In the Prayer Book Baptismal Service, the candidates (or godparents on behalf of a baby) are asked if they “renounce the devil and all his works”. (1) In the Common Worship Service, the candidates (or parents and godparents on behalf of a baby) are asked:

“Do you reject the devil and all rebellion against God?”
“Do you renounce the deceit and corruption of evil?” (2)

The Devil

Before God made human beings he made the angels to be the first citizens of Heaven.  But among them were some who, though they owed their life and existence to God, would not have him as their King.  Their leader was an angel called Lucifer, the Lightbringer.  He wanted to be completely independent of God, to be on his own, and so there was no place for him in Heaven.  Instead he, with the other angels who followed him, came to this world to set up his kingdom here (Revelation 12:8,9).  Since then he has become known as the Devil, or Satan which means the Enemy.

The Devil is a spirit who is completely evil.  Only one thing concerns him, to make his kingdom as big as possible.  And so he spends all his time in fighting against God and in trying to replace good with evil in order to draw as many human souls as possible to himself and away from God.

Soldiers of Christ

But God has put his Army right in the middle of the Devil’s kingdom, and that Army is the Church.  So, when we were baptised, we joined that Army and became Soldiers of Christ in it.  That is why, when we were baptised the priest traced the sign of the Cross on our foreheads, the badge of Christ’s Army.

In the Prayer Book Service, the sign of the Cross is a token that the person shall “not be ashamed to confess the faith of Christ crucified, and manfully to fight under his banner against sin, the world and the devil; and to continue Christ’s faithful soldier and servant” until the end of his or her life. (3) In the Common Worship Service the priest says:

“Do not be ashamed to confess the faith of Christ crucified”.

And everyone present says:

“Fight valiantly as a disciple of Christ
against sin, the world and the devil,
and remain faithful to Christ to the end of your life”. (4)

So in both Services, there is a strong emphasis on fighting against sin, the world and the devil and being faithful to Jesus throughout our lives.

To renounce or reject means to have nothing whatever to do with.  So at our Baptism we took sides for God and against the Devil, and we keep our Baptismal promise of renouncing or rejecting the Devil by turning him out of our lives and keeping him out.  It is our business, as members of God’s Army and Soldiers of Christ, to fight against evil and wrong wherever we find it, whether it is around us or within our own souls.  When we do that we are loyal to Jesus; when we fail to do that, we let him down.  We must never give up the fight, and when we sin and fail Jesus, we must be sorry and turn back to him without delay.  So in the Common Worship Baptismal Service, candidates are asked to declare that they will persevere in resisting evil and whenever they fall into sin to “repent and return to the Lord”. (5)

The works of the Devil

We promised to renounce, not only the Devil, but all his works, all the deceit and corruption of evil.  The chief works of the Devil are three: tempting, lying and hating.

Tempting

It was the Devil who tempted human beings to commit the first sin.  You will remember how he is pictured in the Book of Genesis as a snake who slides up to Eve in the Garden of Eden and persuades her to eat of the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil.  In order to understand the story of Adam and Eve we need to look below the surface for its inner meaning.  And then we learn some important truths about how the Devil works.  For the Devil tempts us, as he did Adam and Eve, by putting bad thoughts into our minds.

We can see how evil he really is when we remember that it was he who tempted Judas Iscariot to betray Jesus to his enemies and to have him crucified.  We are twice told how Satan entered into Judas that Holy Week.  The first time was when he went to the Jewish rulers to tell them that he would help them (Luke 22:3); the other time was on Maundy Thursday evening just before he left the Upper Room to arrange for Jesus’ arrest. (John 13:27).  Have you noticed how the state of Judas’ soul at that moment is painted by St John in one chilling phrase?  “…he immediately went out.  And it was night” (NRSV, John 13:30).

Thus the Devil does his work by tempting people to do it for him.  That is why anyone who tempts another to do wrong is working on the Devil’s side.  One can imagine the cruel pleasure he takes in getting Christians to fight in this way against God and God’s Army.

Lying

The second work of the Devil is lying.  The Devil is utterly false; there is no truth in him at all (John 8:44).  Notice how, in the story of Adam and Eve, the Devil lied to Eve in the Garden of Eden by telling her that no harm would come to her if she disobeyed God.  God had told Adam and Eve, “You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die” (NRSV, Genesis 2:16,17).  So the Devil whispered in Eve’s mind, “Did God say, ‘You shall not eat from any tree in the garden?’ “.  And when Eve recalled God’s words, the Devil whispered again, “You will not die; for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (NRSV, Genesis 3:1,4,5).

So today the Devil uses individuals to spread the lie that people need not be afraid to commit sin because no harm will come to them if they do.  Unrepented sin leads to Hell, to that place of endless misery where God is unfelt and unseen.  “The person who sins shall die” (NRSV, Ezekiel 18:20).  But the Devil speaks smoothly through individuals who say, “You needn’t worry.  There’s no such place as Hell.  You won’t die”.  And so in this way the Devil encourages people to draw themselves to him and away from God by doing on purpose what they know to be wrong.

Hating

The third work of the Devil is hating.  There is not a spark of love in the Devil.  He is utterly cold and heartless.  He hates us all and wants to separate us from God, the only source of true and lasting happiness.  The Devil, who is pure hatred, is exactly the opposite of God who is pure love.  If we have good will towards everybody, including our enemies, then we are acting like Jesus.  But if we hate anyone, then we are acting like the Devil, and if we go on acting like the Devil we shall become cold, heartless and loveless like him.

But, as Soldiers of Christ, we have promised to renounce the Devil and all his works: tempting, lying and hating.

SUMMARY

1. The Devil spends his time fighting against God and in trying to replace good with evil.  Everyone must be on one side or the other.

2. At our Baptism we became Soldiers of Christ in his Army, the Church, and we promised to renounce or reject (have nothing to do with) the Devil and his works.  The special works of the Devil are tempting, lying and hating.

References

1. Church of England (1662) The Ministration of Publick Baptism of Infants to be used in the church.  Available from:
http://www.cofe.anglican.org/worship/liturgy/bcp/texts/publick-baptism-of-infants.html  (Accessed 23 August 2010) (Internet).

2. ©The Archbishops’ Council (2006) Common Worship.  Baptism and Confirmation.  Available from:
http://www.cofe.anglican.org/worship/downloads/pdf/cibaptismandconf.pdf  (Accessed 23 August 2010) (Internet).

3. Church of England (1662) The Ministration of Publick Baptism of Infants to be used in the church.  Available from:
http://www.cofe.anglican.org/worship/liturgy/bcp/texts/publick-baptism-of-infants.html  (Accessed 24 August 2010) (Internet).

4. ©The Archbishops’ Council (2006) Common Worship.  Baptism and Confirmation.  Available from: http://www.cofe.anglican.org/worship/downloads/pdf/cibaptismandconf.pdf  (Accessed 24 August 2010) (Internet).

5. ©The Archbishops’ Council (2006) Common Worship.  Baptism and Confirmation.  Available from:
http://www.cofe.anglican.org/worship/downloads/pdf/cibaptismandconf.pdf  (Accessed 24 August 2010) (Internet).