2Cor 2:11 Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices.
What are Satan’s devices and how do they work? The first thing we have to know is: what does device mean?
1. That which is formed by design, or invented; scheme; artificial contrivance; stratagem; project; sometimes in a good sense; more generally in a bad sense, as artifices are usually employed for bad purposes.
Very simply, device means an invented scheme or strategy.
So Satan’s devices are invented schemes or strategies. These schemes and strategies have one overarching purpose. It is Satan’s desire to be like the Most High. He will eventually sit in the temple of God showing that he is God, but that is a paltry end to what his real desire is. That desire is to ascend into heaven, exalt his throne above the stars of God (the angelic host): to sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north.
One of his devices to achieve that goal was executed during the earthly ministry of Christ:
Matt 4:8-10 Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; 9 And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. 10 Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.
If Jesus would have accepted that offer, Satan would have been empowered to ascend into heaven and sit with God on the sides of the north. But that didn’t happen.
As that goal has been eternally crushed when Jesus arose from the dead, he is now very concerned to hold onto what he has: namely, the earth. So there are many devices that are designed for that purpose also.
Beginning with the verse that tells us that we are vulnerable to those devices, we’ll now try to parse what his devices are, what they were, and what they will be in the future.
What is most interesting about this verse is that the context of the verse is the man that was delivered to Satan for the destruction of the flesh in I Corinthians 5.
1Cor 5:1-5 ¶ It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father’s wife. 2 And ye are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you. 3 For I verily, as absent in body, but present in spirit, have judged already, as though I were present, concerning him that hath so done this deed, 4 In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, 5 To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.
Notice that the removal of this man who was committing fornication with his step-mother was to be done in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and with the power of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now look down at verse 7:
1Cor 5:7-8 ¶ Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: 8 Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
Now if you have been in the assembly for any length of time, you have heard a lot about truth being one of the attributes of God. And the other attribute is?
Grace. And how many times have you heard that the two must go together for the proper functioning of the body of Christ and for the proper walk of believers? Without grace, truth simply becomes overbearing and overjudge-mental. Without truth, grace becomes so widely accepting as to corrupt the word of God.
This man in I Corinthians 5, by the time Paul wrote II Corinthians had repented. He had put away the evil that he was doing and was sorrowful in a godly manner.
2Cor 2:5-11 ¶ But if any have caused grief, he hath not grieved me, but in part: that I may not overcharge you all. 6 Sufficient to such a man is this punishment, which was inflicted of many. 7 So that contrariwise ye ought rather to forgive him, and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one should be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow. 8 Wherefore I beseech you that ye would confirm your love toward him. 9 For to this end also did I write, that I might know the proof of you, whether ye be obedient in all things. 10 To whom ye forgive any thing, I forgive also: for if I forgave any thing, to whom I forgave it, for your sakes forgave I it in the person of Christ; 11 Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices.
So here we find grace. After the truth was administered – judgment and chastisement – delivery unto Satan, now we see the administration of grace. This is one of the issues he was referring to when he wrote:
2Cor 7:10 For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.
The salvation here isn’t soul salvation, but salvation from the destruction of the flesh and the salvation from Satan’s devices.
The first device of Satan we see then, is to separate grace and truth.

Satan is indeed subtle. He corrected Eve on what God had said even as he told her that it was untrue. His characteristics can be summed up in Proverbs 6:16-18. When looking at Satan’s characteristics, one can see his subtlety simply by comparing verses that show these traits in different Bibles. Today Satan leads people away from God and sound doctrine by…