fighting the devil 2

Standing Firm in the Faith

⁸ Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. ⁹ Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world.
¹⁰ But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you. ¹¹ To Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.

—1 Peter 5:8–11

As Peter comes to the close of his first letter, he shares some important counsel regarding how we should be standing firm in the faith. He begins with a warning.

“Be sober, be vigilant” (v. 8). “To be sober” is nepho, which means “to be watchful,” “self-controlled,” or “not under the influence of intoxicants.” Peter used the same word to encourage us in verse 13 of the first chapter of this letter, and again when he encouraged us to be serious and watchful in our prayers because the end of all things is at hand (4:7). (See the discussion of the word “sober” on p. 127.)

We should be also “vigilant” (from grēgoréō), “to be watchful” or “awake.” Jesus used this word with Peter in the Garden of Gethsemane when he said, “Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation” (Matt. 26:41). Paul uses the same word in writing, “Watch, stand fast in the faith, be brave, be strong” (1 Cor. 16:13).

We should be on watch for our adversary, the devil, who walks around us like a roaring lion, waiting to devour us (v. 8). What a contrast from the previous verse in which we are told about Jesus who longs to protect us and take care of us! Here we read about the devil who desires to devour us. In fact, he is on the offensive, like a hungry lion stalking its prey.

Malcolm Collins, a missionary supported by our church as he ministers in Africa, gave the children’s message in one of our morning services. What he shared was most interesting and helpful. He told the children (and scores of interested adults) what to do in case we ever met or encountered a hungry lion. The first thing to remember is that you should never try to flee. That would mean certain death. The lion can run much faster than we can. Next, you should try to look very brave and stare right into the lion’s eyes. If you are successful, he will back down and run away. However, if that does not work, you should be prepared for the lion to attack you. Have your spear ready so that when he leaps upon you, he will land on the spear and be killed!

That is not only wonderful advice regarding how to meet a lion, it is also helpful advice on how to meet the devil. We should not try to flee from him. Instead, we should resist him by being steadfast in the faith (v. 9). To “resist” is anthı́stēmi, which means “to stand against” or “withstand.” James gives us the same counsel. “Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you” (James 4:7–8).

We need to be alert and watchful so that we can resist the devil when he attacks us. Victory is promised to us as we submit to the Lord and draw close to Him. We should then resist the devil, and he will flee from us!

The two steps go hand in hand. You shouldn’t attempt to do one without the other. First, you should draw near to the Lord and then you should resist the devil (see commentary, p. 83). Our only defense against the evil one is through the power of Christ. And, as we resist him, we should know that we are not the only ones who face the sufferings that come from the attacks of the devil. We should remember our brothers and sisters in Christ throughout the world who are suffering for the sake of Christ (v. 9).

As we resist the devil, we have seen that we should also submit ourselves to the Lord (v. 10). Peter reminds us again that the attacks of the devil and suffering for doing good are not wasted as we entrust ourselves to Christ Jesus. It is He who has called us to His eternal glory (v. 10). The God of all grace, who will allow us to suffer for a little while, will use that suffering to accomplish four important things in our lives.

1.. He will perfect us. “To perfect” is katartı́zō, which means “to restore,” “to mend,” or “to complete thoroughly.” That is exactly what God desires to do with our lives. He wants to restore what sin has taken from us, to mend what sin has broken, to complete us thoroughly so that we may grow to become more and more like Christ.

2.. He will establish us. “To establish,” stērı́zō, means “to turn resolutely in a certain direction,” “steadfastly set,” or “strengthen.” Again, God will use the suffering in our lives to turn us resolutely to Him, to forsake sin, to be steadfast in Him, and to be strengthened by Him.

3.. He will strengthen us. “To strengthen” is sthenóō, which means “to give vigor” or “to make firm.” God desires to make us vigorous and strong for Him and to make us firm in our commitment to Him.

4.. He will settle us. “To settle” (themelióō) means “to consolidate,” or “to lay a foundation.” Our Lord desires to use our brief times of suffering to consolidate all the fragments of our lives and to bring them under His control in order to lay a solid foundation in our lives—Jesus Christ Himselfto settle us from all of our instability.

God uses our suffering for good! By it we are perfected, established, strengthened, and settled. By faith we submit ourselves increasingly to Jesus as the Lord of our lives. And as we do, we depend more and more upon Him and we give to Him the glory and the dominion forever and ever (v. 11). We recognize more clearly who He is and who we are—and that causes us to bow down and worship Him as Lord.¹

One reason we have cares is because we have an enemy. As the serpent, Satan deceives (2 Cor. 11:3); and as the lion, Satan devours. The word “Satan” means “adversary,” and the word “devil” means “the accuser, the slanderer.” The recipients of this letter had already experienced the attacks of the slanderer (1 Peter 4:4, 14), and now they would meet “the lion” in their fiery trial. Peter gave them several practical instructions to help them get victory over their adversary.

Respect him—he is dangerous. Since I have no mechanical ability, I admire people who can build and repair things. During a church building program, I was watching an electrician install a complex control panel. I said to the man, “It just amazes me how you fellows can calmly work on those lines with all of that power there. How do you do it?” The electrician smiled and said, “Well, the first thing you have to do is respect it. Then you can handle it.”

Satan is a dangerous enemy. He is a serpent who can bite us when we least expect it. He is a destroyer (Rev. 12:11; Abaddon and Apollyon both mean “destruction”) and an accuser (Zech. 3:1–5; Rev. 12:9–11). He has great power and intelligence, and a host of demons who assist him in his attacks against God’s people (Eph. 6:10ff). He is a formidable enemy; we must never joke about him, ignore him, or underestimate his ability. We must “be sober” and have our minds under control when it comes to our conflict with Satan.

A part of this soberness includes not blaming everything on the devil. Some people see a demon behind every bush and blame Satan for their headaches, flat tires, and high rent. While it is true that Satan can inflict physical sickness and pain (Luke 13:16; and the Book of Job), we have no biblical authority for casting out “demons of headache” or “demons of backache.” One lady phoned me long distance to inform me that Satan had caused her to shrink seven and a half inches. While I have great respect for the wiles and powers of the devil, I still feel we must get our information about him from the Bible and not from our own interpretation of experiences.

Recognize him—he is a great pretender (John 8:44; 2 Cor. 11:13–15). Because he is a subtle foe, we must “be vigilant” and always on guard. His strategy is to counterfeit whatever God does. According to the Parable of the Tares, wherever God plants a true Christian, Satan seeks to plant a counterfeit (Matt. 13:24–30, 36–43). He would deceive us were it not for the Word of God and the Spirit of God (1 John 2:18–27). The better we know God’s Word, the keener our spiritual senses will be to detect Satan at work. We must be able to “try the spirits” and know the true from the false (1 John 4:1–6).

Resist him. This means that we take our stand on the Word of God and refuse to be moved. Ephesians 6:10–13 instructs us to “stand … withstand … stand.” Unless we stand, we cannot withstand. Our weapons are the Word of God and prayer (Eph. 6:17–18) and our protection is the complete armor God has provided. We resist him “in the faith,” that is, our faith in God. Just as David took his stand against Goliath, and trusted in the name of Jehovah, so we take our stand against Satan in the victorious name of Jesus Christ.

A word of caution here: never discuss things with Satan or his associates. Eve made this mistake, and we all know the sad consequences. Also, never try to fight Satan in your own way. Resist him the way Jesus did, with the Word of God (Matt. 4:1–11). Never get the idea that you are the only one going through these battles, because “your brethren that are in the world” are facing the same trials. We must pray for one another and encourage each other in the Lord. And we must remember that our personal victories will help others, just as their victories will help us.

Had Peter obeyed these three instructions the night Jesus was arrested, he would not have gone to sleep in the Garden of Gethsemane, attacked Malchus, or denied the Lord. He did not take the Lord’s warning seriously; in fact, he argued with Him! Nor did he recognize Satan when the adversary inflated his ego with pride, told him he did not have to “watch and pray,” and then incited him to use his sword. Had Peter listened to the Lord and resisted the enemy, he would have escaped all those failures.

Both Peter and James give us the same formula for success: “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (James 4:7). Before we can stand before Satan, we must bow before God. Peter resisted the Lord and ended up submitting to Satan!²

1 Cedar, P. A., & Ogilvie, L. J. (1984). James / 1 & 2 Peter / Jude (Vol. 34, pp. 195–197). Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Inc.

2 Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 2, pp. 432–433). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.