Calvin on Satan

I sure do love Calvin's Institutes and they have been a balm to my soul and a sweet pleasure which I have been delightedly getting college credit for! How awful is that?

I love to share what I read, it is probably my number one "ministry," primarily for the fact that I am in no way original in my theology and could certainly not articulate these things as well as my predecessors or as well as our fathers.

So, like a hungry man leading another man to bread, let me share with you Calvin's Scripture saturated view of God, Satan, and the believer's assurance of victory:

"Satan is clearly under God's power, and is so ruled by his bidding as to be compelled to render him service . Indeed, when we say that Satan resists God, and that Satan's works disagree with God's works, we at the same time assert that this resistance and this opposition are dependent upon God's sufferance. I am not now speaking of Satan's will, nor even of his effort, but only of his effect. For inasmuch as the devil is by nature wicked, he is not at all inclined to obedience to the divine will, but utterly intent upon contumacy [a stubborn refusal to obey authority] and rebellion."

Further,

"But because with the bridle of his power God holds him bound and restrained, he carries out only those things which have been divinely permitted to him; and so he obeys his Creator, whether he will or not, because he is compelled to yield him service wherever God impels him."

So what good does this to the Christian?

"As far as believers are concerned, because they are disquieted by enemies of this sort, they heed these exhortations: 'Give no place to the devil' (Eph. 4:27). 'The devil your enemy goes about as a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour; resist him, be firm in your faith' (I Peter 5:8-9), and the like. Paul admits that he was not a free man from this sort of strife when he writes that, as a remedy to tame his pride, he was given an angel of Satan to humble him (II Cor. 12:7). Therefore, this exercise is common to all the children of God."

And here is where it gets sweet and becomes laced with joy,

"But because that promise to crush Satan's head (Gen 3:15) pertains to Christ and all his memebers in common, I deny that believers can ever be conquered or overwhelmed by him. Often, indeed, are they distressed, but not so deprived of life as not to recover; they fall under violent blows, but afterward they are raised up; they are wounded, but not fatally; in short, they so toil throughout life that at last they obtain the victory."

It is as my friend (through his books, not in person) John Piper says,

"Satan can rough us up but cannot damn us. I do not take lightly the threats, but they are not ultimate. They are limited. You can always say, Jesus is superior in strength and he died so that no accusation can hold against his people. The great accuser, liar, murderer has been exposed. He has been defanged. He can hurt us by gumming us, but his poison is gone. We cannot die. We cannot lose the battle that God fights for us with the death and resurrection of his Son. All authority in heaven and on earth belongs to Jesus. Lay hold on him. Speak his sovereign name. Trust his power and mercy and blood and righteousness implicitly."

This is one of those startling, astounding, and beautiful truths of the gospel. Satan has a whole lot of power to beat on us, to hurt us, to maim us, and to just bully us around in general, but he cannot win.

Jesus won and now I'm ultimately safe and free from Satan in Him.

Hallelujah,

R.D. Thompson