“I am writing to you, young men,
because you have overcome the evil one…
I write to you, young men,
because you are strong,
and the word of God abides in you,
and you have overcome the evil one.”
(1 John 2:13b, 14b)
The Christian life is warfare of a spiritual nature (Ephesians 6:12). Our enemy is evil personified, the devil himself (1 Peter 5:8). His main tactics are deceit (John 8:44), temptation (Luke 4:13), and accusation (Revelation 12:10). He wants us to doubt God’s love for us. He wants us to sin. He wants us to feel that our guilt is too great for God’s grace to overcome. And, in a hateful way, he wants for God himself to condemn us because of our sin. (It may be that he was Heaven’s Chief Prosecutor before he overstepped his bounds.) We can’t analyze what percentage of our temptation or sin is directly attributable to the devil, but we need to know that someone powerful is personally working against us.
John writes his letter to give us Christian confidence. The confidence he wants us to have is one that is grounded outside ourselves, in the person and work of Christ. The Gospel gives us a confidence that doesn’t depend on our potential or abilities or success, therefore a confidence that can’t be shaken, a confidence that stands in the face of all difficulties. So, when he writes to give us confidence in the face of temptation, he doesn’t write, “You can do it! You can overcome the evil one, if you learn all the right methods and try really hard!” No, he writes, “you have overcome the evil one.” Perfect tense. Already accomplished, with lasting effect.
He isn’t pointing to previous battles you’ve won, like that time last week when you resisted temptation. He’s pointing to the decisive victory over evil that is true of every believer in Jesus Christ. You are strong in his grace, not in-and-of yourself. His word abides in you. Jesus himself abides in you, and you in him. So the strength of the one who faced every temptation and never sinned is yours. The strength of the one who faced the devil himself victoriously is yours. The strength of the one who conquered sin and death in his resurrection is yours. The strength of the one who is seated on Heaven’s throne with power over all his enemies is yours, because the Spirit of God unites you to Jesus Christ by his grace. You have the resources you need to overcome the devil himself, because you already have overcome him in the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ.
So, when you think about temptations and sins that you face frequently, what’s your perspective? When you face temptations to anger, covetousness, lust—again—how do you feel? Do you feel doubt and despair that you’ll ever be free of them? Do you fear that these things define you, that they constitute your identity? Do you feel demoralized and exhausted from the long siege of temptation, the drawn-out battle with sin and the devil? Or do you look at temptations, sin, even the evil one himself, as a conqueror looks in triumph over his trampled foes?
One of my favorite scenes in The Lord of the Rings is when Gandalf the White, back from the dead and reunited with his companions, recounts his battle with the ancient demon of the deep. It was a battle that claimed his life, but he had the victory. He fell, “through fire and water. From the lowest dungeon to the highest peak I fought him, the Balrog of Morgoth. Until at last I threw down my enemy and smote his ruin upon the mountain side.” That’s inspiring. We have better.
“Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon. And the dragon and his angels fought back, but he was defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, ‘Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death. Therefore, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them!’” (Revelation 12:7-12)
Jesus Christ threw down his enemy and smote his ruin upon the mountain side—on Golgotha, when he victoriously resisted temptation and sin and the devil himself to the point of his own death on the cross. And his victory is yours, vicariously, because of your spiritual union with him. You were in him when he defeated the powers of darkness. In him, you have overcome the evil one. By the grace of God you have confidence that enables you to look at temptation, sin, and the devil as defeated foes.
