Ante-Nicene Fathers/Volume V/Cyprian/The Treatises of Cyprian/Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews/Book III/Part 80

by Cyprian

80. That the devil has no power against man unless God have allowed it.

In the Gospel according to John:  “Jesus said, Thou couldest have no power against me, unless it were given thee from above.”^[1] Also in the third of Kings:  “And God stirred up Satan against Solomon himself.”^[2] Also in Job, first of all God permitted, and then it was allowed to the devil; and in the Gospel, the Lord first permitted, by saying to Judas, “What thou doest, do quickly.”^[3] Also in Solomon, in the Proverbs: “The heart of the king is in God’s hand.”^[4]

Footnotes

1. John xix. 11.
2. 1 Kings xi. 23.
3. John xiii. 27.
4. Prov. xxi. 1.