THE PROTESTANT REFORMATION FORWARD
During the Protestant Reformation, occasional references to spiritual warfare are seen through some of the church’s leaders, confessions, and catechisms. Martin Luther (AD 1517) suggests that evil “is the pure work of the devil” and acts through human devices such as “fire-brands, bullets, torches, spears, and swords,” but only “where God permits” and emphasizes repentance as a crucial element in the life of believers.[1] In The Ausburg Confession (AD 1530), Philip Melancthon writes that the “Cause of Sin” is the “will of the wicked, of the devil and ungodly men.”[2]
In The Geneva Confession (AD 1536), John Calvin labels Catholic churches as “synagogues of the devil” since “the Gospel is not declared, heard, and received.”[3] John Calvin, in his Institutes (AD 1536), makes many references to spiritual warfare, to include descriptions of the great number of demons and Satan’s destructive schemes.[4] He elaborates that “Satan cannot possibly do anything against the will and consent of God” but also describes the powerful, ongoing work of the unclean spirits.[5] Calvin also cautions believers from erring in imagining that “they have no enemy and thereby be more remiss or less cautious in resisting.”[6] The Scots Confession (AD 1560) explains how Satan has tried from the beginning to associate his followers with Christ’s church.[7]
In The Heidelberg Catechism (AD 1563), one of the great comforts of the believer is in knowing that Christ has “delivered me from all the power of the devil.”[8] In understanding sin, The Heidelberg Catechism explains that sin occurs through “the instigation of the devil (John 8:44; 2 Corinthians 11:3; Genesis 3:4) and his own wilful disobedience.”[9] This catechism also teaches that believers are to petition God for help, for their “mortal enemies, the devil (1 Peter 5:8; Ephesians 6:12) the world, (John 15:19) and our own flesh, (Romans 7:23; Galatians 5:17) cease not to assault.”[10] Believers are called to preserve and be strengthened by the Holy Spirit, so that they “may not be overcome in this spiritual warfare (Matthew 26:41; Mark 13:33), but constantly and strenuously may resist our foes, till at last we obtain a complete victory (1 Thessalonians 3:13; 1 Thessalonians 5:23).”[11] The Heidelberg Catechism is one of the earliest uses of the terminology of “spiritual warfare.”
The Second Helvetic Confession (AD 1566) describes the devil and demons, while describing the process of repentance as a “sincere turning to God and all good, and earnest turning away from the devil and all evil.”[12] The writer also describes at baptism how believers “are enlisted in the holy military service of Christ that all our life long we should fight against the world, Satan, and our own flesh.”[13] The Second Helvetic Confession argues that exorcism was added to baptism such as one of man’s devices and not in the example of Christ.[14] Finally, the Second Helvetic Confession provides helpful understanding to the apparition of spirits as “laughingstocks, crafts, and deceptions of the devil.”[15]
Outside of the Protestant Reformation, the Catholic Church published the Rituale Romanum (AD 1614) to give specific instructions and clarity to the exorcism process.[16] The Westminster Longer Catechism (AD 1648) references demons, consultations and oaths with the devil, and sanctification as essential in understanding spiritual warfare.[17] The London Baptist Confession (AD 1689) identifies one avenue of temptation being from the “power of Satan.”[18] The Episcopal Catechism (AD 1789) specifically requires the renunciation of Satan at baptism.[19]
Charles Hodge (AD 1797-1878) makes many references to Satan and his demons in his doctrine of angelic beings.[20] Hodge explains that Christians are to be aware of demonic attacks and “called upon to resist them, not in their own strength, but in the strength of the Lord.”[21] He gives attention to demonic possession in the Scriptures, explaining that possessions still may occur but that “we should abstain from asserting the fact of Satanic or demoniacal influence or possession in any case where the phenomena can be otherwise accounted for.”[22]
The Baltimore Complete Catechism (AD 1885) also describes Satan’s temptation and how in order “to overcome his temptations we need the help of God.”[23] Charles Spurgeon explains in A Puritan Confession (AD 1855) that Christ has purchased freedom “from the guilt of sin, the condemning wrath of God, the curse of the moral law . . . from this present evil world, bondage to Satan, and dominion of sin.”[24] In many of his sermons, Spurgeon shows an ongoing awareness of spiritual warfare. One of his sermons, “Satan Considering the Saints,” he describes how Satan seeks to do Christians great injury, cause worry, prevent their usefulness, and incite error.[25] In another sermon, “The Devil’s Last Throw,” Spurgeon shares his uncertainty about Satanic possession while admitting that “some men exhibit symptoms which are very like it.”[26] He affirms Satanic attacks through blasphemous thoughts in his own mind and recounts the torment of individuals as they seek to come to Christ.[27] Spurgeon asserts that when someone becomes a believer possession is no longer an issue, for if “Christ turns the devil out of him he shall enter into that man no more forever.”[28]
[1]“Evil Angels” in Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology, 643, accessed January 4, 2014,http://www.ccel.org/ccel/hodge/theology1.iv.xiii.iv.html.
[2]Philip Melancthon, The Confession of Faith: Which Was Submitted to His Imperial Majesty Charles V At the Diet of Augsburg in the Year 1530, 19, accessed January 4, 2014, http://www.biblestudytools.com/history/creeds-confessions/confessions/the-augsburg-confession.html.
[3]John Calvin, The Geneva Confession, 18, accessed January 4, 2014, http://www.biblestudytools.com/history/creeds-confessions/confessions/the-geneva-confession.html?p=2.
[4]John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, 140, accessed January 4, 2014, http://www.ccel.org/ccel /calvin/institutes.iii.xv.html.
[5]John Calvin states that “God thus turning the unclean spirits hither and thither at his pleasure, employs them in exercising believers by warring against them, assailing them with wiles, urging them with solicitations, pressing close upon them, disturbing, alarming, and occasionally wounding, but never conquering or oppressing them; whereas they hold the wicked in thralldom, exercise dominion over their minds and bodies, and employ them as bond-slaves in all kinds of iniquity. . . . I deny that believers can ever be oppressed or vanquished by him. They are often, indeed, thrown into alarm, but never so thoroughly as not to recover themselves. They fall by the violence of the blows, but they get up again; they are wounded, but not mortally. In fine, they labour on through the whole course of their lives, so as ultimately to gain the victory, though they meet with occasional defeats. . . . For as believers are recognised to be the sons of God by bearing his image, so the wicked are properly regarded as the children of Satan, from having degenerated into his image.” John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, 140. This quote advocates for a sort of self-recovery of believers.
[6]Ibid.
[7]“Since Satan has labored from the beginning to adorn his pestilent synagogue with the title of the Kirk of God.” The Scots Confession,18, accessed January 4, 2014, http://www.biblestudytools.com/history/creeds-confessions/confessions/the-scots-confession.html.
[8]The Heidelberg Catechism, 1, accessed January 4, 2014, http://www.biblestudytools.com/history/creeds-confessions/catechisms/the-heidelberg-catechism.html.
[9]Ibid., 9.
[10]Ibid., 127.
[11]The Heidelberg Catechism, 127.
[12]“Others fell of their own free will and were cast into destruction, becoming enemies of all good and of the faithful.” The Second Helvetic Confession, 7-14, accessed January 4, 2014, http://www.biblestudytools.com/history/creeds-confessions/confessions/the-second-helvetic-confession.html.
[13]Ibid., 20.
[14]Ibid.
[15]“APPARITION OF SPIRITS. Now what is related of the spirits or souls of the dead sometimes appearing to those who are alive, and begging certain duties of them whereby they may be set free, we count those apparitions among the laughingstocks, crafts, and deceptions of the devil, who, as he can transform himself into an angel of light, so he strives either to overthrow the true faith or to call it into doubt. In the Old Testament the Lord forbade the seeking of the truth from the dead, and any sort of commerce with spirits (Deut. 18:11). Indeed, as evangelical truth declares, the glutton, being in torment, is denied a return to his brethren, as the divine oracle declared in the words: ‘They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them. If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced if some one should rise from the dead’ (Luke 16:29 ff.).” Ibid., 26.
[16]Rituale Romanum, accessed December 30, 2013, http://www.sadena.com/Books-Texts/ Roman%20Rite%20of%20Exorcism.pdf.
[17]The Westminster Longer Catechism, 19, 105, 195, accessed January 4, 2014, http://www.biblestudytools.com/ history/creeds-confessions/catechisms/the-westminster-larger-catechism.html.
[18]The London Baptist Confession, accessed January 4, 2014, http://www.biblestudytools.com/ history/creeds-confessions/confessions/the-london-baptist-confession.html.
[19]“Question 94: What is required of us at Baptism? Answer 94: It is required that we renounce Satan, repent of our sins, and accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior.” The Episcopal Catechism, 5, accessed January 4, 2014, http://www.biblestudytools.com/history/creeds-confessions/catechisms/the-episcopal-catechism.html.
[20]“As to the power and agency of these evil spirits, they are represented as being exceedingly numerous, as everywhere efficient, as having access to our world, and as operating in nature and in the minds of men. The same limitations, of course, belong to their agency as belong to that of the holy angels. (1.) They are dependent on God, and can act only under his control and by his permission. (2.) Their operations must be according to the laws of nature, and, (3.) They cannot interfere with the freedom and responsibility of men.” Hodge, Systematic Theology, 643.
[21]Ibid.
[22]“These demoniacal possessions were of two kinds. First, those in which the soul alone was the subject of the diabolic influence, as in the case of the ‘damsel possessed with a spirit of divination,’ mentioned in Acts xvi. 16. Secondly, those in which the bodies alone, or as was more frequently the case, both the body and mind were the subjects of this spiritual influence. By possession is meant the inhabitation of an evil spirit in such relation to the body and soul as to exert a controlling influence, producing violent agitations and great suffering, both mental and corporeal. . . . There is no special improbability in the doctrine of demoniacal possessions. Evil spirits do exist. They have access to the minds and bodies of men. Why should we refuse to believe, on the authority of Christ, that they were allowed to have special power over some men? . . . We are not to deny what are plainly recorded in the Scriptures as facts on this subject; we have no right to assert that Satan and his angels do not now in any cases produce similar effects; but we should abstain from asserting the fact of Satanic or demoniacal influence or possession in any case where the phenomena can be otherwise accounted for.” Ibid.
[23]The Baltimore Complete Catechism, 230-32, accessed January 4, 2014, http://www.biblestudytools.com/history/creeds-confessions/catechisms/the-baltimore-complete-catechism.html?p=5.
[24]Charles Spurgeon, A Puritan Confession, 20, accessed January 4, 2014, http://www.biblestudytools.com/history/creeds-confessions/confessions/a-puritan-confession.html?p=2.
[25]Charles Spurgeon, “Satan Considering the Saints,” A Sermon (No. 623) delivered April 9, 1865 at the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington, England, accessed January 4, 2014, http://www.spurgeon.org/sermons/0623.htm.
[26]“The present existence of demons within the bodies of men I shall neither assert nor deny; but certainly, in our Savior's day it was very common for devils to take possession of men and torment them greatly.” Charles Spurgeon, “The Devil’s Last Throw,” A Sermon (No. 1746)delivered June 10, 1883 at the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington, England, accessed January 4, 2014, http://www.spurgeon.org/sermons/1746.htm.
[27]“I will tell you what happened to me. I was engaged in prayer alone in a quiet place one day when I had just found the Savior, and while I was in prayer a most horrible stream of blasphemies came into my mind, till I clapped my hand to my mouth for fear that I should utter any one of them. I was so brought up that I do not remember ever hearing a man swear while I was a child; yet at that moment I seemed to know all the swearing and blasphemy that ever was in hell itself; and I wondered at myself. I could not understand whence this foul stream proceeded. I wrote to my venerable grandfather who was fur [sic] sixty years a minister of the gospel, and he said to me,—‘Do not trouble about it. These are no thoughts of yours; they are injected into your mind by Satan. The thoughts of man follow one another like the links of a chain, one link draws on another; but when a man is in prayer the next natural thought to prayer is not blasphemy; it is not, therefore, a natural secession of our own thoughts. An evil spirit casts those thoughts into the mind.’” Ibid.
[28]Spurgeon, “The Devil’s Last Throw.”