«　WEEK 2　DAY 5　»

　　Rom. 16:20 Now the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.

　　12:5 So we who are many are one Body in Christ, and individually members one of another.

　　16:1 I commend to you Phoebe our sister, who is a deaconess of the church which is in Cenchrea.

　　The Greek word rendered “your” in Romans 16:20 is plural; this points to the Body. God will crush Satan under the feet of the Body. Romans 16 does not refer to the Body in a universal sense, but it refers to the local and practical expression of the Body. This means that Satan can only be crushed under the feet of the practical expression of the Body in the local churches…. It is only when we have a proper local church as the practical expression of the Body that Satan is crushed under our feet. (Life-study of Romans, pp. 528-529)

　　We must follow in the footsteps of the apostle. [Paul] brought us into the blending life of the entire Body of Christ by recommendations and greetings in order that the God of peace may crush Satan under our feet and that we may enjoy the rich grace of Christ (Rom. 16:1-16, 21-24, 20). In Romans 16 the apostle Paul greeted the saints one by one, mentioning at least twenty-seven names…. Moreover, he greeted the saints generally. This shows that he had a considerable amount of knowledge, understanding, and care with regard to every one of them. Such recommendations and greetings show both the mutual concern among the saints and the mutual fellowship among the churches. It is by the churches’ fellowship in the Body that the God of peace will crush Satan under our feet and we will be able to enjoy the rich grace of Christ. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 5, “The Experience of God’s Organic Salvation Equaling Reigning in Christ’s Life,” p. 516)

　　The only way to overcome Satan is to stay in the high tower of our regenerated spirit. When we stay in the spirit, we are built up in the Body in a practical way. But if we stay in our minds, we shall be divided. This is true not only in the church life, but also in married life. If I remain in my mind and my wife remains in her mind, it will be impossible for us to be one. I have learned to have a healthy fear of staying in my mind….Whenever I am in the spirit, there is no problem with oneness. Both in the church life and in our family life we must be afraid of our minds that are so easily set on the flesh, afraid of the division caused by our dissenting thoughts and opinions (see Romans 8:6). When we find ourselves thinking critically of others, we need to turn immediately to the Lord in our spirit and pray. We all must learn the lesson of turning to the spirit and staying there.

　　In the spirit we experience not only Christ as life, but also the Body. In the spirit Christ is both our life personally and the life of the Body. Therefore, in the spirit with the divine life and with the Body of Christ, Satan is overcome and even crushed under our feet. He is defeated not by individuals, but by the Body.

　　Never neglect your regenerated spirit, the high tower within you where you may hide from Satan. Whenever you are tempted to argue with your wife or husband, you should run into this tower. Arguments in married life come from the mind assisted by the flesh. Whenever a brother has negative thoughts about his wife, the flesh will try to provoke him to argue with her. This indicates that the flesh is always ready to help the mind in a negative way….We should escape into the high tower of our reborn spirit, the place where Satan cannot touch us, the place where we enjoy Christ as our life and experience the reality of the Body. When we are in such a place, Satan can do nothing to us. (Life-study of Romans, pp. 531-532)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of Romans, msgs. 30, 49; Truth Lessons—Level Two, vol. 3, lsn. 29; Truth Lessons—Level Four, vol. 2, lsn. 38