“Did you know that the term spiritual warfare never appears in Scripture?” asks David Powlison in his exceptional little book, Safe & Sound: Standing Firm in Spiritual Battles. He goes on to explain that spiritual warfare is
a pastoral-theological term describing the conflict occurring at the heart of the Christian life. For good, biblical, and practical reasons, Christians have always understood that we face a three-fold moral enemy: the world, the flesh, and the devil. Over this unholy trinity hangs the specter of our last enemy—the shadow of death and death itself. Scripture teaches that all of these enemies are ruled by Satan, the prince of this world.
Powlison then provides four ways to understand spiritual warfare biblically.
Spiritual warfare is a metaphor for standing on the Lord’s side in the epic struggle between the Lord and his enemies. “Your aim as a Christian pastor, counselor, and friend is to protect children of light (Ephesians 5:8) from being wooed back into darkness and to woo the rest of mankind (Ephesians 2:3) out of darkness and into the light.”
Spiritual warfare is a moral struggle. “It is a conflict over who you are, what you believe, and how you
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