Reading: Satan written by Louis Matthews Sweet

A created but superhuman, personal, evil, world-power, represented in Scripture as the adversary both of God and people.

I. Scriptural Facts concerning Satan.

1. Names of Satan:

The word "Satan" (meaning "adversary" or "accuser") is used 17 times in the Old Testament (1 Chronicles 21:1; Job 1:6-9,12; Job 2:1-7; Zechariah 3:1,2) and 35 times in the New Testament (four times in Matthew, six times in Mark, five times in Luke, once in John, twice in Acts, once in Romans, five times in Corinthians, twice in Thessalonians, twice in 1 Timothy, and seven times in Revelation). The word "devil" occurs 33 times in the New Testament. We can note (in the Old Testament and the New Testament) in the term "Satan" (and Devil) the growth of a word from a general term to a proper name. All the other names of Satan save only these two are descriptive titles. In addition to these two principal names a number of others deserve specific enumeration. Tempter (Matthew 4:3; 1 Thessalonians 3:5); Beelzebul/Beelzebub (Matthew 10:25,12:24, 12:27; Mark 3:22; Luke 11:15,18,19); Enemy (Matthew 13:39; Luke 10:19); Evil One (Matthew 13:19,38; John 17:15; Ephesians 6:16; 2 Thessalonians 3:3; 1 John 2:13,14; 3:12; 5:18,19); Belial (2 Corinthians 6:15); Adversary (antidikos) (1 Peter 5:8); Deceiver (literally "the one who deceives") (2 John 1:7; Revelation 12:9); Dragon (Great) (Revelation 12:3,4,7,9,13,16,17; 13:2,4,11; 16:13; 20:2); Father of Lies (John 8:44); Murderer (John 8:44) -- these are isolated references. In the vast majority of passages either Satan or Devil is used.

2. Character of Satan:

Satan is consistently represented in the New Testament as the enemy both of God and people. Satan is the enemy of man and active in misleading and cursing humanity because of his intense hatred and opposition to God. Matthew 13:37-39 points in this direction. Satan is jealous of and hates all people. He is in antagonism to God and, consequently, to goodness. The fundamental moral description of Satan is given by our Lord when He describes Satan as the "evil one" (Matthew 13:19,38; compare Isaiah's description of Yahweh as the "Holy One" in Isaiah 1:4 and often); that is, the one whose nature and will are given to evil. It is evident that this description could not be applied to Satan as originally created. We are not told in definite terms how Satan became the evil one, but certainly it could be by no other process than a fall (Luke 10:18), whereby, in the mystery of free will, an evil will takes the place of a good one.

3. Works of Satan:

The world-wide and age-long works of Satan are to be traced to one predominant motive. He hates both God and people and does all that is in him to defeat God's plan of grace and to establish and maintain a kingdom of evil, in the seduction and ruin of mankind. In the controversy with His opponents concerning exorcism (Mark 3:22-27 and parallels) our Lord rebuts their slanderous assertion that He is in league with Satan by the simple proposition that Satan does not work against himself. In Luke 13:16 our Lord speaks of the woman who was bowed over as one "whom Satan bound for eighteen years," and that in 2 Corinthians 12:7 Paul speaks of his infirmity as a "messenger of Satan sent to buffet him." Paul also speaks in 1 Thessalonians 2:18 of Satan's hindering him from visiting the church at Thessalonica. A careful study of these related passages (together with the prologue of Job) reveals the fact that Satan's direct agency in the physical world is still under the sovereign control of God and that the power of Christ is more powerful than Satan. It is evident that Satan's power consists principally in his ability to deceive. It is interesting and characteristic that according to the Bible Satan is fundamentally a liar and his kingdom is a kingdom founded upon lies and deceit (John 8:44).

Now it would seem that to make Satan pre-eminently the deceiver would make man an innocent victim and thus relax the moral issue. But according to the Bible a person is particeps criminis in the process of his own deception. He is deceived only because he ceases to love the truth and comes first to love and then to believe a lie (Romans 1:18-32). This really goes to the very bottom of the problem of temptation. Men are not always tempted by evil, per se, but sometimes by a good which can be obtained only at the cost of doing wrong. The whole power of sin, at least in its beginnings, consists in the sway of the fundamental falsehood that any good is really attainable by wrongdoing. Since temptation consists in this attack upon the moral sense, man is constitutionally guarded against deceit, and is morally culpable in allowing himself to be deceived. The temptation of our Lord Himself throws the clearest possible light upon the methods ascribed to Satan and the temptation was addressed to Christ's consciousness of divine Sonship; it was a deceitful attack emphasizing the good, minimizing or covering up the evil; indeed, twisting evil into good. It was a deliberate, malignant attempt to obscure the truth and induce to evil through the acceptance of falsehood. The attack broke against a loyalty to truth which made self-deceit, and consequently deceit from without, impossible. The lie was punctured by the truth and the temptation lost its power. This incident reveals one of the methods of Satan--by immediate suggestion as in the case of Judas and Peter (Luke 22:3; John 13:2,27; Matthew 16:23; Mark 8:33). Sometimes, however, and, perhaps, most frequently, Satan's devices (2 Corinthians 2:10,11) include human agents. Those who are given over to evil and who persuade others to evil are children and servants of Satan (See Luke 4:5-8; John 6:70; John 8:44; Acts 13:8-10; 1 John 3:8). Satan also works through persons and institutions supposed to be on the side of right but really evil. Here the same ever-present and active falseness and deceit are exhibited. When he is called "the god of this world" (2 Corinthians 4:4) it would seem to be intimated that he has the power to clothe himself in apparently divine attributes. He also makes himself an angel of light by presenting advocates of falsehood in the guise of apostles of truth (2 Corinthians 11:13-15; 1 John 4:1; 2 Thessalonians 2:9,10; Revelation 12:7-12; 19:20). In the combination of passages here brought together, it is clearly indicated that Satan is the instigator and fomenter of that spirit of lawlessness which exhibits itself as hatred both of truth and right, and which has operated so widely and so disastrously in human life.

4. History of Satan:

The history of Satan, including that phase of it which remains to be realized, can be set forth only along the most general lines. He belongs to the angelic order of beings. He is by nature one of the sons of Elohim (Job 1:6). He has fallen, and by virtue of his personal forcefulness has become the leader of the anarchic forces of wickedness. As a free being he has merged his life in evil and has become altogether and hopelessly evil. As a being of high intelligence he has gained great power and has exercised a wide sway over other beings. As a created being the utmost range of his power lies within the compass of that which is permitted. It is, therefore, hedged in by the providential government of God and essentially limited. The Biblical emphasis upon the element of falsehood in the career of Satan might be taken to imply that his kingdom may be less in extent than appears. At any rate, it is confined to the cosmic sphere and to a limited portion of time. It is also doomed. In the closely related passages 2 Peter 2:4 and Jude 1:6, it is affirmed that God cast the angels, when they sinned, down and committed them to pits of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment. This both refers to the constant divine control of these insurgent forces and also points to their final and utter destruction. The putting of Satan in bonds is evidently both constant and progressive. The essential limitation of the empire of evil and its ultimate overthrow are foreshadowed in the book of Revelation.

According to John 12:31, our Lord in the crisis of temptation immediately following the baptism said, "Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out." In view of His approaching passion He says again in John 14:30, "..for the ruler of this world is coming. He has no claim on me." Once again in connection with the promised advent of the Spirit, Jesus asserted in John 16:11 that the Spirit would convict the world of judgment, "because the ruler of this world is judged." In Hebrews 2:14,15 it is said that Christ took upon Himself human nature in order "that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil." In 1 John 3:8 it is said, "The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil." In Revelation 12:9 it is asserted, in connection with Christ's ascension, that Satan was cast down to the earth and his angels with him. According to the passage immediately following (12:10-12), this casting down was not complete or final in the sense of extinguishing his activities altogether, but it involves the potential and certain triumph of God and His saints and the equally certain defeat of Satan. In 1 John 2:13 the young men are addressed as those who "have overcome the evil one." In Revelation 20 the field of the future is covered in the assertion that Satan is "bound a thousand years"; then loosed "for a little while," and then finally "thrown into the lake of fire."

A comparison of these passages will convince the careful student that while we cannot construct a definite chronological program for the career of Satan, we are clear in the chief points. He is limited, judged, condemned, imprisoned, reserved for judgment from the beginning. The outcome is certain though the process may be tedious and slow. The victory of Christ is the defeat of Satan; first, for Himself as Leader and Saviour of men (John 14:30,31); then, for believers (Luke 22:31; Acts 26:18; Romans 16:20; James 4:7; 1 John 2:13; 5:4,18); and, finally, for the whole world (Revelation 20:10). The work of Christ has already destroyed the empire of Satan.