Christians’ questionable (or just-plain-wrong) beliefs about things such as spiritual warfare take a very long time to — ha ha, exorcise. 1
Going over all the possible assumptions Christians have about how demons operate would take a while. In some cases, I’m thinking Christians need to practice love and firmness, coupled with careful emphasis on God’s power and His Spirit within Christians. That’s a more extensive process than, say, pointing to one Scripture as proof against a wrong idea about Satan and his fallen angels.
But let’s look into just one questionable idea. It crumbles simply by reading verses before and after a common proof text.
Ye have heard that it was said …
“We need to come against that spirit (or evil spirit, demon, power) and bind him (or it).”
AKA: “Lord, we just pray that Satan would be bound …”
Or even a prayer not directed to God: “Satan, we bind you!”
But Matthew 18:18:18 has nothing to do with demons. This is a bit dangerous to say, in part because some Christians will assume the one saying it doesn’t believe Satan or demons are real and terrible.2 So for now, let’s just bypass the whole “spiritual warfare” issue and look at the verse by itself.
Matthew 18:18
The verse isn’t talking about spiritual warfare or demons. They’re not mentioned here. Maybe they’re in the surrounded verses — the context of what Jesus is saying to His disciples. That usually clears things up.
Wait. The paragraph here is actually not about fighting demons at all. It’s about the church’s role in personal conflicts!
Matthew 18: 17-20
So the “binding” isn’t of the Devil or demons at all. Instead, Jesus is talking about church leaders’ “binding” decisions on conflicts between church members.
Maybe the Bible elsewhere encourages Christians to “bind” Satan, or ask God to bind him.3 But it’s not here.
Some things in Scripture are unclear and require deep contemplation to see them more clearly. This isn’t one of them.
Real warfare
Consider the time and effort some well-meaning and zealous Christians give to battling demons directly. But compared with that, direct demon-fighting is topic that is mentioned almost in passing throughout the New Testament.
Yes, the Devil and his demons are real, they are dangerous, but they are at best bit players. Christian should pray to Christ, never direct prayers or commands against Satan.4 “Binding and rebuking” is about church discipline and authority, not bossing fallen angels or fighting temptation. And the famous “full armor of God” portrayal in Ephesians 6 shows us that spiritual warfare is primarily about learning and living the Sword of the Spirit, the Word of God, and battling false doctrines that infect our minds, hearts and lives.
So here are three spiritual warfare “formulas” for casting out questionable assumptions about spiritual warfare.
a. Number of Scriptures teaching this > number of Scriptures about demons.
b. Epistle instructions for proper exorcising of demons = 0.
c. Christians possessed or controlled by demons = x/0.
- Perhaps “this kind can only come out through prayer.” (BA-dum, tisssh!) ↩
- Trust me, I know they’re real, and I know they’re bad. They’re in Scripture, and I see their “best” work in weekly police reports — or too often in my heart. ↩
- Hint: no. ↩
- John MacArthur once rhetorically asked how Christians who command Satan could know if Satan, a non-omniscient being, could hear them. ↩
Wow, great piece, and a topic so often used in popular culture, and even Christian culture, that it needs to be addressed. I’m truly psyched to see what you have coming up on this, brother.
With all due respect I am afriad you are misleading christians. First of all, Jesus drove out demons regularly. I believe most christians should strive to be like Jesus. Second of all, Paul drove out demons (Acts 16:18). In First Corinthians 11:1, Paul tells us to follow his example, as he follows the example of Christ.
Your exact words say : “Christian should pray to Christ, never direct prayers or commands against Satan”. Acts 16:18 says – Finally Paul became so troubled that he turned around and said to the spirit, “In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!” At that moment the spirit left her.
When Paul says follow my example he does not say follow my example except for that one time I commanded a spirit to come out of a girl.
Also, In Matthew 10:1 Jesus gave his disciples the authority to drive out demons, in verse 7 he tells them to drive out demons.
By ourselves, we have no power over demons. But through Jesus we have so much more power than them. In Luke 10:17 the disciples were so excited because “even the demons submit to us in your name”.
Finally preceding the ascension, Jesus says that driving out demons would be a sign that accompanied those who believed in him! Jesus said it should be a sign of people that believe in him and your saying that its a bad thing?
I actually do agree with you that Matthew 18 could be misinterpreted, but this does not mean that we are not to drive demons out.
I pray that you will look into the Scriptures more and that God will guide you. Thank you
I agree with you!!!!
So for now, let’s just bypass the whole “spiritual warfare” issue and look at the verse by itself.
I think we’re in more agreement than you might think. Do note the above column is emphasizing one “side” of things — the beliefs that do exist and which encourage Christians to overemphasize an “eternal” battle against Satan over the internal battle in our own hearts.
So for now, let’s just bypass the whole “spiritual warfare” issue and look at the verse by itself.
Recall that line — “binding Satan” is treated above as different from spiritual warfare against demons. If you read the column carefully, you’ll find that I certainly have not denied a present-day need to battle against demons, or even cast one out of someone. But praying to “bind Satan,” based on what we agree is a misreading of Matthew 18 and, is not the same as casting out a demon, however we best do that now — that’s a whole other issue.
OK. We are in agreed that this verse is prone to misinterpretation. Now… back to the spiritual warfare issue. How can you tell other Christians that we should “pray to Christ, never direct prayers or commands against Satan.”? Could you please show me how this is can be defended biblically.
Kahugu, thanks so much for you thoughts. I’ll do my best to clarify. Here’s that full paragraph:
The specific context here is “binding and rebuking” in the way many Christians say “Satan, we bind you,” or “we come against you, Satan.” John MacArthur once humorously yet poignantly noted: how do we know Satan is even able to hear such “prayers”? He is not omniscient.
Scripture gives no specific allowance or instructions for Christians in this age to “bind or rebuke” the Devil. Being not omniscient either, we can’t know if he’s specifically involved with something going on, so how would we even firmly conclude he’s causing some evil?
From your first comment:
Several points could be made about this passage:
1. Paul was engaging in an actual exorcism, not the kind of “binding” mentioned above.
2. This is an evil spirit, not Satan himself.
3. Christians are nowhere else given instructions on how to cast out evil spirits in this way. Some Christians say that could have been a miraculous gift unique to that age, which has now been superseded by the written Word — I’m still exploring this area.
4. Regardless, this is still a narrative in Scripture, and as a genre, not all narratives are meant to be imitated. To do so could accidentally read the Bible in a “liberal” way, finding a meaning in the text that the Author never meant, and import a behavior that God, or a Biblical hero, did, yet is not meant for all time. Other examples: Ruth’s method of proposing to Boaz (Ruth 3), or a Christian’s shadow apparently having healing powers (Acts 5).
Summary: whether Christians today can or should cast out demons is a related issue. Yet it is not the main point of what I was saying about Christians “binding/rebuking” Satan.
Hope that helps! Perhaps in the near future this site may explore the related issue of casting out demons and whether that is for today. I am inclined to think that without unique apostolic authority to perform miracles, Christians today may not be able just to throw demons out of people unless the Holy Spirit first opens that person’s depraved heart to the Gospel. I recall even Frank Peretti’s novels’ portrayals of exorcisms approached this concept.
Thank you for the response. I appreciate your time and input. First, in general, I agree that “binding Satan” himself would not necessarily be effective because, as you said, he cannot be everywhere at once. Out of all of the evil going on in the world the odds that Satan himself would be there in your presence trying to persuade you to sin is very unlikely. I believe, however, that when the bible refers to the devil it is sometimes referring to his work. For example, “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” – James 4:7. “Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him…”- 1 Peter 5:8-9. So that being said, I believe there is a significant difference between saying ” Come out of her Satan” and ” Come out of her evil spirit”. The latter being more effective.
I believe that the notion of binding and loosing can be found in areas other than Matthew 18. In Matthew chapter 12, Jesus is being accused of using Satan’s power to cast out demons. In verse 29 he says: “Or again, how can anyone enter a strong man’s house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man? Then he can rob his house.” I am curious to hear what your opinion on what the strong man is because I believe that he is talking about a demon because it is the only thing that makes sense in this context, but I am not 100% sure. But, if he is referring to the demon as a “strong man”, then I think we can agree that Jesus is telling us that in order to drive out a demon, we must “tie up” the demon. Again, I am open to a different interpretation of this if you see it differently.
One passage that is very clear though, is in Luke chapter 13. In verse 11 we read that the woman had been “crippled by a spirit for eighteen years”! When the synagogue rulers questioned him for healing her on the Sabbath he said “should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years, be set free on the Sabbath day from what bound her?”
Some things we can see from this verse:
1. Again we see an example of when the word Satan is used to describe the work of Satan and not actually Satan himself.
2. An evil spirit had kept her bound.
3. Jesus’ wanted to make sure that she could be loosed from “what bound her”
In the same way, I believe that even today, Satan can bind someone. I find it very hard to believe that God, would render modern day Christians powerless to loose such individuals from Satan’s power.
I understand that you think that I am getting into another topic, even if it is very closely related, but would you be able to address the issue that I address here? I do not believe that we cannot talk about it simply because it wasnt the exact issue you started out addressing. Thank you and God bless!
Hey — way to go E. Stephan!
If this is the flavor of all your post-work (lovingly, logically, & biblically L- L- B) then, you’ve got a Real good thing going…
I pray your readers/viewers will increase, as, God knows, there certainly is a flood of less than L-L-B Christian (sad to say) posters out there…
Also, love that your hope is: (Stephan) “hopes God’s grace and glory will help him honor Him in all things.”
Ahhh– now that’s a hope we could all stand to learn a lot more about.
Thankx for your example.
Keep up the great work!
NomJohnson
I praise The Almighty for the work He is doing through you, and I thank you for being obedient. All too often the Word of the Lord is taught out of context – even from our nations’ pulpits. It ought not to be so. If only more would be compelled to study to show themselves approved by rightly dividing the Word.
Thank you, and may God bless this ministry.
Momma Fay