Fellowship Warfare according to Scripture - limited comments (read the rule-set before you post)

[hislegacy]

It's really an interesting study of the words; fight, wrestle, war, warfare, battle, struggle.

Who is our enemy and how are we instructed to fight. Are we instructed to fight - is the fight one of direct battle, or is it a fight of containment?

I think the main issue that I saw was the difference between doctrine and experience. Donald Gee wrote an excellent book on the subject. Is our Doctrine based off Scripture or our experiences?

I'll start with what I believe are some common errors. Most errors are formed because of a lack of contextual exegesis. That is a fancy way of saying that people take verses out of context to make them seem to say something else (most times to fit their beliefs). An example being "Binding demons"

Those adherents use

Matt 18:18 “Assuredly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.​

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From this verse a case is then build (in their teachings), to support binding demons.

An adherent to contextual exegesis reads the verses before and following to define what the verse is speaking of. (meaning).

Matt 18: 15 “Moreover if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother. 16 But if he will not hear, take with you one or two more, that ‘by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.’ 17 And if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church. But if he refuses even to hear the church, let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector.​

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18 “Assuredly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.​

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19 “Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven. 20 For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.”​

21 Then Peter came to Him and said, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?”​

The verses are part of a specific conversation Jesus is having with His disciples. The subject of the conversation is forgiveness. That is the subject BEFORE the verse and continues AFTERS the verse. VS 18 is about forgiveness, makes no mention of demons, the devil, or waging spiritual warfare. Therefore it cannot be used for warfare.

 

[hislegacy]

Some may ask about Mat 12 where Jesus speaks of first binding the strong man.

Glad you asked - let's look:

First let's see what the subject is -

Right before this Jesus healed on the Sabbath the man with the withered hand.

Matt 12:22 Then one was brought to Him who was demon-possessed, blind and mute; and He healed him, so that the blind and mute man both spoke and saw. 23 And all the multitudes were amazed and said, “Could this be the Son of David?”​

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That makes the second healing on the Sabbath and it angered the Pharisees.

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24 Now when the Pharisees heard it they said, “This fellow does not cast out demons except by Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons.”​

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There is their accusation - they accused Jesus of casting out (not binding) demons by Beelzebub. Here is Jesus' reply to them and those who were listening and were wondering if Jesus could be the Son of David.

25 But Jesus knew their thoughts, and said to them: “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand. 26 If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand?​

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27 And if I cast out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they shall be your judges.​

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28 But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you. 29 Or how can one enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? And then he will plunder his house.​

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Did you catch that? Jesus is saying Satan cannot cast out Satan - it takes someone greater to step in.

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30 He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters abroad.​

31 “Therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men. 32 Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come.​

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Jesus was casting out demons (not binding), by the Holy Spirit.

There are 21 references to casting out demons in the NT - there is not one example of a demon being bound. Jesus nor His Apostles, nor the 70 others are ever recorded, not one time, binding a demon.

 

[hislegacy]

If you are following - I would encourage you to read the verses in context and come to your own decisions. One thing that would help is the use on a Bible App or online Bible such as BibleGateway.com. or Blueletterbible.org.

Let's look at some terms:

Bind:

Let's use Blue letter Bible and look up bind - it will show every place it is use in the New Testament:

Here we see that 'bind' is used 8 times in the New Testament. We can then look up the Greek word translated Bind.

Below the definition, they have usage of the word. How the word is used is important to context - it has to fit contextually.

I highlighted number three for a reason:

Jesus said "Or how can one enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? And then he will plunder his house.

Is Jesus speaking literally or metaphorically.

If literal - then He say we have literally tir, bind or fasten the strongman.

If metaphorically - then the strongman has to be forbidden.


Look at the context of the verses again.

Matt 12:
25 But Jesus knew their thoughts, and said to them: “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand. 26 If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand?
27 And if I cast out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they shall be your judges.
28 But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you. 29 Or how can one enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first (forbids), binds the strong man? And then he will plunder his house.

More later

 

[hislegacy]

Let's look at a couple of Jesus' dealings with demons and see if He bound them.

Mark 5:1 Then they came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gadarenes. 2 And when He had come out of the boat, immediately there met Him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit, 3 who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no one could bind him, not even with chains, 4 because he had often been bound with shackles and chains. And the chains had been pulled apart by him, and the shackles broken in pieces; neither could anyone tame him. 5 And always, night and day, he was in the mountains and in the tombs, crying out and cutting himself with stones.​

Here is a demon possessed man who had demonstrated great strength in that he could break shackles etc. But the demon was not powerful enough to stop the man from coming to Jesus.

6 When he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and worshiped Him. ​

The man did not run away from Jesus, but to Jesus and worshiped Him.

7 And he cried out with a loud voice and said, “What have I to do with You, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I implore You by God that You do not torment me.”​

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8 For He said to him, “Come out of the man, unclean spirit!” 9 Then He asked him, “What is your name?”​

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Jesus said - come out (He casted it out - not I bind you)

And he answered, saying, “My name is Legion; for we are many.” 10 Also he begged Him earnestly that He would not send them out of the country.​

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11 Now a large herd of swine was feeding there near the mountains. 12 So all the demons begged Him, saying, “Send us to the swine, that we may enter them.” 13 And at once Jesus gave them permission. Then the unclean spirits went out and entered the swine (there were about two thousand); and the herd ran violently down the steep place into the sea, and drowned in the sea.​

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Bind = to forbid, prohibit​

 

[hislegacy]

My apologies for the delay - it's been crazy busy getting ready to head to Germany.

 

[hislegacy]

2 Cor 10 was brought up in a question - thank you!

Let's look at it in context:

2 Cor 10:4 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, ​

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Paul then lists examples of the strongholds - let's look:

5 casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, ​

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bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, ​

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6 and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled.​

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Any mention of demons?

This is where the true battle and warfare lies - in the battle of the mind. In many ways this mirrors Paul's word to the Philippians

Phil 4:8 8 Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things. ​

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That is not a suggestion.