Sizing Up Satan in the Bible

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1. Posted by Truth MARCH 10, 2009 | 03:06AM

   I agree with what you said about Satan. The Bible certainly does contain a number of allusions to the devil and Satan. Many of us have had the experience of discussing the devil and Satan with others and have found that the discussion does not seem to get anywhere. And the reason is obvious: when Bible passages are read, devil and Satan are being understood by different readers in different senses. The conclusion is clear: if we are to arrive at the truth about the devil and Satan, we must find out what the Bible writers meant when they used those terms. It is no good relying upon our own understanding or other people's. We must know what the inspired writers of the Word of God understood about this important subject. In a short work like this we cannot examine all the verses in the Bible which refer to the devil and Satan. But what we really need is a key-a basic understanding of what these terms mean. Armed with this, we should be able to unlock quite a lot of Bible passages. First, Satan . . . To find the vital key it is important to begin with the Old Testament, and not with the New. To modern ears this may sound strange, but remember that the Old Testament was written first, many centuries before the New. And since they both really form one revelation from God, the New Testament writers knew the Old Testament very well indeed. They quoted from it and they used its terms; and among the terms they used is Satan. (In fact the term "devil" occurs rarely in the Old Testament and is used differently there from the way it is used in the New.) So we begin with Satan, the Old Testament term. What does the word "Satan" mean? It is not hard to find out. Take the case of Balaam who lived in the days when the children of Israel were wandering in the wilderness. He was a prophet who had been told by God not to go on a certain hired mission to curse the Israelites. But he wanted the money offered him as a reward, so he went. Riding upon an ass, he soon found his way blocked by an angel: "The angel of the Lord took his stand in the way as his adversary" (or enemy) (Numbers 22:22, RSV). Adversary or Enemy The word for "adversary" is Satan (from which we get our "Satan") and that is just what it means. Notice two things: Satan here is an ordinary word meaning adversary or enemy, and not the name of a person. The word occurs again only 10 verses later: the angel said to Balaam, "Behold, I am come forth to withstand you" (verse 32), literally "to be an adversary to you". This is the first time the word Satan appears in the Hebrew record. Notice that this Satan is a good angel, "the angel of the Lord", who is doing what God wants, and not an evil one! If we look up in a Bible concordance the way the word Satan is used in the Old Testament, we shall find that it means an adversary and an enemy. For example: "Why," cried David, "should you (Joab and his brothers) be adversaries (satans) unto me?" (2 Samuel 19:22). And so in half a dozen other cases, where the allusion is usually to men. Here we have one of the most frequently quoted cases in all the Bible. The first few verses of chapter one describe Job as living in the land of Uz, a God-fearing man who had many possessions. Then, verse 6: "Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them." Satan in the Book of Job "There you are", some people say, "Satan was in heaven among the angels! He must be a supernatural being!" But let us remember our vital rule: we must understand Bible terms in a Bible sense. "Sons of God", for instance: it is true that once in Job (38:7) this term is used of the angels; but in the Bible as a whole it is often used of men and women who really worship God as contrasted with those who do not. God used it of Israel through the prophet Isaiah: "Bring my sons from far and my daughters from the ends of the earth, everyone who is called by my name . . ." (Isaiah 43:6-7) So in the New Testament the apostle John, referring to believers in Christ, wrote: "Beloved, we are God's children now" (1 John 3:2). So the "sons of God" among whom "Satan" came (in Job chapter 1) need not be angels in heaven; they could be people on the earth. But how could they "present themselves before the Lord" if they were not in heaven? Again the Bible itself gives us the answer. Moses and Joshua were once told to "present themselves" in the "tent of meeting", where God would appoint Joshua as the next leader of Israel (Deuteronomy 31:14-1 5). Many years later Joshua called together all the elders of the tribes of Israel to Shechem, where "they presented themselves before God" (Joshua 24:1). Later still, Samuel in his turn told Israel: "Present yourselves before the LORD . . ." (1 Samuel 10:19). In the New Testament it is said that Mary, the mother of Jesus, shortly after the birth of her son, came to the temple in Jerusalem "to present him to the Lord . . . and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the law of the Lord" (Luke 2:22-24). The "sons of God" in Job, then, who came to "present themselves before the Lord", had come together to worship God in the appointed place, and, of course, in the presence of the appointed priest at that time. This is a scene of worship upon the earth, not in heaven. But what of "Satan" who came among them? Here the English translators have not really played fair with us, for all the Hebrew says is "the adversary". The capital S in Satan is the translators' own invention, for Hebrew makes no distinction between capital letters and others. Even in the margin the Authorized and Revised Version translators have printed "the Adversary", suggesting by their capital A (for which they have no evidence) that this is that special Adversary, Satan. All that the Hebrew justifies us in saying is "the adversary came among them". God is All-powerful But who could this adversary be? If this was a group come together to worship, he would be one of them; in other words he was a man; and he was an enemy to Job, because he was jealous of him and wished him harm. But how then could there follow a conversation between the Lord and the adversary? Again the Bible itself supplies the answer, for in Old Testament times men often received messages from God through the appointed priest at the time. David, for instance, more than once consulted the priest when he wanted to know what God's will for him was, and the priest spoke to him on behalf of God. So this jealous enemy of Job-perhaps one who posed as his friend-said to God through the priest, "Job only serves you for what he can get. Just try bringing some trouble on him and then you will see." And God, because He had a great purpose with Job and desired to see him perfected, allowed the adversary to carry out his envious desire upon Job. But as the book clearly tells us, the power was God's and not the adversary's (Job 2:4-6). So there is in this episode no need for a supernatural satan and no proof of one. All the expressions are commonly used of men. The Old Testament word Satan means an adversary; but as the example of Job shows us, there develops a natural tendency to use it of an evil adversary. Peter -- a Satan! With this valuable background understanding we now look at an example of the use of "satan" in the New Testament. Peter had just made his great declaration of belief in Jesus as "the Christ, the Son of the living God" and Jesus had pronounced a blessing upon him as a result. But Jesus then went on to speak of his own fate; he would have to go to Jerusalem and there the leaders of the Jews would seize him and he would be killed, but he would rise again the third day (Matthew 16:21). Peter could neither understand nor accept this and began to rebuke Jesus: "God forbid, Lord! This shall never happen to you." In other words, "You must not think of such a thing." But Jesus said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan: you are a hindrance to me." Why was Peter a "satan"? Because he was being "an adversary" to Jesus; he was trying to persuade the Lord not to do what he knew had to be done in his obedience to the will of God. If Peter had had his way, Jesus would have rejected his Father's will and his great sacrifice for sin upon the cross ( tree ) would never have taken place. So Jesus had to tell this "adversary" (satan) to "get behind me". And then he adds a comment which is most important for our understanding: You are an adversary and a stumbling block to me, says Jesus in effect to Peter, for your mind is not on the "things of God, but the things of men" (verse 23, R.V.). So this most important New Testament example teaches us some valuable lessons. First, this "satan" was a man; second, he rejected the will of God; third, what marked him out was that he desired to do the will of man instead-a most important clue, as we shall see later. Let us remind ourselves what we have learned so far: a "satan" is an adversary, and nearly always an evil adversary. In the examples we have looked at, "satan" was: an angel of God, doing his will; a man posing as a worshipper of God; other men who were "adversaries"; and now Peter, an apostle of the Lord, who was opposing the will of God. With this general understanding of the meaning of "satan", we should find a lot of Bible passages much clearer. And now the Devil This is a Greek term, not a Hebrew one, and so it is found only in the New Testament. [The word "devils" in "casting out devils" etc. is a different word, which really means "demons" (cf. R.S.V.).] Again we must try to discover what the term really means. We can easily do this, for there are passages where the translators themselves have shown us. Writing to Timothy the apostle Paul says that "in the last days there will come times of stress"; in these times "men will be lovers of self, lovers of money . . . slanderers," etc. (2 Timothy 3:1-3). The word translated "slanderers" is the plural of the one usually rendered "devil" and is related to our English "diabolical". Again, giving instructions on how believers are to behave as they meet to worship, he comes to the women members: "Women in like manner must be serious, no slanderers, temperate, faithful in all things" (1 Timothy 3:11). Again the word is the one usually translated "devil", though here it is plural. The translators in these two passages have given us the basic sense of the word. Notice once more: these "devils" are people. But the great test passage for understanding "the devil" in the New Testament is in Hebrews chapter 2. As we read the early verses of this chapter, it is clear that the Apostle is writing about Jesus and his followers; and he calls the followers "children". Now, in verse 14, he comes to his great statement about "the devil". We set it out here in full first, and then we shall go over it, phrase by phrase, to make sure of understanding it: "Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same nature; that through death he might destroy him who has the power of death, that is, the devil . . ." The first phrase says quite clearly that the followers of Jesus are "flesh and blood", that is, they are ordinary men and women. No problem there. Human Nature The second says that Jesus shared the same nature, "flesh and blood". The apostle must have been very anxious indeed that his readers should clearly understand that the nature of Jesus really was the same as that of his followers -- human nature -- for he emphasizes the point: "he himself likewise took part of the same". There was no need for the apostle to write in this emphatic way unless he had felt that it was particularly important for his readers to understand this vital truth: that Jesus was a man, in every respect. The third sentence contains three declarations: that Jesus destroyed the devil; that he did it "through death", and that can only mean through his own death, by dying himself; and that the devil has "the power of death". Before we go any further, we must clear up one cause of misunderstanding. The English reader, seeing a phrase like "him who has the power of death", is naturally led to assume that the devil must be a person, or a being. But this is not necessarily so. In English we have a very simple system of arranging gender: all male persons are masculine, and are referred to as "he"; all female ones are feminine, and are referred to as "she"; all other things are neuter and are referred to as "it". And at times we refer to things as if they were persons: a ship as "she" for example. This is called personification. Greek, however (in which the New Testament was written), is different. It has three genders, but they are used in another way. Males are "he", of course, and females "she"; but other things may be any one of the three genders, masculine, feminine, or neuter. Now the Greek word for devil is masculine, and so the pronoun standing for it is "he". But this does not make clear whether the devil is a person or is not. The Greek is quite neutral. If we wish to prove that the devil is, or is not, a person, we must get our evidence from somewhere else, not from this expression. Destroying the Devil We look now at our "three declarations" in this verse. Jesus destroyed the devil. So the devil is "dead", or at the very least will be destroyed by the time the work of Jesus is finished. But there are two remarkable points about this statement in Hebrews 2:14. The apostle distinctly says that in order to destroy the devil, Jesus partook of human nature. Now is not this an astonishing thing? If Jesus' purpose was to destroy a powerful enemy, would he not have done far better to have had a strong, immortal nature like the angels? What was he doing sharing the weak nature of flesh and blood? Obviously there is a mystery here that needs explaining. But that is not all. The apostle distinctly says that the way Jesus destroyed the devil was "through death". Now this can only mean through his own death. What an extraordinary way to get rid of a powerful enemy, by dying oneself! From these two points, that in order to put an end to the devil Jesus first shared weak human nature and then had to die himself, it is clear that "the devil" of the Bible must be something quite different from the idea of the devil usually held. When you come across a Bible passage difficult to understand, it always helps to find another one saying much the same thing, though in different terms. The two passages will throw light on one another. Now there is such a passage to help us in this case. The same apostle, in the same letter, in Hebrews chapter 9, is writing about the work of Christ. He refers to his first coming (which led to his death on the cross or tree) like this: "But (Jesus) . . . has appeared once for all at the end of the age to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself" (verse 26). We notice at once that one of the things said here is the same as in Hebrews 2:14. "By the sacrifice of himself" clearly means the same as "through his own death". So probably the other terms mean the same thing. Let us set them out side by side: Hebrews 2:14 Hebrews 9:26 through (his own death) by the sacrifice of himself he might destroy the devil = put away sin From this valuable parallel comment we learn that "destroying the devil" is the same as "putting away sin". The devil, then, must be a way of referring to that human. rebellion against God which the Bible calls sin. The Power of Sin We now have a valuable way of testing this understanding, for Hebrews 2:14 declares that the devil "has the power of death". Now what in the Bible is said to have this power? The Apostle Paul gives us the answer in two very helpful passages in the Letter to the Romans: 5:21 -- "As sin reigned in death . . . so through Jesus grace will reign unto eternal life." Here sin is regarded as a king who is ruling over his subjects; and the effect of his power over them is death. Again in 6:23 -- "For the wages of sin is death . . . but the free gift of God is eternal life." Here sin is a master who pays his servants wages; he rewards them for service to himself -- with death. Both these passages are examples of personification: that is, something is spoken of as if it were a person when in fact it is not. In both of them sin is personified; and in both clearly it is sin that "has the power of death". And so the Bible is telling us that the real devil is sin. What is the Real Enemy of God? We break off our consideration for a moment to ask a very important question: What does the Bible say is the great enemy of God? Is it some fallen angel? Is it some mysterious spirit being trying to undo God's work in the earth? Not at all. From the first page of the Bible to the last there is one stubborn enemy of the purpose of God-the human heart and mind, the will of men and women everywhere to satisfy their own desires. We have had a hint of this already in Christ's rebuke to Peter: "Get thee behind me, Satan, for thou mindest not the things of God, but the things of men" (Matthew 16:23, R.V.). He had said much the same to the Jews who were rejecting him: "You are of your father the devil, and the lusts (or desires) of your father you will do" (John 8:44, A.V.). We have only to ask: What are "lusts" associated with throughout the Bible? The answer is clear: it is always with human nature. The natural tendencies of our nature are set out very strongly by the Apostle Paul in his Letter to the Romans. He is contrasting the life of service to God (the spirit) with the life spent satisfying natural desires (the flesh), and declares: "To set the mind on the flesh is death; but to set the mind on the spirit is life and peace." So there are two ways we can choose to live: trying to do the will of God, or doing our own will. About the second Paul now has this shattering comment: "The mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God." So here is the great enemy of God: human desire. And what a determined enemy it is! For Paul goes on: "For it (the mind of the flesh) does not submit to God's law, indeed it cannot" (8:5-7). He had said the same thing in writing to the Galatians: "Walk in the spirit" (that is, live in God's way) "and do not gratify the desires of the flesh" (notice that "the flesh" demands to be satisfied). He then adds: "For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh; for these are opposed to each other", and the result is "to prevent you from doing what you would" (Galatians 5:16-17). Temptations Within Us There is no doubt then where we must look for the great enemy of God: it is in our own hearts and minds. So James tells us where we must look for the source of our temptations to do wrong. Are we led astray by some supernatural spirit whispering in our ear? Not at all; for, he says, "Each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire". So our own "desire" is the origin of our temptations; and James tells us what is the result: "Then the desire, when it has conceived, gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown brings forth death" (1:14-15). The long history of mankind in the Bible shows how true this teaching is. The first pair of human beings preferred their own desire to obedience to God, and sinned. The human race fell away into "corruption and violence" and God had to judge it at the Flood. Israel, rescued by God from slavery in the land of Egypt and given a special opportunity to be God's people, turned away and preferred to worship idols and to behave in immoral ways like the godless peoples around them. Jesus, the Son of God, demonstrated His Father's truth and grace among men; they rejected and crucified him. And in the centuries following, men have abandoned God's teaching and perverted His ways. Yes, the great enemy of God is men and women rejecting His authority and fulfilling their own natural desires. Truth

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2. Posted by JD06 JULY 29, 2009 | 01:13PM

   Hey Truth, I just wanted to say that I really enjoyed reading your comments about satan in the Bible. You brought up many interesting points but I am curious to know how you would explain the fact that satan was able to inflict Job will sores all over his body if he was not a supernatural being? I also find it very strange that he would be able to kill all of Job's children with a sudden mighty wind if he was human. Another situation that confuses me is when Eve is decieved by the snake. Eve has a conversation with the snake which many believe is Satan himself. If Satan is not a supernatural being, how could a snake talk to Eve? I was under the impression that animals could never talk. I would love to hear what you have to say regarding these situations and I hope you have a blessed day!

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3. Posted by Charlie Borjas Rev and Pastor of Joyful Chapel, Peace in The Valley MInistries,Japan AUGUST 22, 2009 | 04:19AM

   I am currently doing a study myself and also carrying a forum with others on this very subject of Satan, demons, Spiritual warfare. I have studied the Bible extensively for the past 40 years and during my 39 years of missionary work in the Orient have encountered many strange things and have prayed against them. I have also been to churches that claim to be in a "deliverance " ministry that turned out to be no more than manipulation, abuse , and hypnotism. Many of these so called "deliverance " ministers are no more than tricksters or magicians leaving "Gold dust" or "angel feathers" , testifying to "seeing" angels or even some testifying to having been to Hell and back. If Hell is eternal, you can't come back. Some even testify to having met the devil or demons....well.....the Bible says in the mouth of two or three witnesses let every word be established and if they are the only ones who saw it, I mean where are the other two or three witnesses? So we can call evil demons or Satan, if we want to but I think there is a lot of personification in the Bible that has been taken too literally. That with the added superstitions of the Dark Ages, multitude of concepts and made up bed-time tales and stories of Satan, hell and demons that turned the Church into darkness and superstition and bondage from which the church has yet to recover, A lot of prayer and the casting out of demons today is in my opinion superstition and has not even proven to be supernatural, and from what I have seen is mostly emotional and a work of the flesh. Manipulation, mind control, holding God over people's heads with fear of the boogey man. I am sorry that many say they have struggles with what they believe to be the devil. Which one is it? If it is "Satan" then how can he be where you are when he is bothering someone else at the same time? Many Christian's concept of Satan and they way they talk about "him" you'd think he is omnipresent like God. If there IS a Devil, he certainly can only be in one place at one time. I do believe there are evil spirits around of people who have died , but that they are not here long enough to know what they are doing, and they certainly are not organized into some intelligent army that carries out the strategy of their leader, infact, they can be conjured up by mediums, but they usually are pretty incoherent and don't really know what they are saying. I believe our struggle is not against spiritual entities, like General Prince of Persia, but the Bible makes it clear that our main battle is in our minds , battling with strongholds, dividing the word of truth, discerning right from wrong, good from evil, training up our children, and we also battle forgiving others, and loving others as ourselves. You can rebuke the devil a thousand times a day, and still have battles with the same thing, but you can make one strong and brave choice and decision to obey God's Word, and let the light in and the darkness will flee forever. Its the choices we make, not the devil that makes us do it. AS FOR THE BOOK OF JOB: I was just doing a personal study of Job trying to figure some of these things out myself, and the conclusion I came to is that if the whole book of Job is categorized as being in the poetry genre, that would make it also prohetic, and apocalyptic in genre too, symbolic, with many personifications. Even in our modern day poetry, the most famous poets have personified many things. Such was the case back then too, when man was just beginning to learn how to wrote things down for generations after generation to remember and not forget. The Holy Spirit definitely inspired it, and it is one of the most known but misunderstood books in the Bible too. Perhaps because of most people taking a literal approach to it in stead of a figurative approach, such as many also do with the book of Revelation. I found that taking a more figurative approach to the book of Job, where things don't really make literal sense, helps to understand the book on a deeper level, and get the lessons of faith, patience, salvation, etc, even better than trying to analyze why God is having a meeting with His angels and also why Satan was invited or allowed in there too. When you take these things on a more figurative plane, then it all begins to make more sense. In that case, evil would be personified in Satan. The tragedies that Job endured would be personified by calling them Satan. This could also be applied to every other place in the Bible that uses the word "Satan" which was never meant to be a name of a person, but somehow when they translated it into English, they capitalized it and personified it, and it caught on like wild fire, because it confirmed all of their superstitions and fears and concepts of the devil that they were taught dyring the Dark Ages by the CAtholic church, who got them from Pagan religions. As far as the serpent in the Garden, that's another subject I am approaching, and saying that it was not Satan, nor maybe it wasn't even a real serpent, unless all the animals talked at that time. The serpent was also personifying evil, temptaion, lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. Remember, even before the fall, Eve was having these thoughts and temptations herself even without any help from a "serpent" being. It shows us also what these sins of lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes and pride of life are characterized as in the spirit. The nature of a serpent is to be crafty and sly, hiding from its prey, then, mercilessly attacking at lightning speed before the prey knows what is happening. This comes from the prey being totally unaware and decieved and ignorant of the serpent's devices. Isn't that a lot like evil and sin? It attacks us in our minds first, then appeals to our flesh, intellect, tempts us when we are not even aware of what is happening, and this is why the Word says to take the whole armor of God , including the sheild of faith to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked, or evil. Devil is "evil " with "D" in front of it. Cut off the "e" and put it at the end and you have "vile"Take the "v" out and you have "ill"and in the end you get "hell", whihc is another whole subject in itself. BY the way I don't beleive hell is a place of eternal torment for anyone, if it even exists at all.Its the "grave" in the OT and NT. All the Best, CHarlie

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