What is Spiritual Warfare?

Scripture teaches that God’s people are involved in a spiritual war. Given the eternal stakes in this war, we must understand what God’s Word says about it and how we are to engage in it. Below we’ll answer some of the most important questions about spiritual warfare.¹

What Kind of War Is This?

Here’s how the apostle Paul describes the war Christians find themselves in:

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. (Ephesians 6:12)

The fact that we do not wrestle against “flesh and blood” means that our greatest enemy is not merely human or physical. We are battling “the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12). The spiritual nature of this war helps explain why Jesus did not try to establish his kingdom through political maneuvering or military might (John 18:36). 

Who Is Our Enemy in this War?

When Scripture says that we wrestle against “the rulers … the authorities … the cosmic powers over this present darkness … the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12), it is referring to Satan and his demons. Satan, who is also referred to in Scripture as “the devil” (Matthew 4:1), opposes God’s purposes and God’s people. 

Satan originally served God as an angel, a created being whose purpose is to praise God and do his will. However, Satan was cast out of heaven due to his pride (1 Timothy 3:6). He and the angels who joined in his rebellion are now imprisoned in hell where they await their final judgment (2 Peter 2:4). 

When Did this War Begin?

Following his rebellion against God, Satan began his assault on mankind in the Garden of Eden. Speaking through a serpent, he tempted the first couple, Adam and Eve, to sin (Genesis 3:1–13). As a result, God cursed the serpent and put “enmity,” or hostility, between him and the woman, and between his offspring and her offspring (Genesis 3:15). This hostility between Satan (and those under his influence) and the offspring of the woman shows up throughout the story of Scripture and continues until the present day.

What’s at Stake in this War?

In his opposition to God’s redemptive purposes, Satan seeks people’s eternal ruin. To prevent people from receiving salvation in Christ, Satan has “blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ” (2 Corinthians 4:4). Even after people put their faith in Christ, Satan tempts them to doubt God, disobey his Word, and/or abandon the faith (1 Thessalonians 3:5). 

Satan seeks to harm the church’s witness through false teaching, disunity, sexual temptation, and a host of other sins. Satan’s temptations prey upon fleshly desires, which “wage war against your soul” (1 Peter 2:11).

What Has Jesus Done to Win this War?

God helps us in this war in a variety of ways, including by sending his angels to serve his people (Hebrews 1:14). However, it is through his Son, Jesus, that he wins this war on behalf of believers. Jesus dealt the decisive blow against Satan during his earthly ministry, which is precisely what God had promised in the Garden when he told Satan that the seed of the woman would “bruise” his head (Genesis 3:15). The Son of God took on our humanity to “destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8). 

Jesus overcame Satan’s temptations by trusting and obeying his Father’s will (Matthew 4:1–11). Then, as a sinless sacrifice (Hebrews 4:15), Jesus died on the cross in the place of sinners, bearing in his body the punishment that they deserved (1 Peter 2:24). It was “through death” that he “destroyed the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil” (Hebrews 2:14). 

Finally, through his resurrection, Jesus defeated sin and death and secured the gift of righteousness (Romans 4:25) and eternal life for all who put their faith in him (John 3:16). Though Satan continues to rage against Christ and his people, he is a doomed and defeated foe (Revelation 12:10).

How Do We Fight this War?

Spiritual warfare requires intentionality and effort (1 Peter 5:8), but this is not a war we fight based on our own strength or wisdom. We trust in God’s Word, depend on him in prayer, and live in light of the salvation he has provided in Christ. It’s through the power of the Holy Spirit that we continually (though imperfectly) put sin to death (Romans 8:13) and persevere in the faith. 

The apostle Paul instructs believers to “take up the whole armor of God” so that they will be able to “withstand in the evil day” (Ephesians 6:13). He then mentions the following pieces of armor in Ephesians 6:14–17:

• The belt of truth
• The breastplate of righteousness
• Shoes for your feet (the readiness given by the gospel of peace)
• The shield of faith (with which you can extinguish the flaming darts of the evil one)
• The helmet of salvation
• The sword of the Spirit (which is the word of God).

To take up this armor, it is critical for believers to be “praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication” (Ephesians 6:18). And we do all this based on the victory that Christ has already secured for us.

When Will this War End?

Gratefully, Christians won’t always be at war. Jesus will return to set all things right, repaying those who have afflicted his people and providing his people with “relief” (2 Thessalonians 1:6–7). 

The devil, who is also called “the great dragon … that ancient serpent … the deceiver of the whole world” (Revelation 12:9), will be thrown into the “lake of fire” where he will be “tormented day and night forever and ever” (Revelation 20:10). 

Rather than fighting sin and resisting Satan, believers will be enjoying God for all of eternity. As we await that day, and despite what we see in the world around us, we have this assurance: “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet” (Romans 16:20).

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1. For more on Scripture’s teaching about spiritual warfare, see David Platt, Secret Church 7, “Angels, Demons, and Spiritual Warfare.” ↵