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In James, believers are told to resist the devil, who will then flee. In the Shepherd of Hermas, the Shepherd makes a similar promise, saying the devil can wrestle with God's servants but not defeat them, and enters only believers emptied of faith.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
James 4:7
New Testament
6 But he gives greater grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud, but he gives grace to the humble.” 7 So submit to God. But resist the devil and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and make your hearts pure, you double-minded. 9 Grieve, mourn, and weep. Turn your laughter into mourning and your joy into despair. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord and he will exalt you.
Shepherd of Hermas 48:2
Early Christian
2 “He cannot,” he said, “overpower the servants of God who put their hope in Him with their whole heart. The devil can wrestle with them, but he cannot defeat them. If, then, you resist him, he will be defeated and will flee from you humiliated. But many,” he said, “are completely empty, and fear the devil as if he had power. 3 Suppose someone fills jars with good wine, and among these jars a few are completely empty. That person comes to the jars, but does not examine the full ones, for they know they are full; instead, they check the empty ones, fearing they might have turned sour. For empty jars soon turn sour, and the taste of the wine is spoiled. 4 So the devil also comes to all the servants of God to test them. So those who are complete in the faith resist him strongly, and he leaves them, not finding a place where he can enter. Then he goes on to the empty ones, and, finding a place, he enters, and does what he wants in them, and they become his slaves.
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Notes and References
“... 4:7b, 8a contains a twofold saying which in each of its two members consists of an admonition and a promise. The first admonition is already familiar to us as a traditional one. The promise that the Devil will flee is found almost verbatim—and, more importantly, it is repeated several times—in the Test. XII (Test. Iss. 7.7; Test. Dan. 5.1; Test. Naph. 8.4). In Hermas, also, there is a promise very similar in wording to that in Jas: "If then you resist him [i.e., the Devil], he will be Conquered and flee from you in shame" ([...] Herm. mand. 12.5.2; cf. also 12.4.7). ...”
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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