Loving the Devil Out of One Another: How Should We Engage Spiritual Warfare ~ 1 John 3:8-10 (Final Sermon in Spiritual Warfare Series)

⁸ The one who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work. ⁹ No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God. ¹⁰ This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not God’s child, nor is anyone who does not love their brother and sister. ~ 1 John 3:8-10

At the start of this series I was given a toy by a professor at Westmont College, pertaining to Scooby-Doo. Here we see Mr. Carswell, the Bank Manager, who looks so proper, so normal, yet becomes someone sinister, the Creeper, once you push down the glow-in-the-dark torch. In reverse, of course, what looks so sinister often passes itself off as benign. But the toy can also be seen in a different way – that demons are more than mere humans with masks, and more than disembodied ghost-like spirits, but refer to all kinds of spiritual powers that even Christians can fall prey to - forces of evil, deeply personal and distorted entities or twisted ideologies, whatever they may be, which lead them away from God – harming them, others, and all of creation.

Rather than horror movies which traffic in often grotesque displays of violence and evil, we’ve learned that demons are dangerous because we can’t see them. So we’ve been trying to construct an apocalyptic theology of spiritual warfare. “Apocalyptic,” we’ve learned, means a way of seeing that allows us to unmask evil, resist the devil and aid those who are struggling with demons, recognizing that they are out there, in the real world, impacting our daily lives, often appearing boring or benign. That’s what John is reminding us here about Jesus’ purpose – the Son of God was apocaplyptic, “was revealed.” So what was revealed? What must we see if we are going to engage spiritual warfare rightly?

To engage spiritual warfare rightly we need to get our story straight in seven words.

What’s that story? The apostle John reminds us that the revelation of Jesus was the act of God to destroy the works of the Devil or as the early church referred to it - the Gospel story!, also known as Christus Victor (Latin for Christ is victorious!)

The point is that Jesus’ ministry – healing, exorcisms, table-fellowship - and his death on the cross, cannot be understood without an appreciation for the broader spiritual warfare motif that runs throughout Scripture. In fact, we will see, without this motif the whole story gets distorted.

In the Old Testament, spiritual warfare is usually depicted in terms of God’s battle over hostile waters and with vicious sea monsters (e.g. Leviathan) that were believed to surround and threaten the earth which Yahweh alone would vanquish (e.g. Ps 29:3-4, 10; 74:10-14; 77:16, 19; 89:9-10; 104:2-9; Prov 8:27-29; Job 7:12; 9:8, 13; 26:12-13; 38:6-11; 40:41; Ezek. 29:3; 32:2; Jer 51:34; Hab. 3:8-15; Na. 1:4). Through vivid, metaphorical imagery, the Old Testament powerfully communicates the understanding that the earth and its inhabitants exist in a cosmic war zone between God and antagonistic, spiritual forces. This understanding grew among Jews in the two centuries leading up to Christ, and Jesus and his earliest followers intensified this vision, particularly with respect to Satan. So we need to “Get behind Jesus” and listen to how he tells the story.

What was the redemptive story that Jesus was telling and acting out? Jesus talked a fair amount about the Devil and defined his actions as an assault on Satan’s activities (Luke 13:10-17). He believed that Satan was “the prince of this world” (Jn 12:31; 14:30; 16:11) and yet also claimed that he was being dethroned (Luke 10:18). And John goes so far as to claim that the entire world is “under the power of the evil one” (I Jn 5:19). Everything Jesus does was centered on taking back the world that Satan had seized, and liberating people (Gen. 1:26-28, cf. 2 Tim. 2:12; Rev. 5:10). Each one of Jesus’ many healings and deliverances were understood to diminish Satan’s hold on the world (Luke 11:20; Matt. 12:28; Luke 10:18). Peter succinctly summarized Jesus’ ministry to Cornelius when he said that Jesus “went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil…” (Ac 10:38, emphasis added). 

And Jesus and his first followers connected demonic influences not only to demonized and diseased people, but directly or indirectly to everything that was inconsistent with God’s coming reign. For example, swearing oaths, temptation, lying, legalism, false teachings, anger, and spiritual blindness were all seen as being part of the same satanically inspired project. For this reason, Paul taught that whatever earthly struggles disciples found themselves involved in, they must understand that their real struggle was against “the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Eph 6:12, cf. 2 Cor 10:3-5). We’ve seen that these powers are closely tied to real, destructive spiritual forces at work within actual political, social, even religious structures e.g. nations, governments, social clubs, religions institutions, social classes, even ideologies like capitalism.

My point is that by leaving the character of the Devil behind we are missing a dominant piece of the story that the Bible wishes to tell FIRST. For example, the first messianic prophecy given in Scripture — indeed, the first prophecy given, period — announced just this: a descendant of Eve would crush the head of the serpent who originally deceived humanity into joining in his rebellion (Gen. 3:15). It is therefore not surprising that the original disciples reflected on Jesus’ victory in terms of spiritual warfare. Moreover, the very first Christian sermon, according to Luke, did not center on a legal story of God expunging personal guilt and satisfying God’s own justice but a cosmic victory in which God vanquished spiritual enemies. Acts 2:32-36 records: “After the Holy Spirit was poured out on the day of Pentecost, Peter stood up and preached:

“This Jesus God raised up, and of that all of us are witnesses. Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you both see and hear. For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says, ‘The Lord said to my Lord,

“Sit at my right hand,
until I make your enemies your footstool.” ’
Therefore let the entire house of Israel know with certainty that God has made him both Lord and Messiah, this Jesus whom you crucified” (Ac 2:32-36).

The central thing Jesus did, according to Peter, was fulfill Psalm 110:1. Jesus had been raised to a position of divine power (the Lord’s “right hand”) over his defeated and humiliated enemies (who are now his “footstool”). In an apocalyptic Jewish context, this is simply what it meant to say that Jesus brought the kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan has been defeated.

This theme of victory over cosmic foes pervades the entire New Testament and reflects the most dominant and consistent understanding of the cross. Indeed, Psalm 110 is the most frequently cited passage in the New Testament, and it always, in a variety of ways, is used to express the truth that Christ is Lord because he has defeated God’s enemies (e.g. Mt 22:41-45; Mk 12:35-37; Lk 20:41-44; I Cor 15:22-25; Heb 1:13; 5:6, 10; 6:20; 7:11, 15,17,21; Heb 10:12-13, cf. Mt 26:64; Mk 14:62; Lk 22:69; Ac 5:31; 7:55-56; Rom 8:34; I Cor 15:25; Eph 1:20; Col 3:1; Heb 1:3; 8:1; 10:12-13; I Pet 3:22; Rev. 3:21).

What are the implications of this story? How should it shape how we engage spiritual warfare?

          1.    First, it gives us a good story to tell – that God is good and that salvation is good and impacts our lives here and now not simply the hereafter.

Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil not save us from the wrath of God, which has everything to do with how we understand God and his relationship with people. Under the rubric of spiritual warfare, salvation is not first and foremost about escaping hell, or placating God but being liberated “from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will” (2 Tim. 2:26). It is about being “set free from this present evil age” (Gal 1:4) and liberated from our “enslavement to the elemental spirits of the world” (Gal 4:3, cf. Rom 6:18, 8:2; Gal 5:1; Col 2:20; Heb 2:14-15 ). Indeed, Peter seems to suggest (however cryptically and controversially) that because of the cosmic significance of what Christ has accomplished, even some who “in former times did not obey” can now be set free (I Pet 3:19-20). This is the essential meaning of “salvation” in the New Testament. The New Testament concept of salvation does not primarily mean “salvation from God’s wrath” as many western Christians take it to mean – often with negative consequences for their mental picture of God. God does not fight against us but for us. 

This is why we change the lyrics of In Christ Alone and sing a different song – NOT “the wrath of God was satisfied” but “the plan of God was satisfied.” The death of Jesus to satisfy God’s wrath doesn’t make good sense of the ministry of Jesus or of the motif of spiritual warfare. BUT if the plan of God was “to destroy the works of the Devil” then it’s not about God being placated but God winning and that model best incorporates and unites all that Jesus does – healing, exorcism, table fellowship with sinners, under the heading of redemption or spiritual warfare. So loving the devil out of one another begins with rightly understanding the love of God for us (John 3:16).

          2.    Second, in this story people become more than rebellious sinners but the kidnapped, the trapped, the enslaved.

In this story, everything Satan and the diabolic powers had on us — all the sin that put us under their oppression — has lost its power and we have been set free from the power of sin and its condemnation (Col 2:14- 15). What about our responsibility? Well – in this light – I think it best to speak of sin functioning like Stockholm syndrome - a psychological phenomenon described in 1973 in which hostages express empathy and sympathy toward their captors, sometimes to the point of defending and identifying with them. Stockholm syndrome can be seen as a form of traumatic bonding, which describes “strong emotional ties that develop between two persons where one person intermittently harasses, beats, threatens, abuses, or intimidates the other.” Friends, we will never be what God intends if we continue to shoot hostages or believe that they are the enemy. The motif of spiritual warfare reminds us that our battle is NOT against “flesh and blood,” even when those victims who tragically identify with their captors. 

Note that 1 John does not say that those who sin are “born of the devil,” which would give a neat parallel to the corresponding phrase “born of God.” The Gospel writer John tells us that all people are created by God (John 1:10) but those who come to faith in Christ give evidence that they are also “born of God” (John 1:13). Those who oppose God are “of the devil” which does not deny their having been created by God but reflects on whose power and authority they are both under and behind (e.g. “Get thee behind me, . . ., Matthew 16:23). Both John’s epistle and Gospel frequently speak of being “of” something, a phrase that points to both allegiance (choice) as well as orientation (not a choice).

One brief comment on sin and the Christian life: If believers sin – and 1 John makes it clear that they do (1:8, 10) – their sin does not indicate that they are no longer children or have lost God as a parent. They have God’s seed in them – it cannot be uprooted. Hence vs. 9 in the Greek refers to an ongoing action “go on sinning.”

Vs. 9 “No one born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning . . .” Eugene Peterson captures the idea by stating, “People conceived and brought into life by God don’t make a practice of sin . . .” To practice something means to participate in an action repeatedly and intentionally in order to get better at it. So we need to not practice sin but be holy and that means that . . .

          3.    Third, holiness becomes the loving act of getting into trouble for the sake of God’s kingdom. 

1 John doesn’t simply speak about the revelation of Jesus but also the revelation of us. “This is how the children of God are manifested” – a more literal rendering of the Greek in vs. 10. The word for manifested (phanera) is a cognate of the word elsewhere translated “appear,” used to speak of Jesus being revealed (2:28; 3:2, 5, 8 – think apocalyptic). It is the revelation which integrates doing what is right and loving one another (vs. 11). One of the biggest distortions to our story has been what we’ve done to holiness (remember the Pharisees?) Holiness is not about being good, or harmless, but a responsibility to live and love as Jesus did (2:6). In this way, holiness becomes an act of loving rebellion against the powers and not about whether we appear morally upright – remember Mr. Carswell. It means that holiness is about the character of God in light of God’s mission which is for people and all of creation. What do I mean?

When Jesus broke religious taboos by fellowshipping with tax collectors, prostitutes and other sinners (e.g. Mt 11:19; Mk 2:15; Lk 5:29-30; 15:1, cf. Lk 7:31-37), and when he forsook religious traditions to lovingly heal and feed people on the Sabbath (Mt 12:1, 10; Lk 13:10-18; 14:1-5; Jn 5:9-10), we should understand him to be waging war against the powers and exposing the systemic evil that fuels religious legalism and oppression. He was conquering evil with holy love. 

When Jesus boldly crossed religious and ethnic lines, fellowshipping and speaking highly of Samaritans and Gentiles (e.g. Lk 10:30-37; 17:11-16; Jn 4; Mt 8:5-10; 15:22-28), and when he crossed other social barriers —touching lepers for example (Mt 8:1-3; Mt 14:3) — he was resisting and exposing the evils of the powers that fuel racism and social marginalization. He was conquering evil with holy love. 

So too, when in the midst of an extremely patriarchal culture Jesus empowered women with dignity and called them to critical roles in his kingdom (Mt 26:6-10; Lk 7:37-50; 8:1-32; 10:38-40; 13:11-18; Jn 4: 7-29; 8:3-10; 11:5; 12:1-7), we must understand him to be battling and exposing the powers that fuel sexism. He was conquering evil with holy love. 

And when Jesus expressed mercy to people who knew they deserved judgment and whom the culture stipulated should be judged (Mk 2:15; Lk 5:29-30; 7:47-48; 19:1-10; Jn 8:3-10), he was resisting and exposing the powers that fuel social and religious cruelty and judgmentalism. He was conquering evil with holy love. 

It was, in fact, this on-going, loving resistance to the powers and those who do their bidding that ultimately led to Jesus’ crucifixion. Hence we see that Jesus’ life, death and resurrection cannot be separated from each other, not even theoretically. Everything about Jesus’ life must be understood as an act of holiness, a radical defiance against the “ways of this world” and the powers. So be commissioned to go get into trouble. Let’s be a holy people and know that holiness will often put us at odds with people in power. It is not the means of making us good and well-behaved citizens. Spiritual warfare then is that Christ-shaped pushed back against all the forces in the world working antagonistically against the kingdom of God. And friends, we need to stop being push-overs and start pushing back - but his way, by the cross, the power of the Spirit, and love.