Dusting for Satan's Fingerprints

The church at Corinth had problems. Moral problems. Doctrinal problems. Worship problems. Division and party spirit, infighting and competitiveness, lawsuits. Authority issues. In his letters, the Apostle Paul pastorally addresses each of the issues as well as the pride that fueled them, bringing God's will to bear, pleading for a focus on Christ. At the same time Paul identifies for us an enemy at work behind the scenes in the church to turn hearts from Christ.

Paul's second letter to the Corinthians in particular is replete with reference to spiritual warfare. Satan is described in his cunning attempts to undermine the gospel and emasculate its forgiveness achieved in Christ (2 Cor. 2:5-11), in his stealth to combat the spread of the gospel (2 Cor. 4:3-6), in his strategy to contaminate and compromise the light of gospel purity and integrity in persons and relationships (2 Cor. 6:14-7:1). Satan, enemy of the gospel, adversary of Christ and His church, continues to oppose us in our walk with Christ and our work for Him.

The weapons of divine warfare cited in 2 Cor. 10 (vv. 3-4) remain sufficient and effective to combat an enemy whose character is a liar and tactic deception (vv. 5-6). The lines of battle have to do with truth in its appropriation and application. Our enemy is not flesh and blood, but spiritual--the cosmic powers over this present darkness, spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places, so we are informed in Ephesians 6. But, while our enemy is not people, we notice that Satan uses human agents enslaved to his rule, subjects of his kingdom (2 Cor. 11:4). The great irony is that our enemy himself is used of God as a pedagogue to Christ, teaching us the futility of self-reliance and the lesson of standing in the resurrection life and power of Jesus Christ. (2 Cor. 12:7-10).

The fingerprints of our enemy find themselves all over our lives, our relationships, our own churches in his efforts to cause us spiritual ruin and render us spiritually ineffective. The dusting of God's revelation to us alerts us to be on guard and ready with the weapon of God's truth as we seek to stand firm in Him who is our surety, our shield, our strength, our song.