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bible, Bible Study, Christ in Me, christianity, Deliverer, Faith, god, Helmet of Salvation, Holy Spirit, Indwelling Spirit, Jesus, Mental Health, Safety, Salvation, Savior, Whole Armor of God
Hello Readers! Welcome to Renaissance Woman!
This week’s post is another installment in my study on the Whole Armor of God as described in Ephesians 6:10-18a and my particular focus is still the Helmet of Salvation.
The Greek word soterian is translated as salvation and means “to save, deliver, heal, preserve, make whole, rescue, safety, defense.” The related word soter means “deliverer, savior”. This entire family of words not only describes who Jesus Christ is but what He has done and continues to do in each of our individual lives. I have been pondering the significance of salvation being referred to as a helmet and what it then means for our thoughts to be saved. As I read Ephesians 6:12, I think of our wrestling against principalities, powers, rulers of the darkness of this age, and spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places and how this wrestling takes place in our minds.
In last week’s post, I wrote: “Because we are in Christ, we are seated with Him in heavenly places. How can that be since as I write this I am seated in my office chair in the office space inside my house? We are seated with Him in the Spirit. In this realm of Spirit, we encounter a spiritual enemy whose sphere of influence is our minds. But, this enemy is a defeated one because Christ, who is our life, has destroyed the works of the devil.”
Am I making two contradictory statements? How can I say Jesus Christ Himself is our armor, that His victory is complete therefore ours is complete in Him, and we are now seated with Him in heavenly places and at the same time say we encounter spiritual hosts of wickedness in the same heavenly places and our Christian lives are ones of warfare? Which is it? Both are true until our thoughts are utterly saved although a better word is renewed. Just this morning I was reminded of Colossians 2:13-15 which says, “And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.”
This then is the truth. Whatever power or ruler or principality or spiritual host we might encounter is disarmed. Colossians 2 also says, “For in Him (Jesus Christ) dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him who is the head of all principality and power” (see verses 9 & 10). That is worth repeating: He is the head of ALL PRINCIPALITY AND POWER. All means all. Therefore, there is no other power-and that includes the Devil-who Jesus Christ is not the head of and has not disarmed.
How many of us know this? How many of us have ever had it taught to us by our religious leaders? Are we taught that Jesus Christ has disarmed and triumphed over every principality and power or are we told our enemy is so powerful it has the ability to deceive the majority of humanity and drag them into hell? If it is true that Jesus has disarmed principalities and powers, triumphed over them, and is now the head of all principality and power, why is there still so much evil and suffering in the world? I don’t wish to offer up pat answers, especially when suffering is so terrible and personal. What I will offer are a few passages of scripture and a prayer the Holy Spirit increases our understanding.
The first is in 1 Peter 5:8 but I am going to quote from verse 6: “Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you. Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.” I can’t find a passage anywhere in the New Testament where any of the Writers suggested they were worried about or afraid of the enemy. James says “resist the devil and he will flee from you” (4:7). What then could Peter mean by referring to the devil as a “roaring lion seeking whom he may devour?” That certainly sounds terrifying but, taking all of this into consideration-principalities and powers being disarmed, Jesus the head of all principalities and powers, yet our enemy roaming about like a roaring lion-I would say our enemy is disarmed but still possesses a voice and a sphere of influence in which to use it.
That sphere is death and I am referring to death as a state of mind. Before you close out of this post, consider these passages of scripture. Romans 8:6-11 says, “For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be.” At an earlier place in this same letter, Paul writes, “Therefore, just as through one man sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned-For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come” (Ro. 5:12-14).
This concept is repeated in 1 Corinthians 15:21-22 which says, “For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.” Hebrews had this to say about death: “Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.”
I hope you can see the picture being painted by these scriptures. Every human being on this planet has partaken of the life of Adam in that we are all flesh and blood and subject to death. These scriptures don’t only refer to the physical death we are all subject to but also to a way of thinking that is death called being carnally minded. The devil had the power of death and thus power over the carnal mind. Disarmed he might be, but his voice is that of a roaring lion and, for those who have not yet come to the knowledge of Jesus Christ, this voice resonates in their minds and causes terrible fear.
Those of us who have come to the knowledge of Jesus Christ are no longer carnally but Spiritually minded. John 5:24 & 25 records Jesus saying; “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life. Most assuredly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear will live.” 1 John 3:14-20 says, “We know that we have passed from death to life because we love the brethren.” “There is no fear in love,” John writes later in this same letter, “but perfect love casts out fear” (1 John 4:18).
The Greek word metanoia has been translated as “repentance” in most of our Bible translations. It means “to change one’s mind”. I don’t see it as merely thinking different thoughts though we humans have great powers of self will and the ability to train our minds to think a different way. No, I see metanoia as changing one’s mind within the framework of Philippians 2:5: “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.”
There is a passage in 2 Corinthians that says, “Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.” To be Spiritually minded is life, the Spirit is the Lord, and we have the mind of Christ. Our thoughts then are joined to the One who disarmed all principalities and powers. He is our Deliverer and Savior who protects our minds like a helmet. Any thought influenced by the spirit of this world merely pings off the helmet that He is. He keeps our minds safe while He renews them. As our minds are renewed, we are transformed into His image.
Talk about mental health! Isn’t it wonderful?
Unless noted otherwise, all Scriptures are quoted from The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, Tennessee, 1982
References
Strong, James, LL.D., S.T.D., The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville Tennessee, 1990
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