At the church I pastor, I have been working through a Sunday school series on spiritual warfare. I thought it would be helpful to look at our reformed confessional heritage in order to glean what our forebears said about the Christian life, Satan, and spiritual battle.
Here are all the times the Heidelberg Catechism speaks about Satan:
Christ has set me free from the power of the devil.
1. Q. What is your only comfort in life and death?
That I am not my own, but belong with body and soul, both in life and in death, to my faithful Saviour Jesus Christ. He has fully paid for all my sins with His precious blood, and has set me free from all the power of the devil. He also preserves me in such a way that without the will of my heavenly Father not a hair can fall from my head; indeed, all things must work together for my salvation. Therefore, by His Holy Spirit He also assures me of eternal life and makes me heartily willing and ready from now on to live for Him.
Man deliberately sinned at the instigation of the devil.
9. Q. Is God, then, not unjust by requiring in His law what man cannot do?
No, for God so created man that he was able to do it. But man, at the instigation of the devil, in deliberate disobedience robbed himself and all his descendants of these gifts.
As a Christian, I fight against sin and the devil in this life.
32. Q. Why are you called a Christian?
Because I am a member of Christ by faith and thus share in His anointing, so that I may as prophet confess His Name, as priest present myself a living sacrifice of thankfulness to Him, and as king fight with a free and good conscience against sin and the devil in this life, and hereafter reign with Him eternally over all creatures.
Christ has freed Christians from the power of the devil and made us his own.
34. Q. Why do you call Him our Lord?
Because He has ransomed us, body and soul, from all our sins, not with silver or gold but with His precious blood, and has freed us from all the power of the devil to make us His own possession.
As a Christian, I must not live like the devil.
112. Q. What is required in the ninth commandment?
I must not give false testimony against anyone, twist no one's words, not gossip or slander, nor condemn or join in condemning anyone rashly and unheard. Rather, I must avoid all lying and deceit as the devil's own works, under penalty of God's heavy wrath. In court and everywhere else, I must love the truth, speak and confess it honestly, and do what I can to defend and promote my neighbor’s honor and reputation.
I must pray that God destroy the works of the devil.
123. Q. What is the second petition?
Thy kingdom come. That is: So rule us by Thy Word and Spirit that more and more we submit to Thee. Preserve and increase Thy church. Destroy the works of the devil, every power that raises itself against Thee, and every conspiracy against Thy holy Word. Do all this until the fulness of Thy kingdom comes, wherein Thou shalt be all in all.
The Christian life is a spiritual war in which we ask God for protection from Satan, the world, and our flesh.
127. Q. What is the sixth petition?
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. That is: In ourselves we are so weak that we cannot stand even for a moment. Moreover, our sworn enemies--the devil, the world, and our own flesh--do not cease to attack us. Wilt Thou, therefore, uphold and strengthen us by the power of Thy Holy Spirit, so that in this spiritual war we may not go down to defeat, but always firmly resist our enemies, until we finally obtain the complete victory.
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