For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete.  (2 Corinthians 10:3-6)

Paul identifies ‘strongholds’ – the Greek is ὀχύρωμα ochuróma, literally ‘fortress’ –  which means conceptually and in context, ‘a place of refuge from reality’; in other words, Paul is speaking about inner desires, wishes, dreams and fantasies, alongside any other idolatrous and rebellious notions to which the follower of Christ may cleave.  These are inner and personal fastnesses that resist the Holy Spirit, and he says that the individual is to seek them out in themselves and tear them down.  

Why? Because Jesus requires that any inward agency that causes sin is to be eradicated:

If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell. (Matthew 5:29-30)

This deliberately stark language is figurative, being hyperbole (or deliberate exaggeration), and is given in the context of adultery; that even in lustful glances and sexual fantasies, the intentionality is transgressional, not just the act; henceforth, Jesus is raising the bar for those that would look for salvation through him.   

Jesus demonstrates compassion and mercy towards sinners but is uncompromising when it comes to sin, as is clear when an alleged adulteress is dragged before Jesus.  He refuses (quite literally) to stand with her accusers, who thwarted leave shamefaced:

(Then) Jesus stood up and said to her, ‘woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?’ 

She said, ‘no one, Lord.’ 

And Jesus said, ‘neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.’  

(John 8:10-11)

Jesus did not take on the sin of others to his cross in order to give license to sin, but to bring righteousness.

 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.  (2 Corinthians 5:21)

And while any can be made righteous through faith and by imputation (the Doctrine of Justification), there is still the requirement to embrace and act righteously (the Doctrine of Sanctification) which remains a challenge because the ‘flesh’ persists.  As Paul says, ‘we walk in the flesh’, and by speaking of ‘we’ he clarifies that the habits, tendencies and inclinations pertain to the justified believer.  

Again, the use of same pronoun, if by a different apostle:

But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.  If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.  (1 John 1:7-8)

And sin is evil.  Sin arises from evil; it is opposing, disavowing or repudiating the divine will.  Rather than pray ‘thy will be done’, it is saying, ‘my will be done!’  

The repository of evil thus dwells in the human heart, just as evil ideation lurks in the human mind, and it is a tragic mistake if any follower of Christ understands that inclination to do evil and the capacity to sin is expunged with justification.

It is also a mistake to seek to locate evil in other people.

During his ministry, Jesus did exorcise demons and even gave special powers to the twelve close disciples (eleven of that fellowship will be the apostles):

… he called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal.  (Luke 9:1)

But Jesus does not give the same authority to the seventy-two disciples whom he next dispatches and only commands them to ‘heal the sick’ and proclaim the gospel, see Luke 10:9.

Even so, on returning they joyously report back to Jesus that ‘even the demons are subject to us in your name!’ (ibid 10:17).

This was a foretaste of how things will be after the cross, from which Jesus will proclaim, ‘it is finished’ (John 19:30).  Whatever the Aramaic, in Greek this is testelesai and the perfect tense means not only that all is now accomplished but that this completion or perfection has ongoing ramifications.  Thus, the final word spoken from the cross in John’s account of the crucifixion declares that the spiritual battle is won and the only fighting to be done is to conquer one’s own sinfulness.  

The enacted parable of the seventy-two disciples was to prefigure that the church does not need special ‘apostolic’ authority to exorcise, that is now redundant; the gospel and healing is enough.   

Luke’s account of the early church marks the change – rites of exorcism are no longer required; the name of Jesus is enough to send spirits to flight as we see in this incident:

God was doing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, so that even handkerchiefs or aprons that had touched his skin were carried away to the sick, and their diseases left them and the evil spirits came out of them.  Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists undertook to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, ‘I adjure you by the Jesus whom Paul proclaims.’ Seven sons of a Jewish high priest named Sceva were doing this.   But the evil spirit answered them, Jesus I know, and Paul I recognize, but who are you?’And the man in whom was the evil spirit leaped on them, mastered all of them and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.  (Acts 19:11-16)

Exorcism belongs to the era before Jesus’ death and resurrection, and it is no coincidence that it was Jews who hung on to old notions and that they were shown to be inadequate!  Everything changed at the cross; and with the empowerment, which came the following Pentecost, to each was given a mighty witness to the Gospel of Christ and to vanquish the bondage to sinning ways.

Of course, it is easier – much much easier and far less challenging, for any to look outside themselves to find evil, rather than search within.  Regretfully, throughout the history of the church, many have thought it their job to fight evil in the world; persecuting heathen practises and practitioners, whether it is witchcraft or witches, Satanists or merely adherents of other religions, even members of a different denominations of the same faith.  And yet, Jesus does not repeat the command to exorcise, or does he command his church so to do.

In respect of the world, he merely requires his followers to disciple others regarding his teachings and commandments (Matthew 28:19-20) and to love as we would be loved (Matthew 22:29).  Tackling evil and repudiating sin is then a personal process; an individual and inner battle, waged in the heart and mind of the disciple.

Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?  (Matthew 16:24-26)

The assurance of salvation requires nothing less than the active participation with the indwelling Spirit of God.  A disciples must point to her or his chest and acknowledge, the battleground is not located ‘out there’ but ‘in here’.

Paul, in acknowledging the internal warfare raging within himself (Romans 7:23), exhorts:

 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. 

(ibid 7:24)

And the author of Hebrews agrees, ‘let us also lay aside every encumbrance, and sin which clings so closely’ (Hebrews 12:1).

Paul reminds all that Jesus has won the battle and the only thing the disciple must do is fall into line, and as a warrior, obey him as Lord; moreover, in that obedience, take immediate and radical action to put aside all encumbrances; embracing both Jesus’ cross and one’s own gives is a choice with eternal consequences:

… now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.  (ibid 6:22-23)