For your obedience has become known to all. Therefore, I am glad on your behalf; but I want you to be wise in what is good, and simple concerning evil. And the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen. Romans 16:19-20
It’s even older than time itself — the battle between good and evil. A few pre-time details are revealed in the Bible concerning the spirit realm, but most of the battles recorded in the Word of God relate to the realm in which we live our every-day lives. There are several parallels in our verses relating to the first battle on God’s newly created earth.
First, the reference to obedience goes back to the first command God gave to Adam and Eve relating to the fruit of a certain tree. At the time, this was the one and only command they had to obey. The next corresponding reference is to knowledge (wise and simple). The tree with the forbidden fruit had to do with knowledge — what God intended for us to know and what we should not know. Then we come to good and evil and the comparisons with the fall of Adam and Eve are unmistakable, for the forbidden fruit was that which grew on the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.
The Lord promised after that first temptation that the serpent (Satan) would have his head crushed by the Seed of woman (Jesus) and that has already happened when Jesus took the sin of the world upon Himself to the cross and became the perfect sacrifice for sin, even defeating death itself when He rose from the dead on the third day.
So, why is there still evil in the world if Jesus crushed the serpent’s head already? This world has not yet been redeemed but is still waiting for that day. The redeemed of the Lord, those who have received salvation through faith in Jesus, are not of this world but still in it. Being in Christ Jesus means all things have become new, as Jesus said, a believer is born again. The world stays the same, filled with evil, but the person becomes new.
How then can you live a life of victory over the devil so that he is literally under your feet? The answer is in our verses today and it goes back to the beginning of time. Choose to grow in the knowledge of good (only God is good, so, grow in the knowledge of God!) and at the same time, choose not to partake of the knowledge of evil.
It might seem as if you need to have a knowledge of evil to relate to those who are in the world or you need to know your enemy in order to defeat him. On the contrary, since the beginning of time, the Lord has made it clear that knowing evil does not help you avoid evil or battle evil or overcome evil; it will only entice your flesh and make it that much more difficult to walk in the spirit.
Everything you need to know to have Satan crushed under your feet is found in the Lord and in His Word. The world is not going to help you overcome the devil, for the world is under the sway of the evil one. There is nothing in this world that you need to know to be victorious in your Christian walk, you just need to be wise in what is good. Grow in God!
Don’t forget to join our Email list and become a Fellow Traveler! Just Click HERE
And, please help us spread the word by sharing this post with others!