Critical Issues CommentaryA monthly commentary on Biblical concerns that impact you

“The term `power' in thesepassages denotes God's workof changing lives morally,not amazing crowds throughpeculiar signs.”

Paganism in the Church

Binding And LoosingPart 2

written by Bob DeWaay

Last month we discussed the Biblicalmeaning of “binding and loosing” as usedin the gospels. To bind is to forbid bydoctrinal decision, to loose is to permit.Examination of the teachings and practiceof the New Testament apostles revealsthat modern binding and loosing theoriesare unbiblical. The new theory is that byverbally “binding” principalities andpowers in the heavenly realm the churchcan “loose” people from spiritual bond-age.

This is not what Christ meant in Mat-thew 16:19 nor is it the way His apostlespracticed their God-given authority. Thismonth we will closely examine Paul'spractice and teaching regarding spiritualwarfare.

A major issue in spiritual warfare is“power.” Power of ability and power ofauthority are at issue. Of particular im-portance is God's power and how is itreleased to defeat Satan and liberate thosewho have been held captive by him.There are several key New Testamentpassages about the power of God in theministry of God's word.

Paul uses the phrase “power of God” in1Corinthians 1:24 to describe the mes-sage of “Christ crucified.” The messageof the cross is the power of God, becauseit is the means by which God has spoiledthe principalities and powers and set usfree (Colossians 2:13-15). Changed livesevidence this “power,” not the degree ofspectacular signs and wonders! Thepower of God is the power to take spiri-tually dead, physically dying people,facing eternal death in hell, and makethem alive forever! Satan can produce“lying signs and wonders” (Matthew24:24, 2Thessalonians 2:9), but he doesnot have the power to deliver us fromdeath.

Romans 1:16 uses the term “power”similarly, “For I am not ashamed of thegospel, for it is the power of God forsalvation to everyone who believes, to theJew first and also to the Greek.”

1Thessalonians 1:5-9 also show Paul'suse of the term power for the ability of thegospel to change lives: “For our gospeldid not come to you in word only, but alsoin power and in the Holy Spirit and withfull conviction; just as you know whatkind of men we proved to be among youfor your sake. You also became imitatorsof us and of the Lord, having received theword in much tribulation with the joy ofthe Holy Spirit, so that you became anexample to all the believers in Macedoniaand in Achaia.”

In 1Corinthians 1:24, Romans 1:16,and 1Thessalonians 1:5, “power” con-cerns the ability of God to change livesthrough the gospel message of Christcrucified. The term “power” in these pas-sages denotes God's work of changinglives morally, not amazing crowdsthrough peculiar signs. Faith in Christ,embracing the “scandal” of the cross, andobedience through the enablement of theindwelling Holy Spirit transforms lives sothat recipients of God's power becomeliving demonstrations of the truthfulnessof the Gospel.

The purveyors of what I am describingas “Star Wars theology” misunderstand ormisinterpret these passages where Pauldefines what he means by “power.” Theyquote 1Corinthians 4:20 which says,“For the kingdom of God does not consistin words, but in power.” They claim thatthis shows the relative unimportance ofpreaching and the importance of produc-ing signs and wonders or other spiritualpower displays. This ignores the contextand puts Paul at odds with himself in thisvery epistle. The “power” of the kingdomof God in 1Corinthians 4:20 is the same“power” of God in 1Corinthians 1:24!This is the power of God, through thecross, to change lives. Morally changed

lives coupled with eternal salvation is onesign Satan can not duplicate. In the lastdays, signs will be done by those who likePharaoh's magicians (see 2Timothy 3:8)oppose the truth. However, the determi-native sign is God's power over life anddeath, and His deliverance of His peoplefrom their spiritual bondage.

The false teachers described in 1Cori-nthians 4 had “words,” but not power.Why? Because their words were “arro-gant” (verse 19), and pride is the veryantithesis of the cross that expresses thetrue power of God. According to 2Corin-thians 10, pride is at the very heart ofBiblical spiritual warfare. It was pride(see Isaiah 14:12-15) that caused Satan'sfall from heaven. We have “divinelypowerful” weapons to destroy “specula-tions and every lofty thing raised upagainst the knowledge of God” (2Corin.10:5). These lofty things are pridefulthoughts of self-exaltation. A carefulreading of the entirety of 2Corin. 10makes this clear. Those who are exaltingthemselves through claimed “secret,spiritual knowledge” know nothing of thetrue power of God. They are still slavesof their fleshly motivations.

I believe that the new “binding andloosing” doctrine feeds these fleshlymotivations. It places man at the centerrather than God. It is pagan in that aperson's destiny is supposedly determinedby his ability, or that of others, to gainsufficient “spiritual knowledge” tomanipulate cosmic forces for his ownbenefit. Biblical Christianity teaches thatone's destiny is determined by the work ofGod and one's response to the gospel ofJesus Christ.

The pagan Greeks and Romans thoughtthat various “gods” ruled the world.These gods were often at war with oneanother. Ancient polytheists thought thatthe destinies of humans were determinedby their relationship to these deities.They designed many religious activitieshoping to influence the gods or incur theirfavor. If someone allied himself with aparticular god, he hoped that god wouldprevail and he would share in his destiny.In the mystery religions of the first cen-tury, secret, spiritual knowledge was thekey to partaking in the destiny of thegods.1

There are disturbing similarities in

“The key to victory overthe forces of darkness isto be `seated ... with Himin the heavenly places, inChrist Jesus'”

Diana “Dethroned”

To Serve Christ or Satan?

some modern spiritual warfare teachings.Influencing and manipulating cosmicspiritual rulers supposedly determines thesalvation and well-being of those in-volved. The way one is to influence theseevil forces is through extra-biblicalrevelations and new spiritual technologiesunknown to Christ and His apostles. TheNew Testament does not support thisapproach to spiritual warfare.

Biblical Christianity believes in the onetrue God, the triune God of the Bible. Herules over the entire universe, includingall spiritual beings, good or bad. Peoplewho know Him through the second personof the trinity, Jesus Christ, have obtainedsalvation as a gift from God. Through thecross we are in Christ. To be in Christinvolves both legal justification and rela-tionship with God. Principalities andpowers do not determine our blessedness,spiritual and physical well-being, or eter-nal destiny.

Consider what Paul says about JesusChrist in Ephesians 1:18-22:

I pray that the eyes of your heart may beenlightened, so that you may know whatis the hope of His calling, what are theriches of the glory ofHis inheritance in thesaints, and what is thesurpassing greatness ofHis power toward uswho believe. These arein accordance with theworking of the strengthof His might which Hebrought about in Christ,when He raised Himfrom the dead, and seated Him at Hisright hand in the heavenly places, farabove all rule and authority and powerand dominion, and every name that isnamed, not only in this age, but also inthe one to come. And He put all things insubjection under His feet, and gave Himas head over all things to the church.

The key to victory over the forces ofdarkness is to be “seated... with Him inthe heavenly places, in Christ Jesus”(Ephesians 2:6). This is what God hasdone for us through the cross. We aresaved by faith, not works. The Bible isclear about the dominion of Christ overany so-called “gods.” We do not obtainthe blessing of Christ in our lives through“binding,” rebuking, manipulating, orseeking to otherwise directly influence the“prince of the power of the air” (Eph.2:2) and his emissaries. We obtain it bybeing in Christ through faith. Paganismleaves us seeking to solve our own prob-lems through rearranging the cosmicterrain.

Let us examine the practice of Paul asrecorded in the Book of Acts to confirmthat the preaching of the unadulteratedgospel has the power to deliver all whoare willing to repent and believe. Theaccount concerns Paul's ministry in Ephe-sus, the city given over to paganism andthe worship of demonic “gods.” Acts18:19 through Acts 19:41 give us thehistory of this ministry. Acts 20:17-35 isPaul's message to the Ephesian elders,which shows the nature of his ministry inEphesus. The Bible reveals how Godturned a pagan city “up side down” andestablished a mature church in the midstof demonic idol worship.

The city of Ephesus was given over tothe worship of Diana, the pagan goddess.These pagans considered fornication anact of worship. Idols were everywhere. Ifbinding and loosing as now taught isvalid, this was the place to use it. Yet,according to the Biblical record, Paulnever “bound the spirit of Diana” beforeor during his ministry in Ephesus. Paul's custom, upon coming to a new city,was to go into the synagogue and reasonwith the Jews from the Scripture, showingthat Jesus was the Messiah (see Acts

17:1-3; 10,11; 18:3-5, etc.). Ephesus wasno different. He went first to the syna-gogue and “reasoned with the Jews” (Acts18:19). Paul left Ephesus shortly, toreturn later. When Paul returned toEphesus, after correcting some “disciples”who had not heard of the Holy Spirit, he“entered the synagogue and continuedspeaking out boldly for three months,reasoning and persuading them about thekingdom of God” (Acts 19:8). Somewould not listen, so he “took away thedisciples, reasoning daily in the school ofTyrannus. And this took place for twoyears, so that all who lived in Asia heardthe word of the Lord, both Jews andGreeks” (Acts 19:9,10). God performedmiracles of healing and deliverance.Those who came to the Lord repented oftheir occult involvement, burning theirparaphernalia (Acts 19:18,19).

So many people repented that the idolmakers were outraged. They said, “Andnot only is there danger that this trade ofours fall into disrepute, but also that thetemple of the great goddess Artemis[Latin “Diana”] be regarded as worthlessand that she whom all of Asia and theworld worship should even be dethronedfrom her magnificence” (Acts 19:27).

The powerful, persistent preaching andteaching of the gospel and the changedlives of those who heard and repentedcaused even Diana's closest followers tofear that she would be “dethroned.” Paulcast demons out of individuals, but thereis no record of him speaking directly toany “territorial spirits” or spiritual princi-palities in the heavenly realm.

The issue in spiritual warfare is theallegiance of individuals either to Christthrough the gospel or to Satan throughtheir sin and alienation from God. Thefollowing verses from Paul's letter to theEphesian church demonstrate this truth:“To me, the very least of all saints, thisgrace was given, to preach to the Gentilesthe unfathomable riches of Christ, and tobring to light what is the administrationof the mystery which for ages has beenhidden in God, who created all things; inorder that the manifold wisdom of Godmight now be made known through thechurch to the rulers and the authorities inthe heavenly places” (Ephesians 3:8-10).Verse 6 of this chapter shows that “mys-tery” as used by Paul means, “That theGentiles are fellow heirs and fellow mem-bers of the body, and fellow partakers ofthe promise of Christ Jesus through thegospel.”

God's wisdom (see 1Corin. 1:24 fordefinition) confronts the rulers and au-thorities in the heavenly realm throughthe saving of their previous subjects andbringing them into the church. The Spirit-filled, powerful, preaching of the gospeland the response of faith in the hearersplunders Satan's kingdom. Ephesians 3is confirmed by the historical record ofthe Book of Acts. The wisdom and powerof God are demonstrated through theGospel, not through direct verbal assaulton unseen spiritual beings in the heavenlyrealm.

The often quoted reference in Ephe-sians 6:12 to our “struggle” against the“spiritual forces of wickedness in theheavenly places” does not prove modernspiritual warfare theories. The armor of

“Christians have victory overSatan because of their relation-ship with God, not because ofhaving secret knowledge aboutSatan's kingdom of darkness.”

Magical Techniques?

Secret Knowledge?

God (Eph. 6:11-19) has nothing to dowith secret knowledge of territorial spir-its, utterances, or other popular, modernprocedures. It is about the truth, righ-teousness, the Gospel, the faith, salvation,the Word of God, and prayer. These arethe very weapons Paul used in Ephesus.They are just as effective today.

Paul left Ephesus, but returned laterand addressed the elders. The Biblicalaccount of this event gives us an evenclearer view of Paul's procedure, heart,and message. Paul told, “how I did notshrink from declaring to you anythingthat was profitable, and teaching you pub-licly and from house to house, solemnlytestifying to both Jews and Greeks ofrepentance toward God and faith in ourLord Jesus Christ”(Acts 20:20,21). Healso said, “I did not shrink from declaringto you the whole purpose of God” (verse27). The New Testament contains thetruths God inspired Paul to teach patientlyin Ephesus during his years of ministrythere. Nothing profitable has been with-held from us.

Are we to imagine that today, the prea-ching and teaching of the gospel will nolonger have the same effect that it did inEphesus? Can it be true that people can-not be delivered now except through anew revelation or spiritual technology,unknown to Paul and the other apostles?The church in Ephesus was establishedwithout one principality or power rulingover the city being “bound” by loud, ver-bal assaults. The healings and exorcismsthat occurred in Ephesus were evidencesof the power of God at work through thepreaching of the gospel.

Acts 19:12 tells that, “Handkerchiefs oraprons were even carried from his body tothe sick, and the diseases left them andthe evil spirits went out.” Amazingly,some modern teachers have read the ac-count of Paul in Ephesus and seen the“handkerchiefs” as the most prominentpoint, the key to Paul's method. Over theTV, they ask Christians to send money, sothat they can receive their special “prayercloth,” which will catalyze “their” mira-cle.

Some have suggested putting theseunder the pillow of an unsaved loved one,in hope that this would cause he or she tobecome saved. Paul did not save peoplewith cloths; God saved people through themessage of the gospel. The text in Acts

says that “God was performing extraordi-nary miracles by the hands of Paul” (Acts19:11). If these could be reproduced byanyone with a pile of handkerchiefs, theywould not be “extraordinary.” Paul'smethod was teaching the Scripture. Godperformed signs according to His sover-eign will, though Paul was the vessel Godused. The text does not say that thehandkerchiefs were Paul's message, hisfund-raising technique, or even that heexplicitly approved of the practice. Itsimply saysthat peoplecarried thesefrom Paul'sbody and thatmiracles oc-curred.

Some Jewishexorcists tried to duplicate Paul's success.They said “I adjure you by Jesus whomPaul preaches,” hoping to persuade de-mons to leave the oppressed. The resultswere: “And the evil spirit answered andsaid to them, `I recognize Jesus, and Iknow about Paul, but who are you?' Andthe man, in whom was the evil spirit,leaped on them and subdued all of themand overpowered them, so that they fledout of that house naked and wounded”(Acts 19:15,16).

They evidently supposed that there wassome innate, magical power in the utter-ance of Jesus' name that would force evilspirits to obey them. They even had theright “Jesus,” i.e., the “one whom Paulpreaches.” Why did they fail? Becausethey had no authority. They had noauthority because they had no relation-ship with Jesus. They had no relationshipbecause they had not embraced the cross.They were in bondage to the very EvilOne whose evil emissaries they weretrying to remove.

This illustrates a very important princi-ple about spiritual warfare and deliver-ance: it is based on relationship ratherthan knowledge. God delivers us becauseHe is Almighty God and He loves us. Ourvictory is based on our knowledge of Godnot our knowledge of demons, theirnames, their bosses (i.e., “controllingspirits”), or secret utterances and formu-las. “Occult” means “secret knowledge;”and these exorcists thought that Paul haddiscovered the secret. Greek mystery reli-gions had “gods” with secret names that

would empower those who learned them.Much teaching in the church on this is

as confused as these misguided deliverers.For example, Hosea 4:6 states “My peo-ple are destroyed for lack of knowledge...”This verse is often quoted to prove thatwithout revelation knowledge aboutprincipalities and powers, names of de-mons, or other occult phenomena, God'speople will be destroyed. As is commonlythe practice, the meaning of the passagehas been twisted by refusal to read it in its

context. Hosea 4:1 states “...the Lord hasa case against the inhabitants of the land,because there is no faithfulness or kind-ness or knowledge of God in the land.”The knowledge they were lacking was theknowledge of God, not the secret namesof evil forces! The last part of verse 6 la-ments “... you have forgotten the law ofyour God.” The error could have beenavoided by reading the entire verse. Theydid not know God or His word.

People are subject to Satan because theydo not know God, not because of igno-rance of the various spiritual “secrets” ofSatan's kingdom. Paul does say that hewas “not ignorant of Satan's schemes”(2Corinthians 2:11). In context he wasspeaking of the need for Christians toforgive one another in obedience toChrist. The scheme of Satan was to getthem not to obey Christ. Paul's knowl-edge was of Christ and His will andSatan's purpose to get us to disobey God.Again, knowledge concerning details ofthe Satanic kingdom which God has notchosen to reveal to us is not the issue.

Christians have victory over Satanbecause of their relationship with God,not because of having secret knowledgeabout Satan's kingdom of darkness. Bytaking the focus of our faith off our rela-tionship with God and on to Satan andevil forces of darkness, modern spiritualwarfare teachers are making the samemistake as the seven sons of Sceva. Theywill get similar results.

When Paul later wrote to Timothy atEphesus, false teachers had arisen fromtheir own midst just as he predicted inActs 20. Some were so bad as to be de-scribed as “having been held captive byhim [Satan] to do his will” (2Timothy

The Lie Versus The Truth

“We know that no one who isborn of God sins; but He whowas born of God keeps him andthe evil one does not touch him.We know that we are of God,and the whole world lies in thepower of the evil one.” - 1John

2:26). Surely now Paul will let Timothyknow about “binding and loosing” andmore advanced exorcism techniques! No,but he gives some seemingly mundane(though exceedingly wise) advice. Hesays “...the Lord's bond-servant must notbe quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able toteach, patient when wronged, with gen-tleness correcting those who are in oppo-sition, if perhaps God may grant themrepentance leading to the knowledge ofthe truth” (2Timothy 2:24,25).

Rather than advanced spiritual tech-nology, Paul sees teaching, the sovereignaction of God, and repentance as the keysto deliverance from Satan. The teachingthat Timothy is to give is Bible teaching,as shown in the next chapter of SecondTimothy.

There is a pattern emerging as we ex-amine these New Testament texts. Thepattern is that the truth indeed does set usfree (John 8:32). The devil is a liar(John 8:44). From the first incident ofhuman deception (with Adam and Eve)until he is finally banished from the faceof the earth, he uses lies to hold mankindin bondage. The battle is a battle of truthand error. Specifically, it is the lie versusthe truth. The lie is the lie that man(hoping to be self-ruling like God) canrebel against God and not die (Genesis3:4,5). The truth is the gospel of JesusChrist. 2Thess. 2:9-12, which describesthe activity of Antichrist, shows these twoconcepts at work.

...that is the one whose coming is inaccord with the activity of Satan, with allpower and signs and false wonders, andwith all the deception of wickedness forthose who perish, because they did notreceive the love of the truth so as to besaved. And for this reason God will sendupon them a deluding influence so thatthey might believe what is false, in orderthat they all may be judged who did notbelieve the truth, but took pleasure inwickedness.

“What is false” in verse 11 is literally inthe Greek, “the lie.” In John 8:44, Jesuscalled Satan the father of “the lie.” Paulgives two reasons why people believe thelie. They do not “receive the love of thetruth,” and they “took pleasure in wicked-ness.” The gospel of Jesus Christ is thetruth that leads to our salvation. Since itconfronts our sin, convicts us, and calls usto repentance, many prefer the lie! The

lie says the same thing that it has alwayssaid: “You can sin and not die, you can beas God” (i.e., autonomous). The crosssays otherwise! The essence of spiritualwarfare is God's truth revealed in theperson of Jesus Christ through the crossconfronting and defeating Satan's lie. The “casting down of ruling principali-ties and powers” through naming them,determining their geographical sphere ofinfluence, and “binding” them is absentfrom the New Testament! Magical utter-ances or incantations have no power to setcaptives free. The Holy Spirit workingthrough the preaching of the gospel does.

Even “the name of Jesus,” spokenboldly in prayer, is not a magical epithet.It is a declaration of whose authority it isby which we speak and act. If we departfrom the teachings of Scripture, we departfrom the true authority of Christ. Saying“in the name of Jesus” does not give anyreal authority to a false teaching. Thosewho try to operate thus shall be like thosein Matthew 7, who in Jesus' name castout demons. He never knew them.

It strikes me that if those who arecaught up in these fanciful deliveranceand spiritual warfare theories would juststand back a bit and look at things from abroader, Biblical perspective, they couldsee their error. Could it be true that aperson, upon responding to the gospel infaith, repentance, and obedience, wouldbe left by God in spiritual bondage be-cause of ignorance of elaborate theoriesabout Satan and demons? If we call uponthe Lord according to the promises andterms of Romans chapter 10, will Godfail to deliver us because we did not yetdiscover the name of a “control spirit”ruling over our neighborhood? If so,Christians for nearly two thousand yearshave lived out their lives in demonicbondage because the historical church didnot know about these new theories andtechnologies.

Are truths and promises of this passagedependent on our knowledge about dem-ons, principalities, special utterances,extra-biblical spiritual formulas, etc.?

OR - Are they dependent on our rela-tionship with God? Clearly the later istrue. John differentiates Christians andthe world. Christians do not practice (thecontinuous present tense “keep on prac-ticing sin” is used in verse 18) sin. Jesuskeeps us so that the Evil One cannottouch us. In contrast, the world lies in thepower of Satan. This is true because ofGod's love for us and what He has donethrough the cross for our deliverance. Wetoo once lived in bondage (see Ephesians2:1-9) to sin and Satan, but now we arefree! No amount of shouting or “binding”will change either one of these facts: ourvictory or the world's bondage to Satan.Only the work of God in Christ will setthe captives free.

The truth is so much more profound(although simple) than the complicatedspiritual theories that are offered to takeits place. The teaching and preaching ofthe word of God is the commission of thechurch. Inventing new spiritual technol-ogies and theories is not.

Binding and “loosing” as taught inthese new theories is actually binding and“losing.” The time and attention of God'speople are being taken off preaching thegospel and being witnesses for Christ ascommanded in the Bible. In the place ofour true responsibilities, we are being toldthat we must “take dominion” overgeopolitical entities by “binding” theSatanic hosts that control them. Thisdoes not disturb Satan one bit. With thisfalse teaching, we “lose” and he “wins.”We lose in the sense of failing to fulfillGod's purpose for us. Saying “I bind youSatan” will not stop his activity. If wepreach the gospel to one person and thatperson repents and believes, Satan's king-dom is thereby plundered. The angels inheaven rejoice when one sinner repents.If we obey the true commission given usby Christ and His apostles, we shall havevictory.

Written by Bob DeWaay, Twin City Fellow-

Scripture taken from the New American Stan-dard Bible, © Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963,1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1988,The Lockman Foundation. Used by permis-sion.

End Notes1. see Theological Dictionary of the NewTestament, Eerdmans, Vol. 4; pages 802-808on Greek mystery religions.

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