But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for a helmet, the hope of salvation.
All Commentaries on 1 Thessalonians 5:8 Go To 1 Thessalonians 5
John Chrysostom
AD 407
Of faith and love, he says. Here he glances at life and doctrine. He has shown what it is to watch and be sober, to have the breastplate of faith and love. Not a common faith, he says, but as nothing can soon pierce through a breastplate, but it is a safe wall to the breast—so do thou also, he says, surround your soul with faith and love, and none of the fiery darts of the devil can ever be fixed in it. For where the power of the soul is preoccupied with the armor of love, all the devices of those who plot against it are vain and ineffectual. For neither wickedness, nor hatred, nor envy, nor flattery, nor hypocrisy, nor any other thing will be able to penetrate such a soul. He has not simply said love, but he has bid them put it on as a strong breastplate. And for a helmet the hope of salvation. For as the helmet guards the vital part in us, surrounding the head and covering it on every side, so also this hope does not suffer the reason to falter, but sets it upright as the head, not permitting anything from without to fall upon it. And while nothing falls on it, neither does it slip of itself. For it is not possible that one who is fortified with such arms as these, should ever fall. For now abides faith, hope, love. (1 Corinthians 13:13) Then having said, Put on, and array yourselves, he himself provides the armor, whence faith, hope, and love may be produced, and may become strong.
