One being Scripture warns Christians about is the devil. In the Old Testament, Genesis first makes Satan known as a serpent speaking directly to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden (Gen. 3:1-5), and then God speaks directly to the serpent (Gen. 3:15). The devil is allowed into the heavenly council of angels (Job 1:61-12; Zach. 3:1-2). Isaiah describes Satan as a fallen angel named Lucifer (Isa. 14:12-15). Finally, the Psalms describe Satan as standing with the wicked (Psa. 109:6), while Satan uses Psalm 91 to tempt Jesus.
In the New Testament, Jesus speaks directly to Satan when he tempts Jesus three times in the desert (Matt. 4:1-11). Also, Jesus directly rebukes Satan when Peter tells Jesus he shall not die (Mark 8:33; Matt. 16:23). Jesus describes the Pharisees as children of the devil (John 8:44). If the Son of God spoke directly to Satan and his children in these ways, then Satan must be real.
Additionally, the disciples believed Satan to be real. As Peter reminds the church, Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion (1 Pet. 5:8). Paul describes the devil as an angel of light (2 Cor. 11:14). James speaks of resisting the devil (James 4:7). Jude explains Satan’s battle with the archangel, Michael (Jude 9). And John returns to Satan’s description as a serpent (Rev. 12:9-12; 20:1-6).
I believe Scripture teaches the devil has two significant categories of operation, which are fighting God as a direct enemy (Gen. 3:15, Rom. 16:20, Eph. 6:12, Heb. 2:14) and causing God’s covenant people to suffer (John 10:10, 2 Tim. 2:26, Rev. 2:10).
Since the devil is a created being, he does not have the attributes of God to be omnipresent, omniscient, and omnipotent. Therefore, he uses other fallen beings called demons to carry out his plan. Demons are real because Jesus rebukes them and casts them out of people and into things (Matt. 17:18, Luke 4:35-41). They do much harm to people inside and outside the church. However, there is much disagreement about how significant demon influence occurs contemporarily and how to respond to them ministerially. For example, Jay Adams believes, “The eschatological timetable and the nature of the present millennial era adequately account for the failure of the modern church to encounter demon possession as a common daily contemporary phenomenon.”[1]
However, Heath Lambert footnotes the following:
The devil and his demons do operate against God’s people by direct and open temptation (Matt. 4:1ff, Mark 1:12-13, Luke 4:1ff); manifestations of the supernatural (Luke 8:26ff); manifestations of strange or bizarre behavior (1 Sam. 16:14-16, 23; 18:10-11; Mark 5:1ff; Luke 8:26ff); manifestations of sickness or physical impairment (Matt. 9:32-34; 12:22; 17:14-18; Mark 9:14ff; Luke 11:14ff; 13:10-17; 2 Cor. 12:7); the devil disguises himself making his explicit presence unknown (Gen. 3:1-2, 2 Sam. 24:1, 1 Chron. 21, Luke 6:17-18, John 13:27, Acts 5:3-11, 2 Cor. 11:14, 2 Tim. 2:25-26; the use of “magic” (Acts 8:9ff; 6:16ff; 19:19); the use of occult practices (1 Sam 28:1ff); there are times when the explicit operations of the devil are unidentifiable by us at all (Matt. 4:24; 8:16; 15:21ff; Mark 1:32-34; 7:24; Acts 5:16; 8:7; Eph. 6:11); sometimes when the work of sinful people are ascribed to him (Matt: 16:23, John 8:44, Acts 13:8-10, James 3:15, 1 John 3:8); and other times when even the work of righteous people are ascribed to him (Matt. 10:25; 11:18; 12:22ff; Mark 3:22ff; Luke 11:14ff; John 7:20; 8:48ff; 10:19).[2]
With this in mind, we must remember there is a difference between the believer and unbeliever regarding the devil’s activity. This difference may not be evident to the believer. Yet, we must remember, as covenant children of God, we are on Christ’s winning side (Heb. 9:26). The enemy has already been defeated (Col. 2:15). Christ thoroughly routed the devil at the cross by his sacrificial death, resurrection at the tomb, and ascension back to heaven before the witnesses in Acts 1 (cf. Phil. 2:1-11). Satan is now bound (Mark 3:27; Luke 11:20; Rev. 20). His power is restricted and restrained (2 Thess. 2:6ff), rendered powerless over believers (Heb. 2:14; James 4:7), lost authority over Christians (Col. 1:13), and cannot touch Christians (1 John 5:18). These biblical truths offer great hope for the believer because they have the Holy Spirit’s power to overcome evil (Rom. 12:21). Finally, there is no biblical reason to believe demonic possession can occur in the life of the Christian (Mark 3:20-30).
The unbeliever does not have this hope, for they are lawless (James 1:15; 1 John 3:4), and their lives lie in the power of Satan (1 John 5:19). Unfortunately, he can take them captive whenever he wills (2 Tim. 2:26). The unbeliever is the only one that can commit the unpardonable sin, which seems influenced by demonic influence (Mark 3:28-30).[3] Although I believe there is a warrant for believers to administer exorcisms, caution must be noted as only a limited number of people are actually commissioned for the work (Matt. 10:1,8; Mark 3:14-15; 6:7, 13; Luke 10:17-20; Acts 5:12-16). And those others who attempted the work in the New Testament were unbelievers and not good models for Christians (Matt. 7:22; Mark 9:38-40; Luke 9:49-50). The most biblical way for covenant children to respond to the demonic is by faith in the Lord, Jesus Christ (Acts 26:18; Eph. 6:16, James 4:7, 1 Peter 5:9)[4] and rest in His power.[5]
[1] Jay E. Adams, The Christian Counselor’s Manual: The Practice of Nouthetic Counseling (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1973), 128.
[2] Heath Lambert, A Theology of Biblical Counseling: The Doctrinal Foundations of Counseling Ministry (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2016), 251.
[3] Adams, 126-128.
[4] Lambert, 252.
[5] Doug Kelly, Systematic Theology: The Beauty of Christ: A Trinitarian Vision, v. 2 (Fearn, UK: Mentor, 2014), 399-405. Dr. Kelly gives as good a theology of any I have read on this subject.
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