Spiritual Warfare Teaching


This is a good teaching on the power the Lord has given us to stand in the day of trials and difficulties. We can resist the enemy and he will flee from us as we put on the whole armor of God and have the Spiritual weapons of warfare in our lives. The Lord will be there for us and we shall overcome in the name of the Lord.  I hope you enjoy this teaching as we all grow together in grace in the Lord. I have several other lessons I have been studying by others on this subject which all line up with the Word of God and proclaim we can have victory in Jesus by following his teachings in God's Word.
                                        Blessings,
                                         Jo Ann

Rebuking the Devil

Many people are being lead astray by deliverance teachings which promise instantaneous victory over one's problems by a timely rebuke of the devil. This misleads people from the Biblical path of exercising endurance or patience in meeting their trials. As a result, many believers are not developing the kind of proven character they need to handle trials. 

This character-building approach is illustrated by Paul's thorn in the flesh (2 Cor. 12:7-10). The thorn is described as "a messenger of Satan to buffet me—to keep me from exalting myself" (12:7). It is possible this messenger was a demon. The Greek word for messenger is "angelos," the word for angel. This kind of situation is often viewed today by deliverance teachers as something which is not in keeping with the will of God, and they would seek to rebuke this "messenger of Satan" and run him out of town by giving him two black eyes in the process. This was not Paul's response. Instead, he "entreated the Lord three times that it might depart from me" (12:8). Yet God did not grant Paul's request. But don't we have power in the name of Jesus? Yes, we do, but it is to be exercised within the will of God. The Lord was more interested in building Christ-like character in Paul as a true display of His power (12:9) than in putting on the kind of fireworks display which many today are calling "power encounters." 

Within certain circles today, it is common to hear a speaker lash out against Satan with various rebukes. Often the speaker will rebuke Satan in the area of health, wealth, and peace of mind. It is not unusual to hear more preaching against Satan and the demonic than to hear preaching which focuses in on Christ and His resources. Many people become so concerned with what the devil is doing that they take their eyes off the Lord. 

We must realize that believers are never instructed to rebuke the devil or his demons. The New Testament views rebuking as the sole prerogative of Jesus as an expression of His lordship and sovereignty over the spirit realm. The only acceptable condition for a believer to rebuke is when he lovingly corrects a brother fallen into sin (Lk. 17:3; 1 Tim. 5:20). Throughout the New Testament, rebuke is understood as the sole prerogative of the Lord. This is why Michael said when challenged by Satan, "The Lord rebuke you" (Jude 9). 

The Keys of the Kingdom 

The focus of the Matthew 16:19 and 18:18 passages is on the word "bind" (deo). How is this word used in context and what does it mean? The word has the basic meaning of "to tie up by binding." The result is inactivity on the part of the one bound. In Matthew 16:19 and 18:18, the word bind is used with its opposite "loose." In these contexts, the idea of binding and loosing has the force of the judicial notion of "forbidding" and "permitting." This phrase was used in Christ's day by Israel's religious leaders regarding what was forbidden (bound) and that He will give him "the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven" (Matt. 16:19). 

Peter was to become one of the apostles upon whom the Christian church would be founded (Eph. 2:20). 

The words "shall be bound" and "shall be loosed" as used in the Greek means that the binding and loosing in heaven will precede the binding and loosing on earth. 

A translation which brings out this aspect of the original Greek would read as follows: "I will give to you the keys of the kingdom of the heavens, but whatever you bind on earth is that which shall already have been bound in the heavens, and whatever you loose on earth is that which shall already have been loosed in the heavens." Peter was to bind things upon the earth, but only what had already been bound in heaven. Peter was to set the standard on earth for entrance into the kingdom of heaven based upon the standard which God has already set in heaven. Peter was to be the mediator of the Word of God between God and man, and that standard is what Peter stated in Matthew 16:16, namely, that Jesus was "the Christ, the Son of the living God." 

Affirming God's Will 

"Binding and loosing" are used in exactly the same way in Matthew 18:18: "Truly I am telling you, whatever you may bind upon the earth shall be that which has already been bound in heaven; and whatever you may loosed upon the earth shall be that which has already been loosed in heaven" (literal translation). Jesus is saying that believers can have confidence that when they justly excommunicate someone on earth, that they are fulfilling the will of God which has already been determined in heaven. This should give them confidence in what they are doing. So in this context, binding and loosing carry the idea which corresponds to our modern judicial language of declaring someone guilty (binding) or innocent (loosing). The court decision does not make someone guilty or innocent, but simply determines whether his past acts violate or conform to God's heavenly standard. 

In both passages, neither word is referring to the contemporary idea of binding Satan or the demonic. Instead, these references refer to carrying out God's heavenly will upon earth as it has already been determined in heaven. In fact, the contemporary idea of binding and loosing has more in common with the methods related to the casting and the removal of spells found in the occult than anything related to Biblical Christianity. This is why we as believers need to be extremely careful when we adopt practices that are not mandated by the Scriptures. One scholar in commenting on these two passages has said: 

"A purely magical binding and loosing such as may be found elsewhere in Greek and Rabbinic usage [passages outside of the Bible] is ruled out by the context. Jesus does not give to Peter and the other disciples any power to enchant or to free by magic. The customary meaning of the Rabbinic expressions is equally incontestable, namely, to declare forbidden or permitted, and thus to impose or remove an obligation, by a doctrinal decision" (Kittel's Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, II:60). 

The famous spiritual warfare passage in Ephesians 6:10-18 portrays spiritual warfare as the believer's defensive stance rather than prescribing a strategy for attacking and binding specific demons. Indeed, Paul states that we wrestle against "principalities and powers in the heavenlies," but how does Paul describe this wrestling? If Paul meant for believers to attack and destroy these heavenly adversaries, the inspired apostle would have indicated at that point in his writing that he practiced it and expected his churches to practice it in evangelism. But he did not. Indeed, as many exegetes have noted, Paul admonishes putting on the whole armor of God in order to "withstand in the evil day" In light of the "hosts of spiritual wickedness m heavenly places," Paul instructs: "Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and have done all to stand, stand therefore." (Eph. 6:13,14a, NKJV). Among the spiritual weapons, the only possible offensive weapon is the "Sword of God's word." Even here, the word used for sword is "machaira" which was a short sword, more like a dagger that could be used for attack, but in context, suggests personal defense.

The "demolishing strongholds" passage of 2 Corinthians 10:4,5 is often used by writers of this movement. In this context, "strongholds" are clearly "arguments and imaginations: that challenge the knowledge of God." The means of spiritual attack and advance in the NT is always the preaching and defense of the gospel message. The sword of God's Word is obviously more effective in evangelism than the spiritual war games of identifying, binding, and destroying local demons. The sword of God's Word is even "sharper than any two-edged sword." 

From....Biblical Discernment Ministries* 

This material has been excerpted and/or adapted from two sources: (1) a Biblical Awareness Ministries' report by Thomas Ice ("An Examination of False Spiritual Warfare Clichés," Biblical Perspectives, Vol. V. No. 2, Mar/Apr 1992).