Resist the Devil
Be self controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings 1 Peter 5:8,9
Be self controlled and alert. Peter has twice already called his readers to be ‘self controlled’; in 1:13 because of their privilege of living in the day of salvation, and in 4:7 so that their prayer life is not hindered. The word meant to be sober. Peter knew how easily Christians can lose their spiritual concentration by being caught up again with the world. The word ‘alert’ emphasises what we’re looking at, what we’re focusing on (Matthew 26:37,40,41). Without self control and alertness we see the world no differently than those who don’t know Christ.
Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Lions in the wild don’t let their prey see them until the last possible moment. They use stealth to keep their victim unsuspecting. The devil does the same.
Peter sees him as a single, personal, spiritual being in active rebellion against God. His name means ‘slanderer, false accuser.’ Peter knows full well the devil can and will attack Christians. The less prepared they are, the more effective the attack. The devil is always ‘looking for someone to devour.’ ‘Devour’ means ‘to swallow up, to swallow whole’ and is used in the Greek version of Jonah 1:17 of him being swallowed whole by the great fish.
Resist him, standing firm in the faith. We’re not at his mercy and we’re definitely not to be afraid of him. ‘Resist’ means ‘to cause to stand against.’ This is not passive; it’s intentional. We are to stand against him ‘standing firm in the faith.’ God will intervene as we continue to hold on to Him. James promises ‘Resist the devil and he will flee from you’ (James 4:7). In both passages ‘resist’ carries the thought of active, determined, confrontational opposition. Paul uses the word to describe the magicians’ fierce opposition to Moses in 2 Timothy 3:8.
How do we resist the devil? We use the whole armour of God – the word of God and particularly what it says about the death of Christ (pictured through His blood being poured out), prayer, praise, the help of other Christians, our spoken words and a godly lifestyle (Ephesians 6:14).
We must resist the devil – expecting him to go, God’s Kingdom to advance, our own growth in authority and holiness, and God to use Satan’s plans for our harm and turn them into something better.
When Peter adds ‘because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings’ he wants them to know their suffering is not unusual or unexpected. This is what confronts Christians who stand for Christ. It was then and it still is now.
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