Luke 22:31
“Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat; but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.”
Question: Is the devil afforded a wider sphere
of influence than the Holy Spirit? Where does
Satan’s sphere of influence end? Is anyone
off-limits to his temptations?
According to Matthew 4:1-11, the Tempter even set his sights on Jesus. Thus no one is off-limits, and we have the following warning: “Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you.” (John 15:20, NKJV)
John Calvin: “...Satan continually goes about roaring for his prey. Since he is driven by such furious madness to destroy us, nothing is more absurd than for us to lie drowsing. Before the need to fight appears we should already be preparing, because we know our destruction is sought after by Satan, and every means of injuring us is cleverly and carefully grasped in his hands. When it comes to the encounter, let us know that all temptations, wherever they come from, are fabricated in the workshops of that foe.” (Calvin’s New Testament Commentaries: Matthew, Mark and Luke Vol. III, and James and Jude, p.141, emphasis mine)
John Calvin: “We are always open to Satan’s fatal stroke. At any moment he might snatch us a hundred times over into his ready clutches, were we not safe in the protection of Christ.” (Calvin’s New Testament Commentaries: Matthew, Mark and Luke Vol.III, and James and Jude, p.323, emphasis mine)
Question: If Satan’s sphere of influence extends to all mankind, then where does the Holy Spirit’s sphere of influence extend? In other words, according to Calvinism, is Satan given a broader sphere of influence than the Holy Spirit?
Answer: According to Calvinism, the Holy Spirit only has a “certain number” from within the mass of humanity to save by means of Irresistible Grace. By contrast, Satan has free reign to tempt just about everyone, even Christ. Therefore, according to Calvinism, isn’t it fair to say that where grace abounds, sin much more abounds? Yet, instead, the Bible says, “Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.” (Romans 5:20, KJV)
Romans 5:15: “But the free gift is not like the transgression. For if by the transgression of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many.”
