Isn’t it deviation from the goal that harms the human being?

You are a divine creation to whom God granted authority over your own soul and freedom of will. So, no devil, no creation, no sword, no poverty, no power can harm you unless you harm yourself.

The difference between the sheep and the goats. St. John Chrysostom says, “For what reason then are those indeed sheep but these goats? Not that you may learn a difference in their nature, but the difference in their purpose … And yet both these and those were alike men, both these and those received the same promises, the same rewards were assigned to both on doing right … All things were alike to those and to these. How then was the end not the same? Because the purpose did not permit it .”⁶⁵⁵

The difference between the wise and foolish virgins. St. John Chrysostom says, “There were ten virgins he says (Matt. 25). Here again there are purposes which are upright, and purposes which are sinful, in order thou mayest see side by side, both the sins of the one and the good works of the others … Do you see again that the purpose determined the nature of the end, not the Devil?”⁶⁵⁶

The difference between the Queen of Sheba and the denying Jews. St. John Chrysostom says, “For if they themselves were not to be liable to be held to account, he would not have said that they shall judge this generation. Nor would he have said that the Queen of the South would condemn the Jews. For then indeed not only will one people condemn another people, but one man will often judge a whole people, when they who, it is allowed, might readily have been deceived, are found to remain undeceived, and they who ought in every way to have the advantage, turn out to be rejected.”⁶⁵⁷