In military history, there’s a strategy which always seems to work for the weaker side: guerilla warfare. America in the 1770’s; Spain during Napoleon’s reign; Vietnam in living memory; and quite recently, a couple of times in Afghanistan. Put simply, the strategy is to abandon the cities (where there’s strength in numbers) and prowl about the countryside, striking the enemy when they’re isolated and weak.
Satan uses the same sort of strategy against God’s people: the devil strikes where the members of the Church are alone and divided, not where they’re united in faith and love. This has been Satan’s strategy since the Garden of Eden.
Our God is one; but as the Bible teaches, there are three Persons in the one God. Within God himself, therefore, there’s already community. Genesis 1:26-27 says this about humanity’s creation:
“God said, ‘Let us make man in ourimage, after ourlikeness.’…So God made man in hisown image, in the image of God hecreated him; male and female hecreated them.
God is described here as both singular and plural; and we are created in his image…both singular (him) and plural (them)! Humanity was meant to live in community.
Satan hates us because we are in God’s image. What better way to attack that image than to divide and conquer? And so Satan tries. In the Garden of Eden, Satan doesn’t attack the God-like community of Adam and Eve; he goes after an individual member,Eve: “(The serpent) said to the woman, ‘Did God actually say…?’” (Genesis 3:1) And so Eve proceeds in a discussion with Satan over what God really said and what his motivations were. What she does not do is discuss the matter with her fellow community member, Adam. That’s not in keeping with being in the image of God!
The three Persons of the Trinity do nothing “on their own”: it’s always a joint effort and a joint decision (“Let us make man”, etc.). It was the same way with the very act of redemption itself, which saved us from the sinful heritage of our “on your own” forbearers, Adam and Eve. The Father chose us in love for salvation, the Son went about doing the work of salvation, and the Holy Spirit made all of this real to us as individuals….individuals that have been saved from sinful individualism to become members of a community!
“So Eve’s individualism is to blame for humanity’s fall?” No, not only Eve: Adam was just as much a John Wayne figure as his wife. Genesis 3:6 tells us that Eve took the forbidden fruit, ate, “and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.” What was he doing all this time, watching the Superbowl? At the very least he should have said, “Eve! Quit talking to snakes!” Christians have a duty, as members of one Body, to warn individuals when they are straying from the path.
If you’re looking for a sure-fire way to fall into sin and error, be a lone ranger Christian. If you’re looking for an effective defence, pray with the brethren, fellowship with the brethren, and examine the Scriptures together.
We’re in this together.
Amen.
~ Andrew MacLeod
