Review
That brings us to the helmet of salvation.
Ephesians 6:17 - “Take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God…”
A helmet is used as protective gear in modern days sports like football, baseball, etc. They are used when riding motorcycles and other vehicles. A helmet is considered as a vital piece of equipment in these activities as it is meant to protect your head from serious injury. It is highly advised and even required to participate in these activities.
A Roman Soldier’s Helmet
Along with the rest of his armor, a Roman soldier wore a helmet over their heads to protect themselves from injury. A soldier would not go anywhere without his helmet. They were normally made of thick leather covered with metal plates. Some were made of molded metal
For Christians, we too must put on a helmet, that is the helmet of salvation. As mentioned before, a helmet is intended to protect the head from serious injury. The fact that our helmet is tied to Salvation, it is clear that Salvation is meant to protect our minds from the enemy’s attack. The devil wants to attack your mind. Specifically, he wants to attack the way you think. He wants you to doubt your salvation, he wants you to be unsure of your standing with God. He wants to discourage you by pointing to your failures, bringing up your past, making you believe that God is disappointed in you, etc. He wants to shake your confidence in God. However, he cannot do that if you have your helmet on.
Understanding Salvation
So if we are to put on salvation as a helmet, then we have to understand what salvation is.
Salvation = Sōtērios = Rescue or deliverance from danger
Salvation refers to us being saved from present and eternal damnation. The Word of God makes it clear that salvation is built on the gospel or good news.
Salvation is by grace, through faith.
By Grace - It is a free gift of God that has been made available through the finished work of Jesus Christ. It cannot be earned, no matter how much good you do on earth. It cannot be earned if it is by grace. If we are able to earn it then it ceases to be grace. Not only can we earn salvation, we deserve it either. Grace is getting what we don’t deserve. Salvation is a free gift, paid by Christ through His death on the cross.
Through Faith - We access what Christ has made available to us through faith. We believe and we receive. Our faith is seen in our good works. By professing Jesus as Lord and repenting of our sin, giving our lives over to Him, and following Him with our life, our faith is shown! We are not working to earn our salvation, we are not working to be saved, we are working because we are saved.
Salvation is deliverance from eternal damnation through faith in the finished work of Christ on the cross.
Salvation of the Mind
With that said, it is important to know that Paul was not writing to unbelievers; he was writing to Christians. Therefore, he is not saying to put on salvation in order to be saved. They were already saved! Still, he commands them to “take up” their helmet called salvation (it is our responsibility to pick up the helmet of salvation). So, why would Paul command saved people to put on salvation as a helmet? So that our mind can be saved. While our spirit is saved upon receiving Christ, our mind is not.
We can be saved and not think like we are saved. When we think like we are unsaved, when we think according to our old way of life, the result is defeat in every area of our life. We become controlled by the devil. Therefore we must change the way we think.
Romans 12:2 - “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind…”
Salvation of our mind takes work.
Philippians 2:12 says to “work out your own salvation.” We have to work out the salvation of our soul (mind, will, emotions). It takes work! We have to change the way we think.
The 3 Tenses of Salvation
Now salvation has a past, present, and a future context.
We were justified with God when we placed our faith in Christ for our salvation. Justified simply means “just-as-if-I-have-never-sinned.” It means you have been made right with God. You were saved from the penalty of sin. Our sin separated us from God and we were headed for eternal damnation. We were far from God, considered dead because of our sin. However, through Christ’s death, our sin has been paid for. When we believe in Christ and His finished work on the cross, our sin is covered and paid for. It is tossed away and remembered no more. We were justified, made right with God, at the point of salvation.
As good as justification sounds, salvation does not end there. Along with the penalty of sin being removed from us through justification, we are presently being saved from the power of sin. This is called sanctification. We are being sanctified, or being made holy. We are being conformed into the image of His son (Romans 8:29). In other words, we are being made more like Jesus. This happens through the work of the Holy Spirit. He is shaping us into the image of Christ. That means that we are becoming less like who we used to be and more like Christ. It is through this process that the power of sin is broken off of our life. We have been delivered from the penalty of sin, but we are still being delivered from the power of sin.
Salvation has a past verdict, a future reality, and it also has a future hope. That hope is that one day we will be fully saved from the presence of sin. This is called glorification. All it means is that one day, we will be completely saved. We WILL be transformed into the image of His son, we WILL be delivered from sin once and for all, and we WILL spend eternity with Him. We will be perfected. Who we are now is not who we will be. We have a future hope that should drive us to live right and holy lives as we wait for His return. (Romans 8:11; Hebrews 9:28; 1 John 3:2-3)
We were saved, we are being saved, and we will one day be completely saved.
We were saved when we believed and we will be saved when Jesus returns. However, we are currently being saved. It is our soul that is being saved. What are we being saved from? The hell of this life. We are being saved from the power of sin and the consequences of it. The devil wants us to fall for his trap so that we will be bound up and defeated. However, he cannot do that if we are avoiding those traps. According to Romans 12:2, we can only do that by allowing our minds to be transformed. This happens through the renewal of the mind.
While it is true that you and I play zero part in our eternal salvation, we do play a vital role in the salvation of our mind.
Salvation was never meant to stop at getting you into heaven. It is meant to continue to “save you” in this life as well. If we want to be saved and delivered from our old way of life, then we must change the way we think.
Our mind controls our body/actions. If I think like I am unsaved, I will live that way. If I believe I should be afraid, I will live in fear. If I think I am not good enough, I won’t get better, nobody loves me, etc, then that is what I will become. However, if I think like I’m saved, then I will live that way as well.
Proverbs 23:7 - “For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.”
We have to change that stinking-thinking so that we can be free from the devil’s deceptive schemes.
2 Corinthians 10:5
“Casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ”
Your life will be built on your strongest/ most dominant thoughts.
Therefore we must be aware of what comes in our mind and what we allow to stay there. We have to renew our mind through the Word of God. We must allow God’s Word to reshape our thinking.
Philippians 4:8-9
“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.”
Make the decision that you will think on things that are…
By thinking on these things, and practicing them, you will experience “peace” in our body, our heart, and in our lives.
How to put on the Helmet of Salvation
