Do all lay Christians have the Power and Authority to bind, Rebuke and cast out Satan and demons??

It is clear in The Bible that God has allowed Satan significant amounts of power and influence over the earth, at least for the time being, and it is always within His sovereign control. cp (Job 2:6) The Bible tells us that he prowls around like a roaring lion in search of prey, looking for victims to devour (1 Peter 5:8). Satan is the power at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God (Ephesians 2:2). Anyone who is not under the control of the sovereign God is under the control of the devil /Satan (Acts 26:18; 2 Corinthians 4:4). Born-again Christians are no longer enslaved to Satan or to sin (Romans 6:6-7), but this does not mean we are immune to the temptations and aggravations / firey darts ( Eph. 6:16) that Satan throws before us.

The Bible does NOT give Christians the authority to Bind Rebuke and cast out Satan. the Devil, (monkey wrench) ( but what about Mk. 16:17 ( THIS WAS INITIALLY GIVEN TO THE Apostles and future leaders of His church. also See (Mat_16:19 and it was vividly demonstrated through out the New Testament. There is No record of lay Christians having this kind of power and ability. But All believers have the power to to Resist him. James 4:7 ( says "submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." This is further emphasized with terms like stand against in (Eph. 6:11) and quench all the fiery darts in 6:16

 

(Zechariah 3:2) tells us that it is the Lord who rebukes Satan. Even Michael the Arch Angel, the most powerful of all angels, did not dare to accuse or Rebuke Satan, but rather said, "The Lord rebuke you" (Jude 1:9). In response to Satan's attacks, a Christian should hide under the covering of Christ. Instead of focusing on defeating the devil yourself. It will get you in Trouble every time when dealing with Satan and his demons. (Acts 19:14-16) we should focus on following Christ (Hebrews 12:2) and trust that He will defeat the forces of evil.

Prepaared By:Rev. George Pryor M. Th.Pastor Emeritus. evgap@gmail.com webte: www.revgeorge.net

SPECIAL NOTE: I know this goes against the grain of traditional thought but it is what the Bible says.

It is not necessary for a Christian to rebuke Satan because God has given us His full armor to stand against evil (see Ephesians 6:10-18). The most effective weapons we have against the devil are prayer, faith, wisdom, and knowledge about God and His Word. Even Christ, when tempted by Satan, did not rebuke him but answered him with Scripture (see (Matthew 4:1-11). Jesus did however rebuke The Devil when He healed the sick. He cast him out of those he had possessed. An example is found in (Matthew 17:18) and elsewhere. Jesus operated in His divine nature when doing this and we don’t have a divine nature to revert to.

To gain victory in spiritual matters, we must maintain a clear conscience and have control over our thoughts. "For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. We do have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ" (2 Corinthians 10:3-5). Jesus gave Peter the power of binding and loosing (Matt. 16: 18-19). It is not stated but other Apostles also had this power to rebuke evil spirits (Acts 1:17-18, 13:8-11) That power and Authority has Not been passed on to all believers. You can put yourself in harms way if it is tried without the authority to do it even if you use The name of Jesus. See (Acts19: 13-17) If you believe there is a need to rebuke Satan it would be safe to ask The LORD to do it. Don’t be over zealous and get yourself into something you can’t handle like the sons of Sceva (Acts 19:11-15) Read it

 

0. We have been given adequate weapons to Resist him. There is a verse in (Mk. 16:17 ) that appears to contradict this conclusion. It states that believers would cast out Devils in the Name of Jesus. This is not referenced to or stated in any of the other Gospels or any where else in Scripture except for this one, and it’s authenticity is Highly questionable. To establish a doctrine or practice on one verse that is not mentioned or referred to anywhere else in Scripture would be a weak position to say the least.

 

 

It would totally ignore a basic principle of Scripture interpretation that” Scripture must interpret Scripture”. Furthermore (Mk. 16: 9-20) is highly questionable as an original section of the Gospel but was added later since it appears that the last page of the original manuscript was lost. It is always better to be safe than sorry. If something is authorized or required for believers it will be verifiable by numerous other references in Scripture. A good example is the Great Commission. It is found in all four Gospels and in Acts. (Matt. 28:19, Mk. 16:15-16, Lk. 24:46-48, Jn. 21: 21-23, Acts 1:8)

 

In resolving a seeming contradiction, one should assume that the multitude of verses are correct, and interpret the odd verse/s accordingly, not the reverse. Furthermore, when there is an interpretation which renders all the verses non-contradictory, this is the interpretation that is correct.

 

Conclusion:

 

We do not defeat demonic forces by speaking to them but by standing Firm on our faith. The Bible does Not encourage us to communicate with Satan and his demons. There are no special words recorded in Scripture that unlock God’s power against Satan.

FINAL NOTE:

There is a dangerous word in the formula of self rebuke that is the least important one in the English language and it is; I

Rev.George PryorM. Th. Pastor emeritus

revgap@gmail.com

Written 09/09/18& updated 12/24/2022