The Way You See Satan Reflects the Way You See God

As I thought about today’s post, I noticed the calendar and decided to search my notes files in relation to it. One article I ran across comes from the Biblical Archaeological Review, a journal I once took as a paper subscription. I gave it up as I found less time to read than before and I lost motivation to pay for the steady stream of liberal theology it contains. Nevertheless, the archaeology is interesting, and they will send out free articles to promote their business, so I take that.

A piece BAR sent out in May might call for our attention today. It’s topic: Who Is Satan? You may consult any competent theology text to get a good survey of the topic from a Biblical perspective. I found it interesting (but not surprising) to see the way the author addressed the topic. If you take the time to read through the article, you probably will detect what I mean readily enough, but I’ll give a brief synopsis here:

• The author, John Gregory Drummond, takes a fragmentary and progressive view of the Bible. That is, the Bible is an artifact that shows the development of religion among a certain group of Jewish writers who held to a common thread of religion, but the religious view of the final writers are developed from the more limited view of earlier writers. It is a humanistic and evolutionary approach to the Bible.
• In Drummond’s view, Satan appears, first, not as God’s enemy, but as a prosecuting attorney in God’s court, fulfilling the function of calling out the wickedness of various men (this is supposed to be the way he appears in Job and Zechariah).
• He suggests that Satan takes on a more sinister role after the Jews encounter the “cosmic dualism of Persian religion” during the Babylonian exile.
• By the first century, he says the Jews saw Satan as the leader of the forces of darkness against the force of light. This “development” owed itself to both Persian and now Greek influence. And it is only in this period that Satan is seen as “the talking serpent” of Genesis.
• Jesus, according to Drummond, saw Satan as the “strong man” to be bound so his disciples could experience spiritual freedom. He claims this is the general view of the New Testament.
• He concludes by suggesting the final developments in Church history: “Over the course of several centuries of influence from many different cultures, the defeated Accuser of the Christians would go on to appropriate aspects of various divine enemies (Typhon, Hades, Ahriman, Hela, to name but a few) to become the complex mythological monster that was thrown out of heaven at the beginning of time to rule the fiery underworld and torment the souls of the damned. Such a character makes for great movies and Halloween costumes, but would have been virtually unknown to anyone in Biblical times.”

Well, I can hardly bear to read all that unbelief; much less recap it here for you. I am always astonished at the amount of energy some unbelievers put into Biblical studies. As you read them, you can see bits of the Bible in the background, but they get so much wrong (because of unbelieving presuppositions) that what little truth might be in such pieces has no real value at all.

By contrast, turn to any believing writer who addresses a topic like this. You will see a marked contrast. Here are some examples:

Charles Hodge: “The Scriptures inform us that certain of the angels kept not their first estate. They are spoken of as the angels that sinned. They are called evil, or unclean spirits; principalities; powers; rulers of this world; and spiritual wickednesses (i.e., wicked spirits) in high places. The most common designation given to them is δαίμονες, or more commonly δαιμόνια, which our translators unfortunately render devils. The Scriptures make a distinction between διάβολος and δαίμων, which is not observed in the English version. In the spiritual world there is only one διάβολος (devil), but there are many δαιμόνια (demons). These evil spirits are represented as belonging to the same order of beings as the good angels. All the names and titles, expressive of their nature and powers, given to the one are also given to the others. Their original condition was holy. When they fell or what was the nature of their sin is not revealed. The general opinion is that it was pride, founded on 1 Tim. 3:6. A bishop, the Apostle says, must not be “a novice, lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil;” which is commonly understood to mean the condemnation which the devil incurred for the same sin. Some have conjectured that Satan was moved to rebel against God and to seduce our race from its allegiance, by the desire to rule over our globe and the race of man. Of this, however, there is no intimation in Scripture. His first appearance in the sacred history is in the character of an apostate angel. That there is one fallen angel exalted in rank and power above all his associates is clearly taught in the Bible. He is called Satan (the adversary), διάβολος, the traducer, ὁ πονηρός, the evil one; the prince of the power of the air; the prince of darkness; the God of this world; Beelzebub; Belial; the tempter; the old serpent; and the dragon. These, and similar titles set him forth as the great enemy of God and man, the opposer of all that is good and the promoter of all that is evil. He is so constantly represented as a personal being, that the rationalistic notion that he is only a personification of evil, is irreconcilable with the authority of Scripture and inconsistent with the faith of the Church. The opinion that the doctrine of Satan was introduced among the Hebrews after the Exile, and from a heathen source, is no less contrary to the plain teachings of the Bible. He is represented as the tempter of our first parents, and is distinctly mentioned in the book of Job written long before the Babylonish captivity. Besides this representation of Satan in general terms as the enemy of God, he is specially set forth in Scripture, as the head of the kingdom of darkness, which embraces all evil beings.”¹

J. I. Packer: “Satan, leader of the fallen angels, comes like them into full view only in the New Testament. His name means ‘adversary’ (opponent of God and his people), and the Old Testament introduces him as such (1 Chron. 21:1; Job 1–2; Zech. 3:1–2). The New Testament gives him revealing titles: ‘devil’ (diabolos) means accuser (i.e., of God’s people: Rev. 12:9–10); ‘Apollyon’ (Rev. 9:11) means destroyer; ‘the tempter’ (Matt. 4:3; 1 Thess. 3:5) and ‘the evil one’ (1 John 5:18–19) mean what they say; ‘prince’ and ‘god of this world’ point to Satan as presiding over mankind’s anti-God life-styles (John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11; 2 Cor. 4:4; cf. Eph. 2:2; 1 John 5:19; Rev. 12:9). Jesus said that Satan was always a murderer and is the father of lies—that is, he is both the original liar and the sponsor of all subsequent falsehood and deceits (John 8:44). Finally, he is identified as the serpent who fooled Eve in Eden (Rev. 12:9; 20:2). The picture is one of unimaginable meanness, malice, fury, and cruelty directed against God, against God’s truth, and against those to whom God has extended his saving love.”²

Sam Emadi: “According to Scripture, Satan was a particularly powerful and high-ranking angel who led one third of the angelic host to rebel against God (Eph 2:2; Rev 12:1–12). Satan is a Hebrew word that means ‘adversary’ (שָׂטָן). Scripture also refers to Satan as ‘the devil’ (Matt 4:1, 5; Lk 4:2, 3; Eph 6:11), ‘the serpent’ (Gen 3:1; 2 Cor 11:3; Rev 20:2), ‘the great dragon’ (Rev 12:9; cf Rev 20:2), ‘the prince of the power of the air’ (Eph 2:2), ‘the god of this age’ (2 Cor 4:4), ‘the evil one’ (Matt 13:19, 38; Jn 17:15; Eph 6:16), ‘the prince of demons’ (Matt 9:34; 12:24; Mk 3:22; Lk 11:15), ‘the accuser’ (Rev 12:10), and ‘the tempter’ (Matt 4:3; 1 Thess 3:5). Like the other angels and demons, Satan is an invisible being who is highly intelligent and very powerful.”³

These are three examples. You can easily find more. In particular I want you to notice what these writers have in common:

· They have a “holistic” view of the Bible. Every part of the Bible informs the whole doctrine. The earlier books are not “undeveloped” views of “primitive religion,” rather they are parts of a unified whole.

· They do not impose a fragmented view of theology where NT writers, at a later date, couple together the ancient “Satan tradition” with the Genesis “serpent tradition.” The various parts of Biblical revelation together form the true portrait.

· Underlying the writing of each author is a fundamental belief that the Bible is the product of the Holy Spirit, using various human writers at various times and circumstances to communicate the whole truth of God’s revelation. In other words, there is living faith here.

Now the last thing I want you to think about is this: I have profound theological disagreements with at least two of my believing authors cited above. Both Hodge and Packer stand for interpretations in some areas of theology where I take a different view.⁴ The key thing to notice is that Christians, though there may be disagreement on interpretations, always agree on the fundamentals. That is what makes them Christians. That’s why we can read works by men like this and find food for our souls in spite of disagreements.

I gave this article this title: “The Way You See Satan Reflects the Way You See God.” You can tell when writers view God correctly – they view all Biblical topics correctly, even the topic of Satan.

We can find specialized information that is useful for Bible study in the works of liberals, but there is nothing for faith in their writing. Consequently, we have to exercise care in their reading, far more care than we need when we read real Christians. In addition, I think we should spend most of our theological study in the works of real believers rather than afflict our souls sifting through the writings of men who don’t believe the Bible they write about.

Praise the Lord, on this day, or any day, we can know what we need to know about Satan by taking the whole testimony of the Bible as our authority. We can understand Satan’s nature, gain insight into his wiles, and call on the God of heaven to keep us from being tripped up by his devices.

Don Johnson is the pastor of Grace Baptist Church of Victoria, Victoria, BC, Canada.

1. Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology, vol. 1 (Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1997), 643–44. [↩]
2. J. I Packer, Concise Theology : A Guide to Historic Christian Beliefs (Wheaton, Ill.: Tyndale House, 1995), 69. [↩]
3. Sam Emadi, “Satan” in Mark Ward et al., eds., Lexham Survey of Theology (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2018). [↩]
4. I don’t know about Sam Emadi, I am sure if we checked we would find some way of seeing things differently. [↩]