Recently I have begun to think about the work of Satan. This is the second in (possibly) a series of discussions as a result of my contemplations (the first is ‘Doctrines of Demons’). In this I am concerned to consider the schemes of the devil. There is certainly biblical precedent for being aware of the devil’s schemes as Paul tells the Corinthian church that “we are not unaware of his schemes” (2 Cor 2:11b). In the materialistic, rationalistic, science-oriented climate of Australia, it is perhaps debatable that Christians are uniformly aware of the devil’s schemes. Therefore, I think it is worth exploring these schemes with a view to making us aware again of the enemy who desires to draw us away from the Saviour and make us ineffective in the Kingdom of God. It seems best to begin with the passage I have already mentioned, setting it within its context.
Scheme one – unforgiveness
2 Corinthians 2:1 So I made up my mind that I would not make another painful visit to you. 2 For if I grieve you, who is left to make me glad but you whom I have grieved? 3 I wrote as I did so that when I came I should not be distressed by those who ought to make me rejoice. I had confidence in all of you, that you would all share my joy. 4 For I wrote you out of great distress and anguish of heart and with many tears, not to grieve you but to let you know the depth of my love for you. 5 If anyone has caused grief, he has not so much grieved me as he has grieved all of you, to some extent– not to put it too severely. 6 The punishment inflicted on him by the majority is sufficient for him. 7 Now instead, you ought to forgive and comfort him, so that he will not be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. 8 I urge you, therefore, to reaffirm your love for him. 9 The reason I wrote you was to see if you would stand the test and be obedient in everything. 10 If you forgive anyone, I also forgive him. And what I have forgiven– if there was anything to forgive– I have forgiven in the sight of Christ for your sake, 11 in order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes.
The context of Paul’s statement about the devil’s schemes is the disciplining of a member of the Corinthian congregation. A person had sinned and been punished for that sin. Now Paul urges the church to forgive the person and reinstate him or her into the fellowship. This must be done that Satan might not outwit them. The word translated ‘outwit’ here is used three other times in 2 Corinthians (7:2; 12:17-18). In the other passages the NIV translates this as ‘exploit’. It might also be translated as ‘take advantage of’. Therefore, we could say that if the person who had undergone church discipline was not reinstated and forgiven by the church, then Satan would take advantage of this situation for his own benefit. Since there is no doubt that the purposes of the devil are counter to the purposes of God for the church, this ‘taking advantage’ could only bring about negative consequences for the Corinthian fellowship. The consequences would include disunity, factions, possible resentments, frustration on the part of the excluded party, grief and sorrow (2:7). These responses so often lead to people leaving churches and staying away from Christian fellowship for years, if not for the rest of their lives.
This is a warning about actions within a congregation. Forgiveness is what is at issue here on a congregational level. However, we may assume that unforgiveness on an individual level will bring about a severing of relationships – in marriage, in friendships, in business, in Christian ministry. On each of these levels, unforgiveness opens up a door so Satan can take advantage of the failure to forgive a fellow believer. Unforgiveness prevents Christians working together in ministry or functioning together in marriage. It can seriously hold back the purposes of God in the world, because of this inability to get on with the job together. Failure to forgive another Christian is not simply an act of disobedience to the command of God (Col 3:13) but it is actually playing into the hands of the enemy, who desires to do us harm. The fact that encouraging Christians to harbour unforgiveness towards one another is a scheme of Satan should actually sober us.
Scheme two – greed
Unfortunately this is not the only scheme which the devil uses to make Christians ineffective (at best) or cause them to fall away from the faith (at worst). The case of Judas Iscariot is something to take note of, because two of the Gospels record that Satan entered in to Judas before he betrayed Jesus (Luke 22:3; John 13:27). Whatever it was that opened the door for Satan to enter in to Judas is something which we must avoid if we do not want to be corrupted and perhaps turn away from Jesus altogether. The Gospel accounts do not state explicitly what it was that allowed Satan entrance to Judas. However, there are some clues for us to follow. There are only a few mentions of Judas in the Bible outside of the Last Supper and the act of betrayal. John’s Gospel records an incident with Judas, which happened when the woman with the expensive perfume anointed Jesus for burial (John 12:1-6). Judas complained that the perfume was wasted on Jesus and should have been sold and the money given to the poor. This, the writer observes, is because Judas was a thief and he intended to take the money for himself (12:5-6). So Judas was a greedy man. Another indication of the character of Judas is suggested by Peter’s quotation of Psalm 109:8 in Acts 1:20, when the disciples needed to appoint someone to replace Judas. In Psalm 109 the psalmist complains: ““in return for my friendship they accuse me, they repay me evil for good and hatred for my friendship” (vv 4-5). This “friend” never thinks of showing compassion to the poor and brokenhearted (v 16). Greed and a lack of compassion is the character of the man who willingly went to the chief priests to receive money for betraying the Messiah to death (Mark 14:10-11).
There are many other indications in the scripture which point to the fact that Satan uses the love of money (greed) to draw people away from the gospel and thus away from following Jesus. The first indication is found in the parable of the sower. When the Word of God is proclaimed sown some of it is stolen away by the evil one (Matt 13:19), that is Satan (Mark 4:15) or the devil (Luke 8:12). In one of the other soils in the parable the plants are choked by “life’s worries, riches and pleasures” (Luke 8:14). That the devil is not mentioned in this verse does not take away from his involvement in the lure of wealth and pleasure. The second indication that wealth can draw people away is the example of Ananias and Sapphira who lied to the Holy Spirit because of greed (Acts 5:1-11). 1 Tim 6:9 also warns, “People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction.” Elsewhere in 1&2 Timothy “trap” is clearly associated with the devil (1 Tim 3:7; 2 Tim 2:26). This suggests that a desire to be rich, that is, greed, is something which Satan uses to bring Christians to ruin. In Australia today the possibility that greed might be used by the devil to lure Christians away from the faith is very real.
Scheme three – unresolved anger
A third stratagem of the devil is to use unresolved anger. “Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil” (Eph 4:26-27). This is the advice given to me at my wedding. It is good advice because anger which is not resolved will fester and cause a marriage to be utterly undermined. But the same is true of other relationships. The context of this passage is Ephesians is not marriage but the way to behave in the body of Christ (4:25). Every relationship within the body will be affected by unresolved anger. Ongoing anger tends to bitterness, unforgiveness, broken relationships, broken fellowship, and difficulty ministering together, and therefore makes the body of Christ ineffective. Since this is the goal of the devil he may well provoke anger and try to prolong it.
Later in Ephesians there is another instruction about being angry. “Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger [verbal form of the word anger above], but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord” (Eph 6:4). How does this give a place to the devil? Children of Christian parents do not necessarily become Christians themselves. Since we so often project the actions of our parents onto God, Christian parents who have unreasonable expectations of their children will raise children who believe that God is unreasonable. An unreasonable god who makes demands which cannot be fulfilled is difficult to obey. For this reason, if fathers provoke their children to anger there is room for the devil to sow seeds of rebellion against both parents and the God whom they represent to their children. The action which Paul suggests in contrast to provoking your children to anger is to bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. This discipline and instruction is not harsh but gracious, just as the discipline of our God is gracious discipline. Modelling grace will take away the devil’s foothold.
Scheme four – conceit
The last stratagem of Satan which I will look at here is that of getting Christians to be puffed up with conceit. This appears in 1 Timothy where Paul gives instructions about appointing leaders in the church. An overseer “must not be a recent convert, or he may be puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil. Moreover, he must be well thought of by outsiders, so that he may not fall into disgrace and the snare of the devil” (1 Tim 3:6-7). There are two aspects here which can be considered schemes of the devil to undermine Christians. Verse 6 says that being puffed up with conceit will cause someone to fall into the condemnation of the devil. It is not clear whether the condemnation of the devil means the condemnation incurred by the devil, as some translations opt for, or the condemnation which the devil confers. Either way being puffed up with conceit will result in someone being an ineffective leader in the church and also being dragged down as a Christian believer. 1 &2 Timothy are the only places in the NT where this particular word meaning “puffed up with conceit” appears.
Being puffed up with conceit is associated with teaching false doctrine and being divisive (1 Tim 6:3-4). Being puffed up makes a person think that he or she has no need of being accountable to others. Such a person becomes open to false doctrine because there seems to be no need to check with the church about whether it is correct or not. Conceit leads a person to feel superior to others and therefore it results in arguments and factions. These things: false doctrines, arguments, and factions are things which provide a way for Satan to undermine the church in a serious way. The second passage containing the word “puffed up with conceit” is 2 Tim 3:4. The context is the way in which people will behave in the last days. In the last days people will be puffed up with conceit, among other sins. Paul advises Timothy to have nothing to do with such people (2Tim 3:5).
There is a similar thread about being puffed up in 1 Corinthians (the Greek word is different but related). Being puffed up with pride over certain individuals in the church was causing division (1 Cor 4:6). Some people were puffed up over their alleged superiority as leaders (4:18-19). Some were puffed up with pride about how they were “free” to sin (5:2). Some were puffed up over their superior knowledge instead of exercising love (8:1). But love does not get puffed up (13:4).
The second verse in the 1 Timothy passage suggests another way of being ensnared by the devil. If the leader does not have a good reputation with those outside the church then he or she will suffer reproach. Why does this result in falling into the devil’s trap? Reproach is a rather common result of being a Christian and indeed Jesus suffered reproach for our sakes (Psalm 68). We are told to being willing to suffer reproach for the sake of Christ (Heb 10:33; 11:26; 13:13). But here reproach will cause a person to fall into the trap of the devil. The ideas of verses 6&7 cannot be disconnected. Pride goes before a fall (Prov. 16:18). If a person is puffed up with conceit about how marvellous he or she is and then is exposed by those outside the church, there is an opportunity for Satan to heap condemnation and discouragement on that person. This will make a person totally ineffective as a leader. There is also the possibility that the person will walk away from the faith because of this reproach.
Conclusion
Satan is opposed to all that God desires to do in his people. The opposition of Satan is real and we need to be aware that it exists. In many places there is outright hatred of Christians and Satan seeks to destroy the church through violence. However, in Australia at the present he is using a far more subtle strategy. Australian Christians experience little in the way of violent opposition to the faith. Yet the church is weak and ineffective in transforming the culture. If we want to be more effective then we must be aware of the schemes of Satan. The four passages discussed here are all about character traits. Character is something which requires work. Decisions must be made. We must decide to be people who forgive those who have offended us and injured us. We must decide to be people who are not greedy for financial gain, but rather seek the kingdom of God. We must decide to deal with anger. We must we careful not to become puffed up with our own importance.
Satan has no intrinsic rights to the people of God, since we belong to Jesus and Jesus has defeated the devil. However, there is nothing stopping Satan from taking advantage of our poor character. If we are to resist falling into the trap of the devil we must be people who deliberately choose to be those of good character. This is a choice and it requires persistence, repentance, and ongoing attention. People of good character will stand out from the crowd. Christians can overcome the devil’s schemes when they choose to be obedient to God’s commands in regard to character traits.