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The helmet of salvation is the symbolic way in which the two ideas above are brought together. Our salvation is the fact that our lives have been changed. We have seen the wrongness of our old way of life of selfishness and sin. We have believed in the truth of the sacrificial, redeeming and atoning death of Jesus. We have repented, desiring to turn away from evil and seek what is good. The change is accomplished by the power of the Holy Spirit. It is he who strips away the old, selfish nature, and replaces it with his own nature and attributes. As the Holy Spirit indwells us and fills us, so we are filled with his righteousness. All of this is involved in the process of salvation. The culmination is the righteousness of Jesus being lived out in our lives.

These gifts of truth, righteousness and salvation have to be accepted and made real to us as individuals. It is only as an individual that anyone can be saved. God's call, our reaching out, God's acceptance is personal. God deals separately with each one of us. It is the same with truth and righteousness. It is with my mind which is independent and autonomous that I am open to and accepting that which is true. It is with my will that I desire to live in righteousness. My submission to God, and my obedience to him is something for which I alone am responsible and accountable. However these things do have a corporate dimension. The church is a body of believers, so the members are, or should be, a body of people who have acknowledged the Lordship of Christ and salvation through the Cross. In a like manner, truth is what the church seeks to affirm and proclaim, and each fellowship will often express this as articles of faith. Righteousness too has to be expressed and lived in the corporate life of the fellowship.

These three attributes of the armour have in common that they represent what we are. This is our new nature in Christ. We are saved as people of truth and righteousness. This describes what we are like. The other three articles of the armour represent us in action. They are available to help us in what we have to do. We have seen this duality of being and doing over and over again. Now we are asking (a) who am I in Christ? and (b) what am I doing in his name? Let us see how the rest of the armour can equip us for action.

As the image of the helmet, that is salvation, combines the ideas of truth and righteousness, so the image of the footwear combines the imagery of the other two items of equipment. We put on our shoes to go out, to move on, to get into action. It is important that we read, think, study and contemplate, but the time comes when we have to go out and share our truth with the world. The Bible talks about a walk with God, and Jesus said, "Follow me". The early Christians were called people of 'the Way'. They were on the move, and theirs was a life of action.

The footwear symbolises the readiness to go out and teach the gospel. This, perhaps rather puzzlingly, in view of the armour, is described as the gospel of peace. However we are not proclaiming the need for peace, but the arrival of peace. We are the messengers of victory, announcing the triumph of Jesus and the overthrow of Satan. On the cross the victory belonged to Jesus. "It is finished" was his cry of triumph. The resurrection was the demonstration and proof of that. Satan was defeated. The power of Satan was broken, but not destroyed. The end of Satan is in the future, but the end is not in doubt. In the meantime he is still capable of doing harm. He is like an animal, lethally wounded, but still able to lash out and cause hurt. Knowing of his impending destruction, it is as though he is trying to bring down and destroy as many as he can in the time he has left.