Put on Faith, Hope, and Love

The apostle Paul spent a good deal of his life under house arrest, which meant that he was chained to Romans. The Bible tells us that even people in Caesar’s household came to faith (see Philippians 4:22). And we have to know that any Roman soldier chained to Paul would have heard the gospel.

Also, Paul would have had a lot of time to observe Roman armor. He wrote about the armor of God in Ephesians 6. But he also referred to it in 1 Thessalonians 5:8, where he wrote, “But let us who live in the light be clearheaded, protected by the armor of faith and love, and wearing as our helmet the confidence of our salvation” (NLT).

A Roman soldier’s breastplate generally consisted of leather. It protected the soldier’s vital organs. And notice that Paul called it “the breastplate of faith and love,” not the breastplate of feelings.

The Bible says, “The just shall live by faith” (Romans 1:17 NKJV). We live the Christian life by faith and not by our fickle emotions, which come and go. We are to have faith as well as love for God and His people.

Next we have the helmet. Sometimes it was leather, sometimes it was metal, and sometimes it was a combination of the two. But its purpose was to protect the soldier’s head, which obviously was of the greatest importance.

Paul spoke of “the hope of salvation” as a helmet. This doesn’t mean we’re hopeful that we’ll be saved, in fact, I believe that we can know, without any doubt, that we’re saved and going to Heaven.

The day you put your faith in Jesus Christ, your eternal address changes from a place called Hell to a place called Heaven. Eternal life is the present possession of every follower of Jesus Christ.