1 Thessalonians 5:8

But let us, who are of the day, be sober Better, since we are of the day (R. V.); comp. notes on "sober" (1 Thessalonians 5:6), and "day" (1 Thessalonians 5:5).

Watchfulnesshas been sufficiently urged already. The Apostle now reiterates the other half of the appeal made in 1 Thessalonians 5:6: "let us be sober."

putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for a helmet, the hope of salvation The daylight rouses the soldier to action. If he has slept, with the dawn he is awake and alert; if he has spent the night in carousals, he is instantly sobered. The things of darkness are dismissed and forgotten. At the bugle-call he starts up, he dons his armour and is ready for the field. In Romans 13:12-13 the same figure is still more graphically applied: "Let us put off the works of darkness revellings, drunkenness, and the like" loose and shameful garments of the night "and let us put on the armour of light … Let us walk in the day, becomingly." Comp., for the militarystyle of the passage, ch. 1 Thessalonians 4:16, and notes.

In the later passage parallel to this, Ephesians 6:13-17, the Christian armour, "the panoply of God," is set forth in greater detail and somewhat differently. "Breastplate" and "helmet" make up this picture, "being the two chief pieces of defensive armour, that protect the two most vital parts of the body. "The breastplate of faith and love" guards the heart, the centre of life and spring of the body's forces; and to this quarter "faith and love" are naturally assigned. What belongs to "breastplate" here, is virtually divided between "shield" and "breastplate" in Ephesians. The "helmet" is the same in both Epistles: there consisting of "salvation," here "the hope of salvation," in accordance with the fact that Hope is the dominant key-note of this Epistle (see ch. 1 Thessalonians 1:3, and note). The fitness of this metaphor lies in the place of the helmet as the crown of the soldier's armour, its brightest and most conspicuous feature, covering the head, the part of his person that most invites attack. The simile, in both Epistles, is based on Isaiah 59:17, where the Lord appears "putting on righteousness as a breastplate" and "an helmet of salvation upon His head," as He goes forth to fight for His people.

Observe again the Apostle's favourite combination, Faith, Love, Hope, in the same order as in ch. 1 Thessalonians 1:3 (see notes); also in 2 Thessalonians 1:3-4. As we might expect, "hope the helmet" is that on which he is here most disposed to dwell. Accordingly he continues