Marking Time: Forming Spirituality through the Christian Year

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Mark i ng T ime : Formi ng Sp i r i tua l i t y through the Chr i s t i an Year

6. Jesus defeats humankind’s infernal enemy, the devil.

1 John 3.8 (ESV) – Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil . Gen. 3.15 (ESV) – I will put enmity between you and the woman , and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel . Heb. 2.14 (ESV) – Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death , that is, the devil.

Col. 2.15 (ESV) – He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame , by triumphing over them in him.

a. Blinds the minds of those who do not believe, 2 Cor. 4.4

b. Functions through deception, lying, and accusation, John 8.44

c. Animates the affairs of nations, 1 John 5.19

d. Distracts human beings from their proper ends, cf. Gen. 3.1 ff.

e. Oppresses human beings through harassment, slander, fear, accusation, and death, Heb. 2.14-15

f. Resists and persecutes God’s people, Eph. 6.10-18

7. Two manifestations of the Kingdom of God: the Already/Not Yet Kingdom (Oscar Cullman, Christ and Time , George Ladd, The Presence of the Future )