Satan – just who or what is he?

Introduction
The subject of Satan or the Devil is one that I feel particularly involved with. After being raised as a Baptist, where Satan was acknowledged but not really discussed much, I studied for two years with the Jehovah’s Witnesses, where the concept of Satan was central to their beliefs. I have since talked to others, particularly Evangelicals, where the belief is equally strong.

The basis for the belief is easy to follow. For those of us who believe the Bible is the inspired word of God and believe that it should be taken literally, it is simple. The Bible appears to talk about Satan as an evil being, so why would we not believe he exists? Even those of us who accept the Bible as factual and literal also accept the fact that imagery exists. Jesus is not really a lamb and Israel is not really a fig tree, to take two simple examples. The skill is then to be able to discern when symbolism is intended and when we can take things literally. Also, we have to acknowledge the possibility of editorial/translator bias being a possible factor.

Setting the scene

It is always a useful part of getting things into context, if we examine some statistics. The word “satan” occurs 55 times in 49 verses in the KJV. It occurs 19 times in 15 verses in The Old Testament. In the King James Version, 11 of them are in the first 2 chapters of the Book of Job. The 36 mentions in the New Testament are more spread out, although a quarter of them appear in the Book of Revelation.

The phrase “the Devil” occurs 44 times in the Bible – all of them in the New Testament. This begs the question why the devil/satan is mentioned so much in the New Testament and so little in the Old? We will consider this in due course

Language

Now we need to consider the words themselves. We see things in print with a capital letter and we know them to be a name, ie Jerusalem is the name of a city, Peter was an Apostle. Therefore, why isn’t Satan a proper name? It certainly looks like one!
To get an answer to this, we need to dip our toes in the Greek and Hebrew in which the Bible was originally written.
The word “satan” is a Hebrew word that occurs 27 times and means “adversary” – one who opposes you. 7 times it is translated as “adversary”, once it is translated “withstand” and 19 times it is left untranslated and turned into a name. In Greek, we find basically the same word – “satanas”, meaning accuser or adversary, which has
been left untranslated.
A similar situation exists for “devil”, As we mentioned previously, the word only exists in the Greek New Testament and is the word “diabolos”, meaning “false accuser” or “slanderer”. Once again, the translators chose to leave it untranslated and turn it into a proper name.
My suggestion is that the translators, despite their best efforts at accuracy, were nevertheless swayed by the creeds and beliefs prevailing at the time. Many world religions have the common theme of good versus evil. The idea of an “evil force” has therefore found its way into the doctrines of the medieval church, perhaps even before.

Personification

We also need to consider when the Bible is assigning human characteristics to things which are not actually alive, let alone human. Here is one example:
The waters saw thee, O God, the waters saw thee; they were afraid: the depths also were troubled.(Psalm 77:16 KJV)
Now admittedly, in some prophecy, the mass of humanity may be portrayed as the “sea and the waves roaring” (Luke 21:25). But the Psalm is not a prophecy but a song of praise for God’s mercy and Israel’s redemption. The Psalmist is using “personification”, or assign human characteristics to a non human – in this case water.
“Wisdom calls aloud in the street, she raises her voice in the public squares”;
Several times in the Book of Proverbs, Wisdom is portrayed as a woman who is passionately pleading with people to be wise and not to live as fools who will receive the consequence of their foolish actions. ( Proverbs 1:20. See also Proverbs 3:13-15, Proverbs 9:1)

Riches, or wealth is also personified:
“No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other: or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon” (Matthew 6:24).
Here we see Wealth (mammon) personified as a “master”.
Death is personified
“Behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death” (Rev.6:8).
The nations of Israel and Judah are also personified as women (Lamentations 1:1-7,Ezekiel 23:1-4, etc)
The “church” or believers are collectively personified as Christ’s Bride:
[Rev 19:7 NASB] 7 “Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready.”
[Rev 21:9 NASB] 9 Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and spoke with me, saying, “Come here, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.”
If you read around these verses, you will find that Jesus is the Lamb of God and his church is personified as the “Bride”.
Sin is also personified in the Bible and this is where it becomes relevant for our consideration of satan.
Consider this verse .
[1Pe 5:8 NASB] 8 “Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”
Compare it with this verse:
[Gen 4:7 NASB] 7 “If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it.“
We can see from these verses that the thing that is prowling around or crouching at our door is Sin and that is also personified as the devil.
“...Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin” (John 8:34). “Sin hath reigned unto death” (Romans 5:21). “Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?” (Romans 6:16).
So we can see sin personified as a master or ruler who reigns and who expects obedience.

Old and New Testaments

We asked the question earlier why the Devil and Satan appear so little in the Old Testament and so much in the New.
There is a gap of approximately 400 years between the Testaments and Israel spent some of that time in captivity in Babylon.
In the Old Testament, if ill-fortune befell someone, they credited it to God. Even evil spirits were assumed to have emanated from God –
But the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD troubled him. [1Sa 16:14 KJV – see also verse 16, 1 Samuel 19:9, 1 Kings 22:23, 2 Chronicles 18:22]
Now this is a concept that does not fit well with current theological thinking, but we can’t ignore these verses just because they do not fit our understanding.
And the LORD repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people. [Exo 32:14 KJV]
Therefore it shall come to pass, [that] as all good things are come upon you, which the LORD your God promised you; so shall the LORD bring upon you all evil things, until he have destroyed you from off this good land which the LORD your God hath given you. [Jos 23:15 KJV]
Thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will raise up evil against thee out of thine own house, and I will take thy wives before thine eyes, and give [them] unto thy neighbour, and he shall lie with thy wives in the sight of this sun. [2Sa 12:11 KJV]
If we were in any doubt, this quotation from Isaiah sums it up:
I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these [things]. [Isa 45:7 KJV]
Of course, we are viewing “evil” from a human perspective, ie what seems evil to us. God uses it either to bring about a change in a person’s life or to bring about an event in His overall plan for Creation. So we generally look in vain in the Old Testament for the devil or satan being pictured in traditional church theology. The answer must be in what the Israelites learned or acquired when they were in exile in a pagan nation. However, before leaving the Old Testament, there is one book what we must address.

Job

People who know something of the Bible might well say – “what about the Book of Job then? Satan is mentioned loads of times!”. This is indeed true. Of the 19 mentions of “Satan” in the Old Testament, all but four of them are in the Book of Job.
So we cannot really ignore it, even if the book is not representative of the Old Testament as a whole.

Here is a brief synopsis:
Job was a prosperous and God-fearing man.

“Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them“.[Job 1:6 KJV]
This is an important verse. This “Satan” is among the “Sons of God” and they all present themselves before God. Nowhere does it say that Satan is an angel. That has been inferred. Neither does it say that the sons of God were in heaven. In fact, in
the next verse, “Satan” ways he has been wandering round the earth.
7 The LORD said to Satan, “From where do you come?” Then Satan
answered the LORD and said, “From roaming about on the earth and walking around on it.”
Next, we see that the satan does not have power of his own, but only what God gives him:
9 Then Satan answered the LORD, “Does Job fear God for nothing? … 11 “But put forth Your hand now and touch all that he has; he will surely curse You to Your face.” 12 Then the LORD said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your power, only do not put forth your hand on him.” So Satan departed from the presence of the LORD. [Job 1:7, 9, 11-12 NASB]
So various misfortunes are brought into Job’s life. Job was quite at a loss to understand why these things had happened to him, but who does Job hold responsible?
21 He said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, And naked I shall return there.The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away. Blessed be the name of the LORD.” 22 Through all this Job did not sin nor did he blame God. [Job 21-22 NASB]
Job does not blame a supernatural evil being, but rather he accepted that all the events were ultimately under God’s control. At the end of the book, this idea is repeated:
Then came there unto him all his brethren, and all his sisters, and all they that had been of his acquaintance before, and did eat bread with him in his house: and they bemoaned him, and comforted him over all the evil that the LORD had brought upon him: every man also gave him a piece of money, and every one an earring of gold. [Job 42:11 KJV]
Throughout the book, we can see that the adversary, whoever he may be, is under the control of God and limited in what he is allowed to do. This is not in harmony with the traditional view of “Satan”. All we can read from the book is that among the Sons of God, there was a dissenting voice, a questioning voice and God permitted Job to
be tested to prove his faithfulness.

Lucifer

One tradition holds that Lucifer is the devil’s name. This is taken from the King James version of the Bible – [Isa 14:12 KJV] 12 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! [how] art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!

On the face of it, we can see how it fits with the theory of the devil being an evil angel living in heaven. However, if you look at other translations of the Bible, you don’t see “Lucifer”. Instead, you will see “shining star”, “day star” or “morning star”, or “shining one”. It is another example of words being left untranslated and turned
into a proper name.
Nevertheless, can’t the “day star” be another name for satan? To answer that question, we need to look at context. In the previous chapter, verse 1 tells us that this is a prophecy concerning Babylon. This is confirmed in verse 19. The prophecy continues straight into chapter 14. Therefore, the context tells us that the morning
star (Lucifer) must refer to Babylon or perhaps specifically the king of Babylon.
We have further context in chapter 14, verse 16, where this shining star is called a man. In verse 19, his grave is mentioned and in verse 22, it again specifically mentions Babylon.

Here Be Dragons

“The serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.” (Revelation 12:9)
We cannot conceive of a literal war in heaven, the dwelling-place of God, any more than we can imagine evil angels being allowed to dwell there with God. The dragon is called the devil and satan – remembering that these are words for “deceiver” and “adversary”. It also associates this dragon with the “serpent of old”. People assume
that the serpent used to test Eve and Adam in the Garden is the one meant – although there is no mention of Eden. The serpent of old deceived the whole world; the serpent in the Garden deceived Eve. The whole world has been cursed through the actions of Eve, but the whole world has not been deceived. Is there another “serpent of old”? King Hoshea had to destroy one that Moses had made, because the Israelites began to worship it (2 Kings 18:4) and it was deceiving many, but we cannot be sure if this is what is meant.

Logic

This is one incident that many people will have heard of, even if they don’t realise it.
The phrase “get thee behind me, Satan” has passed into everyday speech, used when people feel tempted.
[Mar 8:33 NASB] 33 But turning around and seeing His disciples, He rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind Me, Satan; for you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s.”
Did Jesus really think that Peter was Satan or had been possessed by Satan? This seems very unlikely. The choice for Peter was not between God’s interests and Satans’ interests, but between God’s interests and Man’s interests. Peter, in trying to divert Jesus away from the course of action he needed to take, was being an
“adversary” and if we remember, that is what “Satan” means.
Many believe that there is literally be a war in heaven, sometime in the future and Satan will be thrown out. It therefore assumes that until that time, Satan, the Prince of Evil, is roaming around God’s dwelling place causing all sort of mischief. That is their interpretation of the book of Job as well (even though heaven is not mentioned).
Is that logical?
When Jesus taught his disciples to pray, he included “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven”. If “Satan” was truly roaming about in heaven, then God’s will wasn’t being done there. In addition, Jesus was telling his disciples to pray for the same turn of events on earth as well!

God’s Helper

Now the traditional consensus is that “Satan” is the embodiment of evil and in total opposition to God. “He” is trying to gain “souls” to roast in hell by tricking them and leading them away. Is that what the Bible says? Consider this account:
[Mat 4:1 NASB] 1 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.
Is the traditional understanding that “the Spirit” (ie God) would knowingly hand over His son to His arch enemy, so that Jesus would be tempted? Does this make sense?
Here is another occurrence:
[1Co 5:5 NASB] 5 I have decided to deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of his flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.
So this verse is saying that “Satan” is actually going to help to save this person’s spirit. And here is another example:
[1Ti 1:20 NASB] 20 Among these are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan, so that they will be taught not to blaspheme.
So “Satan”, the epitome of evil is teaching failing Christians how to behave correctly!
Does this sound right? Here is yet another:
[2Co 12:7 NASB] 7 Because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me–to keep me from exalting myself!
In this instance, “Satan” is again being very helpful towards a Christian in helping Paul not to be conceited.
So here we have four occasions where “Satan” is actually helping Christians. We are therefore struggling to see how this fits with the traditional view or “Satan” being the enemy of Christians!

Don’t Blame Him!

It is easy to see why the concept of “Satan” is so appealing. It means we have someone else to blame for our shortcomings. It wasn’t me! Satan made me do it!.
This is something that humankind has sought from the earliest times. Adam blamed Eve (and God – because he said “that woman you gave me caused me to sin”) and Eve blamed the serpent. Neither of them would face up to their own failures. But if “Satan” is responsible for all the evil in the world, shouldn’t we blame him? What did
Jesus say?
20 And He was saying, “That which proceeds out of the man, that is what defiles the man. 21 “For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, 22 deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride and foolishness. 23 “All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man.” [Mark 7:20-23 NASB]

We cannot blame an outside influence (at least not a supernatural one) for this list of evil thoughts and deeds – all of them come from within us, from our own sinful human natures.
Paul writes about the struggle between his spiritual and carnal nature in Romans chapter 17, from verse 14 onwards. It is worth reading the whole section, but here is a sampler:
[Rom 7:15-17 NASB] 15 For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate. 16 But if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the Law, confessing that the Law is good. 17 So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me.”
As we can see, Paul clearly blames his carnal, human, sinful nature – not some outside source of evil.

So just who (or what) is “Satan”?

Although it would be easy to assign everything to this evil supernatural being, we have already seen that this does not fit all the facts. I think it is also true to say that there is not a single explanation that will fit all the occurrences, therefore we must be guided by the context of each reference.
In the case of Peter, for example, he was a human adversary, pure and simple. In the case of Paul and his “Messenger from Satan” would that not most likely be from God? Those who are being “handed over to Satan” would, I imagine be placed outside the church, into the world, which was adversarial towards believers. Who was Jesus tempted by in the wilderness? As we know that the testing of Jesus was set up by God, through His spirit. It is therefore likely that an adversary was also arranged, however, we might have an issue with a human adversary taking Jesus to the pinnacle of the temple. The other, equally valid interpretation is Jesus was
battling with his human nature, coming to terms with the great powers he had just been given.
Whilst there is evidence for pagan ideas creeping into Christianity, it is also likely that our human nature finds it hard to accept that Our Father brings about events that to our human eye appear evil. But there is no supernatural being other than God Himself. Whether He is permitting humans to do evil, or sending an angel or doing it
directly, all things ultimately come from God. God has created darkness as well as light.
[Isaiah 45:7 KJV] 7 I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these [things].

I hope you have found this article useful. If you have questions or disagree with anything written here, please email me and let me know at biblestudy@gmx.com!