John Chrysostom on Spiritual warfare
Through the usual means of the Christian life: Scripture, prayer, faith and watchfulness, including asking God to deliver the afflicted
"If, what they are by nature, that we become by choice, free from flesh and blood, thus shall we vanquish them."
THE POSITION
The devil is real and evil, and Ephesians 6 describes a true wrestle with incorporeal powers, but the weapon is moral: we overcome them by becoming by choice what they are by nature. He insists the devil overcomes no one by force, rejects the claim that demons govern human affairs, and warns that blaming the devil for our sins is exactly what the devil wants.
12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this world’s darkness, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
11 OTHERS HOLD THIS
ABOUT THIS FIGURE
Archbishop of Constantinople and the most prolific preacher of the patristic era — the largest surviving body of Greek expository preaching is his. This entry rests on the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers translations of his homilies on Romans, 1 Corinthians, John, Hebrews and 2 Thessalonians, together with the Instructions to Catechumens.
Cite this page
"John Chrysostom on Spiritual warfare", Examined Doctrine, July 2026 edition, https://examineddoctrine.com/position/chrysostom/spiritual-warfare (archived at https://examineddoctrine.com/editions/2026-07/position/chrysostom/spiritual-warfare).