“Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world” (1 Peter 5:9).
The word “resist” carries a variety of meanings. For instance, this word can mean…
- “to set one’s self against.”
- “to withstand.”
- “to oppose.” (1)
Contrary to the beliefs of some, we do not resist our spiritual adversary through the use of a prayer formula or specialized sequence of words. The Scriptures record the experience of one group of individuals who took that sort of approach with disastrous results…
“Some Jews who went around driving out evil spirits tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who were demon-possessed. They would say, ‘In the name of the Jesus whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out.’ Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this.
One day the evil spirit answered them, ‘Jesus I know, and Paul I know about, but who are you?’ Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding. When this became known to the Jews and Greeks living in Ephesus, they were all seized with fear, and the name of the Lord Jesus was held in high honor” (Acts 19:13-17 NIV).
With this in mind, let’s consider Jesus’ characterization of the devil once again…
“You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it” (John 8:44).
This offers some additional insight into Peter’s admonition from earlier in this epistle: “But let none of you suffer as a murderer, a thief, an evildoer, or as a busybody in other people’s matters” (1 Peter 4:15). We cannot resist the devil if we choose to replicate his behavior patterns. Instead, we can effectively resist the devil when we adopt the honorable qualities of belief in God and adherence to His Word (John 5:24), truth (Colossians 3:9), righteousness (1 John 3:10), and integrity (Titus 2:7-8).
Finally, Jesus offered an A-B comparison that presents us with a stark contrast as we seek to resist this dangerous spiritual adversary…
“The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly” (John 10:10).
(1) G436 anthistemi Thayer’s Greek Definitions https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/g436/kjv/tr/0-1/