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"Know Thy Enemy" is not in the Bible but it is intrinsically true, that every Christian has some experience with the enemy as all Christians were brought out of the enemy's system and into God's system. The Christian life, on the positive side, is pursuing a relationship with the Father, God's kingdom, and spiritual growth. The Christian life on the negative side, is keeping oneself from the world, resisting the devil, and denying the flesh.
The Bible reveals that the world, the devil and the flesh are 3 counterparts to God the Trinity. Opposing God the Trinity (Father, Son, Spirit) is the Satanic trinity of the world, the devil and the flesh.
These three enemies function in the following ways:
The anti-dote to the Satanic trinity is the Holy Trinity:
1) The solution to the world is to not love the world, by loving and taking the will of the Father (1 John 2:15). This involves the renewing of our mind as we read God's Word, so that we are conformed to God's pattern (plan) rather than the world's pattern (plan) (Rom 12:2).
2) the solution to the devil is to humble ourselves and pray (1 Peter 5:5-9). This involves us humbling our hearts and making the effort to pray in all circumstances whether good or bad (Eph 6:18, 1 Thess 5:17).
3) the solution to the flesh is our crucifixion through Christ and to deny our self and live Christ (Gal 5:24, Gal 2:20). It is not that we are crucified now, but that by being joined to Christ (or grafted into, Christ), we were crucified with Christ 2000 years ago (2 Cor 5:14) and we must believe and apply it, or reckon ourselves dead to sin and alive to God, which is by us living in the Spirit (Rom 6:11, Rom 8:13).
The Bible reveals that the world, the devil and the flesh are 3 counterparts to God the Trinity. Opposing God the Trinity (Father, Son, Spirit) is the Satanic trinity of the world, the devil and the flesh.
- The enemy of the Father is the world (1 John 2:15)
- The enemy of the Son of God is the devil (1 John 3:8)
- The enemy of the Spirit is the flesh (Gal 5:17).
These three enemies function in the following ways:
- The world tries to stop us doing the Father's will (1 John 2:17), and includes all things in the worldly system that is utilized by Satan in order to bring in the future anti-Christ to deny Christ's rule and reign over the Earth. The world is not merely sinful things such as homosexuality, abortion and drug-abuse, but also humanistic things such as scientific achievements, education, entertainment, technology, transport, fashion, excessive food, culture, clothing - everything which deceives, confuses, distracts, distorts and denies the knowledge of God on the Earth.Such a system was started by Cain who left God's presence to build himself a city (Gen 4:16-17).
- The devil opposes Christ (who endured suffering and the cross) and mainly tries to make us proud (to rebel against God by causing us to focus on our self) and anxious through suffering and persecution (Luke 22:31, 1 Peter 5:5-9, Job 1). When times are good and easy (e.g our business is succeeding, everything is going well), the devil tempts us with pride (to think that we ourselves have accomplished such things, or that we don't need God anymore), and when times are bad, the devil tempts us with anxiety (that we could lose our life, possessions, well-being etc).
- The flesh opposes the Spirit and tries to bring us under the law and temptations, so that we may fail to keep it and be condemned (Galatians 5, James 1:14) and give Satan some reason to accuse us (Rev 12:10, Job 1).
The anti-dote to the Satanic trinity is the Holy Trinity:
1) The solution to the world is to not love the world, by loving and taking the will of the Father (1 John 2:15). This involves the renewing of our mind as we read God's Word, so that we are conformed to God's pattern (plan) rather than the world's pattern (plan) (Rom 12:2).
2) the solution to the devil is to humble ourselves and pray (1 Peter 5:5-9). This involves us humbling our hearts and making the effort to pray in all circumstances whether good or bad (Eph 6:18, 1 Thess 5:17).
3) the solution to the flesh is our crucifixion through Christ and to deny our self and live Christ (Gal 5:24, Gal 2:20). It is not that we are crucified now, but that by being joined to Christ (or grafted into, Christ), we were crucified with Christ 2000 years ago (2 Cor 5:14) and we must believe and apply it, or reckon ourselves dead to sin and alive to God, which is by us living in the Spirit (Rom 6:11, Rom 8:13).
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