Shield of Faith

Acrylic on hardboard, 18" x 24"

“In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one.”
EPHESIANS 6:16

Thought about naming this one “Targeted.” Too obvious?

Ephesians 6 is often interpreted by noting the various martial advantages of a Roman soldier’s armor and weapons. I don’t think this is wrong exactly, since that is the type of armor that would have been familiar to readers in first-century Ephesus. But I'm not sure it's Paul’s primary reference. If it were he might have included the heavy Roman javelin and greaves but the pieces of equipment he does mention are all found in the Old Testament, especially Isaiah 11:4-5 and 52:17 where they belong to God and the Messiah. Thus I think what Paul is saying is that the divine arms and armor, which are the only effective weaponry for combatting spiritual forces of darkness, have now been made available to his people, the Church.