Devil's Advocate

We all know what it means to play Devil’s Advocate. Somebody is expressing a point of view and to either repudiate or help substantiate their position, you come against it.
You may not necessarily be trying to derail the position, you just want to make sure that all sides are being considered as a con to their pro, a pro to their con, or just a way to broaden the scope of the current point of view.
We also commonly recognize the position as a vehicle to promote contention, but I like it better when its used for better reasons.

Here’s The Word:

Job 1:9 Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, Doth Job fear God for nought?

Romans 3:3 For what if some did not believe? shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect?

Romans 8:31 What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?

Romans 3:9 What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin;

These examples may seem sporadic but there's a method to the madness. I used the first example from Job because I think it’s funny, seeing the Devil himself, play devil’s advocate to God’s initial assertion of – ‘(There is) not like him(Job) in the earth?’
It's a textbook presentation: God says, "Job is awesome, isn't he?" - Satan says, well, let me play advocate here, Do you think he's awesome in himself, or that your protection makes him awesome?" (which undermines God's initial statement).
More than any other book in regards to raising questions that showcase "Devils advocate", Romans does the best job of setting up assertions and testing those points with questioning that strengthen the point, even though it asks questions in an opposing way.

Do you think that is Paul trying to play devil’s advocate? I really don’t think those words describe his motivation. These are basically rhetorical questions that are guided to help you see, that if you fully understand the assertion, it’d be ridiculous to not substantiate the idea with the correct answer. I believe with Paul, his question only has one answer and just giving the question deeper thought in reflection of the question, strengthens the point….at least its supposed to.

Because, then there's the other side of "Devil's advocate" that looks to bring contention and weakness.
Too often, as Christians, these questions may extract the correct answer from us verbally, but we prove time and time again that the truth of the matter isn't deep in us. We talk a good game with our theology. But too often, our living shows evidence of playing Devils Advocate.
We continue to make choices that pronounce either our hypocrisy or our ignorance. We read, speak and expect truth, but then in our actions, we caveat our way into a different way of doing life. We become that devils advocate, like the Devil is in Job, where He sought to weaken God's assessment. He didn't understand that there was more to Job than his protection.
As with Job, God's truth needs to be our strength, but for some of us, our strength lies in so many other things…emphasis on the word “lies”.

Let's play this out more practically:

In Romans 8, Paul does a great job, building on God’s track record as to the trustworthiness of the Love of Christ.
Then comes the strengthening in verse 35 -
      “So Paul, you say the love of Christ is strong. Is it stronger than tribulation?
That’s the question we answer with how we live. Does tribulation make you scream at God, or cry out to Him?

      "Okay Paul, is the love of Christ stronger than distress?"
What is our answer? When things just aren’t going our way, what’s the state of our witness?

Is this making sense? When we lose faith, seek compromise or mis-represent the character of Christ, we play devil's advocate and we undermine His truth, as if somehow God has missed something in regards to what we’re going through.

Please here me, this is not condemnation. This is not to push into doubt or weakness of mind. The devil is enough of his own advocate without any help from us.
I pray in all earnest that this be encouragement to let the assertions be as fundamental to you as they obviously are to Paul who’s posing these “lob-pitch” questions.
So what should our answer be? We need to know truth and we need to live in in a way that supports it, not in ways that undermine our belief. Practical, spiritual understanding should be on obvious display in our lives. This is how we walk by the Spirit.

1 Peter 1:13 Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;


In Him,
Cros