Widerstehe doch der Sünde (Just resist sin),[1] BWV 54,[a] is a church cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach.

It is not known when Bach composed the work but is assumed that he performed it as part of his monthly cantata productions in 1714 on the seventh Sunday after Trinity, 15 July.

As concertmaster, he assumed the principal responsibility for composing new works, specifically cantatas for the Schlosskirche (palace church), on a monthly schedule.

John Eliot Gardiner and others assume Oculi that year which would make it the earliest cantata performed after the promotion.

[2][3] It is his first extant church cantata for a solo voice, followed by Mein Herze schwimmt im Blut, BWV 199, for soprano.

[4] The cantata, structured in three movements, is scored as chamber music for a solo alto voice, two violins (Vl), two violas (Va), and basso continuo (Bc).

The words "So zeigt sich nur ein leerer Schatten und übertünchtes Grab" (It shows itself as only an empty shadow and a whitewashed grave)[1] are expressed in "pale" harmonies.

The final lines are arioso and illustrate in Sie ist als wie ein scharfes Schwert, das uns durch Leib und Seele fährt (It is like a sharp sword, that pierces through body and soul)[1] the movement of the sword by fast runs in the continuo.

[11] Gardiner describes the theme as "insinuating chromatic" and the "contorted counter-subject to portray the wily shackles of the devil".