Ephesians 6:17

‘And receive the helmet of salvation.'

In 1 Thessalonians 5:8 the helmet is ‘the hope of salvation.' Here it is expanded to include all aspects of salvation. Confidence in what Christ as Saviour has done, and is doing, and will do on our behalf, will protect the Christian's mind from all the Enemy's assaults. When all seems lost flee into the arms of the Saviour.

The Bible teaches different aspects of 'salvation', each of which is important. It speaks of salvation accomplished once for all in the past, of ‘having been saved' - Titus 3:5; 2 Timothy 1:9 (aorist tense, something that has happened once for all). It speaks of ‘having been saved and therefore of now being saved', so that we can say we “are saved' - Ephesians 2:5; Ephesians 2:8 (perfect tense, something that has happened in the past the benefit of which continues to the present time). These are what is in mind when we speak of a person as having been ‘saved'. He has been set apart by God with a view to his full salvation, once and for all secure in His hands.

But the Bible also speaks of us as those who “are being saved” - 1 Corinthians 1:18; 2 Corinthians 2:15; (present tense - a process going on), and who will be saved - (the hope of salvation) 1 Corinthians 3:15; 1Co 5:5; 2 Corinthians 7:10; 1 Thessalonians 5:9; 2 Thessalonians 2:13 (future tense - something yet to happen - and equivalents). These are present and future aspects of our salvation. It is something that is continually going on, and will go on to the end. In other words, when God ‘saves' someone they are saved once and for all, and it is fully effective. But if it is genuine it means that it will then result in a process by which they are being ‘changed from glory into glory' (2 Corinthians 3:18), with the final guarantee of a completed process. If the salvation is not progressing, even though slowly, then its genuineness must be questioned. The Saviour does not fail in His work.

As an illustration consider a man drowning at sea, in a fierce storm, clinging to a life raft with one hand, his other arm broken and trailing behind, and both his legs paralysed, having been many hours in the freezing water and suffering from hypothermia, more dead than alive. Then along comes the life boat and drags him out and he gasps, hardly able to speak because of the seriousness of his condition, “I am saved”.

Well, it is true. But he has a long way to go. He would not have much confidence in his salvation if they put him to one side in the bow of the boat, with the waves lashing over him, and said to him, “Well, you're saved now”, and then went off for a drink and practised turning the lifeboat over. His confidence and dependence lie in a fully trained and capable crew who are dedicated to warming him up, treating him and getting him to hospital so that he can be fully restored.

So as they get to work on him, wrapping him in a blanket and gently warming his frozen limbs, trying to set his broken arm and doing everything else necessary to restore him to some kind of normality, he can begin to have hope and think gratefully to himself, “I am being saved”. But he may well still be aware of the winds howling round, and the boat heaving in the heavy seas, and the pain and agony of his limbs, and he may then look forward and think, “I will soon be saved”. If those crewmen, and the ambulance waiting for him on shore on that terrible night, can be so dedicated, can we think that the One Who died on a cross for us on an even more terrible night, can be less dedicated? He does not just want us in the lifeboat. He wants us fully restored. And that is what He is determined to have. And if we want to be saved that is what we must want! We cannot say, ‘Lord, save me, but leave me as I am'.

This salvation is entered into by an act of faith and commitment. As we genuinely recognise our need to be saved (in every way) from sin we commit ourselves completely to the One Who Saves (the Saviour), and trust Him to carry out the work, knowing that once He has begun the good work He will carry it out to the end (Philippians 1:6). We are then ‘saved', and have entered the process of ‘being saved'. And we can wear the helmet of salvation, confident against all the Enemy can do.

‘And the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God.'

The sword is used for both defence and attack, and the Christian, indwelt by the Spirit, must use the sword of the word of God in both modes. It acts as a further defence as its promises are utilised to divert Enemy attack, and it is a means of delivering from darkness those who are under ‘the power of darkness'. Its cut and thrust will tear aside the refuge of lies for those willing to hear. ‘The word of the cross is to those who perish foolishness, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God' (1 Corinthians 1:18).

It is not without significance that the Evil One uses a bow or javelin where the Christian uses a sword. The former's attacks are many and varied, thrown at a venture, hoping to do harm, but the attacks of the latter are personal and sure, hand to hand and personally directed. And we must learn to attack as well as defend, by proclaiming and passing on the word of God.