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Do You Believe in a Devil? Where
to find out?
Nearly 100 years ago these lines were written (by an unknown author) to accompany a drawing of "His Satanic Majesty": "This
is he, with horns and hoof, Today most people no longer think of the devil like that. But there are still many people who believe that the devil exists, that he wields immense power for evil (some say he is a fallen angel) and is constantly trying to destroy the work of God among men and women. They think it is the devil that secretly whispers in your ear and tempts you to evil. Of course there are real
difficulties about accepting such an idea. If the devil
was a real angel to begin with, how ever did he come to
revolt against God? And why does God allow a supernatural
being to destroy His work in the earth? Where is the
devil now, anyway? And how can he really work? Now the Bible certainly does contain a number of allusions to the devil and Satan. And so to the Bible we turn. But let us get one thing clear right at the beginning: we must make every effort to understand what the Bible writers themselves meant by "devil" and "Satan". It is very easy for us, as we read Bible verses, to give to the terms devil and Satan the meaning which we prefer. And if that meaning is not the same as the Bible writer intended, then we are changing the true sense! 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. 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). 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." "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". 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. 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 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:
With this general
understanding of the meaning of "satan", we
should find a lot of Bible passages much clearer. 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. The third sentence contains three declarations:
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. 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) 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:
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. 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. 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).
"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. The personification is sometimes in a single individual. We have seen how Peter was "Satan". To the disciples Jesus said, "Have I not chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil?" (John 6:70). And that one was Judas who betrayed him. In this class comes the serpent in Eden, who suggested to Eve that what God had told her was not true. So "the serpent" becomes a symbol in the Bible for the power of sin. Sometimes a body of people, a government for example, could be referred to as the devil or Satan. There are two interesting examples of this in Revelation chapter 2. In his letter to the believers at Smyrna the Apostle John passes on the words of Jesus like this: "Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested . . . Be faithful unto death" (verse 10). This was written in the first century A.D., when the believers in Christ were suffering persecution, because of their faith, at the hands of the Roman pagan government. That was "the devil" which would put some of them in prison: fitly called "the devil" because it was an enemy to the servants of God. Or verse 13, in the Letter to Pergamum: "I know where you dwell, where Satan's throne is." So Satan reigned in Pergamum This one did certainly; no doubt it was the headquarters of the Roman government for that part of the province of Asia. Peter refers to the same time of persecution in these words: "Be sober, be watchful: your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. That he is indeed referring to the Christians being persecuted is clear from what he says next: "Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experience of suffering is required of your brotherhood throughout the world" (1 Peter 5:8-9). The Roman pagan government
was the devil here. When the disciples returned to Jesus, delighted because they had been able to cure diseases, he said to them: "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven" (Luke 10:18); that is, he foresaw the time to come when not just disease but all the power of sin and evil, summed up in the term "Satan", will be thrown down from its ruling position in the world; it will be "dethroned" and replaced by the power of God, when Christ returns to establish God's Kingdom in the earth. This, then, is the simple
key which unlocks the problem passages about the devil
and Satan: look for the source of it in the power of sin
shown in the desires, the weaknesses and the actions of
men; and the majority of passages will become plain. First, if the Bible is really teaching us that the devil and Satan stand in general for human sin in all its activities, then that is what God wants us to know. It is a truth revealed in His Word, the Bible, and we ought to want to understand it; we ought not to be content to be misled by false ideas common in the world. Second, the reason why God has expressed this truth in His Word is that it makes a great difference to us. Consider a moment: if we have the idea that our weaknesses and failures in the sight of God are due to the subtle influence of some supernatural evil spirit outside of ourselves, are we not going to be tempted to make excuses for ourselves? Shall we not be inclined to say, "Well, it wasn't my fault -- the devil tempted me . . ." Putting the blame for our
sin on to somebody else is something the Bible never
allows us to do. It is absolutely essential that we
should understand our natural state in the sight of God.
As the Apostle Paul put it so powerfully: "all have
sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23).
To understand the Bible teaching about the devil and
Satan is a great help in accepting this truth. Have we to fear a devil, then? Most surely we have -- but not the devil of popular belief. Our devil is inside ourselves, in our own hearts and minds. But once we understand that and accept it, we shall be able to rejoice in the great offer of life which God makes to us in His Word through the sacrifice of His Son. FRED PEARCE Reproduced by courtesy of the Christadelphian Magazine and Publishing Association by whom all rights are reserved. |
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