Section 29

“Someone may remember the story of Job and ask: ‘Why, then, did the devil go out and accomplish so much against him? Why did he strip Job of all his possessions, kill his children, and strike him with terrible sores?’

“Such a person must understand that the devil was not the strong one. It was God who permitted Job to be handed over to him for testing. The devil had no power to do anything on his own. He asked, and only after receiving permission did he do what he did.

“This makes the enemy still more worthy of condemnation: although he desperately wanted to harm Job, he could not prevail even against one righteous man without permission. If he had possessed the power, he would not have needed to ask. And the fact that he asked not only once but a second time clearly reveals his weakness and lack of authority.

“It is no wonder that he could do nothing against Job himself, since even Job’s animals would not have been destroyed unless God had allowed it. The demons do not even have authority over pigs. As it is written in the Gospel, they begged the Lord, ‘Allow us to enter the pigs.’ If they have no authority even over pigs, how much less do they have over human beings, who were made in the image of God?