ACC ~ Mark 3 v23

THE DEMONIC INTENT TO DOMINATE THE WILL

AUGUSTINE: Now as for the Lord’s saying: “Satan cannot drive out Satan,” [1] lest perhaps anyone using the name of some of the lowest powers when driving out a demon should think this opinion of the Lord’s to be false, let him understand the point of this saying: Satan does spare the body or the senses of the body, but he tempts the senses for the purpose of dominating the will of the man in question, in a triumph of greater import, through the error of impiety. Satan does not strike for the body as such, but rather for the innermost self in order to work in him in the manner described by the apostle: “according to the prince of the power of this air, who is now active in the sons of disobedience.” [2] For Satan was not troubling and tormenting the senses of their bodies, nor was he battering their bodies, but he was reigning in their wills, or better, in their covetousness. EIGHTY-THREE DIFFERENT QUESTIONS, QUESTION 79.2. [3]

[1] Mk 3:23.

[2] Eph 2:2.

[3] Cetedoc 0289, 79.54; FC 70:202*. Satan’s purpose is not just to enter into the body or senses as such, but to attach the innermost part of the self for the purpose of dominating the will to yield to idolatry.