The helmet did not prevent the blows from coming. It just protected the wearer from ultimate damage. It didn’t prevent pain! The blows to the head would still hurt, but would not be fatal. Even today, however, helmets are not always effective. We still hear of those wearing helmets who take fatal blows. But the helmet of salvation is absolute protection against any fatal blow. Paul tells the Corinthian believers, “We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair, persecuted, but not forsaken, struck down, but not destroyed” (1 Corinthians 4:8-9). We take many blows, but none of them will be fatal!

I’ve already observed that the first pieces of armor are put on; the belt, the breastplate and the boots. The next three are taken up; the shield, helmet and sword. But the Greek text uses a different word for “take up” when it refers to the helmet. In his commentary on the passage in Ephesians, Rasnake says that my helmet, “protects my head from fatal blows. There is an interesting change of pattern when we get to verse 17. Rather than using the same word he used in verse 16 for ‘taking’ up the shield of faith (analambánō), Paul uses a different word to “take” the helmet of salvation (déchomai), which literally means ‘receive.’ Again, If salvation is our helmet, how can we take it off?”

You see the blows hurt! We all suffer in this world. It’s just part of the human experience. Let me remind you once again of another very familiar passage that Paul writes to the Corinthians. He says that since we know the blows are not fatal, “…we do not lose heart! Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal” (1 Corinthians 4:16-18). We are all secure in Christ. When we put on Christ, we put on our armor. They are permanently fixed at our salvation. In Hebrews 13:5 God assures us, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” Then in verse 6 the writer asserts, “So we can confidently say, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?’”