What does the Bible say about spiritual warfare?

A walk of faith in the Lord Jesus will always awaken the opposition of enemies, Satan and people energized by Satan. David found himself often attacked by human enemies, and when simply depending on God, he was enabled to defeat them without real difficulty. Our enemies today are "spiritual hosts of wickedness in heavenly places," that is, Satan's angels who seek constantly to undermine our faith in the Lord Jesus. But if we have on "the whole armor of God" (Eph. 6:11) we shall be enabled to stand against them and defeat their evil intentions. They will stumble and fall.

To resist enemies like these we need the armour of God. The manifestations of this power, when God permits it, constitute the evil days. All this present period of Christ's absence is, in a certain sense, the evil day. Christ has been rejected by the world, of which, while in it, He was the light, and is hidden in God. This power, which the enemy displayed when he led the world to reject Christ, he still exercises over it: we oppose it by the action and the power of the Holy Ghost, who is here during the Lord's absence. But there are moments when this power is allowed to show itself in a more especial manner, when the enemy uses the world against the saints, darkening the light which shines in it from God, troubling and leading astray the minds of professors and even of believers — days, in a word, in which his power makes itself felt. We have to wrestle with this power, to resist it all, to stand against everything in the confession of Christ, of the light; we have to do all that the confession of His name requires in spite of all and at whatever cost, and to be found standing when the storm and the evil day are past.

The people of God are not only priests but also warriors. To contend for the faith needs all the power and energy of a life devoted to the Lord. "Because our struggle is not against blood and flesh, but against principalities, against authorities, against the universal lords of this darkness, against spiritual power of wicked­ness in the heavenlies" (Eph. 6:12, J.N.D. Trans.). But we are equipped with the necessary armour for this fight: the whole armour of God.

Then, after speaking of the common details of life, the apostle rises up to speak of the proper position of the Christian as such - free in all things; but we are to be "strong in the Lord and in the power of his might." He goes on to speak of the whole armour of God. We are supposed, though in conflict, to be in our proper position of blessing with God, standing in the power of redemption, not having to get there. The warfare is to stand when there. Satan's aim is to get us out of that place. There can be no conflict between us and God, but between us and the power of evil. There we fight as being God's army. We are naturally under Satan's power, but redemption brings us into God's army. This was the position of Israel when warring with Amalek: they were on God's side; and He said He would have war with Amalek from generation to generation.

Nevertheless, the mighty contest with the powers of darkness admits of no negligence on our part. We cannot afford to be unguarded anywhere. We have to stand, not so much against the strength of the devil (Christ did this) as against his wiles. In truth, he is to us a vanquished foe in the cross; and we are entitled always to treat him as such. Therefore, says James, (James 4:7), "Resist the devil and he will flee from you." It is his artifices that are chiefly and always to be dreaded; and to resist these we need to put on the panoply of God, as it is added here: "Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the world-rulers of this darkness, against spiritual wickedness in heavenly places."

Fleshly weapons or armor in this warfare are useless, for the conflict is against principalities, authorities and rulers, spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenlies (v.11). Principalities refers to dignities, in this case demonic, whom we must never treat with contempt (Jude 8, 9), but firmly stand against them. Authorities are the authorities of darkness. They have no authority over believers, though that authority which they hold over unbelievers, is cruel tyranny, keeping great numbers of people in subjection, and they use such people to attempt to force their authority on believers. False cults that use the method of brain-washing are adept at pressing people into conformity with their wicked teachings, so that once they are trapped, they become virtual slaves of Satan. We must be on guard therefore to refuse such evil authority. Rulers have to do with administration. Satan has his organization of evil forces that is not to be lightly regarded, and he uses people for his evil purposes, to contest every inch of the way in which a believer seeks to enter into and enjoy his proper possessions in heavenly places. These possessions that Satan seeks to keep us from enjoying are the vital truths of Scripture which cannot be learned except by spiritual means (1 Cor.2:13), and are held in daily practice only by using the whole armor of God.

The point here however is that these great antagonistic powers exert all their wiles and energy against believers. They cannot rob them of their soul's salvation, but they can divert them from an understanding of their heavenly calling, and from a life which is really in keeping with it; and this is what they aim at doing. Now it stands to reason that we cannot meet such powers as these in our own strength. Thank God we need not attempt any such thing for all the armour that we need is freely provided of God. But we have to take it. Otherwise we shall not experience its value.

It is essential for us to realise that we have no strength of our own for such a conflict, for the arm of flesh cannot match principalities, powers, the rulers of the darkness of this world, and spiritual wickedness in high places. To meet such foes we must be "Strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might." The wiles of the devil can only be met by divine armour; we could never stand without it. Nor can we do without it even for a moment; not until we have left this world behind is the "evil day" over for us.

Further, as God is above, so is the devil helped by "all that is in the world." See John 8:23, 44. Evil power is "from beneath." The blood of "Christ our passover" was not shed and sprinkled to shelter the believer from the assaults of the world, the flesh, and the devil, but from the righteous judgment of God. Those Israelites very early found that the blood did not insure them against the attack of Pharaoh and his host. So is it with every believer while in the world. From God's judgment he is now and eternally sheltered (John 5:24); but so far is he from not being exposed to attacks from spiritual wickedness that God has provided a complete suit of armour for him, which only avails with prayer and dependence on God (Eph. 6:11-17). D. T.

Christ has overcome, and therefore we have only to resist the devil who will flee. If we resist him, he knows that he has met Christ who has all strength against him, for He has vanquished him. The devil can never touch Christ in you - only the flesh; so, if there is a fall, it is a proof you were walking in the flesh. "We wrestle not against flesh and blood," etc. The contrast here is between the conflict with men that Joshua led the children of Israel against (flesh and blood as man, not sinful flesh, is meant here). Now we are not fighting with men, but we are Christians fighting with all these mighty beings, whose subtlety we are apt not to detect because they are so elevated - "against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickednesses in the heavenlies."