The Background
Spiritual warfare has been a hot topic in Christianity from the beginning. Jesus, and his disciples after him performed miracles, including casting out demons. The casting out of demons was always done in the same context of miracles and their purpose in scripture. It was a display of power over the pagan and demonic forces these people were formerly enslaved to.
Miracles in the Bible have a specific purpose primarily centered on the validation of a new message. Jesus performed miracles to prove he was the son of God – to back up his message. The Apostles and many other early Christians did miracles as the message spread for the first times to new lands. Even through to modern times, the most viable claims of any modern miracles have been in mission fields bringing the gospel to unreached people groups.
Almost instantly we see people who want in on this action. We see the sons of Sceva running around after demons in Acts 19. This story serves not as an isolated incident, but the outstanding example in a trend. Everyone wanted to be on the front line of this strange battle, to feel powerful, to be an exorcist.
As the church was transformed into a political tool in the declining years of the Roman Empire, some civilizations were culturally converted without a conversion of heart. This led to transforming their old superstitions with Christianized superstitions, and a mythology began to grow through the middle ages around the saints, angels, and demons.
To this we add modern fantasized Christian fiction (particularly that of Frank Peretti) that capitalized on this fascination with the spiritual battle, and further confused the issue with more hype and more myth.
The current concepts of spiritual warfare still bear many misconceptions gathered over church history.
The Issue
While spiritual warfare is a vast topic, I want to touch on a single concept: how do we as Christians respond to the threat of Satan?
Some believe we are to combat Satan by finding his minions and exorcising them with prayers, charms, or what-have-you. I don’t want to get into a full rebuttal of this, but suffice to say that (1) God has given us all the information we need to pursue our Christian journey in his Word, and (2) there is no command or instruction for casting out demons. This is not to say it never happens, just that it is not a core part of our faith or walk with the Lord.
Some set off to try and foil Satan. While this is admirable, we are not commanded to do this either.
Let us look at what we are told. James tells us in James 4:7 to submit ourselves to God and resist the Devil. Peter tells us in 1 Peter 5:8 to be on our guard because Satan is on the hunt for us. We have an enemy. This cannot be ignored.
God and Satan in Perspective
Read through these verses in Psalms: Ps. 103:19; 135:5-6; 115:3
The last verse (115:3) says that God is in heaven, and he has done whatever he pleases. 1 Chronicles 29:11-12 mentions that God is head above all. There is no thought in the Bible of God’s purposes or rule ever being thwarted. God is a great king, far above all who would call themselves gods.
Satan’s former status was Lucifer, one of God’s chief angels. We see him cast out of heaven because of his pride, and vainly swear to rise above even the throne of God. Cast out. That is what mighty Lucifer’s rebellion was like—he was simply punished by God.
There are not two rival forces playing tug of war for the fate of the universe. There is only God, in total control, allowing Satan to work against him. This is because God, in his infinite wisdom, is working all things together for a greater purpose than either Satan or we can fully see. We know that (1) God is unchallenged in his sovereignty, (2) he uses even the works of Satan in his grand design, and (3) this overall design is for the good of those who love him and for his own glory.
Satan is not attributed with providentially orchestrating events; only God is. In fact, God is even orchestrating the actions of the Devil into His larger picture. A prime example of this is in Job, where Satan had to appear before God in order to receive permission to torment Job. God gives Satan set parameters, and throughout the book it seems like evil is getting its way; yet in the end God did more than make a happy ending—he refined Job’s heart in a way only this trial could.
2 Cor. 12:7 is a great example of God using Satan’s activity. Satan sends a "messenger" of some kind to hinder Paul. That seems like a win for Satan, yet God gives us his purpose for that trial in the verse—to keep Paul humble. Paul remaining humble meant that God still used him mightily—for God gives grace to the humble, but resists the proud.
In other words, Satan exists within the confines of God’s overarching plan. Satan does not exist outside of God’s plan, and has no possibility of success in thwarting God.
Satan’s activity
Paul brings up Satan several times. In 2 Cor. 2:5-11 Paul encourages the church to forgive a repentant sinner who had wronged them, so that Satan does not gain an advantage over them. Paul makes the statement that we as Christians know (or should know) what Satan wants. So let’s look at some of Satan’s activity.
We see him convincing Adam and Eve to mistrust God, and disobey a direct and clear command
We see him tormenting Job to get him to doubt God’s goodness
We see him snatching up the truth in the parable of the different kinds of ground
We never see Satan tempting God’s people to do something that God never spoke about. All Satan’s interaction with believers regards disobeying or distrusting or violating some direct communication of God in Scripture.
Satan is seen as a tempter and a liar. This is his identity and his activities throughout Scripture. Both of these things are simply reactions to God. He is tempting us to disobey God and lying about God’s truth.
In the classic passage on the armor of God (Eph. 6:10-18), we find that our best and first defense against the fiery darts of the wicked one is faith. Why? What does faith do? Why is the shield in Ephesians 6 a shield of faith?
Because Satan’s main attacks are against the truth. The wicked one is trying to get us to doubt the goodness of God, the justice of God, the promises of God, our position in Christ, or any number of core theological realities. Our reaction to this, our defense, is to hold fast to them in faith, even in those times when they cease to make sense to us.
So when Paul says we know what Satan is up to, what does he mean? Satan is opposing God. He always has and always will.
Summary – just follow God
James says it best in James 4:7, we must submit ourselves to God. That is our primary goal—to be close to God, obeying and loving him. Satan will try to dissuade us from this, and so we must resist him. We don’t have to chase him around trying to cast him out of our church or town. We don’t have to figure out everything he’s up to and outfox him. We must cling to God, and not let Satan pull us away.
All we have to do is follow God, and what the Devil is trying to do is get us to not follow God. But all we have to do to keep from not following God like the Devil wants is to – well, follow God.
We don’t have to guess what it is the Devil is trying to get us to do or deceive us with so that we can avoid doing that thing because the Devil wants us to do it. The Devil simply wants us to disobey God, so what we need to know is what God says. This is all about God. Obeying God is all about God, and resisting Satan is all about God.
Under Grace,
John Fritz
John Fritz is the Volunteer Coordinator for Thoughtful Life Ministries and the primary author of the Thoughtful Life Journal, which is published weekly from March through September. The purpose of this blog is to challenge and encourage those who have a desire to cultivate a more meaningful walk with Christ. Visit our Homepage to learn more about the ministry and our annual two-week summer Discipleship Program for teens and young adults.