GOD OF PEACE TO CRUSH SATAN
The God of peaceG1515 will soon crush Satan under your feet.
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.
Romans 16:20
Starting in Romans 16:17, Paul warns the members of the church in Rome to watch out for persons who try to cause a division among them. There will always be those who enjoy creating drama by pitting one group against another by causing arguments. There are also false teachers who stray from the truth of Scripture and mislead people. They are skilled at making their position sound good. Paul declares that they are not truly serving the Lord Jesus but their own “bellies” or “appetites.” Paul rejoiced over the obedience of the Roman church but reminded them to be “wise about what is good and innocent about what is evil” (Romans 16:19). He was confident that the church at Rome would “crush Satan” under their feet by the power of the Holy Spirit. This reminds us of God’s promise to Eve:
Genesis 3:15 (AMP) And I will put enmity (open hostility) Between you and the woman, And between your seed (offspring) and her Seed; He shall [fatally] bruise your head, And you shall [only] bruise His heel.
Through the power of the Holy Spirit in them, the members of the church at Rome would be able to discern truth, weed out those who would divide, and in so doing crush Satan’s efforts.
Charles Swindoll gives us guidelines for identifying whether or not something is true:
Here are four questions every member of a church should be trained to ask. Think of them as truth filters. Everything we hear should easily pass through all four.
- “Does what I am hearing agree with Scripture?”
• “Does what I am hearing honor my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ?”
• “Does what I am hearing help me become more godly?”
• “Does what I am hearing cause me to think more highly of my fellow believers?” (74)
If we as church members would ask those four questions, we would not be quick to believe something that would create conflict in the body of Christ and destroy our unity and peace. God is the source of peace, not confusion or division. God desires all believers to be at peace with one another. May we all learn to ask those four questions to be able to spot anyone or anything that would cause us to be at odds with each other rather than at peace.
Father, may we always seek peace with others but never at the sacrifice of truth and integrity. Help us to examine whether or not a statement is in line with Scripture, honors Jesus, makes us more like Jesus, and makes us think highly of another believer. Help us to study and internalize Your word in order to apply it and use it to test teaching that we hear or read.