WRESTLING WITH THE DEVIL

         Over the past few decades it is no secret that our society has developed an increased appetite for violence and brutality.  Hollywood is creating movies more realistic in portraying this violence and gore.  And people love to have it so.  In the athletic world, there are many sports that involve violence including boxing, wrestling, marital arts and now the “tough man” competitions in which there are very few rules as men literally beat each other up to win.  While the legitimacy of some of these sports could be argued (i.e. Olympic wrestling and boxing), many of them are just pure exhibition designed to appeal to the brute, animalistic cravings of many in our society.  Professional wrestling gets its biggest ratings through staged violence and well-rehearsed routines that if they were enacted in real life would kill.  Then there are the competitions where the goal is literally to beat up an opponent any way you can.  The more bloody and violent they are, the more thrilled and satisfied the crowds become.  And what is sad is the amount of money that people will spend to watch men act like “brute beasts made to be caught and destroyed” (2 Peter 2:12).  Truly, this is a sad commentary about where our society is today.

During the Roman Empire, there was also an intense craving for such violence.  McClintock and Strong reports that both beast fights (games between humans and animals –some armed and others disarmed) and gladiator contests were very popular and in some instances massive in the Roman empire.  These events fed the craving the crowds had to see violence.  In their games were also the sports of wrestling and boxing which could also become very violent.  Wrestling and boxing had far fewer rules than today with winners being declared by either pinning an opponent 3 times (wrestling), a knockout (boxing) or in other matches they fought until the opponent surrendered (both).  These were extreme sports that often ended in tragedy.   http://ablemedia.com/ctcweb/consortium/ancientolympics.html  

Let it be understood that both Judaism and Christianity in the first century generally stood opposed to such violent activities, but being a part of the Roman empire, many to whom Biblical writers penned their letters would have understood analogies to these events.

Paul made reference to both wrestling and boxing as he describes our struggle with Satan to do that which is right (1 Corinthians 9:26-27, Ephesians 6:12).  He probably also alluded to the beast fights in 1 Corinthians 15:32 (note he is not necessarily saying that had gone through this.)

One thing we must never forget as Christians is that we are in a fight against Satan.  His goal is to overpower us and defeat us.  He is competing with God for our souls.  Let us understand that at times this struggle becomes severe because he will stop at nothing to win (1 Peter 5:8; 2 Corinthians 2:11).  He lied to Eve.  He will transform himself into an angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:14).  He will use smooth, flattering words.  He will turn his servants against you with intense hatred.  To combat this we need to be prepared and willing to fight with him.

In 1 Corinthians 9:26-27, while speaking of temperance as we prepare for athletics, Paul said, “Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty.  Thus I fight: Not as one who beats the air.  But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.”  Concerning our “fight” he said we should not be just “shadow boxing”, but really engaging our enemy.  The prize we are striving for is worth the fight.  That is why Paul was willing to “discipline” his body.  That word actually refers to a blow in the face below the eyes (Thayer).  It is a boxing term in which Paul said he beat himself up:  Not literally, but in a figurative sense, he put his body to great and extreme tests to ensure that after he had taught others, he would not himself lose the reward of eternal life.  Understanding our fight with Satan, it needs to be impressed that we need to adequately prepare for this fight.  Satan will use everything he has and if we expect to win the fight, we need to be conditioned to handle the fight.  That means we need to continually be “training” ourselves to deal with him.  NOTE: This is not saying that we ought to put ourselves in circumstances where we will be greatly tempted just to see if we can escape, but it is does imply doing whatever we can to prepare for this struggle.

The struggle is also mentioned in Ephesians 6:12.  Speaking of our spiritual battle in which Paul will proceed to describe the spiritual armor we are to put on he says, “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.”  Interestingly, in its early days (ca, 700 BC) was considered a valuable form of military training.  Paul notes that our struggle against Satan is not going to be an easy one.  It is like a wrestling match against everything he hurls at us.  If you have watched any form of wrestling, either real or fake, you know that to win involves agility, strength, quickness and strategy.  Spiritually, we should strive to develop each of these though the constant study and use of God’s word in our life.  His word CAN build us up (Acts 20:32) so that we are ready to not only engage the enemy, but also to overpower him in our lives and ultimately to win the match.  The prize of eternal life awaits those who are victorious.  How are you doing in your “bout” with Satan?

TATJR