Faith: Shield or Sword?

For many Christians, faith is a conundrum, a puzzle to be worked out, a mystery to be solved. We are exhorted to have faith in the face of tragedy, illness and heartache, being led to believe that if we simply “have faith”, God will reach down, wave his magic wand and all will be well. Faith is often preached from the pulpit, Jesus’ words shouted out in the midst of a congregation’s unease, “Oh you of little faith”! The New Testament mentions faith 282 times (according to one interpretation), and yet, if asked to define faith - could you? And how would you define that faith? How would you discuss faith to a non-believer, and especially - how could you tell them about faith in such a way as to make them want to understand faith more clearly? For make no mistake; faith is amazing and mysterious- often spoken about, but little understood. To prove this, try asking 10 of your nearest and dearest friends and family to define faith: you’ll get little clarity.

Faith is a topic I often discuss with a close friend. (Strange? you think. Probably…) But we both have different views of faith; what is faith, how much faith is enough? And the most difficult question of all - what happens when, in spite of mustering up our faith, our request still falls short - when the dying child still dies, when the addict daughter overdoses instead of comes clean, when a marriage fails, or a job is lost, or an estranged family remains broken - what then? Faith can be a painful journey when your prayers go unanswered, when you have used up your last ounce of “determined believing” to come up empty-handed, barren of hope, and emotionally exhausted.

And when we seek comfort from our churches and believing friends? That should help us understand faith better, shouldn’t it? Words of wise comfort, hopeful counsel, reassurance in our troubles - all would certainly help the hurting, walking wounded to come to grips with their pain and loss, and learn more about faith as a positive experience for better living. But that’s often not the case. It doesn’t help us to understand faith when well-meaning but misguided teachers and preachers simply yell all the louder “But you simply have to have more faith! Believe!”

Perhaps - just maybe, we misunderstand what faith actually is. How we’ve come to this misunderstanding in our modern world is a subject for another blog, but for the moment, let us at least acknowledge what appears true on its face: modern Christians have come to understand faith as a sword, a defensive weapon used to violently overtake our crumbling circumstances, and demand from God answers to to our prayers. And not just any answer, thank you very much, but OUR answer, the answer we’ve decided will neatly solve all our problems, remove the pain and heartache of life, and make all things better. We use faith as a sword to cut down God to our own size, and when He refuses to oblige our foolish presumption, we hunker down in our pain, our broken hearts unable to see God’s grace or goodness, and eventually conclude, “God doesn’t care” - or perhaps even worse - “there is no God”.

I think looking at Paul’s words about faith will help clear up some of the confusion. In his letter to the Ephesians, Paul likens faith to a shield - the shield of faith. (Ephesians 6:16) So what? you may ask. How can understanding faith as a shield matter to me one whit? If God doesn’t answer my prayer, what difference does sword or shield make to me?

I think it makes a world of difference. Paul’s letter was referring to the Roman shield, a very particular type of shield used by Roman soldiers that was, in and of itself, a very effective weapon.  And we’re not talking about a small, defensive weapon. The Roman soldier’s shield was as big as modern day door - big enough to shield the soldier’s entire body in battle, heavy enough to push back the enemy.  It was covered in leather which, when soaked in water, effectively repelled the flaming arrows shot from the bows of the enemy. But the most amazing thing about these shields was that when a legion used their shields in concert, they became a nearly impenetrable human tank.  The soldiers at the front of the legion would hold their shields out front, pushing forward to gain territory. The inner soldiers would put their shields overhead, shielding the legion from airborne missiles of all kinds. All the shields joined together allowed a legion to move forward as one, protecting all from enemy assault; the formation was called the testudo, or the Tortoise.  It was a very effective defense weapon, and was one of the reasons the Roman army successfully conquered their enemies for hundreds of years.

I think our problem is that we often use our faith as a sword, and not as a shield.  We thrust and parry, jabbing at our problems, our concerns, our pain. In “faith”, we slash away at our difficulties. We engage our life circumstances in a fight we can’t possibly win because we have left ourselves defenseless. When we battle our fears and circumstances standing alone, using faith as a sword, we are exposed; the enemy’s flaming arrows of despair and hopelessness wound us from all sides. The battle simply wears us out until we are weary, exhausted, heart-sick and bone-tired.  Worn out and discouraged, we conclude we simply don’t have enough faith.  And the next day? We may resolve to have “more faith’ and enter the battlefield again, or we may simply give up. We think, “There is no God, or at least if there is a God, He just doesn’t care about me…”

Ah! But consider if we were to use faith as a shield, to understand that battling with faith as a shield is a community endeavor - an effort to be engaged in as an army, coming together with our fellow-soldiers, joining our shields as one.  Joined with our family and friends, with others who will stick with us, pray with us, encourage us, we are covered on all sides, and become an impenetrable force, repelling the enemy’s flaming arrows of doubt and fear. We advance upon the enemy, conquering territory and gathering strength as we defend in battle as a legion.  No longer alone, we can wait and rest, knowing that any battle fought in God’s kingdom is a defensive effort, a communal march.

Is this the only way to understand faith? of course not. But when considering faith as shield or sword, we must consider the words of Paul, who encouraged us to “take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.” (Eph 6:16 NIV). Faith was never intended as a sword.

Returning to Paul, he does mention the sword in that same passage, but it is the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God (v. 17).  Jesus used that sword when dealing with satan, with enemies, with difficult men. The Word of God is a two-edged sword, able to conquer and vanquish our enemies with a single thrust! But faith? That’s our shield. Faith is our defense, and best used when we join ranks with our community. When all are gathered as one in faith, all things are possible. Miracles happen.