Prosecutor Versus Defender

Most television shows on law and order portray the state prosecutors, those who bring charges against a person, as good since they are trying to bring justice and the defense attorneys as bad since they are trying to help an accused criminal escape punishment. Perhaps this is true. But if we are falsely accused, our best friend is a defense attorney (I learned that from experience).

A proverb speaks about this:

“The first arguments of a prosecutor seem just until an opponent [anti-dikos] challenges that” (Prov 18:17). The NIV says, “In a lawsuit the first to speak seems right, until someone comes forward and cross-examines.”

The word anti-dikos comes from anti “opposed” and diki, “punishment or justice,” meaning “one who challenges a presumed justice.” A neutral terminology is an opponent. The Lord Jesus talked about antidikos a few times.

“Agree with your opponent [antidikos] quickly, in route to the court, so that the opponent [antidikos] will not hand you over to the judge, and he throws you in prison” (Matt 5:25). In this case, the antidikos was right with the law.

A widow kept begging a judge to make a judgment in a case against her opponent [antidikos]. Although an unjust judge, he preceded the case because of her repeated requests (Luke 18:3). In this case, the antidikos was wrong or unjust with the law.

An antidikos can be good if s/he tries to avert a false accusation (i.e., like the one mentioned in Prov 18:17, who defends the innocent) or bad if s/he tries to bring injustice upon a person (as in the case of the widow). Knowing this distinction helps us understand Peter’s use of antidikos.

“Your antidikos, the devil, walks around like a roaring lion seeking to kill someone. You (plural) stand against (anti-istimi) him” (1 Pet 5:9a). This antidikos’s intentions are bad.

Making a play on words with the word anti, Peter said, “You (plural) stand against (anti-istimi) the opponent (anti-dikos).” The phrase “roaring lions” always referred to their fierceness (Zeph 3:3; Ezek 22:25). Unlike cats like tigers and leopards that hunt quietly, male lions roar before they hunt as if a warning to their prey. The best way to tackle a roaring lion was to stand opposing it and even shout louder than it, if possible!

In Tamil, my mother tongue, children are told a story about four cows in a field and a lion wanting to eat them. Every time the lion approached them, the cows stood back-to-back, facing all four directions, with their horns aimed at him. The lion couldn’t defeat them. So, he devised a clever plan: He gossiped ill against one cow to the other and brought dissension between them. The next time he approached them, they didn’t want to stand unanimously and fight against him, and he killed them one by one.

The antidote to a roaring lion that wanted to kill and devour Christians was to stand unanimously against him. That was why Peter used the plural form of “you.” If a Christian stood against the devil single-handedly, s/he would fail. But if they stood unanimously, the devil couldn’t succeed.

In a post-industrial world, we have become individualistic. We like our personal space, personal possessions, and individuality. They have their benefits; I enjoy them. But the Christian life is meant to be lived as a corporate community. Rarely does the New Testament speak of individual holiness. We collectively are a single body of Christ. Such unity is greatly needed when the devil secretly desires to devour Christians.