“ Do not love the world or the things in the world. This is precisely what 1 John 2.15-17 warns about. They are not just lies they are attractive lies. The deceptions and seductions of the evil one are particularly dangerous because they are enticing. The defense we have against these attacks, Paul says, is the shield of faith. The enemy constantly fires “flaming darts” at us, and these flaming darts are various forms of deceit, disruption, and temptation. What the thureos was for the soldier, so the shield of faith is for the Christian. This is the picture that Paul paints for us here. Enemy archers would often shoot flaming arrows dipped in pitch, and the leather covering of the thureos quenched the flames of the arrows. The soldiers who carried the thureos were in the front lines of battle and stood side by side with their shields together, forming an inter-locking phalanx that was the first to engage the enemy. The shield was made of a solid piece of wood and was covered with metal or heavy oiled leather. This shield was tall and wide, designed to protect the entire body of the soldier. The second kind of shield was the thureos, to which Paul refers here. It was relatively lightweight and was used to deflect the sword blows of an opponent in hand-to-hand combat. The first was a small round shield, about two feet in diameter, that was secured to the arm by two leather straps. The fourth piece is “the shield of faith.” Roman soldiers used several kinds of shields, but two were the most common.
We have looked at the first three pieces of armor: truth, righteousness, and peace. Paul is laying out the armor of God that we must put on in order to fight and win the spiritual battles against “the schemes of the devil.” Paul makes it clear that victory is the result of “being strong in the Lord and the strength of his might.” Putting on the whole armor of God is what gives us the ability to stand, fight, and win. “ In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one …”.
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