What is a foothold, spiritually speaking?
Answered from the commentary of G. C. Willis, J. N. Darby and Hamilton Smith
A foothold is an opening for the devil to gain a base of operations in a person’s life: sin, or even a weight, can give him that opportunity. When we give way to thoughts or actions that are not of God, we open the door to his influence. Even a small concession can lead further into sin.
The above is AI generated summary based on the writers below.
What the commentators say
The passages the answer is drawn from, the most direct first, with the words that bear on the question marked.
It is a very happy thing when a servant of the Lord has the fellowship of his brethren, and their prayers, when he goes forth to serve the Lord. Indeed, if he has not the fellowship of his brethren, he would do well to wait on the Lord before he goes forth, to see if there is some cause in himself that has hindered that fellowship. For we must always be on the watch that we do not give the enemy an opportunity to attack us. The New Testament speaks of this as giving the enemy "a base of operations" (Gal. 5:13). If an enemy wishes to attack another country, the first thing they want is a small place in that country as "a base of operations." Our enemy, the devil is the same; and especially is this true for one going forth to serve the Lord. Sin, or even any "weight" in our lives, provides this "base of operations" for the enemy. So let us "lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us" (Heb. 12:1 ), and let us value very highly the fellowship of our brethren, which cannot truly be given if we are allowing sin in our lives. Notice the lack of fellowship with Barnabas in Acts 15:39, compared with the fellowship once again given to Paul, in the following verse.
Verse 26. We see here in the acting of the new man that there may be such a thing as being angry (for example, Christ in the case of the man who had the withered hand, Mark 3:5); it is then indignation against evil. (See 2 Cor. 7:11.) If it is the anger of the new man on account of evil, then, as soon as the evil is removed, the soul returns to its rest; but if anger lasts, then there is bitterness, and the soul not being able to return into its rest, evil is shewn to be there; for this reason it is said, "Let not the sun go down upon your wrath."
39 Verse 27. This verse shews us that we ought not to open the door to Satan. If it is the flesh that is acting, then the wicked one can touch us; but he cannot touch the new man, he cannot entice it; 1 John 5:18. If I give way to a thought which is not of God, then I give place to Satan; if I give way to anger, the enemy is there: we are then hindered in service, troubled in prayer; and that is not to be wondered at. When our thoughts have been filled with present things, when we have been occupied with them not in their connection with God, we have given place to Satan; but if we have been occupied with our work with God before us, then this work in no way takes possession of our hearts as an object; our faculties are free; our affections are fresh; and, when we return to God, we are entirely God's, having only acted in order to fulfil His will. How much time we lose! This is why it is said, "Watch unto prayer." We should do whatever we do, for God.
(V. 26). We are to beware of sinning through anger. There is such a thing as being rightly angry, but such anger is indignation against evil, not against the evil-doer, and behind such anger there is grief on account of the evil. Thus we read of the Lord that He looked on the wicked leaders of the synagogue “with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts” (Mark 3:5). The anger of the flesh ever has self in view; it is not grief on account of evil, but resentment against one that has been offensive. This fleshly anger against the evildoer will only lead to bitterness that occupies the soul with thoughts of revenge. The one entertaining such thoughts finds himself continually fretting, and in this sense lets the sun go down upon his wrath. Anger against evil will lead to grief that finds its resource in turning to God, where the soul finds rest.
(V. 27). We are warned that by acting in the flesh, whether in anger or in any other way, we open the door for the devil. Peter, by his self-confidence, made room for the devil to lead him into a denial of the Lord.
How wholesome, then, to remember, that neither special gift, nor success in service, nor biblical knowledge, nor grey-haired experience, nor all put together, can be any bar to the tempter's aim. Into each of these, self-will may creep; and where self-will gains entrance the enemy finds an effectual open door. Force the way, he cannot; but wherever he can either allure or provoke to the secret working of our own wills, he can find ready access. And if self-will opens the door for him, self-confidence keeps it open.
Satan knows what orders thou keepest in thy house and closet; and though he has not a key to thy heart, yet he can stand in the next room to it, and lightly hear what is whispered there. If once he doth but smell which way thy heart inclines, he knows how to take the hint; if but one door is unbolted, here is advantage enough.
He knows your tastes and tendencies and is well acquainted with all your weaknesses. He will tempt you by those things which you like best and which are most likely to deceive. Sir William Douglas deceived the Governor of the Castle by that brand of wine to which he was most partial; so Satan will, if he can, induce you to open your heart's door, and he will soon bring about your defeat. Very small things may do this. It is the thin end of the wedge that eventually splits the mighty beam; the little foxes that spoil the vines; by one bottle of wine the Governor was deceived, so that the English lost Edinburgh Castle.
The wiles of the devil, not his power, we are exhorted to stand against. His wiles are all aimed at getting us away from the enjoyment of the fellowship into which God has called us, the fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord. If he succeeds in that he has dislodged us from our stronghold and then is able to attack us. The world over which he rules is at his disposal and he uses it to accomplish his sinister purpose. Many pages could be written on his tactics and not the half would be told. It is not so much by the gross things of the flesh and the world he works, though he also uses them; errors of all descriptions becoming more subtle and more cunning, are the chiefest wiles of this great being and the wicked spirits under his control. And how well he succeeds in our present time!
James again insists on humility; that man's will should be broken, and that he should be subject to God. For obedience, and having no will of one's own, is true humility; and to this the goodness and grace of God invites man. Confidence in God leads the soul to submit itself to Him. This is both a duty and a necessity, but it is done heartily where confidence exists. It is the truth of our relationship with God, and the soul is happy. We do not need to have a will for ourselves; if God who loves us has a will for us in all things, we ought to commit ourselves to Him. What grace that the omnipotent God should be always thinking of us in all the details of our lives!
The devil is an enemy; he tries to deceive us, he lays snares, he seeks to act upon us by means of our lusts. He may also indeed raise persecution to arrest us in the path of faith, but in ordinary life he deceives us by the things that suit the flesh.
Satan gets entrance for his full power in the soul the moment there is a shade of distrust in God.
In this sphere of man's responsibility, Satan can introduce himself the moment that man fails to lean absolutely upon God. We know this by every day's experience.