- 136. Satan gets no Advantage
2 Corinthians 2:10, 11 To whom ye forgive any thing, I forgive also: for if I forgave any thing, to whom I forgave it, for your sakes forgave I it in the person of Christ; Lest Satan should get an advantage of us.
This is a conditional promise: if you forgive, then Satan will not get an advantage of you. The warning implied in this promise is that if you do not forgive then you are giving space and a place to the devil somewhere in your soul. Once Satan has an opportunity he will gain an advantage. Unforgiveness, or holding a grudge, in the heart can be a situation that the devil can manipulate and deceive into bitterness and resentment, which eats at the soul and produces rottenness. Satan cannot get an advantage either in the church or in an individual when forgiveness rules. If we take this as a conditional promise then we can believe the power of forgiveness to thwart the devil’s ability to steal, kill and destroy.
In First Corinthians Paul had written to the church that they should “excommunicate,” shun, or turn a blatant sinner over to Satan so that he may repent and turn back to the Lord. Now that this has happened, Paul, in this second letter, encourages the church to forgive, as he has forgiven, this man and welcome him back into the fellowship and prayer covering of the church. The example is used to give all of us a lesson in the value of discipline and forgiveness. One lesson learned is to believe the implicit promise that forgiveness prevents Satan from getting an advantage of us. It seems that Satan has no weapon against forgiveness; when there is forgiveness God rules and Satan has no power.Forgiving one another, as God has forgiven us, wields an immense power against the Enemy, and forgiveness builds up the hedge around a marriage, the family, among friends and in any relationship. “Forgiving those who trespass against us” wields a mighty spiritual weapon and puts up a defensive shield around the soul. A “root of bitterness” will not spring up and we do not let the “sun go down on our wrath.” Then we have a promise: Satan will not get an advantage of us.