Tertullian · a new plain-English translation from the original language
If, because iniquity is not from God but from the devil, and persecution in turn consists of iniquity — for what is more unjust than that the ministers of the true God, the followers of all truth, should be treated in the manner of the most vicious criminals? — persecution therefore seems to come about from the devil, from whom the iniquity comes by which persecution stands, we must know how far this goes: that neither can persecution occur without the devil's iniquity, nor can the proving of faith occur without persecution — persecution being necessary for the proving of faith — so that iniquity supplies persecution not its patronage but its service; for God's will regarding the proving of faith, which is the rationale of persecution, comes first, while the devil's iniquity, which is the instrument of persecution, follows as the rationale of the proving. For elsewhere too, to the degree that iniquity rivals righteousness, to that same degree it becomes material for testifying to the very thing it rivals, so that righteousness is perfected through iniquity in the same way that strength is perfected in weakness. For the weak things of the world were chosen by God to put to shame the strong, and its foolish things to put to shame the wise. So too iniquity is employed so that righteousness may be proved by putting iniquity to shame. Therefore, since this is a service not of choice but of servitude — for the choice belongs to the Lord, persecution being for the proving of faith, while the service belongs to the devil's iniquity, for the furnishing of persecution — we believe that persecution comes about, if you like, through the devil, but not from the devil. Nothing will be permitted to Satan against the servants of the living God unless the Lord allows it — either so that Satan may destroy himself through the victorious faith of the elect under trial, or so that he may parade as his own trophies those men who have fallen away to him. You have the example of Job: the devil could not inflict any trial on him unless he had received power from God, nor even touch his property, until the Lord had said, "See, all that is his I give into your hand — but on the man himself do not lay a hand." And indeed he did not lay a hand on him until, when he had asked for this too, the Lord had said, "See, I hand him over to you — only guard his life." So too against the apostles he asked for the power of testing, not having it, of course, except by permission — since the Lord in the Gospel says to Peter, "Behold, Satan has asked to sift you like wheat; but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail" — that is, that the devil might not be allowed so much that faith should be put in jeopardy. By this it is shown that both things lie with God, both the shaking of faith and its protection, since both are asked of him — the shaking, by the devil; the protection, by the Son.
And in any case, since the Son of God holds the protection of faith in his own power — a power he asks of the Father, from whom he receives all authority in heaven and on earth — how could it be that the devil holds the shaking of faith in his own hand? No, in the appointed prayer, when we say to the Father, "Lead us not into temptation" — and what greater temptation is there than persecution? — we thereby confess that it is from him that such a thing befalls us, since it is from him that we beg pardon for it; for this is what follows: "But deliver us from the evil one," that is, do not lead us into temptation by handing us over to the evil one; for we are snatched from the devil's hands precisely when we are not delivered over to him for trial.
Nor did the devil's legion have any power over the herd of pigs except what it had obtained from God — so far is it from having power over God's sheep. I might even say that the very bristles of those pigs had already been numbered before God, let alone the hairs of his saints. The devil may seem to have power of his own, if at all, over those who do not belong to God — once, "like a drop from a bucket and dust on the scales and spittle," as regards the nations assigned to him by God and thereby left exposed to him, as it were, as an empty, ownerless holding. But over God's own household he has no right at all by his own authority; when he is allowed some, and on what grounds, the examples fixed in Scripture show us. For either the right of testing is granted him by way of proving, when the one being tried has provoked it or been provoked, as in the cases above, or the sinner is handed over to him by way of disproving, as to an executioner, for punishment — as with Saul, of whom it is said, "And the spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord troubled him and stifled him" — or by way of restraint, as the apostle reports that a thorn was given him, an angel of Satan, to buffet him, lest — and let us not be ignorant of this — this kind of thing is permitted to the devil for the humbling of the saints through the harassment of the flesh, and at the same time so that virtue — endurance, that is — may be perfected in weakness. For the apostle himself handed over Phygelus and Hermogenes to Satan, that they might be corrected and blaspheme no more. You see, then, that the devil more easily receives power even from God's own servants — so far is he from possessing it as his own property.
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