2 Corinthians 2:11 “….in order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes.”
Although the truth remains the same, strategy changes according to the times, circumstances and situations that we find ourselves in.
This is also true with Satan down through the ages. His methods have been simple, but effective: persecution, death in the arena, and many other atrocities Satan tried in order to stop the advancement of the kingdom of God. However, Satan has found that the Gates of Hell cannot prevail against the Church of Jesus Christ.
About 300 A.D. we found that Satan’s strategy changes. Constantine supposedly becomes a Christian and Christianity is accepted as the bona fide religion in the Roman world. Now God’s people, instead of being persecuted, find themselves being applauded, accepted and put on a pedestal which is a dangerous place to be.
In the immediate years following Christ’s death there was little formal organization of the Christian movement. The early converts thought that the return of Christ was near and they concentrated on their own personal lives of being ready for His coming. But by the second century there was a formal, hierarchical organization within the church.
There seems to be a two prong attack against Christianity. One comes from being accepted and no more persecution, and another from within by a false doctrine.
The most important development was the rise of the Bishop of Rome to a position of pre-eminence in the hierarchy of the church and with the title of “Pope” or “Father” in Greek. Rome became the center of the Christian faith for it was the largest city in the West, the capital of an empire and had a certain respect that was transferred to the Pope or Bishop of Rome.
It was during this time that serious debates raged about the personage of Christ. Arias, a priest in Alexandria believed that Christ was not fully God because he was not of a substance identical with God. Arias did not believe that Jesus was co-eternal with God and the controversy became so serious that Constantine convened a council called the “Nicene Council.” The council branded the idea of Arias as a heresy which was a doctrine contrary to the official teachings of the Church. Christ was declared henceforth to be of the same substance of God.
It was during these years of relative peace that the doctrines of the Church were being worked out. However, it is like Jesus said when He gave the parables of the kingdom in Matthew 13 that the wheat and the tares (the real and the false) will grow together until the harvest. This is what we had then and this is what we still have today.
Throughout the ages we see three things developing in every congregation and denomination. First, we have the Lord’s commands. This is not debatable; they are simply to be obeyed. Secondly, we have the apostolic teaching. Thirdly, we have what a congregation agrees on doing. There is nothing wrong with this, but what happens is that we begin to substitute point number three with point number one. In other words, what the congregation agrees on doing becomes as authoritative as the Lord’s commands.
Like our text reads at the beginning of this chapter, “we should not be ignorant of the devil’s devices or schemes.”