Textbook: The Screwtape Letters by C. S. Lewis
Consider for a moment the life of the Apostle Paul, one of the most productive, faithful, and knowledgeable believers to have ever served God. Living a wholly surrendered life to Christ, he dedicated everything to the Gospel’s cause, having risked his life to share it throughout the known world. Throughout Paul’s extensive ministry, the Holy Spirit used him to plant a multitude of churches, win countless souls to Christ, and write thirteen Epistles (fourteen if he wrote Hebrews). With his complete devotion to and countless accomplishments for God’s kingdom, it seems that if anyone deserved an easy life shielded from trouble and tribulation, it would be Paul.
However, Scripture reveals that God permitted Paul’s life to be anything but easy. In fact, 2 Corinthians 11:23-28 reveal the extreme dangers, horrific troubles, and fiery trials Paul endured: “imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death. 24 Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; 26 on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; 27 in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. 28 And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches.” Why did the Lord permit the Apostle to endure these unspeakable hardships when he was so faithful and successful?
The Screwtape Letters is a collection of fictional letters from a made-up demon named Screwtape. Each letter sees him teach his nephew Wormwood various tactics for use against a Christian they call “the patient.”
When studying this book, it is crucial to remember that it is satirical and fictional. Its author, C. S. Lewis, advises us, “not everything that Screwtape says should be assumed to be true even from his own angle.” The book’s purpose is not to explain how demons communicate with one another, nor to be an authoritative source on doctrines such as eternal security. Rather, its purpose is to provide deep insights into the various temptations and tactics demons use against believers. This is a worthwhile study, for 2 Corinthians 2:11 says, “So that we would not be outwitted by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his designs.” Furthermore, Ephesians 6:11 calls us to, “Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.” Thus, our goal in studying The Screwtape Letters is to learn how to recognize and resist demonic attacks by tying its content to the Bible’s teachings.
“Now that it is certain the German humans will bombard your patient's town and that his duties will keep him in the thick of the danger, we must consider our policy. Are we to aim at cowardice — or at courage, with consequent pride — or at hatred of the Germans?
“Well, I am afraid it is no good trying to make him brave. Our research department has not yet discovered (though success is hourly expected) how to produce any virtue. This is a serious handicap. To be greatly and effectively wicked a man needs some virtue. What would Attila have been without his courage, or Shylock without self-denial as regards the flesh? But as we cannot supply these qualities ourselves, we can only use them as supplied by the Enemy — and this means leaving Him a kind of foothold in those men whom, otherwise, we have made most securely our own. A very unsatisfactory arrangement, but, I trust, we shall one day learn to do better.
“Hatred we can manage. The tension of human nerves during noise, danger, and fatigue, makes them prone to any violent emotion and it is only a question of guiding this susceptibility into the right channels. If conscience resists, muddle him. Let him say that he feels hatred not on his own behalf but on that of the women and children, and that a Christian is told to forgive his own, not other people's enemies. In other words let him consider himself sufficiently identified with the women and children to feel hatred on their behalf, but not sufficiently identified to regard their enemies as his own and therefore proper objects of forgiveness.
“But hatred is best combined with Fear. Cowardice, alone of all the vices, is purely painful — horrible to anticipate, horrible to feel, horrible to remember; Hatred has its pleasures. It is therefore often the compensation by which a frightened man reimburses himself for the miseries of Fear. The more he fears, the more he will hate. And Hatred is also a great anodyne for shame. To make a deep wound in his charity, you should therefore first defeat his courage.” (Lewis)
As stated in the dialogue, God permits us to have enemies in this life. They range from those who mistreat, misrepresent, and disrespect us to those who persecute and strive to destroy us. As Screwtape’s dialogue shows, it is Satan’s desire that we both fear our enemies and become consumed with hatred for them.
The Apostle Paul had countless encounters from enemies of all sorts, from those who challenged his authority as an apostle to those who beat, stoned, and imprisoned him. Despite the unspeakable torture and horrors his enemies put him through, Paul refused to let himself be overcome with hatred for them. One of the primary reasons why is that God used them to reveal how his true enemies were the demons and demonic strongholds influencing, spiritually blinding, and tyrannically ruling over the people persecuting him. This is seen in Ephesians 6:12, “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.”
Another reason why God permits believers to experience persecution from enemies is to contrast their demonically fueled hatred with Christ’s perfect love for both us and them. This is why Jesus commands in Luke 6:27-29, “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. To one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also, and from one who takes away your cloak do not withhold your tunic either.” Furthermore, Romans 12:17-21 not only reiterate this but also reveal how God uses our enemies to test our trust in Him and demonstrate His perfect justice, “Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” Thus, as He did with Paul, so does God permit enemies to persecute us to further our trust in Him, reveal their severe spiritual bondage to us, and bring the spiritual light of His love and Gospel into their lives.
“Now this is a ticklish business. We have made men proud of most vices, but not of cowardice. Whenever we have almost succeeded in doing so, the Enemy permits a war or an earthquake or some other calamity, and at once courage becomes so obviously lovely and important even in human eyes that all our work is undone, and there is still at least one vice of which they feel genuine shame. The danger of inducing cowardice in our patients, therefore, is lest we produce real self-knowledge and self-loathing with consequent repentance and humility. And in fact, in the last war, thousands of humans, by discovering their own cowardice, discovered the whole moral world for the first time. In peace we can make many of them ignore good and evil entirely; in danger, the issue is forced upon them in a guise to which even we cannot blind them. There is here a cruel dilemma before us. If we promoted justice and charity among men, we should be playing directly into the Enemy's hands; but if we guide them to the opposite behaviour, this sooner or later produces (for He permits it to produce) a war or a revolution, and the undisguisable issue of cowardice or courage awakes thousands of men from moral stupor.
“This, indeed, is probably one of the Enemy's motives for creating a dangerous world — a world in which moral issues really come to the point. He sees as well as you do that courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point, which means, at the point of highest reality. A chastity or honesty, or mercy, which yields to danger will be chaste or honest or merciful only on conditions. Pilate was merciful till it became risky.” (Lewis)
Of note here is the mentioning of God using the natural and human dangers of this world to drive people out of cowardice and reveal to them the realities of good and evil. Screwtape’s dialogue brings forth the truth that peace affords us the opportunity to ignore these realities, while danger forces us to face them. Likewise, in peaceful times, we naturally see less of a need to rely on God and thus can descend into fleshly self-sufficiency, selfishness, and laziness. Because trials and dangers remind us of our need for Him, He permits them to enter our lives. This is why even amid these difficulties, Romans 8:28 can truthfully state, “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.”
Furthermore, the Apostle Paul realized how suffering and dangers are necessary to weaken our natural life in the flesh. As he states in 2 Corinthians 12:10, this weakening forces us to rely on Christ’s power, “For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” Additionally, Paul notes in Romans 5:3-5 how God uses suffering to further our growth in our new life in Christ, “Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” Thus, God permits the suffering we endure from difficulties and dangers to help us overcome cowardice, surrender our carnal life, and mature spiritually.
“It is therefore possible to lose as much as we gain by making your man a coward; he may learn too much about himself! There is, of course, always the chance, not of chloroforming the shame, but of aggravating it and producing Despair. This would be a great triumph. It would show that he had believed in, and accepted, the Enemy's forgiveness of his other sins only because he himself did not fully feel their sinfulness — that in respect of the one vice which he really understands in its full depth of dishonour he cannot seek, nor credit, the Mercy. But I fear you have already let him get too far in the Enemy's school, and he knows that Despair is a greater sin than any of the sins which provoke it.
“As to the actual technique of temptations to cowardice, not much need be said. The main point is that precautions have a tendency to increase fear. The precautions publicly enjoined on your patient, however, soon become a matter of routine and this effect disappears. What you must do is to keep running in his mind (side by side with the conscious intention of doing his duty) the vague idea of all sorts of things he can do or not do, inside the framework of the duty, which seem to make him a little safer. Get his mind off the simple rule (“I've got to stay here and do so-and-so”) into a series of imaginary life lines (“If A happened — though I very much hope it won't — I could do B — and if the worst came to the worst, I could always do C”). Superstitions, if not recognised as such, can be awakened. The point is to keep him feeling that he has something, other than the Enemy and courage the Enemy supplies, to fall back on, so that what was intended to be a total commitment to duty becomes honeycombed all through with little unconscious reservations. By building up a series of imaginary expedients to prevent “the worst coming to the worst” you may produce, at that level of his will which he is not aware of, a determination that the worst shall not come to the worst. Then, at the moment of real terror, rush it out into his nerves and muscles and you may get the fatal act done before he knows what you're about. For remember, the act of cowardice is all that matters; the emotion of fear is, in itself, no sin and, though we enjoy it, does us no good.” (Lewis)
As Screwtape’s dialogue reveals, Satan also desires to distract us from worshipping and serving Christ through planting in our minds an ever-growing fear of terrible circumstances. He can use this to make us depend on ourselves rather than God to take precautions in hopes of avoiding imagined worst-case scenarios. He also can deceive us into fearing them to the point of despair.
Towards the end of his life, the Apostle Paul could have easily fallen into despair. Per 2 Timothy, he was chained up in a cold Roman prison cell, given a death sentence, and deserted by everyone when tried in court. After all he had done to serve Christ, his final moments on earth were wrought with physical misery, heartbreaking loneliness, and cruel injustice. Despite all this, Paul avoided despair by seeing God work in his circumstances and thanking Him (2Ti. 4:17-18), anticipating his eternal rewards in heaven (2Ti. 4:8), and being ready to die for Christ (2Ti. 4:6). No matter how painful or hopeless his situation seemed, Paul never lost sight of what 2 Corinthians 4:8-11 declare, “We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.”
We likewise through Christ can mimic Paul’s confidence and avoid despair. First, we must learn to submit to God’s plan and avoid following our own, for Proverbs 3:5-6 state, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.” Next, we must realize we have no need to fear God’s plans for us, even when they involve suffering, for Jeremiah 29:11 states, “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” Finally, 1 Peter 5:7 notes how God desires that we surrender our concerns and fears to Him, “Casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.” Thus, like Paul, we can remain content, thankful, and hopeful amid trials and suffering because our heavenly Father knows what is best for us, promises to carry us through them, and uses them to glorify His Son before the unsaved so that they too would receive His salvation.
Although the Apostle Paul was called to live one of the most troubled, brutal, and dangerous lives of any believer, his gratitude, contentment, and hope triumphantly persevered. Despite the devil’s best efforts, Paul avoided becoming consumed with hatred for his enemies, allowing dangerous circumstances to paralyze him with fear, or descending into despair from even the darkest, coldest prison. This extremely victorious life was possible for Paul because he was wholly surrendered to Christ, motivated by revealing His glory and sharing His salvation with the lost, and contented to endure all circumstances God permitted for His best for him. Thankfully, this spiritual victoriousness is not exclusive to Apostles like Paul, for Christ promises it to all who are willing to follow Paul’s example in surrender, hopefulness, and contentment. Such living will most likely see significantly less comfort and ease in this life, but will be rewarded in significantly greater measure in the next one.
Reference:
Lewis, C. S. The Screwtape Letters. Self-published, 2025.
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