Introduction

In this fifth verse, the apostle shows that the incestuous man had, by his incest, grieved those precious souls that God would not have grieved. Souls that walk sinfully are a Hazael to the godly (2 Kings 8:12 and following), drawing many sighs and tears from them. Jeremiah weeps in secret over Judah's sins (Jeremiah 9:1), and Paul cannot speak of those whose god is their belly without dry-eyed grief (Philippians 3:18–19). Lot's righteous soul was burdened, vexed, and tormented by the filthy Sodomites (2 Peter 2:7–8). Every sinful Sodomite was a Hazael to his eyes, a Hadadrimmon to his heart (Zechariah 12:11). Gracious souls tend to mourn over other men's sins as well as their own — grieving for the souls and sins of those who make a mockery of sin, and a jest of damning their own souls. Guilt or grief is all that gracious souls get from keeping company with vain ones (Psalm 119:136, 158).

In the sixth verse, he shows that the punishment inflicted on the incestuous man was sufficient, and that they should not now refuse to receive him back, since he had repented and grieved over his former faults and follies. It does no honor to Christ, no credit to the gospel, and no good to souls, for professing Christians to act like those bloodthirsty men who burned even those who recanted at the stake, saying they would "send them into the next world while they were in a good frame of mind."

In the seventh through tenth verses, the apostle urges the church to forgive him, comfort him, and reaffirm their love for him, lest he be "swallowed up with excessive sorrow" — Satan going about to mix the detestable weeds of despair (Matthew 13:25) into the godly sorrow of a genuinely penitent heart. It was a fitting saying of one believer: "Let a man grieve for his sin, and then rejoice in his grief." The sorrow for sin that keeps the soul from looking to the mercy seat, that keeps Christ and the soul apart, or that renders the soul unfit for fellowship with the saints, is a sinful sorrow.

In the eleventh verse, he lays down another reason to move them to show pity and mercy to this penitent sinner, mourning and groaning under his sin and misery — namely, lest Satan should get an advantage of us, for we are not ignorant of his devices. A brief word to open up these words:

"Lest Satan should get an advantage of us" — lest Satan outmaneuver us. The Greek word here (pleonektēthōmen) means to gain more than rightfully belongs to one. The picture is drawn from the greedy merchant, who seeks and seizes every opportunity to cheat and deceive others. Satan is that cunning merchant who devours not widows' houses, but the souls of most men.

"We are not ignorant of Satan's devices" — or plots, or schemes, or stratagems (noēmata). A man is a Christian in name only if he has no personal experience of Satan's stratagems: his carefully composed schemes, his artfully shaped methods, his plots, his darts, his depths — by which he outwitted our first parents, and by which he still gives us our due measure, as he sees fit.

The main observation I will draw from these words is this:

Doctrine: That Satan has his several devices to deceive, entangle, and undo the souls of men.

I will, first, prove the point; second, show you his several devices; third, give the remedies against his devices; fourth, explain how it comes to pass that he has so many devices to deceive, entangle, and undo the souls of men; and fifth, lay down some propositions concerning Satan's devices.

What follows, then, is an outline of the principal things taken up in this treatise.

I. For proof of the point, take these few Scriptures. "Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil" (Ephesians 6:11). The Greek word rendered "wiles" here is a strikingly forceful word.

First, it signifies snares laid behind a person — treacheries that come upon one's back unawares. It points to the methods or ambushes of that old, subtle serpent, who, like Dan's adder "in the path," bites the heels of travelers and so carries his venom up to the head and heart. The word (methodeias) signifies an ambush or stratagem of war, by which an enemy sets upon a man from hiding, unawares.

Second, it signifies snares set to catch a person on their own path. A man walks along, giving it no thought, and suddenly he is caught by thieves, or falls into a pit.

Third, it signifies snares deliberately, skillfully, and craftily set to take the prey at the greatest possible advantage. The Greek word methodeias, drawn from meta and hodos, properly means a waylaying, an encircling, a going-about — as those do who hunt their prey. Julian the Apostate, by his craft, drew more people away from the faith than all his persecuting predecessors did by their cruelty. So Satan does more harm in sheep's clothing than he does roaring like a lion.

Take one more Scripture for proof of the point, from 2 Timothy 2:26: "And that they might recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will." The Greek word rendered "recover themselves" (ananēpsōsin) means to wake oneself up. The apostle is picturing someone asleep or drunk, who must be awakened and restored to their senses. The Greek word rendered "taken captive" (ezōgrēmenoi) means to be taken alive — properly a term of warfare, describing soldiers taken alive in battle, or birds caught alive in the fowler's net. Satan has snares for the wise and snares for the simple; snares for hypocrites and snares for the upright; snares for the bold and snares for the timid; snares for the rich and snares for the poor; snares for the old and snares for the young. Happy are those souls who are not taken and held in the snares he has laid!

Take one more proof, and then I will move on to opening up the point. It is in Revelation 2:24: "But unto you I say, and unto the rest in Thyatira, as many as have not this doctrine, and which have not known the depths of Satan, as they speak, I will put upon you no other burden but to hold fast till I come." Those poor souls called their opinions "the depths of God," when they were in fact the depths of Satan. You call your opinions depths, and so they are — but they are the sort of depths Satan has brought up out of hell. They are the whisperings and hissings of that serpent, not the inspirations of God.