jesus’ followers. It is Satan’s
objective to ‘revive’ man’s sinful nature by targeting his ‘former’ evil
desires and lustful thoughts, dragging him away from the control of God’s
Spirit over his life. The apostle James write: “... each one (of God’s
children) is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and
enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when
it is full-grown, gives birth to death.” ( James 1:14-15**)
This Satanic targeting our ‘former’ evil desires and lustful thoughts are the “the
flaming arrows of the evil one” about which the apostle Paul speaks in
Ephesians 6:16. Practically, it means that any lingering or sudden desire or
thought that runs riot against God’s commandments has the potential to let us stumble
into sin.
The
shield of faith
The shield of which the apostle
Paul speaks here was called in Greek the ‘thureos’. It was a large oval shield.
It was made of wood covered with
leather and had a spined boss. It was carried using a central handgrip. Some
variants of the shield were nearly rectangular. The name thureos has its origin in the word for a
door-stone or door-stop which may have been applied to it because of its size
or sub-rectangular shape. (2)
In
the Old Testament, and specially in the Psalms, God is often called a shield for
His people or a shield for everyone who
trusts in Him. Here are some examples:
-- “... the word
of the LORD came to Abram in a vision: ‘Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your
shield...’”
(Genesis 15:1**)
-- “How blessed you are, O
Israel! Who else is like you, a people saved by the LORD? He is your protecting
shield and your triumphant sword!” (Deuteronomy 33:29*)
--“As for God, His
way is perfect; the Word of the LORD is flawless. He is a shield for all who
take refuge in Him.”
(Psalm 18:30**)
In the light of these Old Testament
findings, we need to ask ourselves who or what is this shield of faith of which
the apostle Paul speaks in Ephesians 6:16.
Who is
the shield of faith?
Let us not forget that this
armour is God’s armour given to me! Therefore, the shield of faith cannot speak
of my own strong faith that is able to extinguish the flaming arrows of the
evil one. We have mentioned it before: only God’s Spirit can give me the
victory over Satan’s attacks.
Well, Paul speaks here about a
particular shield that can protect me from Satan’s assault. In the context of
the Old Testament sayings, it seems clear that the apostle points to our Triune
God as our protecting shield. He is our shield of faith!
What is
the shield of faith?
Another interpretation of the
earlier mentioned text would be that Paul speaks here of ‘shielding faith’. But
again, let’s not forget that this is divine armour that God has given to His
children! If I were to produce this shielding faith against Satan’s onslaught by
myself, would it then be a piece of God’s armour? And how could I ever produce
such strong faith knowing my own selfishness and weaknesses? No, God’s Word is
clear about the fact that true faith is a gift from God:
-- “Jesus
answered and said to them (i.e., the crowd), ‘This is the work of God, that you
believe in Him whom He sent.’” (John 6:29***)
-- “Let us fix
our eyes on Jesus, the author (lit. originator, founder, initiator) and
perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross,
scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews
12:2**)
--
“God saved you by His special favor when you believed. And you can't take
credit for this; it is a gift from God.” (Ephesians 2:8*)
--
“May God give you peace, dear brothers and sisters, and love with faith,
from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” (Ephesians 6:23*)
If
faith were not a gift from God, we should be proud of our contribution to our
salvation! Yet, the apostle Paul claims: “God alone made it possible for you
to be in Christ Jesus. For our benefit God made Christ to be wisdom itself. He
is the one who made us acceptable to God. He made us pure and holy, and He gave
Himself to purchase our freedom. As the Scriptures say, ‘The person who wishes
to boast should boast only of what the Lord has done.’” (1 Corinthians
1:30-31*)
No,
if Ephesians 6:16 speaks of shielding faith - or the shield of faith – then this
faith is God’s gift to us. It is the faith of Christ granted to us by God’s
Spirit. Let me give you two verses from God’s Word that shows us that true
faith comes from God:
--
The apostle Paul writes to his co-worker Timothy: “The grace of our Lord was
poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ
Jesus” (1 Timothy 1:14**).
--
To the church in Corinth, the apostle Paul speaks about the Spirit of faith: “It
is written: ‘I believed; therefore I have spoken.’ With that same Spirit of
faith we also believe and therefore speak...” (2 Corinthians 4:13**)
What a privilege to know that God
gave us the shield of faith as a piece of His armour to extinguish all Satan’s “flaming
arrows”. It is God Spirit who is well able to protect us against Satan’s
assaults if we let Him rule our lives.
Let me close this meditation with
two joyful acclamations. The apostle Paul writes to the Corinthian Christians: “How
we thank God, who gives us victory over sin and death through Jesus Christ our
Lord!” (1 Corinthians 15:57*)
The
apostle John declares that “every child of God defeats this evil world by
trusting Christ to give the victory.” (1 John 5:4*)
Do
you use God’s shield of faith in your daily struggle against sin and temptation?
Translations: * New Living
Translation; ** New International Version; *** New King James Version.
(1)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_thermal_weapons#Flaming_arrows.2C_bolts.2C_spears_and_rockets
(2) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thureos
About “ Satan and our
rebellious lives”, see meditations 19-21.
About “What must I do
to be saved?”, see meditations 22-26.
About “The Holy Spirit and His
ministry”, see meditations 27-34.
About “God’s major project:
transforming me and my church into the likeness of Christ”, see meditations
45-48.
About “Do not bring sorrow to God’s
Spirit”, see meditations 49-55.
About “Personal Christlike love for
the Father and His Son”, see meditations 56-64.
About “How to overcome
the power of sin in my life and in my church?” see meditations 101-121.
