Our Redemption “in Christ” Detailed to the Ephesians Volume 67

Paul Instructs the Ephesian Believers on Spiritual Warfare Part 8: The Pieces of our Armor

Ephesians 6:17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: KJV

The Roman soldiers head was the most vulnerable part of him. Paul surely observed these Roman soldiers guarding him wait until they had all of their other covering pieces of armor on before they would put on their helmet. The Apostle Paul now tells these Ephesian believers and we believers today to “take the helmet of salvation” (Ephesians 6:17). In the same since as the Roman soldier Paul observed, he wanted everyone of these Ephesian believers and us to put on spiritually our salvation “in Christ” and in His Blood shed for us on Calvary. Paul referred to our salvation in this manner to the Thessalonian believers when he said, “But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation. For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him. Therefore, comfort each other and edify one another, just as you also are doing.” (1 Thessalonians 5:8-11).

The English word “hope” Paul used here in writing to the Thessalonians is not a good English translation, because it does not mean what we have defined it as to wish something to be possible, but instead the Greek word is elpis which means a confident sure expectation; (to anticipate, usually with pleasure). In other words, this part of our armor being the last of the covering or defensive pieces assures us of our eternal future and destiny keeping us from falling for a false Gospel of works salvation or works righteousness and places all of our confidence solely and only on what Christ Jesus our Lord has done for us making us certain of our redemption through His Blood. Note: Here is what John Wesley said about this piece of our armor, “The lowest degree of this hope is a confidence that God will work the whole work of faith in us; the highest is a full assurance of future glory, added to the experimental knowledge of pardoning love.” Having on at all times our helmet of salvation will squash/crush everyone of Satan’s accusations against us trying to bring us into despair which is the state when all hope is lost or absent giving us a feeling of desperation, doubt, and disappointment, but instead with our helmet/hope of salvation we can say these words written by the Psalmist and rest in them, “The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer; My God, my strength, in whom I will trust; My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.” (Psalm 18:2).

Paul now directs these Ephesian believers and us today now to the first of the only two (2) offensive weapons we are to yield in our warfare with the enemy and that is “the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God” (Ephesians 6:17). The steel sword was what the Roman soldiers used to attack their enemy and kill them when they were close to them in hand to hand combat (‘Game of Thrones’ enthusiast can attest to this). The Roman soldier would thrust or push the sword forcefully into the flesh of his enemy to incapacitate and ultimately kill the enemy during the battles. In the spiritual sense, we are to attack the devil and all his principalities and powers by speaking the Word of God to them which they cannot guard themselves against. Although, we cannot kill them by speaking the Word of God, we can make them flee from the battle as did our Lord Jesus Christ give us an example when He defeated the devil in the wilderness as recorded for us by Dr. Luke, “And Jesus replied to him, ‘[The Scripture] says, you shall not tempt (try, test exceedingly) the Lord your God.’ And when the devil had ended every [the complete cycle of] temptation, he [temporarily] left Him [that is, stood off from Him] until another more opportune {and} favorable time.” (Luke 4:12-13).

The capacity and power of the Word of God is beyond any understanding for it is what God used to create all that is seen by us visibly here on the earth and throughout the vast innumerable galaxies and universes there are in outer space as recorded for us by Moses with these words, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. Then God said, ‘Let there be light’; and there was light.” (Genesis 1:1-3). God said and the thing and things appeared just as He said solely by the Power of His Word. This is why we must not try and attack the enemy with anything but the Word of God. The Sword of the Spirit is our Lord Jesus Christ Himself as the Apostle John declared Him with these words written in his Gospel, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.” (John 1:1-3). These words written by the Apostle John are a mirror of what Moses wrote in Genesis 1:1-3 as we documented above.

“It has already been observed, in the description of the Grecian armor, that on the crest and other parts of the helmet were a great variety of emblematical figures, and that it is very likely the Apostle refers to helmets which had on them an emblematical representation of hope; viz. that the person should be safe who wore it, that he should be prosperous in all his engagements, and ever escape safe from battle. So the hope of conquering every adversary and surmounting every difficulty, through the Blood of the Lamb, is as a helmet that protects the head; an impenetrable one, that the blow of the battle-axe cannot cleave. The hope of continual safety and protection, built on the promises of God, to which the upright follower of Christ feels he has a Divine right, protects the understanding from being darkened, and the judgment from being confused by any temptations of Satan, or subtle arguments of the sophistical ungodly. He who carries Christ in his heart cannot be cheated out of the hope of his heaven.” Adam Clarke

“Before all Christian warfare must come the possession of the Christian armor, and the commandment that here lies at the beginning of all Paul’s description of it is ‘Take.’ Our fitness for the conflict all depends on our receiving God’s gift, and that reception is no mere passive thing, as if God’s grace could be poured into a human spirit as water is into a bucket. Hence, the translation of this commandment of Paul’s by ‘take’ is better than that by ‘receive,’ inasmuch as it brings into prominence man’s activity, though it gives too exclusive importance to that, to the detriment of the far deeper and more essential element of the divine action. The two words are, in fact, both needed to cover the whole ground of what takes place when the giving God and the taking man concur in the great act by which the Spirit of God takes up its abode in a human spirit. God’s gift is to be received as purely His gift, undeserved, unearned by us. But undeserved and unearned as it is, and given ‘without money and without price,’ it is not ours unless our hand is stretched out to take, and our fingers closed tightly over the free gift of God. There is a dead lift of effort in the reception; there is a still greater effort needed for the continued possession, and there is a life-long discipline and effort needed for the effective use in the struggle of daily life of the Sword of the Spirit.” Alexander MacLaren

If you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ and His amazing healing power, pray this from your heart to the Lord Jesus Christ (you speaking directly to Him), Dear Lord Jesus, I confess to You that I am a sinner and I need Your forgiveness. I believe You shed Your Blood and died for my sins. I believe that You rose from the dead proving that You alone are God. I repent of my sins. I want to turn from my sins. I ask You Dear Lord Jesus to come into my heart and take control of my life. I want You to be my Lord, Savior, and my God. Amen...


Sincerely in Christ,


Clifford D. Tate, Sr.

Author of “Silent Assassins of the Soul - Are you Broken by Pornography and Masturbation? You can be Restored by the Lord Jesus Christ and brought into Deliverance, Freedom, and Victory! A Guide for Men and Women in the Enemy’s Crosshairs” e-book available now @ Amazon Kindle, @ Apple I Bookstore for IPod, Barnes and Noble for Nook, Reader Store for Sony Reade, Kobo, Copia, Gardners, Baker and Taylor, and eBookPie…