Satan Crushed Shortly

LOL.

It’s actually you who are doing that. Since you like delays in posts, I’ll respond to this later.

 

Yes, normal, everyday sense of the word does not mean thousands of years and still waiting:

4 Howbeit Festus answered, that Paul was kept in charge at Caesarea, and that he himself was about to depart thither shortly. Acts 25

20 And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Ro 16

19 But I will come to you shortly, if the Lord will; and I will know, not the word of them that are puffed up, but the power. 1 Cor 4

19 But I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy shortly unto you, that I also may be of good comfort, when I know your state.

24 but I trust in the Lord that I myself also shall come shortly. Phil 2

14 These things write I unto thee, hoping to come unto thee shortly; 1 Tim 3

9 Give diligence to come shortly unto me: 2 Tim 4

23 Know ye that our brother Timothy hath been set at liberty; with whom, if he come shortly, I will see you. Heb 13

14 but I hope shortly to see thee, and we shall speak face to face. Peace be unto thee. The friends salute thee. Salute the friends by name. 3 Jn

1 The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show unto his servants, even the things which must shortly come to pass: and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John; Rev 1

6 And he said unto me, These words are faithful and true: and the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, sent his angels to show unto his servants the things which must shortly come to pass. Rev 22

 

I think you've got the gist of it.

If the Church is the body of Christ on earth:

1 Jehovah saith unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, Until I make thine enemies thy footstool. Ps 110

25 For he must reign, till he hath put all his enemies under his feet.
26 The last enemy that shall be abolished is death.
27 For, He put all things in subjection under his feet. But when he saith, All things are put in subjection, it is evident that he is excepted who did subject all things unto him. 1 Cor 15

...then it's prophecy fulfilled:

3 And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I make, saith Jehovah of hosts. Mal 4

20 And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Ro 16

The question now is what/who was the manifestation of Satan in that passage?

 

If Satan were crushed, Lodic, who is doing all of this devilment nowadays?

 

Since Satan has been active from the time he tempted Eve in the Garden until our present day, we can see that his being crushed is not to be taken literally. I'm sure we agree that he will continue his devilment until Christ does return, which will drive the final nail into his coffin. As I understand it, Satan's power was crushed with the destruction of the Temple, when the Law with its sacrifices was finally ended. Having said that, I confess it is a bit of a mystery to me. However, I take the terms "soon" and "shortly" to mean just what Paul meant - close to their day in the First Century.

 

I don't think that the serpent was crushed very badly if it continues as before, do you?

 

I was just pointing out, I do not know Greek language nor grammar. I am no expert. English either.

 

It's not that the serpent was literally crushed, but that his power has been crushed. Regardless of how well (or how little) I understand it, we can't get past the literal meaning of Romans 16:20 - "The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet." "Soon" means just that. Oddly enough, it's usually the "Futurists" who insist on the literal meaning of words. We can't make an exception here.

 

You are talking about temptations here that arise from human total depravity but you have not explained the power of hell still abroad in the world, have you?

 

What if they had translated as; And the God of peace shall be crushing Satan under your feet in quickness.

The Greek gurus will have to help me out. I know, no Greek. Would that be a fair translation of the Greek?

 

What I don't know about Greek could fill a library . I was just thinking about how this verse is sometimes translated as "bruise" instead of "crush". I disagree with Full Preterism in that I do believe Satan is active in today's world. With that in mind, I think it could mean that Satan's power is much more limited than it was before AD 70. That's not to say he is powerless by any means, but he is not nearly as strong. As Tom pointed out, people invent sin on their own. We give the Devil a lot of credit when we are often the true source of devilment.

 

I think that Matthew Henry explains the text best:

Because of the promise of God, that we shall have victory at last, which is given to quicken and encourage, not to supersede, our watchful cares and vigorous endeavours. It is a very sweet promise (v. 20): The God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet. (1.) The titles he gives to God: The God of peace, the author and giver of all good. When we come to God for spiritual victories, we must not only eye him as the Lord of hosts, whose all power is, but as the God of peace, a God at peace with us, speaking peace to us, working peace in us, creating peace for us. Victory comes from God more as the God of peace than as the God of war; for, in all our conflicts, peace is the thing we must contend for. God, as the God of peace, will restrain and vanquish all those that cause divisions and offences, and so break and disturb the peace of the church.(2.) The blessing he expects from God-a victory over Satan. If he mean primarily those false doctrines and seducing spirits spoken of before, of which Satan was the prime founder and author, yet doubtless, it comprehends all the other designs and devices of Satan against souls, to defile, disturb, and destroy them, all his attempts to keep us from the purity of heaven, the peace of heaven here, and the possession of heaven hereafter. Satan tempting and troubling, acting as a deceiver and as a destroyer, the God of peace will bruise under our feet. He had cautioned them before against simplicity: now they, being conscious of their own great weakness and folly, might think, "How shall we evade and escape these snares that are laid for us? Will not these adversaries of our souls be at length too hard for us?’’ "No,’’ says he, "fear not; though you cannot overcome in your own strength and wisdom, yet the God of peace will do it for you; and through him that loved us we shall be more than conquerors.’’ [1.] The victory shall be complete: He shall bruise Satan under your feet, plainly alluding to the first promise the Messiah made in paradise (Gen. 3:15 ), that the seed of the woman should break the serpent’s head, which is in the fulfilling every day, while the saints are enabled to resist and overcome the temptations of Satan, and will be perfectly fulfilled when, in spite of all the powers of darkness, all that belong to the election of grace shall be brought triumphantly to glory. When Joshua had conquered the kings of Canaan, he called the captains of Israel to set their feet upon the necks of those kings (Jos. 10:24 ), so will Christ, our Joshua, enable all his faithful servants and soldiers to set their feet upon Satan’s neck, to trample upon, and triumph over, their spiritual enemies. Christ hath overcome for us; disarmed the strong man armed, broken his power, and we have nothing to do but to pursue the victory and divide the spoil. Let this quicken us to our spiritual conflict, to fight the good fight of faith-we have to do with a conquered enemy, and the victory will be perfect shortly. [2.] The victory shall be speedy: He shall do it shortly. Yet a little while, and he that shall come will come. He hath said it, Behold, I come quickly. When Satan seems to have prevailed, and we are ready to give up all for lost, then will the God of peace cut the work short in righteousness. It will encourage soldiers when they know the war will be at an end quickly, in such a victory. Some refer it to the happy period of their contentions in true love and unity; others to the period of the church’s persecutions in the conversion of the powers of the empire to Christianity, when the bloody enemies of the church were subdued and trampled on by Constantine, and the church under his government. It is rather to be applied to the victory which all the saints shall have over Satan when they come to heaven, and shall be for ever out of his reach, together with the present victories which through grace they obtain in earnest of that. Hold out therefore, faith and patience, yet a little while; when we have once got through the Red Sea, we shall see our spiritual enemies dead on the shore, and triumphantly sing the song of Moses and the song of the Lamb. To this therefore he subjoins the benediction, The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you —the good-will of Christ towards you, the good work of Christ in you. This will be the best preservative against the snares of heretics, and schismatics, and false teachers. If the grace of Christ be with us, who can be against us so as to prevail? Be strong therefore in the grace which is in Christ Jesus. Paul, not only as a friend, but as a minister and an apostle, who had received grace for grace, thus with authority blesses them with this blessing, and repeats it, v. 24.

 

Power of hell is not a vague term and it is to the point. It refers to the power of Satan. Satan is the Prince of the Power of the Air and at this time he is not crushed in the least because God has allowed us to walk all over him as Matthew Henry explains above. We are the children of Eve and we are doing God's work, not that God needs us but He does allow us to share in the victory over Satan by walking all over him until Jesus returns to earth.

 

Thank you. I still believe that when Paul wrote "soon", he meant "soon". Matthew Henry's commentary was insightful, and I agree with most of what he said. We will indeed experience total victory over Satan. Even now, we have our "Joshua" to help us defeat him when he attacks.

 

Sir, the reservation concerning your definition of soon is that you cannot show that Satan has been crushed in any way, shape, or form so therefore your premise falls totally flat.

 

LOL

There was nothing I posted to you which was rude.

If you only want ditto-heads, I’ll leave you to it.

At first my profile was public and then I met some of the people here and felt that it was better for my personal safety if I made my profile private.