Ephesians 6:16

Above all. — Properly, over all, or besides all else. The shield here is the large heavy shield covering the whole body, in which the “fiery darts” — that is, the arrows, with the points made red hot, or wrapped in with burning tow (comp. Psalms 7:14; Psalms 120:4) — may fix and burn themselves out without harm. St. Paul likens it to “faith.” This, however, is neither the “faith in which we stand” (2 Corinthians 1:24), nor the energetic faith of Hebrews 11. It is the faith of patience and endurance, the almost passive faith, trusting in God’s protection and submissive to His will, on which the darts of temptation, whether from fear, or from lust, or from doubt, fall harmless. The best commentary after all, on the words is found in Christian’s conflict with Apollyon in the Pilgrim’s Progress.