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We have made investigation, and have many times asked the following questions of
those who have been associated with the casting out of demons, or with those who have
been apparently demon-possessed:--
Have you ever found one instance of a case of demon-possession unaccompanied by a
failure rightly to divide the Word of truth?
Have you ever found a case of demon-possession where there has been a clear
appreciation of the revelation of the mystery?
We have never received an affirmative answer to either of these questions.
While error is entertained Satan has power to bind, but with the advent and
acknowledgment of the truth, his captivity ceases. So we search II Tim. 2: 24-26 in vain
for instruction concerning the exorcising of evil spirits. What we find is instruction as to
how we must apply the one infallible remedy--"the truth". So in verse 25 we read of
"repentance to the acknowledging of the truth". Repentance involves "a change of mind"
(metanoia) and a change of mind that acknowledges the truth is all that is necessary:--
"That he may wake up out of the snare of the Devil" (II Tim. 2: 26).
The snare of the Devil is undispensational truth; and there are many children of God
ensnared by the wrong application of Scripture. The members of the Galatian church
were enslaved and ensnared by those who came down from Jerusalem with "chapter and
verse" to prove that unless they were circumcised and kept the law of Moses they were
not in covenant relationship with God. This was truth out of place, truth belonging to the
dispensation of law, misapplied and so used of the Devil to enslave the Galatians.
Paul, by his noble stand, cast out this demon--"that the truth of the gospel might
continue" (Gal. 2:); and we must follow his example.
Satan's abuse of Scripture is seen in II Cor. 3: and 4: II Cor. 3: places together the
old and new covenants, and by comparison, the glory of the one is as nothing in the light
of the excelling glory of the other. The symbol of the old covenant is the veiled face of
Moses (II Cor. 3: 13); the symbol of the new is the unveiled face of Christ (II Cor. 4: 6).
The figure of the veil is continued in the words of II Cor. 4: 3, 4, which we translate as
follows:--
"But if our gospel be veiled, it is veiled by those things that are perishing (i.e., the old
covenant that is `done away" and `abolished'--II Cor. 3: 7, 11, 13), by which the god of
this age hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious
gospel of Christ, Who is the image of God, should shine unto them . . . . . For God, Who
commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light
of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ" (II Cor. 4: 3-6).
Liberty comes with "the light of the knowledge" of the truth for the time. So with
ourselves; our most effective method of liberation is to "preach the Word", for the Word
of truth and the Spirit of truth agree, and "where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty"
(II Cor. 3: 17).