The Final Cut (The Armor, part 18)

Better is the end of a thing than its beginning…

~Ecclesiastes 7:8 (ESV)

And so we arrive at the final lesson in this series. Not that we have uncovered all that there is to learn from the Whole Armor of God, but all projects must come to an end. It is fitting that the Sword of the Spirit represents the Word of God, for we are able to finish this study where it began: with Jesus Christ.

Photo by Søren Niedziella, edited for use here.

You may recall that the first item of the armor, the Belt of Truth, works to reveal the truth of Jesus Christ as both Lord and Savior. As mentioned previously, the Sword of the Spirit, as the Word of God, also represents Christ, the author and finisher of our faith (Hebrews 12:2). Whether by intent or serendipity (or by divine intervention), Paul frames this entire list of items in a way which echoes the following words recorded by John…

I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.

~Revelation 22:13 (ESV)

How do we use this final piece of the Armor of God? What would it mean to put on the Sword of the Spirit? Can one wield Jesus Christ as a weapon? Could we turn the Messiah into an implement of war?

Close Quarters Combat (The Armor, part 17)

I have never seen (nor do I wish to see) an exorcism. What I have seen, and perhaps you have seen them as well, are cinematic portrayals of exorcisms in movies and on TV. Linda Blair’s stunning scene from The Exorcist (1973) remains one of the most dramatic and terrifying scenes of spiritual warfare in cinematic history. While I know little about whether the movie portrayed such an event accurately, I am certain that such combat in our daily lives is always up-close, personal, and dangerous. There truly is no such thing as safe, long-distance spiritual warfare.

Photo by Matthias Kabel

The same could be said of combat as experienced by Roman legionnaires of the first century. Heavily armored and wielding large protective shields, Roman soldiers required a weapon which could be easily wielded in one hand. While spears and javelins were certainly used by the Romans in conjunction with their large shields, Paul mentions only one weapon in his references to the Whole Armor of God: the Sword of the Spirit. The sword wielded by the typical Roman soldier of the era would have been the gladius, a short sword with a blade approximately two feet in length. The length and weight of the gladius complemented the use of the scutum, the large shield commonly in use during the first century.

Many commentators have found it curious that a weapon should be included as belonging to a set of armor. In our modern culture, the two seem to belong to different categories. Armor is typically thought of as being any worn item which is primarily defensive in nature, while something which is used to attack the enemy would be categorized as a weapon. However, the Latin root word arma literally means “tools or implements of war” and technically applies to both modern categories of armor and weapons. Similarly, the Greek word Paul actually uses, panoplia, also refers to armor and weapons collectively. Thus, it is not incorrect to include the Sword of the Spirit as part of a set of armor.

A short sword such as the gladius is designed specifically to be easily maneuvered in close-quarters combat. Both Paul and his original readers would have known this. They would also have appreciated the resulting implication that spiritual warfare is a deeply personal thing. One cannot engage in spiritual warfare from a distance. There are no snipers among prayer warriors, only infantrymen.

One Sword to Rule Them All (The Armor, part 16)

I’ve been a fan of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings for nearly as long as I can remember. I was introduced to the Rankin/Bass animated version of The Hobbit back in the late 1970s, and I was instantly hooked. One of my favorite scenes is when Gandalf rescues Bilbo and the dwarves from the Goblin King. The sword Gandalf wields, Glamdring (a.k.a. The Foe Hammer), is featured prominently in this scene. The mere appearance of Glamdring was enough to send the Goblin King into a panic, and Gandalf quickly dispatches the brute and leads the party to safety. This scene left quite an impression on the seven-year-old me, and I’ve been fascinated with swords ever since.

Tolkien’s Glamdring, King Arthur’s Excalibur, and Charlemagne’s Joyeuse are just a few of the iconic swords which have played prominent roles in fiction and/or history.  Once the pinnacle of battlefield armaments, swords continue to symbolize power and authority even to this day. In Ephesians 6:17, the Apostle Paul states that the Sword of the Spirit is the “word of God.” As such, this final piece of the Whole Armor of God would be the ultimate symbol of power and authority.

The use of sword imagery and symbolism in the Bible can get a little strange. The first mention of a sword in the Bible is the flaming sword which “turned every way” to guard the entrance of the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3:24). If a (possibly) levitating sword of fire isn’t odd enough, imagine having a sword coming out of your mouth!

… from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword…

~Revelation 1:16 (ESV)

This bizarre passage is not alone in the “swords for lips” category. A sword is symbolically linked to the mouth numerous times in scripture! If there is a lesson to be learned here, it is that words are powerful; none more so than the very word of God.

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For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

~Hebrews 4:12 (NKJV)

This idea of the Word of God being alive shares a direct link to another passage of scripture which reveals the identity of the Word to be none other than Jesus Christ himself.

Speak No Evil (The Armor, part 15)

“If you can’t say something good, don’t say anything at all.” Countless parents have given this sound advice to their children over the years, but judging by what we hear people saying on TV, on the radio, in movies, and perhaps most appallingly on social media, the advice seems to have gone largely unheeded. Vile words have always been a problem. Paul’s advice to first century Christians sounded much like the timeless parental wisdom quoted above…

Don’t use foul or abusive language. Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them.

~Ephesians 4:29 (NLT)

Many Christians grow weary of the seemingly endless stream of profanity that surrounds us today, but the problem goes far deeper than “the F-bomb” and other words which have been singled out as taboo. While vulgar words are certainly things which a Christian should seek to eliminate from one’s own personal vocabulary, the use of otherwise polite language to demean, discredit, or destroy another person is a far more dangerous corruption of the tongue.

Image by ArtCoreStudios from Pixabay 

Let us once again consider the Helmet of Salvation, as represented by a first century Roman soldier’s gear. There is some evidence which suggests that the helmets worn by legionnaires were considerably less standardized than other pieces of equipment. Assuming that to be true, one can imagine that some soldiers would opt for helmets which would provide greater degrees of protection for the head and face. Almost certainly, the original readers of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians would have been familiar with various styles of helmets, including full-face models.

You’ve undoubtedly heard someone speak with their mouth covered. The sound is muffled, and it can be quite difficult to understand what’s being said. This would certainly be true of a soldier wearing a full-faced helmet, but we know that God would not want us to deliver muffled, hard-to-hear messages to the world around us. So how does the Helmet of Salvation affect our speech once we have put it on? The answer, as always, is found in scripture…

Filtered Input (The Armor, part 14)

In my youth, I had a very brief romance with motorcycles. Oh, I still love to look at sick choppers and big bad hogs, but my Honda Trail 70 and I had a falling out which permanently diminished my desire to ever again ride a bike. One of the things I really love about biker culture is the seemingly endless assortment of helmets available. You can create any aesthetic by simply changing from a simple open-faced helmet to a sci-fi themed full-face modular model. Or perhaps you want a more military look: you can choose from simple kaiser helmets or something that resembles special ops gear. The possibilities are endless!

A helmet’s primary purpose is to protect the brain, which is both the biological control center of the body and home to our minds, or thought processes. However, the helmet can protect more than just the brain; the helmets mentioned above provide various levels of protection for the eyes, ears, and mouth as well.  The eyes and ears are vital to our experience of the world around us.  What we see and hear has a huge effect on what we think.  The mouth is very important with regard to how we affect the world (specifically, people) around us.  The Biblical Helmet of Salvation has much to do with both how we perceive the world, and how the world perceives us.

Image by Steven Iodice from Pixabay 

Let’s turn our focus toward the Roman military helmets which first-century Christians would have been familiar with. Some types leave the ears open, while others cover the ears completely.  The advantage to having your ears covered is enhanced protection of the sides of the skull, but it brings with it a serious disadvantage:  you can’t hear as well.

What about protection for the eyes?  Most versions protect the face only with hinged cheek guards, providing good protection on each side, but leaving the eyes open and vulnerable.  Some helmets covered the entire face, leaving just the eyeholes open, which would provide much greater protection. Only small objects that could fit through those eyeholes would pose a threat to the eyes, but along with that protection comes the hindrance of a restricted field of vision. 

Put On Your Thinking Cap - The Helmet of Salvation (The Armor, part 13)

Thus far in our study of the Whole Armor of God, we have established that the Belt of Truth represents salvation by acceptance of Christ as Lord and Savior, the Breastplate of Righteousness protects us from the consequences of sin by engaging in good behavior, the “boots” of preparation get us ready to spread the gospel of peace, and the Shield of Faith adds a layer of protection which keeps us spiritually safe, even when all else fails. In this installment, we will look at the Helmet of Salvation.

At this point, alarm bells might be going off in your head. ..

Wasn’t the Belt of Truth all about salvation?

Is the helmet just a repeat of that?

Keep calm and read on, dear reader, because the Helmet of Salvation plays quite a different role in our spiritual lives than the Belt of Truth. We can understand this better by considering the function of the Roman soldier’s helmet, or galea.

Photo by R. Gino Santa Maria

The galea in its simplest form consisted primarily of a skull cap of iron or brass.  Some versions included cheek flaps made of leather or other perishable material, while others sported hinged cheek plates of iron or brass.  Regardless of the material used, the flaps tied together below the chin, both securing the helmet and adding protection for the cheeks, mouth, and chin.  Some models of the galea had a rear neck guard, while cavalry helmets often featured a full faceplate, with only eyeholes cut out.  All versions of the helmet included an inner liner (probably of wool) which provided vital cushioning for impacts.

But what about the spiritual symbolism? Three times in scripture, a helmet is linked to salvation. 

Choose Faith (The Armor, part 12)

I’m not a morning person. Waking up is a process, and my morning routine seems to happen with little or no conscious thought on my behalf. Sit up, put on my oversize fuzzy slippers, answer mother nature’s call, feed the cats, make the coffee. It’s the same every day, and I go through it without even thinking about it.

Or do I?

Even though I may feel (and look) like a mindless zombie first thing in the morning, each step of my routine is the result of a choice. I choose to get out of bed rather than sleeping in. I choose to put on the fuzzy slippers instead of going barefoot. True, going to the bathroom may be the unavoidable result of bodily functions, but I choose to do that before feeding the cats or making coffee. Everything we do is the result of a choice, even for one such as myself who, upon first waking, has more in common with the walking dead than Mr. Rogers.

What is life if not a series of choices?

Choice is an ever-present factor of human life. Nothing that you do happens without your choosing it. You chose your job. You chose what to wear this morning. You chose what to eat for breakfast - or you may have chosen to skip breakfast altogether. You chose to read this article (and I choose to thank you for doing so!). If any of the above decisions were made by someone else on your behalf, then you chose to let them make that decision for you.

As stated in lyrics penned by the late Neil Peart of Rush, “If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice.” There is no escaping the presence of choice in your life. It touches everything that you do.

Defending the Faith (The Armor, part 11)

The Shield of Faith is arguably the most complex piece of the whole armor of God. The problem is that faith is such a complex word with many, many layers of meaning. Faith is hope. Faith is trust. Faith is belief. Faith can also be a set of beliefs. The Bible tells us, “faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1) Faith is loyalty, confidence, assurance, and truth.  All of this… without even touching the topic of where we should place our faith.

It was with this awareness of the myriad definitions of faith that I opened my Strong’s Concordance to narrow down the possibilities and try to find out what exactly Paul was getting at by invoking the name of faith in regard to the Roman soldier’s shield. What I found was surprising.

We’ll get back to that later.

A Herd of Turtles (The Armor, part 10)

Wolves have long been one of my favorite wild animals. It’s not surprising, because I love dogs, I grew up owning dogs, and at times during my childhood, I spent more time alone with my dogs than with other kids my age. I have been described by numerous people throughout my life as a loner, so I suppose it makes sense that I have often felt a kind of kinship with the trope of the lone wolf.

While it’s true that a lone wolf can be an effective hunter, such a beast will find itself limited to small prey. But a pack of wolves? That’s a different story. Wolf packs are among the most successful of nature’s hunting parties, able to bring down prey that would be impossible for (or even deadly to) a lone wolf.

Believe me when I say that life as a Christian is much the same way.

A lone Christian can make some impact on the world for Christ. Some would argue that it is in one-on-one contact and close relationships with non-believers that a Christian is able to share the Gospel most effectively, and they wouldn’t be wrong. But even so, all Christians need to have regular contact with other believers, lest they cease to be the hunters and become the hunted. Fortunately, there is a place where individual believers can go to recharge their batteries on a regular basis.

Yes, it’s the church.

Even the strongest and surest individuals need a support system. Indeed, as stated so succinctly by author John Donne, “No man is an island.” Living and working in isolation is difficult for social beings, whether they be wolves or humans. The work is tiresome, the resources scarce, and the rewards limited. But as part of a group (or pack), the Christian can find the strength and support to accomplish far greater things than the loner.

Photo by Neil Carey (license CC BY-SA 2.0)

An excellent picture of the power of a unified group of individuals comes from Paul’s reference to faith as a shield in Ephesians 6:16. While the Roman scutum was a formidable bit of equipment for the individual soldier, the collective strength of these shields when used in unison by an entire unit became the stuff of legend.

When outnumbered or facing a rain of arrows from distant archers, Roman legionnaires could unite in a special defensive formation known as the testudo, or tortoise formation. Soldiers along the perimeter of the formation would hold their shields upright, side-by-side, while those inside the formation would lift their shields horizontally above their heads, overlapping them to form a virtually impenetrable shell encasing the entire unit. The formation could maintain its position nearly indefinitely, and it could even move and advance into enemy lines while providing superior protection to the soldiers beneath the canopy of overlapping shields.

Complete Coverage (The Armor, part 9)

One of the primary goals of this study is to better understand the symbolism used in Paul’s references to Roman military equipment in his letter to the Ephesians. Why, for example, does he pair the shield with faith, rather than some other spiritual quality? And why is faith, which is so extremely important, placed fourth in this list of six items? The answers to both of these questions lie in the broad nature of the word, “faith,” as well as the equally broad coverage of the scutum itself.

Scutum In Action

The Roman soldier’s shield was a surprisingly versatile and effective piece of equipment due, in part, to its large size and relatively light weight. The scutum was large enough to fully cover a crouching soldier, leaving virtually no target available for archers except the shield itself, yet lightweight enough for a legionnaire to wield in one hand while brandishing a sword or spear in the other. The scutum quite literally overlaps every other piece of the Roman soldier’s gear.

In much the same way, faith has a broad array of functions in the life of a believer. Faith, in fact, has an impact on every other facet of our spiritual lives. Surely this is why Paul says…

“Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.”

~Ephesians 6:16 (KJV)

While the KJV translation of this verse begins with the words, “above all,” other translations use phrases such as in all things; at all times; in every situation; in every battle; in all circumstances; and in all this. Faith overlaps every one of the spiritual elements Paul refers to in his references to the whole Armor of God.

On Display: The Shield of Faith (The Armor, part 8)

If you love the near-infinite variety of wildlife found on our tiny blue-green planet (as I do), you are sure to have taken note of some of the more prominent features displayed by nature’s children. Perhaps you have marveled at the giraffe’s surprisingly long neck or have been impressed by the peacock’s striking plumage. Maybe the elephant’s flexible trunk and majestic tusks strike your fancy, or it could be that you are enamored with the magnificent mane of the king of beasts, the mighty lion. Whichever creature strikes you as being the weirdest, the wildest, or the most bizarre, it’s probably due to that one characteristic which sets them apart from the crowd. That creature’s most prominent feature marks it as special in some way.

Perhaps the most prominent feature of a Roman soldier’s gear was his shield. While the Romans employed a variety of shields even during the time of Jesus, by far the most iconic and recognizable of these was the scutum, a curved rectangular shield large enough to completely cover a fully grown man. The name scutum is derived from the same word which might refer to a turtle’s shell, and the protection afforded by a Roman soldier’s scutum was similarly as effective and complete as that enjoyed by the armored reptile.

Image by Parasit on Pixabay

The Roman scutum of the first century was a convex rectangular shield constructed of mostly wood and leather, commonly edged with rawhide to make the structure more durable. The handgrip was located in the center of the shield, with a circular cutout which allowed the handle (grip) of the shield to be as close as possible to the shield’s center of gravity. This placement allowed for better control of the shield when gripped with a single hand. The hand itself was covered by a boss, a piece of domed metal intended primarily to protect the hand, which would otherwise extend through the cutout, beyond the surface of the shield, when holding the handle.

It's About Time: Creation and the Theory of Relativity

We know that 60 seconds make up a minute, 60 minutes make up an hour, there are 24 hours in a day, seven days in a week, and so on. Humans are obsessed with time. We celebrate the passage of it with anniversaries and birthdays, we plan our waking activities around it, and we build clocks of all different shapes and sizes, from Stonehenge to cuckoo clocks to building sized monuments like Big Ben, to smart watches synchronized automatically by your cellular network to super-precise atomic clocks.

Peter Cetera, in a song by his band, Chicago, famously asked, Does Anyone Really Know What Time It Is? As it turns out, that question may be a lot harder to answer than you think.

Hidden Meanings

If you’ve read the New Testament very much at all, you’re probably aware that Jesus made extensive use of parables in His teaching. In case you’re not exactly sure what a parable is, let’s define it.

Parable: a simple story about everyday life which is used to illustrate a spiritual or moral lesson.

No matter what subject you’re teaching, your goal is to communicate new ideas to your students. One of the most effective ways to do this is to start with concepts which your students already understand, preferably with ideas that they have fully mastered, and build upon what they already know in order to learn something new.