The Whole Armor of God
The Shield of Faith Eph 6:16
As we have seen, Paul’s use of an armor metaphor did not come from the Roman soldiers that surrounded his world. His “inspiration” was truth from the Old Testament as we shall once again see.
Shield: #2375-“thureos” from #2374-“thura” which is a primary word meaning door, a portal or entrance, metaphorically, of Christ, of faith by believing His Gospel, the entrance into the Kingdom of God. #2375-“Thureos” formerly meant a stone for closing the entrance of a cave, and then came to mean a shield, large and oblong, protecting every part of the soldier, metaphorically again speaking of faith which the believer is to take up, all of it, that is all that has been mentioned before, as affecting the whole of his activitiies.” Expanded Strong’s Dictionary This is the only occurrence of “shield” in the NT.
Old Testament Roots:
Genesis 15:1 “After these things (Abram’s meeting with Melchizadek, the OT shadow of our great High Priest Christ Jesus, after the freeing of Lot) the Word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision, saying, ‘Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your SHIELD, your exceedingly great reward.” (Interestingly, the word for shield here, #4043-“meginaw”, is a small shield, a buckler.) After this comes God’s statement of His covenant with Abram which was indeed an exceedingly great reward, “And he believed in the LORD, and HE accounted it to him for righteousness.”
Hebrews 11:6 “But without faith it is impossible to please God, for he who comes to God must believe that He Is (Abram’s I AM) and that He is a rewarder (The Reward) of those who diligently seek Him” (Abram’s exceedingly great Reward).
We have in the first mention of a shield in Scripture, its union with faith, faith’s Focus and faith’s Reward. From the outset, our God is our Shield and He is Faith’s great reward. Our faith must reside in these two elements.
Deut. 33:29 “Happy are you, O Israel! Who is like you, a people saved by the LORD, the Shield of your Help, and the Sword of your majesty.”
I Samuel 17:7 Very interesting in that Goliath trusted in his own strength and had someone else bear his shield–a fatal mistake! No one can carry your faith shield but you!!! Depending upon your pastor, your favorite theologian or radio preacher, or even mom and dad, will be spiritually fatal!
II Samuel 22:2-3 The song of David begins with, “The LORD is my Rock, my Fortress and my Deliverer; the God of my strength, in Him I will trust, My Shield, and the Horn/Strength of my salvation, my Stronghold and my Refuge; my Savior, You save me from my enemies.” David’s trust was in the Living, Personal God. These are beyond mere attributes, these names are Who God Is!
II Samuel 22:36 “You have given me the Shield of Your salvation, and your gentleness has made me great.” Repeated in Psalm 18:35 with a very important prophetic addition, “Your Right Hand has held me up.” Here is but a hint of our Great High Priest, our Melchizadek, Who ever holds us up!!! Abram’s small shield, his buckler is getting larger!!!
Psalm 3:3 But You, O LORD, are a Shield about/around me, My Glory, and the Lifter of my head.”
Psalm 5:12 “For You, O Lord, will bless the righteous: with favor You will surround Him as with a Shield.” This Shield exceeds the protective areas of its metaphorical object! This Shield surrounds the faithful. By faith, our God has got us covered!
Psalm 28:7 “The LORD is my Strength and my Shield; my heart trusted in Him and I am helped, therefore my heart greatly rejoices and with my song I will praise Him.”
Psalm 33:20 “Our soul waits for the LORD; He is our help AND OUR SHIELD.”
Psalm 84:9 “O God, behold our Shield, and look upon the Face of Your Anointed.” Take note of the margin-“messiah”. Who is our shield but the Anointed One. In prophetic voice, it is as though David is asking God to look upon the Anointed One’s perfect humanity, in which He alone is well pleased. Consider Numbers 6:24-26 and II Corinthians 4:6 in this light. My emphasis is intended!
Psalm 84:11 Continuing the theme of verse 9: For the LORD God is a sun and a Shield; the LORD will give grace and glory; no good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly.” Here is the promise/reward of faith–but note, our Shield reserves the right to determine what the good things are!!!
Psalm 119:114 “You are my Hiding Place and my Shield: I hope in Your word.”
Proverbs 30:5 “Every Word of God is Pure; He is a Shield to those who put their trust in Him.” (Take note of Vs 4) Notice the margin on “pure”–tested, refined. #6884–to melt a metal, to purge gold or silver by fire. Every Word of the LORD is refined to the utmost purity, there is no dross in it. It has been tried in the fires of the saint’s afflictions and found pure, without a hint of failure!!! And this Word is the Absolute Truth personified in Jesus the Son, the Word of God Incarnate!
The Shield conclusion: Our Jehovah Christ is our Shield–specifically He Is the Bastion of Truth that annihilates the “lie darts” of the evil one; and foundationally and overwhelmingly, the Truth He establishes in our hearts is His Righteousness completely covering every part of our humanity, past, present, and future-eternally in the Presence of His Father, now our Father, the Father now completely satisfied and pleased with His Adopted Children because of His Glorious Will and Purpose accomplished through His Son. And of course, that Truth of Justifying Righteousness establishes this Peace with the Father and therefore, His Pleasure in His children! .
Note: This Peace is the Father’s Peace, it is because the condemnation and justice required by His Perfect Holy Character has been satisfied by the Sacrifice of His Holy Righteous Son! It is not referring to our fickle emotional roller coaster peace. I do believe, however, that a clear heart grasp of our Father's being at Peace with us, will have a profound effect upon the experiential peace of the believer. Living in the Love Bond with the Sovereign Loving Father Who is at complete peace with me is a powerful antidote to anxiety and fear and emotional roller coaster that we believers too often treat as "normal".
And what of faith?
Hebrews 11:1 “Now faith is the substance/reality of things hoped for, the evidence/confidence of things not seen.”
Hebrews 11:6a “But without faith, it is impossible to please God.” “But without faith it is impossible to enter into God’s Pleasure!!!” Remember Gen 15:1, Abraham’s faith?
Habakkuk 2:4 “Behold the proud, his soul is not upright in him, but the JUST shall live by his faith.” (Romans 1:17, Galatians 3:11, Hebrews 10:38) Who lives by faith? The Justified!!!
John 6:29 “Jesus answered and said to them, ‘This is the Word of God, that you believe in Him Whom He has Sent.’” The Father has done all the Work!!! Now we must believe it!!!
Romans 10:17 “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Note: It doesn’t say faith comes by understanding the Word of God!!! FAITH COMES BY HEARING THE WORD OF GOD. Most, if not all, of what saving/preserving faith is built upon is beyond human/unaided understanding! Ephesians 3:14-21 speaks to that.
Isaiah 55:3 “Incline your ear, and come to Me. Hear and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you–the Sure Mercies of David.” This is to the people of whom the LORD said, “Hear this now, O foolish people, without heart (margin), who have eyes and see not, and who have ears and hear not.” (Jeremiah 5:1)
Hebrews 11:6b “For he who comes to God MUST BELIEVE that He Is, and (MUST BELIEVE) that He is the Rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.”
Hebrews 12:1b-2 “Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run the race with endurance/perseverance the race that is set before us, (HOW???) LOOKING UNTO JESUS THE AUTHOR/ORIGINATOR AND FINISHER/PERFECTER OF OUR FAITH!!!” This is what faith does–it is continually and constantly looks unto Jesus Who is the Truth and Who Embodied the Truth by being the Propitiatory Sacrifice for us ever in the Presence of the Most High Father that we might have eternal Peace with God through His Name!!!
Romans 5:1 “Therefore, having been justified by faith, WE HAVE PEACE WITH GOD through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
This is what faith does. Whenever satan fires his darts, which is continually, faith stands before him with the complete body shield of the Son of God, our Eternal Savior, wrapped safely in His Truth, His Righteousness, and His Peace. BELIEVE HIM!!!
Revelation 2:7 “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God.”
Stand fast, persevere, ever grasping the Glorious Shield of Faith. It’s all about Jesus! `
The Shield of Faith Eph 6:16
As we have seen, Paul’s use of an armor metaphor did not come from the Roman soldiers that surrounded his world. His “inspiration” was truth from the Old Testament as we shall once again see.
Shield: #2375-“thureos” from #2374-“thura” which is a primary word meaning door, a portal or entrance, metaphorically, of Christ, of faith by believing His Gospel, the entrance into the Kingdom of God. #2375-“Thureos” formerly meant a stone for closing the entrance of a cave, and then came to mean a shield, large and oblong, protecting every part of the soldier, metaphorically again speaking of faith which the believer is to take up, all of it, that is all that has been mentioned before, as affecting the whole of his activitiies.” Expanded Strong’s Dictionary This is the only occurrence of “shield” in the NT.
Old Testament Roots:
Genesis 15:1 “After these things (Abram’s meeting with Melchizadek, the OT shadow of our great High Priest Christ Jesus, after the freeing of Lot) the Word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision, saying, ‘Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your SHIELD, your exceedingly great reward.” (Interestingly, the word for shield here, #4043-“meginaw”, is a small shield, a buckler.) After this comes God’s statement of His covenant with Abram which was indeed an exceedingly great reward, “And he believed in the LORD, and HE accounted it to him for righteousness.”
Hebrews 11:6 “But without faith it is impossible to please God, for he who comes to God must believe that He Is (Abram’s I AM) and that He is a rewarder (The Reward) of those who diligently seek Him” (Abram’s exceedingly great Reward).
We have in the first mention of a shield in Scripture, its union with faith, faith’s Focus and faith’s Reward. From the outset, our God is our Shield and He is Faith’s great reward. Our faith must reside in these two elements.
Deut. 33:29 “Happy are you, O Israel! Who is like you, a people saved by the LORD, the Shield of your Help, and the Sword of your majesty.”
I Samuel 17:7 Very interesting in that Goliath trusted in his own strength and had someone else bear his shield–a fatal mistake! No one can carry your faith shield but you!!! Depending upon your pastor, your favorite theologian or radio preacher, or even mom and dad, will be spiritually fatal!
II Samuel 22:2-3 The song of David begins with, “The LORD is my Rock, my Fortress and my Deliverer; the God of my strength, in Him I will trust, My Shield, and the Horn/Strength of my salvation, my Stronghold and my Refuge; my Savior, You save me from my enemies.” David’s trust was in the Living, Personal God. These are beyond mere attributes, these names are Who God Is!
II Samuel 22:36 “You have given me the Shield of Your salvation, and your gentleness has made me great.” Repeated in Psalm 18:35 with a very important prophetic addition, “Your Right Hand has held me up.” Here is but a hint of our Great High Priest, our Melchizadek, Who ever holds us up!!! Abram’s small shield, his buckler is getting larger!!!
Psalm 3:3 But You, O LORD, are a Shield about/around me, My Glory, and the Lifter of my head.”
Psalm 5:12 “For You, O Lord, will bless the righteous: with favor You will surround Him as with a Shield.” This Shield exceeds the protective areas of its metaphorical object! This Shield surrounds the faithful. By faith, our God has got us covered!
Psalm 28:7 “The LORD is my Strength and my Shield; my heart trusted in Him and I am helped, therefore my heart greatly rejoices and with my song I will praise Him.”
Psalm 33:20 “Our soul waits for the LORD; He is our help AND OUR SHIELD.”
Psalm 84:9 “O God, behold our Shield, and look upon the Face of Your Anointed.” Take note of the margin-“messiah”. Who is our shield but the Anointed One. In prophetic voice, it is as though David is asking God to look upon the Anointed One’s perfect humanity, in which He alone is well pleased. Consider Numbers 6:24-26 and II Corinthians 4:6 in this light. My emphasis is intended!
Psalm 84:11 Continuing the theme of verse 9: For the LORD God is a sun and a Shield; the LORD will give grace and glory; no good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly.” Here is the promise/reward of faith–but note, our Shield reserves the right to determine what the good things are!!!
Psalm 119:114 “You are my Hiding Place and my Shield: I hope in Your word.”
Proverbs 30:5 “Every Word of God is Pure; He is a Shield to those who put their trust in Him.” (Take note of Vs 4) Notice the margin on “pure”–tested, refined. #6884–to melt a metal, to purge gold or silver by fire. Every Word of the LORD is refined to the utmost purity, there is no dross in it. It has been tried in the fires of the saint’s afflictions and found pure, without a hint of failure!!! And this Word is the Absolute Truth personified in Jesus the Son, the Word of God Incarnate!
The Shield conclusion: Our Jehovah Christ is our Shield–specifically He Is the Bastion of Truth that annihilates the “lie darts” of the evil one; and foundationally and overwhelmingly, the Truth He establishes in our hearts is His Righteousness completely covering every part of our humanity, past, present, and future-eternally in the Presence of His Father, now our Father, the Father now completely satisfied and pleased with His Adopted Children because of His Glorious Will and Purpose accomplished through His Son. And of course, that Truth of Justifying Righteousness establishes this Peace with the Father and therefore, His Pleasure in His children! .
Note: This Peace is the Father’s Peace, it is because the condemnation and justice required by His Perfect Holy Character has been satisfied by the Sacrifice of His Holy Righteous Son! It is not referring to our fickle emotional roller coaster peace. I do believe, however, that a clear heart grasp of our Father's being at Peace with us, will have a profound effect upon the experiential peace of the believer. Living in the Love Bond with the Sovereign Loving Father Who is at complete peace with me is a powerful antidote to anxiety and fear and emotional roller coaster that we believers too often treat as "normal".
And what of faith?
Hebrews 11:1 “Now faith is the substance/reality of things hoped for, the evidence/confidence of things not seen.”
Hebrews 11:6a “But without faith, it is impossible to please God.” “But without faith it is impossible to enter into God’s Pleasure!!!” Remember Gen 15:1, Abraham’s faith?
Habakkuk 2:4 “Behold the proud, his soul is not upright in him, but the JUST shall live by his faith.” (Romans 1:17, Galatians 3:11, Hebrews 10:38) Who lives by faith? The Justified!!!
John 6:29 “Jesus answered and said to them, ‘This is the Word of God, that you believe in Him Whom He has Sent.’” The Father has done all the Work!!! Now we must believe it!!!
Romans 10:17 “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Note: It doesn’t say faith comes by understanding the Word of God!!! FAITH COMES BY HEARING THE WORD OF GOD. Most, if not all, of what saving/preserving faith is built upon is beyond human/unaided understanding! Ephesians 3:14-21 speaks to that.
Isaiah 55:3 “Incline your ear, and come to Me. Hear and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you–the Sure Mercies of David.” This is to the people of whom the LORD said, “Hear this now, O foolish people, without heart (margin), who have eyes and see not, and who have ears and hear not.” (Jeremiah 5:1)
Hebrews 11:6b “For he who comes to God MUST BELIEVE that He Is, and (MUST BELIEVE) that He is the Rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.”
Hebrews 12:1b-2 “Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run the race with endurance/perseverance the race that is set before us, (HOW???) LOOKING UNTO JESUS THE AUTHOR/ORIGINATOR AND FINISHER/PERFECTER OF OUR FAITH!!!” This is what faith does–it is continually and constantly looks unto Jesus Who is the Truth and Who Embodied the Truth by being the Propitiatory Sacrifice for us ever in the Presence of the Most High Father that we might have eternal Peace with God through His Name!!!
Romans 5:1 “Therefore, having been justified by faith, WE HAVE PEACE WITH GOD through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
This is what faith does. Whenever satan fires his darts, which is continually, faith stands before him with the complete body shield of the Son of God, our Eternal Savior, wrapped safely in His Truth, His Righteousness, and His Peace. BELIEVE HIM!!!
Revelation 2:7 “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God.”
Stand fast, persevere, ever grasping the Glorious Shield of Faith. It’s all about Jesus! `