So far so good, Paul is not alone.
None of us are. No person has ever been other than God in Christ in whom Satan had nothing.
Many believers do not and can not understand the fact that when the tempter inserts evil/sin/temptation thoughts this categorically places that entity in the mind and heart.
Believers can't believe it because of the power of that entity. When they can't they only show their blindness imposed by that operator. But Jesus was rather clear on this matter. He also dealt with those various entities 'in man' when He spoke to them and sometimes cast them out and healed the infirmities caused by 'them.'
In the religious folk of His day however He rebuked.corrected.resisted them, but never cast them out. He did without any doubt speak to 'children of the devil' in Pharisees by His Own Statements.
So in short, in order to understand Paul one has to understand this fact and principle. None of us are alone, scripturally speaking.
This is a hard question for me. I would say a devil or the devil is pride and he uses the law of God unjustly. He uses it both to tempt and accuse so he uses the law like a bookie takes bets making money whether someone wins or loses. I agree the law is for the lawless. Does Satan keep the law? He thinks he does, but he surely breaks do unto others as you would want done unto you. And he does not love God with all heart mind and soul. He is pure logic and no empathy. So yeah, according to the Spirit of the law he is bankrupt and lawless.
Jesus said it best right here:
John 8:44
Ye are of your father
the devil, and
the lusts of your father ye will do. He was
a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because
there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is
a liar, and the father of it.
That pretty well sums up lawlessness. Satan, the devil is THEE originator of these things IN MAN and is in fact linked to every sin in thought, word and deed.
I think I get this. You are talking about the mechanics of how sin is empowered by the law and Satan being the tempter through the desires of the flesh or carnal mind.
You are in the above already showing the cloudiness of that influence. I don't say that to slur you. For example, you instantly point to the flesh and the carnal mind. That is not the cause. We do not wrestle flesh [Eph. 6.12]. The flesh is a compilation of organic material. The carnal mind is blinded by the god of this world, the devil.
Who then is the culprit? Uh, yeah, point to the obvious.
When Satan enters the heart and steals Word from a person as Jesus showed us here:
Mark 4:15
And these are they by the way side,
where the word is sown; but when they have heard,
Satan cometh immediately,
and taketh away the word that was sown
in their hearts.
In the above we have 'entrance of that entity,' and theft, which is a sin committed in that person and NOT the cause of the person and it was STARTED by Word. Now apply that principle to THE LAW! Law is WORD. Word prompts the entry of the THIEF into the PERSON.
Go to the garden and see the planting in Adam of the first Word....BLESSINGS. What then happened? ding ding ding!
And what happened next? Then came the LAW...do not eat. Then came disobedience. Do you seriously think that Satan was not involved in the mind and hearts of both of them given the PRINCIPLE of JESUS above?
It hasn't changed one bit since. Take Peter for another example. God in Christ placed TRUTH in Peter. What happened in Peter in nearly the next breath? Yeah, Satan was speaking through him. Pretty simple really. What happened to Judas? Yeah, Word sown in him by Jesus. What happened to him? That's right. Satan 'entered' Judas.
Now the common blind believer will only blame Adam, Peter or Judas.
None of these blinded ones can see or put their finger on Satan. Why?
Because they too have the same internal problem with the DECEIVER in them that is blinding them to the open facts. And guess what else? They don't know it, can't see it, won't be able to say it as a fact for themselves. This is the [missing] mark of blinded believers. It is also why believers are divided, fight and continually bicker. Because of that presence of the deceiver/tempter. I readily admit that presence 'personally' because it's a fact. But I am not alone. The Spirit of Truth, of Christ, is also IN ME, that is 'in the midst' of me dividing me from the tempter. You could count the number of believers who have come to facts on this matter as 'very very few.'
Paul was certainly one of them. The freewill position is annihilated by this fact. No one is free from the entrance of the tempter.
This mimics the episode in the garden if we count the command to not eat as a law. Yes if I perceive you correctly, I understand that Satan is the evil present in such a capacity. It's not us.
Make no mistake. Whatever issues we have with the tempter in thought, word or deed via sin IS OURS to 'deal with.' But sins are not counted against mankind. [2 Cor. 5:19] They are and remain counted against the devil and his messengers and they will pay the Lake of Fire price when they are finally put away. And there are consequences for all of us as well. We all die because of sin. There are personal consequences for SIN right here in this present life.
This I am not sure what you mean. It's as if you are saying Satan is condemned under the same law he tempts and accuses with. Take some time with me here and explain this a little more. And if I misunderstand you don't just say "aw forget it".
A friend of mine has a good take on Satan. He can only 'react' adversely to God as that is how God made him. He is like a robot. Where the Word is sown, he immediately springs to action because that is what he does. He is like a robot. He undoubtedly is the anti-Christ spirit.
If these matters are applied to Paul and the Law-Works vs. Grace subject, every word he wrote is PERFECTLY CLEAR and there is zero room for dispute or misunderstanding.
The devil 'in man' will NEVER obey the Law, nor should we expect him to 'in man.' Those who think they are lawful via jot and tittle simply don't know they have a lawless one in their minds who will NEVER be lawful. So those people are blinded and marked hypocrites and they are so because they can't even be honest about their own 'thought life' in which Satan intrudes. They can not because Satan is in them, blinding them and making them LIARS. That is why Jesus and Paul hated 'legalists.' Not because of the person, but because of the presence of THEE LIAR in them who openly shows his face in HYPOCRISY.
The same understandings dramatically alter how we should view Israel. The Law was sown therein. What then happened? Yes, they were BLINDED. Romans 11:8 is very clear on this matter. And they were so by Gods Intentions.
You see God can pull back the efforts of the blinder any time. When he does, an HONEST believer is the result, easily seen and heard. And they are so by admittance to the obvious matters above. All others remain semi-in-darkness on this particular matter.
I hope the best for all believers, and a few happen to get it along the way.
The balance have my pity and efforts of sharing.
enjoy!
s