James 4:7 – Spiritual Warfare Made Simple!
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Often, I write and teach on the subject of spiritual warfare and am frequently requested to share on it at conferences and local churches. There is an abundance of information out there on the topic, some not as trustworthy as others. It seems some tribes are more versed in the subject than others. Many of my fellow Methodists and Wesleyans admit that they have had minimal teaching on spiritual warfare in their upbringing and training and are looking for something that is entry-level. While that does not describe everyone in our tribe, both novice and seasoned alike appreciate complex and cryptic subject matter such as spiritual warfare or demonology broken down and served up with simplicity, clarity, and concision.
In an attempt to be Wesleyan and offer “plain truth for plain people,” I believe I can sum up the whole of spiritual warfare in one verse, James 4:7: “Therefore submit yourselves to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” Submit (to God) and resist (the devil)! Of course, the entirety of scripture is available to us to draw from as we study the matter of spiritual warfare. But if any one verse captures the warp and woof of spiritual warfare from identifying its combatants to its winning strategy and its effective execution, it is this verse in James. Simply put, Submit and Resist!
The greater context surrounding verse seven identifies the particular conflict that the Apostle James is addressing. He writes that there are quarrels between believers because there are quarrels within believers. Verse one reads, “What is causing the quarrels and fights among you? Don’t they come from the evil desires at war within you?” James identifies lust, jealousy, contentiousness, manipulation, wrong motives, and even murder rising up within unchecked hearts that wage war against one’s soul and one’s neighbor: In 4:2-3 he writes, “You want what you don’t have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous of what others have, but you can’t get it, so you fight and wage war to take it away from them. Yet you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it. And even when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong—you want only what will give you pleasure.” War raging on the inside of us eventually erupts into war against our neighbor.
External conflicts often reflect deeper, unresolved internal ones. Often, we find that if we do not win the inner battle against self and its desire to sit on the throne of our hearts, then we are led by the flesh and not the Spirit. Temptations to lust, deceive, judge, rage, and the like, if not resisted and crucified, will assail and overcome our will. Earthly, carnal drives will saturate our souls and leak out into our social interactions, infecting our relationships. As a result, we find ourselves saying and doing things that do not reflect our better spiritual selves. We are not walking in the Spirit and no longer reflect the character of Christ.
In verse four, the Apostle goes deeper in his analysis of the battle, characterizing such behavior as explicitly unfaithfulness to God. “You adulterers! Don’t you realize that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God? I say it again: If you want to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God” (4:4). Our sin is always first against God and then second against others. During and after sin, our focus is on ourselves, our will, and our wants. Then afterwards, we may be consumed with our guilt, our shame, and our misery. Rarely, do we humbly gaze up and consider that above all our transgression is against our holy loving Father. In fact, the nature of sin is so oppositional, violent, and unruly, it sets us against the one who loves us. When we act on our own distorted passions, we decree our own autonomy. However, our decree is also a declaration of war against God and his righteousness. Unthinkably, we become “enemies of God,” as scripture clearly claims.
“God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble”(4:6). Battling against God, this is a war that we cannot win! Ask Satan! When we choose to walk in sin, our confrontation is actually against God. We are resisting his Spirit and his righteousness and are claiming our own will and its wants over those of the Lord’s. When our pride resists the grace of God, we are fighting God, and he will fight back. He will oppose us. Ask the Israelites in the wilderness! Needless to say, that is not a good place to be. Banging our heads against the will of God is a no-win, hopeless situation. When in sin, long before we have a problem with Satan or even self, we have a problem with God. Sin is primarily against God, and then an issue with self and the devil.
God has a holy jealousy towards those whom he died for and loves. He wants us to be wholly devoted to him. “God is passionate that the spirit he has placed within us should be faithful to him”(4:5). But to our surprise, for our rebellion he returns grace. He exhorts us not to fight him any longer, not to resist his gift: “And he gives grace generously. As the Scriptures say, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble” (4:6). The remedy James prescribes is in verse eight “to repent,” “purify our hearts,” and humbly “draw close to God.”
Repentance begins by decapitating our pride through humility (4:6). Humility is the chief virtue. St. Augustine in one of his letters expounded on the essence of the Christian life: “The way to Christ is first through humility, second through humility, third through humility” Every blessing we have comes from the grace of God—repentance, forgiveness, salvation, assurance, healing, sanctification, and every spiritual and material blessing. If grace holds such primacy in our lives being the wellspring of all blessings, then how vital is humility that God only gives grace to the humble but resists the prideful. God gives grace freely; such is the nature of grace. However, humility is the prerequisite to receiving grace. Without humility, we can receive nothing from God but find ourselves opposing him. But with humility, we receive all of the riches of grace upon grace and are able to overcome temptation and live victoriously. “He gives grace to the humble.”
Not only is humility to be our predominant posture towards the grace of our Lord, but it is also the antidote to neutralizing the venom of the Enemy. Humility deactivates Satanic pride in our life. Ironically, humility is the optimal response to both our Lord and the devil. Humility is both the proper response to God’s grace and to Satan’s temptation of pride. Humility is our prime virtue and weapon. Humility positions us to receive all that we need from God to live a holy life and overcome sin. His grace gives us power to resist the onslaught of the flesh, the devil, and the world. Verse seven exhorts, “Therefore submit yourselves to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” Note, only once we are submitted to God in humility and full of his grace can we resist the devil. Otherwise, we are no match for Satan and his demons. Satan was cursed to crawl on the earth and consume the dust of our flesh. He will eat us for breakfast! He lives off of our uncrucified flesh. Only when we humbly yield to the grace and power of the Spirit of God can we combat Satan, because only then do we have access to God’s authority over the enemy. At that point, Satan is no longer fighting us. He is fighting God.
Remarkably then, in warfare, our preoccupation is not first with the devil but with God. And only when we are submitted humbly before him and indwelt by his grace are we able to face and oppose the enemy of our soul with triumphant victory. In a position of humility and grace, we do not battle on our own and in our own strength. It is no longer I, but Christ who then battles for me and for you. We are clothed with his armor and authority and are able to resist or oppose the devil categorically and conclusively. Resistance means to hold the line, not to give in, but to push back with all of your resources. We have been given God’s grace and power, but we need to choose to resist. It is a command. Grammatically, “resist” is an understood second-person singular command, meaning “(you) resist.” When we resist, or say “no” to Satan, then we are promised that he will run from us (Christ in us). Jesus has already defeated Satan on the cross, but now his victory is ours. When you stand in Christ, Satan cannot stand before you. He must flee! At whatever level spiritual warfare may occur—personal, social, physical, mental, emotional, denominational, political etc.— the battle plan is the same: “Submit yourselves to God and resist the devil, then he will flee from you.”
In summary, the Apostle instructs us that warfare begins in our hearts as we fight against sin, which prevents us from loving God and our neighbor. Sanctification needs to be our first line of defense in spiritual warfare. But if we succumb to sin, we find ourselves resisting the grace of God and opposing his will. At this point, it is imperative to repent. We begin by resisting our pride and humbling ourselves before God, so that we can receive more grace to overcome ourselves. In turn, once we submit to God, then we can resist the devil and his temptations, which are the lust of flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. The summation of spiritual warfare made simple is Submit and Resist!
Peter J. Bellini – Professor of Church Renewal and Evangelization in the Heisel Chair at United Theological Seminary, Dayton, Ohio