Strategies for Spiritual Warfare: Do not go beyond what is written

One key principle for victory during spiritual warfare is this- do not go beyond what is written. “What is written” refers to the scriptures. When soldiers are out in war, their commanding officer instructs them to stay within the battle plan if they will survive the battle. A soldier who goes outside the battle plan could get killed. They must trust the experience and intel of their commanding officer and stick to the battle plan, even if they think the plan is awful. Similarly, Christ is our commanding officer. We must trust His intel and experience. We must stay within the battle plan. The battle plan is the word of God. Stay within it. Do not go beyond what is written. A soldier who disobeys his commanding officer and who thinks the battle plan is stupid could put his or her entire platoon at risk of death. Christ, our commanding officer is superior to earthly commanders and lieutenants. His battle plan is the scriptures and He never fails. We are to stay within them if we are to have victorious Christian lives.

Jesus himself, while facing temptations, used the scriptures as His operational ground. When tempted by Satan, His opening statement was always, “It is written!” If we fail to grasp this principle, we will lose every spiritual battle. The principle is this- every victory against Satan will require you to attack and retaliate within the bounds of scripture. Satan’s hope is that a believer can engage in warfare outside the bounds of scripture. To be within the bounds of scripture is not to be limited- if anything, it is to be freed!

Imagine with me for a moment a fish in the ocean. That fish thrives when it remains within the bounds of the ocean. Is that to limit it? Quite the contrary! It is to ensure that it lives and thrives. Only a foolish fish would imagine it can go beyond the ocean to explore the Savannah and the deserts in the name of freedom. It won’t make it past the shore. It will die. Similarly, only the foolish believer engages their Christian life outside the bounds of scripture. These are the people that the enemy is quick to devour in spiritual battle. The wise fish sees the ocean as too vast to finish exploring; the wise believer sees the word of God in similar vastness. The wise believer doesn’t waste time attempting to peek outside the ocean; they redeem time by exploring that vast ocean.

This is additional truth- any teacher of the scriptures who contradicts the word of God, goes beyond the word of God and denies the word of God inadvertently is doing the bidding of Satan. In spiritual warfare, the best way to defeat Satan is to uphold the supremacy of scripture. Whenever anything is said from a pulpit that sounds off, the believer should have the boldness to ask the preacher “Where is that in the word of God?”

In pagan cultures, the oracle was a man or a woman with mystic power. In the Christian faith, the oracles are the scriptures. Nobody is above them. Nobody should be respected above them for even God himself says He is a respecter of no man. Let scripture be your final authority and you will win spiritual battles. Finally, see the warning Paul gives in ‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭4‬:‭6‬ about going beyond what is written.

1 Corinthians‬ ‭4‬:‭6‬ “Now, brothers and sisters, I have applied these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, so that you may learn from us the meaning of the saying, “Do not go beyond what is written.” Then you will not be puffed up in being a follower of one of us over against the other.” (NIV‬‬)

The warning says this: “Then you will not be puffed up in being a follower of one of us over against the other.” To be puffed up is to be proud. In short, pride is the inevitable result of going beyond what is written. Pride comes from feeling spiritually superior to another. Every dream, vision, prophecy and revelation the believer receives gets authentication from agreeing with the scriptures. Dreams, visions, revelations and prophecies that contradict the scriptures are not from God. They go beyond what is written. The scriptures are the level ground for all believers. Even if you receive no dream, vision, prophecy or revelation, you need not fear of lacking anything because you have the scriptures. Authenticated dreams, visions, prophecies and revelations will always point to the scriptures.

Eve went beyond what is written and fell into Satan’s trap. If you remember the words of Eve, she said this in Genesis 3:2-3 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’” (NIV‬‬). If you read Genesis 2:15 you realise that the addition of touching was not there- it was beyond what is written.

One may argue that adding the idea of not touching the fruit is not bad because it promotes obedience not to eat it. That may sound true, but it promotes obedience through fear. God gave the command not to eat the fruit and desired obedience through love for Him not dread and anxiety. It is no wonder that the enemy had an upper hand over Eve with her understanding of God’s command. Perhaps one may argue that Adam is the one who told Eve not even to touch it- but I conjecture- let me not go beyond what is written.

Any time we go beyond what is written, we are in Satan’s playground. There he can add to the scriptures, take away from them, twist them and mutilate them without our knowledge. And as he does that, he will make us puff up with pride because we will feel superior to others. That was Eve’s point of fall- to be superior- to be like God.

Paul’s second warning is found in the same line: “Then you will not be puffed up in being a follower of one of us over against the other.” In short, after pride comes in, factions follow. We become followers of men instead of followers of Jesus. We craft our identity from the famous theologians we follow, the denominations we subscribe to, the famous pastors we listen to, the popular men of God we know etc. We do not identify with Christ primarily, only secondarily. Our primary identity rests with men, and that is dangerous. In summary, if your Christian identity is not complete by being a follower of Jesus, then it is a tainted identity- tainted with pride. If it has to be marked by another human follower for it to make sense, then the factions will not be based on truth-vs-deception but rather on Paul-vs-Apollos.