Satan Acting on the Flesh

This thorn in the flesh given to Paul in order that he should not exalt himself was something that rendered him contemptible in his preaching (Gal. 4:13-1413Ye know how through infirmity of the flesh I preached the gospel unto you at the first. 14And my temptation which was in my flesh ye despised not, nor rejected; but received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus. (Galatians 4:13‑14)). It was a counterbalance to the rapture with which he had been honored. We may not necessarily have the identical thorn that Paul had; God will always send us the needed one. God sometimes employs Satan against the flesh, and Satan acts on the flesh in four different ways:
1. Before conversion, the flesh is under the dominion of Satan, the conscience being hardened. This was the case with Judas, who loved money and was a thief. When he had taken the sop, Satan entered into him to instigate him to unbridled iniquity and to deliver him afterwards to despair in beholding the result of his crime.
2. Before conversion, the flesh is enticed to act by the seductions of Satan.
3. After conversion, the flesh remains always there and can fall under the direct action of Satan, if the Spirit, the seal of redemption, has not yet been given, or else if He has not yet accomplished the work of deliverance in us. One finds oneself then, like Peter, opposing Christ at almost every turn. Before the transfiguration, when Jesus spoke of His approaching sufferings and Peter, out of affection but in the flesh, wished to dissuade Him, the Lord replies, “Get thee behind Me, Satan” (Matt. 16:2323But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savorest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men. (Matthew 16:23)).
4. Satan desires to have us that he may sift us as wheat by means of the flesh. Jesus announces it to His disciples and prays especially for Peter, in whom the flesh was strong.
Peter put himself forward on every occasion and showed each time that the flesh is the exact opposite of Christ. Jesus said to the disciples, “Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation.” This is not yet entering into sin. The effect of the Spirit was to incite Christ to prayer, so that when the temptation came, it had no power over Him. But the three disciples, instead of watching and praying, sleep — overcome with sorrow—and when the temptation comes, they are a prey to it. In the moment when all that could break the Lord’s heart was combined against Him and when Judas betrayed Him by a kiss, Jesus remains calm, submits, yields Himself up, undergoes humiliation to the full, but Peter draws his sword. The flesh leads into temptation but sustains no one in it; it leads Peter to the high priest. There Jesus bears a glorious testimony; Peter, incited by Satan, denies Him. In everything, the flesh is opposed to Christ, and yet Peter truly loved the Lord. Even after having received the Holy Spirit, we find Peter still acting in the flesh (Gal. 2:11-2111But when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed. 12For before that certain came from James, he did eat with the Gentiles: but when they were come, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing them which were of the circumcision. 13And the other Jews dissembled likewise with him; insomuch that Barnabas also was carried away with their dissimulation. 14But when I saw that they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel, I said unto Peter before them all, If thou, being a Jew, livest after the manner of Gentiles, and not as do the Jews, why compellest thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews? 15We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles, 16Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. 17But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is therefore Christ the minister of sin? God forbid. 18For if I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor. 19For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God. 20I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. 21I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain. (Galatians 2:11‑21)).
J. N. Darby