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Page 1 of 10  Have you ever been tempted to do something that you know you shouldn't do? Have you ever experienced an inner desire — a silent voice within you — suggesting that you do something, and that no one will ever know? What prompts us to have these feelings, or to do things that we somehow know that we shouldn't do?
The devil, or Satan, is usually the one who gets the blame. There are many people that live in constant fear of the devil, and there are many people that are convinced that there is no such thing as a devil. Others are unconcerned whether or not there is a devil — their life is such that even if there was a devil, the devil would be of no concern to them.
The apparent invisibility of the devil is of little importance to those who believe that he exists. They refer to the Bible, which refers frequently to devils, demons, and even provides names for some of the demons: Satan, Lucifer, Beelzebub, Belial, Abaddon, Apollyon. The character of the devil is described frequently:
- the tempter (Matthew 4:3, 1 Thessalonions 3:5)
- the evil one (Matthew 13:28, 39)
- a murderer (John 8:44)
- a liar (John 8:44)
- the father of lies (John 8:44)
- the god of this world (2 Corinthians 4:4)
- prince of the power of the air (Ephesians 2:2)
- the adversary (1 Peter 5:8)
- the deceiver of the whole world (Revelation 12:9)
- the great dragon (Revelation 12:9)
- the ancient serpent (Revelation 12:9)
- the accuser of our brethren (Revelation 12:10)
And yet, despite these impressive references to the devil, the Bible appears to fall short in explanation with respect to several fundamental aspects:
- The Bible nowhere explains Satan's origins.
- The Bible nowhere explains why such a powerful force of evil is allowed to exist.
- The Bible is almost silent about devils in the Old Testament.
These shortcomings are by no means insignificant. A fundamental question that must be answered is if God is a supreme, all-powerful God, why does He allow a being as powerful as Satan to co-exist with Him? Why would He allow Satan to lead mankind towards chaos, if His own intention was to offer salvation to all mankind? If Satan is a fallen angel, why was he allowed to continue living, and rather not destroyed as were later people who deliberately rebelled against the Almighty God? Why should God allow a rebellious Satan to have a free hand over His creation for thousands of years, and then destroy him at the last time, as asserted by many Christian believers?
These are some of the aspects that must be capable of reasonable explanation if the Bible is the Word of God, and if we are prepared to consider exactly what the Bible does say about the devil and his angels.
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Comments
I feel that your reading of my article has been superficial, for I have not ‘tried to destroy Satan’. Satan is as real as both you and I. What I have revealed from the Bible is his true identity. Jesus confirmed my conclusions that the devil -- or Satan – is none other than that sinful nature that dwells within each one of us because of Adam & Eve’s sin. Read Jesus’ words from Mark’s Gospel:
“And when he had called all the people unto him, he said unto them, Hearken unto me every one of you, and understand:
There is nothing from without a man, that entering into him can defile him: but the things which come out of him, those are they that defile the man." (Mark 7:14,15)
"What comes out of a person is what defiles him.
For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery,
coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness.
All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person." (Mark 7:20–23)
Evil doesn’t come from a separate devil or Satan, but from within each of us.
The traditional understanding of Satan makes an all-powerful God to be wholly ineffective, because He allows Satan more power than He possesses Himself! One of the repeated themes of the Old Testament is God’s destroying of nations that rebelled against Him. Yet you would have him allowing Satan to escape the death penalty and allow him to continue to rebel against God forever! Where’s the logic?
Your examples are the result of misdirected thought. Where, for example, in the episode in Genesis 6 to which you refer, does it “clearly state” angels or the devil or Satan? Where does it even state that “angels mated with the son of man”? It simply doesn’t! Just read for yourself what it actually says! A clue to its meaning is given by Jesus when he identifies his followers as “sons of God”:
"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.” (Matthew 5:9)
“But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian,
for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.” (Galatians 3: 25,26 ESV)
Are believers in Jesus therefore sons of Satan?
The Beast is identified with she that lives on “seven mountains” (Revelation 17:9). Again, there is no mention of devils or Satan. Nor is there any connection with Satan concerning the “Antichrist”.
I don’t doubt that you have expressed sincere thoughts, but they are not thoughts from Scripture.
Why did God create us in an imperfect way, with "Satan" inside all of us?
If the answer is he didn't create us this way, we brought it down on ourselves with original sin, why did we sin in the first place? Also, if it is human nature to sin then how do we have free will?
Thank you for your time
Hi Lux,
Thanks for your question and an opportunity to provide an answer. It is difficult in an article to anticipate answers for every aspect.
When God created Adam and Eve, they were described as “very good” (Gen. 1:31). At that stage they had not sinned. It was only after they had sinned (by eating of a tree that God had told them to keep away from (Gen. 2:17)) that their nature was changed. And this changed (and degenerative) nature is passed on to the next generation, ad infinitum…. So your assumption that we were not created that way is correct.
Had we not been created with freewill then we would have been severely limited in life. We would not have the facility of choice, to choose how we would spend our time, or select an avenue for employment, etc. We are human and have many abilities beyond that of animals—freedom of choice is one of them. We would have been little better than zombies if we didn’t have freewill!
So why did Adam and Eve sin? Because they were convinced that there was an alternative way of life that didn’t necessitate being obedient to God. And let’s face it: the same challenge is before every one of us every day! We can believe God and follow His word; or be like Adam & Eve and think we know of a better way. One path leads to Life, and the other to Death.
Don’t confuse our human nature and freewill—they are independent facets of life. Having freewill didn’t necessitate Adam sinning—it only made it possible.
Jason Young
Hi Sarai,
Firstly we should try and understand the viewpoint that Jesus himself had in respect to temptation.
Read Jesus’ words from Mark’s Gospel:
“And when he had called all the people unto him, he said unto them, Hearken unto me every one of you, and understand:
There is nothing from without a man, that entering into him can defile him: but the things which come out of him, those are they that defile the man." (Mark 7:14,15)
"What comes out of a person is what defiles him.
For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness.
All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person." (Mark 7:20–23)
Evil doesn’t come from a separate devil or Satan, but from within each of us.
In the case of Jesus, his wilderness temptation followed on immediately from his baptism.
“ At that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan.
As Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove.
And a voice came from heaven: "You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased."
At once the Spirit sent him out into the desert, and he was in the desert forty days, being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and angels attended him.” (Mark 1:9 –13)
The writer to the Hebrew believers wrote:
“For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are--yet was without sin.”
We are tempted from within, as Jesus himself stated, and his temptation was no different. Having just received the Holy Spirit power at his baptism, it is understandable that he must wrestle with the thought of unlimited power now available to him. The temptations he had were temptations of the mind—on the fortieth day he did not literally go to the Jerusalem temple, or ascend “a high mountain” accompanied by the devil, or ‘satan’. These scenarios were formed in his mind.
James, who was Jesus’ brother, wrote some important words on the subject of temptation, probably with his brother’s experience in mind:
“Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.
When tempted, no one should say, "God is tempting me." For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed.
Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.
Don't be deceived, my dear brothers.” (James 1:9–16)
Temptation is wholly derived inside us (though an initial suggestion may be planted by an outside person). Having wrong thoughts is a result of human nature. But allowing those thoughts to progress further is sin. Jesus had human thoughts (and a perfect knowledge of Scripture from which human thinking might apparently ‘justify’ such human thought), but he immediately rejected them by quoting some more relevant passages to counter such a misuse of Scripture.
God had promised the whole world to Jesus (see Genesis 15:1–21, etc), and Jesus would have been aware of it. A superhuman ‘Satan’ did not have that ability to convince Jesus of his credibility in this direction.
The word ‘satan’ is a Hebrew term, and merely means ‘an accuser, an adversary’. In the wilderness experience of Jesus, the adversary was his own natural human thoughts that he had to conquer. It is no wonder that there were angels with him at the end, to provide encouragement following his victory over fleshly thinking.
It is to be noted that the angels were not involved with shooing away ‘satan’ or capturing ‘him’ before he left the scene—the wilderness was empty except for Jesus and the wild animals (Mark 1:13)
It is also very relevant to note how Luke closes the scenario record:
“When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time.” (Luke 4:13)
So when did ‘Satan’ return to visit Jesus? All four Gospel records reveal a blank in this respect, if we are reckoning on a supernatural Being labelled ‘Satan’. But Jesus’ conscience, or his fleshly thinking did crop up again, when thoughts arose contrary to His Father’s plan.
“When He came to the place, He said to them, "Pray that you may not enter into temptation."
And He was withdrawn from them about a stone's throw, and He knelt down and prayed, saying, "Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done."
Then an angel appeared to Him from heaven, strengthening Him. And being in agony, He prayed more earnestly. Then His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.
When He rose up from prayer, and had come to His disciples, He found them sleeping from sorrow. Then He said to them, "Why do you sleep? Rise and pray, lest you enter into temptation."
And while He was still speaking, behold, a multitude; and he who was called Judas, one of the twelve, went before them and drew near to Jesus to kiss Him. (Luke 22:40–47)
Read also the parallel passage from Matthew’s Gospel (Matt. 26:37–46).
This situation, at the close of his ministry was virtually a repeat of his experience at the start of his ministry. No-one would argue that this last temptation was a work of a supernatural Satan. Likewise for that first temptation in the wilderness.
Jason Young
Jason Young
Jason, I was hanging in there until that last paragraph above. Maybe it is just the way I am reading it but it seems to state that their is a "supernatural satan". Specifically the next to the last sentence. So in reading your answer to the temptation question, their seems to be a contradiction there at the end. Please clarify that for me. Thanks
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