THE DOCTRINES OF DEMONS AND SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS

 

I don’t think that we are sufficiently alert to demonic deceptions. We tend to think that they primarily tempt us to commit the big sins like adultery, extortion, or armed robbery. Instead, their arsenal of allurements tends to be quite subtle. They appeal to our desire to be righteous and upstanding:

·       Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared, who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer.” (1 Timothy 4:1-5)

Doctrines of demons? How could self-denial (forbidding certain foods and marriage) cause us to depart from the Faith? These teachings of demons offer an alternative righteousness, a self-righteousness based upon self-sacrifice in place of the righteousness of Christ, which is offered as a gift, lest any should boast (Ephesians 2:8-9).

 

Demons offer an alluring commodity. Since we are aware of an inner discomfort that there is something the matter with us, we are always trying to prove otherwise by various forms of self-promotion – popularity, power, positions, possessions and even self-denial. The teachings of demons offer numerous paths by which we can feel righteous and okay about ourselves and relatively simple and straightforward ways to accomplish their legalistic requirements.

Elsewhere, these demons are called “elemental spirits”:

·       If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations— “Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch” (referring to things that all perish as they are used)—according to human precepts and teachings? These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh. (Colossians 2:20-23)

Paul had rhetorically asked the new believers why they still “submit to regulations,” which require “severity,” while such treatment is not pleasing to the Lord. Jesus has already paid the price for our sins. Therefore, we need no longer torture ourselves in order to believe that we are more deserving than others – and this road inevitably leads to pride and arrogance. (Yes, for the sake of following Christ in love, there are times when we must forego our plans and pleasures for the sake of the welfare of others.)

 

 

Self-righteousness takes many forms, like our achievements, but it also manifests in self-punishment and self-denial. Many religions offer self-denial to prove our righteousness. Gurus subject themselves to the most extreme conditions to prove that they are holy and worthy of the adoration of others. Some take it a step further by cutting or beating themselves. However, Paul taught that “asceticism” and “severity” “are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.” Paul even condemned such practices:

·       Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind,” (Colossians 2:18)

For Paul, faith in asceticism, the harsh treatment of the body to attain spiritual superiority, leads to arrogance (being “puffed up”).

Satan’s goal is to lead us astray to disqualify us with the false hope of earning righteousness, while Christ’s goal is to set us free (John 8:31-32) from such bondage:

·       Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those [demons] that by nature are not gods. But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the [demonic] world, whose slaves you want to be once more? You observe days and months and seasons and years! (Galatians 4:8-10)

 

Instead, God cares about freedom, love, holiness, and righteousness, and not in an assortment of enslaving yet self-promoting rituals. Israel had also been held captive under the Law of Moses (Galatians 3:22-29) to humble, instruct, and to prepare them for the spiritual freedom they would receive through their Savior.

 

But how could serving the Savior liberate, while the doctrines of demons enslave? Aren’t they both a form of slavery? Superficially, yes! However, our slavery is like that of the salmon who is “enslaved” to a life in the water, an “enslavement” which maximizes their freedom and mobility. Similarly, our servitude to our Savior maximizes our freedom, since we had been designed for such a relationship, as the fish had been designed for water. Amid His forgiveness, cleansing, and love, we have been set free from our fishbowl to explore His great creation.

 

This was made plain to me after I belonged to Christ. I began to sense that there were places where my mind refused to go, closed doors which refused to open. It was only the growing assurance of His love that had given me the freedom to open these doors and to peer inside, a freedom to think and to explore. Secure in Christ, I was no longer afraid where my mind would take me.

 

Meanwhile, the demons want to keep our minds under lock and key of their rituals, lest we begin to see and cry out for the Lord’s mercy and escape (2 Timothy 2:24-26).