g. Living as Christians in spiritual conflict (5:8–11)
g. Living as Christians in spiritual conflict (5:8–11)
1. Beware of the devil (5:8)
8. A new section begins here with an admonition to spiritual watchfulness. Just as a person walking down a dangerous road might be advised to be alert and careful, so Peter’s readers are warned, Be sober, be watchful. (See note on sober [nēphō] at 1:13; the same spiritual alertness of mind and soundness of judgment is urged ‘for your prayers’ at 4:7.) Watchful translates a word (grēgoreō) which also indicates spiritual alertness, with perhaps more of an emphasis on one’s focus of attention (‘watching’ for sin, for attacks of evil: so of Jesus and the disciples in the Garden, Matt. 26:38, 40–41; cf. also Acts 20:31; Col. 4:2; and, translated ‘awake’, in Rev. 3:2, 3; 16:15). The opposite of this sober watchfulness is a kind of spiritual drowsiness in which one sees and responds to situations no differently than unbelievers, and God’s perspective on each event is seldom if ever considered.
One great reason for alertness is the genuine danger of attacks by the Enemy: Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking some one to devour. The metaphor is apt, for a prowling lion attacks suddenly, viciously, and often when its unsuspecting victim is engaged in routine activities. Devour means ‘swallow, swallow up something’ (the same term is used of the great fish swallowing Jonah in Jon. 1:17).
The devil (diabolos) refers to a personal spiritual being who is in active rebellion against God and who has leadership of many demons like himself (Matt. 4:1–11; 13:39; 25:41; Rev. 12:9; etc.—the Greek term translates the Hebrew word śāṭān, ‘Satan’, eighteen times in the LXX). But when diabolos is not used to refer to one individual being, the devil, the term is a noun meaning ‘slanderer, false accuser’ (as in 1 Tim. 3:11; 2 Tim. 3:3; Titus 2:3; the word is applied to Haman in the LXX of Esther 8:1). Peter here views Satan as a cunning and evil personal being who has the ability and the propensity to attack (and presumably harm) Christians.
A survey of the results of demonic influence in the New Testament will indicate certain characteristics which a sober and watchful Christian may suspect to be caused, at least in part, by the devil or demons: bizarre or violently irrational evil behaviour, especially in opposition to the gospel or to Christians (Mark 1:24; 5:2–5; 9:18; Acts 16:16–18; Rev. 2:10); malicious slander and falsehood in speech (John 8:44; 1 John 4:1–3); increasing bondage to self-destructive behaviour (Mark 5:5; 9:20); stubborn advocacy of false doctrine (1 John 4:1–6); the sudden and unexplained onslaughts of emotions (such as fear, hatred, depression, anxiety, violent anger, etc.) which are both contrary to God’s will and inappropriate in one’s situation (note the ‘flaming darts of the evil one’ in Eph. 6:16); and simply the deep spiritual uneasiness which might be called the ‘discernment’ (cf. 1 Cor. 12:10) of spiritual evil.
Yet caution is appropriate here, for there is much evil in the world which is not directly from Satan or demons but simply from sin remaining in our own hearts or in the lives of unbelievers around us. And excessive curiosity about the devil’s workings is also harmful—we are to ‘be babes in evil’ (1 Cor. 14:20).
2. Resist the devil with firm faith (5:9)
9. Far from saying that Christians should fear such a formidable adversary, Peter says, Resist him, firm in your faith. This is an encouraging verse, for it gives hope that Christian resistance to the devil’s attacks will be successful. While it is wrong to ignore the devil’s existence, it is also wrong to cower before him in fear: Resist him! The phrase firm in your faith implies a confidence that God will intervene and give the Christian victory, not defeat. In a similar way, James tells Christians to resist the devil, and promises, ‘and he will flee from you’ (Jas 4:7). In both passages the word resist implies active, determined opposition, often through confrontation (it is used of the Egyptian magicians who opposed Moses in 2 Tim. 3:8; cf. its use in Acts 13:8; Rom. 13:2; Gal. 2:11; 2 Tim. 4:15).
How should Christians resist the devil? Peter does not tell us, but Paul’s discussion of the equipment for spiritual warfare in Ephesians 6:10–18 is a good commentary on this passage. In practical terms, all the positive resources of the Christian life are to be used—prayer, the word of God, praise, the help of fellow believers, verbal rebuke of the enemy (Luke 10:17–20; Acts 16:18), renewed holiness of life (note ‘righteousness’ in Eph. 6:14); in short ‘the whole armour of God’ (Eph. 6:11).
Therefore the command, Resist him, firm in your faith, signifies that defeat is not inevitable. Christians must resist, expecting that the enemy will flee, God’s kingdom will advance, they will grow in faith and holiness through conflict, and God will take Satan’s plans for evil and turn them to their good.
When Peter adds, knowing that the same experience of suffering is required of (or: ‘is being accomplished, experienced by’) your brotherhood throughout the world, he seeks to encourage them by showing that their circumstances are not unusual but in fact to be expected by Christians everywhere.
3. God will restore you after you have suffered (5:10–11)
10. The transition to this verse is better marked by ‘But’ than by the RSV’s And, for Peter regularly (twenty-eight times in 1 Peter) uses this conjunction (de) to indicate a distinct contrast with a previous statement. The sense is that the suffering and the attacks of the devil which accompany the suffering—and are the cause of some of it—may seem difficult but they will not last long. Indeed, after you have suffered a little while—an expression intentionally vague in the amount of time it implies, allowing for restoration either in this present life or later—the God of all grace will restore them or ‘make them fully prepared and complete’ with respect to any resource or ability which they have lost through this suffering. He will establish them firmly in any position, rightful privilege, or responsibility which this suffering has taken from them. He will strengthen them for any weakness they have been made to suffer, any inadequacy for overcoming evil which they may have known. And we should add (with RSV mg., similarly NIV, NASB) that he will settle (or: found, establish, firmly place) them in any rightful place from which the suffering has wrongfully removed them. In sum: all loss will soon be made right, and that for eternity.
This comforting thought is strengthened by the reminder that God is the God who has called you to (or ‘into’, eis) his eternal glory in Christ. That is the realm that really counts, for it lasts for ever. In that realm, the manifold excellence of God’s character is given spectacular expression in his eternal glory—something that ordinarily would cause us to remain distant in fearful awe. Yet God has decided that we should not remain distant, but that we should be summoned into the midst of his own glory—yes, even that we should come in Christ (i.e. in union with Christ) to share in it, partially now and more fully in the life to come. Here is promise of abundant grace sufficient to overcome any suffering in this life.
11. A concluding brief doxology appropriately looks to God’s power and rule over a world where so much evil is present, a world so badly in need of God’s just reign: To him be the dominion for ever and ever, Amen.
4. CLOSING GREETINGS (5:12–14)
Peter ends the letter with a brief concluding section. In verse 12 he begins by noting the role of Silvanus, but then immediately reverts to another word of exhortation. Verses 13 and 14 contain personal greetings and a benediction of peace.