Ephesians

Indirect Assault

By far the majority of the satanic attacks against Christians are not direct but indirect. That is why they are called the schemes of the devil. Scheming suggests deviousness, deception, and subterfuge. A direct attack of the devil upon a human life is an obvious thing, but much more common is the crafty, deceptive, almost undetectable assault—those subtle satanic suggestions and misdirections that come to us through the natural, commonplace channels of life.

The indirect attack comes to us primarily through two channels the Bible calls “the world” and “the sinful nature.” In Ephesians 2:1-3, Paul writes:

As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world [here is the first channel] and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.

Paul is saying, “Don’t forget that, as Christians, you once followed the course of this world, under the grip and in the control of the devil.” Then he goes on to add:

All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature [the second channel] and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath.

The Bible presents a consistent picture of these two channels—the world and the sinful nature—that Satan effectively uses to undermine us as Christians.

The World

“The world” is the corporate expression of all human individuals and human institutions. It is comprised of all human philosophies, ideas, attitudes, goals, values, media, and so forth. When you read a book that expresses an atheistic philosophy, or see a movie that presents an immoral view of life, or see an advertisement that appeals to the sensual and lustful side of you, these are all expressions of the world. The world bombards you with anti-Christian messages, and Satan uses these messages to get a foothold in your brain, your attitudes, your emotions, and ultimately your will.

The combined expression of all such destructive ideas and messages that surround us constitutes what the Bible calls “the world,” and determines the philosophy and morality of the society. The world exerts enormous pressure on each of us to conform, adjust, and keep in step. That is why the Bible tells us as Christians, “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Romans 12:2). The world is corrupt, and Satan uses it to gain access to our minds and hearts. The best antidote to the poisonous influence of the world, of course, is to immerse our minds in God’s Word. We need to continually baptize our intellect, our imagination, our attitudes, and our beliefs by the washing of the Word. Instead of “zoning out” in front of the TV for two or three hours every night (and absorbing the world’s dying values and belief system in the process), we should spend time in the Word, both in individual study and in discussion and prayer with other believers. The mindset of the world is an opportunistic virus that seeks to take over our minds and emotions. The Bible is God’s inoculation against the virus of the world.

The Sinful Nature

The second channel by which the devil indirectly assaults us is that which the Bible calls “the sinful nature.” This is a term that describes the human urge to self-centeredness, the distortion of human nature that makes us want to be our own god. The sinful nature is the proud human ego, the uncrucified self, the seat of willful defiance and rebellion against God’s authority.

We are all born with this channel, the sinful nature, built into us. We never had to be taught or trained to be rebellious or selfish—it came naturally. It is a sin-distortion of the beauty God intended and created us to have. It is the part of us described by Romans 3:23, which says, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” The sinful nature is that inner urge toward total independence, toward being our own little gods. It is our inner core of self-centeredness. The devil can gain access to us through our sin nature and attack us indirectly—and with devastating effectiveness.

You can immediately see how universal this is. We all have what the Bible calls “the sinful nature” within us, and it is a battlefield. This is not something remote from us, nor something that only a chosen few Christians must face. This is universal. All of us, without exception, are on the front lines of this war, every moment of our lives. We cannot escape it, we cannot run from it, we cannot leave it behind. We must learn how to be victorious soldiers in this war.

Is Defeat Possible?

It is true that the devil can never totally defeat a Christian. Those who are genuinely the Lord’s, who are born again, who have come into a saving relationship with Jesus Christ, are delivered from total defeat. The devil can never get us back into the position of unconscious control that he once exercised over us, as he does over the rest of the world.

But the devil can demoralize the Christian. He can frighten us; he can make us miserable; he can defeat us in many ways. He can make us weak and ineffectual as instruments of God’s eternal purpose. It is quite possible to be more unhappy and miserable as a Christian than you ever were before you became a Christian, at least for a period of time.

The devil is especially interested in defeating Christians. After all, the unredeemed worldling is not a problem to the devil. All the sincere but pathetic efforts of worldlings to solve the problems of their lives through legislation, education, and social policy do not bother the devil in the least. He is quite content to let them go on rearranging the pieces of the puzzle without ever solving it.

But the presence of every Christian in this world bothers the devil greatly. Why? Because each of us, as members of the body of Christ, sealed and empowered by the Holy Spirit, is a threat to the devil’s kingdom, to his rule over the rest of humanity. Every Christian is a witness, a source of truth, a door of escape that worldlings may find to escape the domination of the world rulers of this present darkness. The devil cannot let that happen! So he attacks us.

Understand this: Satan is marshaling all his forces against you, sometimes attacking as a “roaring lion” (see 1 Peter 5:8), and sometimes alluring with stealth and deception, appearing as an “angel of light” (see 2 Corinthians 11:14). The devil comes charging in, ripping, slashing, and dominating like a lion whenever he can—which is why history is replete with names like Nero, Hitler, and Sadaam Hussein, demonic men motivated by strange and murderous passions. Sometimes the devil assails us through the world, with its monstrous pressure to keep in line, to conform. But most often the devil comes in disguise, through the channel of the sinful nature—with silken, subtle, suggestive wiles. That is why I want to focus very intently on this avenue of satanic attack—the avenue of the sinful nature.

Understanding the Sinful Nature

According to the Bible, the sinful nature is identified with the mortal body. In Romans 8 the apostle says, “But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness” (Romans 8:10). We would say, “The body is dying because of sin,” but the apostle looks on to the end and says that it is as good as dead already. We all agree with this. We all must die, we say. In this temporary state before the resurrection, the body is the seat of sin or the sinful nature—this evil principle of self-centeredness in each of us. So the sinful nature is with us for life. We shall never escape it until that wonderful day of the resurrection from the dead.

But the body, soul, and spirit of a human being are inextricably tied together. No one can understand this. Where does your soul live in your body? You don’t know—but you know that you have a soul, though no one can locate it in the body. The relationship between the body, soul, and spirit is beyond our comprehension. But because they are so inextricably tied together, the sinful nature, linked to the body, touches the whole human being in all dimensions. This means that the devil can influence us through the channel of the sinful nature. Through the channel of the mind, the devil makes his appeal to our human pride. Through our emotions, he works on our fears. And through our senses, he appeals to our desire for pleasure.

At the same time, it is important to notice that God also reaches out to us through the channel of our sinful human nature—through our mind, emotions, and senses. Through the mind we read and understand His Word. Through our emotions, we reach out to Him in prayer. Through our senses, we experience His goodness and love in nature and in His provision for us.

If both God and the devil reach us through these channels of our sinful human nature, then how does God’s approach differ from Satan’s? The difference is simply this: God moves to create balance, harmony, and beauty. The devil moves to create an imbalance, an extreme. God reaches us through our senses and enables us to enjoy the good and beautiful things in life in harmonious balance: a good meal, a good film, a good book, and good sex with our spouse in a protective enclosure of the marriage commitment. Satan reaches us through our senses and drives us toward obsessive and addictive behavior with these good things: we become gluttons, alcoholics, drug addicts, pornography addicts, violence addicts, and promiscuous sex addicts.

It is the same in the realm of our human minds. God reaches us through our intellect, enabling us to understand and appreciate His truth. Satan reaches us through our intellectual pride, turning us into cold, extreme rationalists, agnostics, and atheists. Satan’s ploy is to take our natural desire for the good things of God and to push us toward extremes of thought, emotional obsession, and behavioral imbalance.

The devil appeals to our fears. God appeals to our faith. From faith comes hope and love—but the devil continually pushes toward the opposite extreme. Again and again, Jesus’ word to His followers was, “Do not be afraid. Do not be troubled. Do not be anxious.” Why? “Because I am with you.” Faith produces courage and hope. Fear produces discouragement and despair. That’s why Satan works so hard at producing fear in our lives—he wants to undermine our effectiveness for God. He wants us to feel defeated. He wants to destroy God’s work in us.

In dependence upon God, we must not allow that to happen. As Christians we are salt and light. Salt is a preservative. Light is illumination. Our presence in the world preserves society against destruction and illuminates the world with the light of God’s truth. We are here on this battlefield called Planet Earth in order to do battle with Satan and satanic forces—not in our strength but in the strength of the Lord. If we were not here, holding back the darkness, human society would be a planet-wide hell. By telling the Christian story, teaching Christian values, and living out Christian character, we make possible—despite the horrors and evils of this world—those moments of goodness and joy in life that even non-Christians are able to experience.

Now, as we are moving closer than ever to the last days, as the darkness of the demon-dominated systems of this world closes in around us, Paul’s trumpet call sounds louder than ever: “Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes” (Ephesians 6:10-11).

God has made a provision for us to defeat the schemes of the devil—and the power to defeat him begins with a humble recognition of our own weakness and God’s great strength. That is why Paul does not say, “Be strong in your own willpower,” or, “Be strong in your own emotions and intellect.” He says, “Be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power.”

It is when we recognize our own weakness that God is able to unleash His power through us. God has provided the means by which we can stand in the fiery battle that rages not only around us but also within us. We can live in victory.

Ephesians Appendix: References to Spiritual Gifts in Scripture

Return to Table of Contents

Romans 12:6-8	1 Corinthians 12:8-10	1 Corinthians 12:28-30	Ephesians 4:11	1 Peter 4:11
Prophesying	Wisdom	Apostle	Apostle	Speaking
Serving	Knowledge	Prophet	Prophet	Serving
Teaching	Faith	Teacher	Evangelist
Encouraging	Healing	Workers of miracles	Teaching Pastor
Contributing to the needs of others	Miraculous Powers	Healing
Leadership	Prophecy	Helping others
Showing mercy	Distinguishing between spirits	Administration
	Speaking in different kinds of tongues and interpretation	Speaking in different kinds of tongues and interpretation

1. See Appendix on Spiritual Gifts for additional information about spiritual gifts.

2. The NIV Study Bible

3. From Ray Stedman’s commentary, Lesson 14.

4. “kindness.” Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. 2009. Merriam-Webster Online.

5. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2003.

6. “imitate.” Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary

7. The Expositor’s Bible Commentary

8. C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, (New York: Macmillan, 1960), p. 96.

9. Thayer and Smith. “Greek Lexicon entry for Asotia”. “The NAS New Testament Greek Lexicon”.

10. The NIV Study Bible. See notes on Ephesians 5:18—6:9.

11. The Expositor’s Bible Commentary

12. The Expositor’s Bible Commentary

13. Ray Stedman, from Lesson 20 commentary.

14. See Appendix: Spiritual Warfare for more information.

15. This appendix is excerpted from Ray Stedman’s teaching on Ephesians 4:7-12. The remainder of his teaching on this passage is found in Lesson 13 of this study.

16. This appendix is excerpted from Ray Stedman’s teaching on Ephesians 6:10-13. The remainder of his teaching on this passage is found in Lesson 20 of this study.

17. The NIV Study Bible. See note on Matthew 10:25.