The Devil and Satan

God and Evil

Many sects of Christendom, along with many other religions, believe that there is a being or monster called the Devil or Satan who is the originator of the problems which are in the world and in our own lives, and who is responsible for the sin which we commit. The Scripture clearly teaches that God is all-powerful. We have seen in a previous article that Angels cannot sin. If we truly believe these things, then it is impossible that there is any supernatural being at work in this universe that is opposed to Almighty God. If we believe that such a being does exist, then surely we are questioning the supremacy of God Almighty. This issue is so important that the correct understanding of the devil and satan must be considered a vital doctrine. We are told in Hebrews 2:14, that Jesus destroyed the devil by his death; therefore unless we have a correct understanding of the devil, we cannot understand the work or nature of Jesus.

In the world generally, especially in the so-called 'Christian' world, there is the idea that the good things in life come from God and the bad things from the Devil or Satan. This is not a new idea; it is not even an idea only limited to apostate Christianity. The Babylonians, for example, believed there were two gods, a god of good and light, and a god of evil and darkness, and that those two were locked in mortal combat. Cyrus, the great King of Persia, believed just this. Therefore God told him, "I am the Lord, and there is none else, there is no God beside me...I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord do all these things" (Isaiah 45:5-7,22). God creates peace and He creates evil, or disaster, as is shown throughout scripture.

God: The Creator of Evil

The Scripture abounds with examples of God bringing "evil" into people's lives and into this world.

Deuteronomy 29:21, "And the LORD shall separate him unto evil out of all the tribes of Israel, according to all the curses of the covenant that are written in this book of the law:"

Joshua 23:15, "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."

1 Samuel 16:14, "But the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD troubled him."

1 Samuel 19:9, "And the evil spirit from the LORD was upon Saul, as he sat in his house with his javelin in his hand: and David played with his hand."

1 Samuel 25:39, "And when David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, Blessed be the LORD, that hath pleaded the cause of my reproach from the hand of Nabal, and hath kept his servant from evil: for the LORD hath returned the wickedness of Nabal upon his own head. And David sent and communed with Abigail, to take her to him to wife."

2 Samuel 12:11, "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."

2 Samuel 17:14, "And Absalom and all the men of Israel said, The counsel of Hushai the Archite is better than the counsel of Ahithophel. For the LORD had appointed to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel, to the intent that the LORD might bring evil upon Absalom."

1 Kings 9:9, "And they shall answer, Because they forsook the LORD their God, who brought forth their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and have taken hold upon other gods, and have worshipped them, and served them: therefore hath the LORD brought upon them all this evil."

1 Kings 21:21, "Behold, I will bring evil upon thee, and will take away thy posterity, and will cut off from Ahab him that pisseth against the wall, and him that is shut up and left in Israel,"

2 Kings 22:16, "Thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, and upon the inhabitants thereof, even all the words of the book which the king of Judah hath read:"

2 Chronicles 18:22, "Now therefore, behold, the LORD hath put a lying spirit in the mouth of these thy prophets, and the LORD hath spoken evil against thee."

2 Chronicles 34:24, "Thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, and upon the inhabitants thereof, even all the curses that are written in the book which they have read before the king of Judah:"

Proverbs 16:4, "The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil."

Isaiah 31:1-2, "Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help; and stay on horses, and trust in chariots, because they are many; and in horsemen, because they are very strong; but they look not unto the Holy One of Israel, neither seek the LORD! Yet he also is wise, and will bring evil, and will not call back his words: but will arise against the house of the evildoers, and against the help of them that work iniquity."

Jeremiah 32:42, "For thus saith the LORD; Like as I have brought all this great evil upon this people, so will I bring upon them all the good that I have promised them."

Ezekiel 5:15-16, "...I the LORD have spoken it. When I shall send upon them the evil arrows of famine, which shall be for their destruction, and which I will send to destroy you: and I will increase the famine upon you, and will break your staff of bread:"

Amos 3:6, "Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid? shall there be evil in a city, and the LORD hath not done it?"

Micah 1:12, "For the inhabitant of Maroth waited carefully for good: but evil came down from the LORD unto the gate of Jerusalem."

Micah 2:3, "Therefore thus saith the LORD; Behold, against this family do I devise an evil, from which ye shall not remove your necks; neither shall ye go haughtily: for this time is evil."

God is the author and creator of "evil" in this sense. In this sense there is a difference between "evil" and "sin," which is man's fault; sin entered the world as a result of man, not God (Romans 5:12).

God tells Cyrus and the people of Babylon that "there is no (other) God beside me". The Hebrew word 'el' translated "God" fundamentally means "strength, or source of power." God is saying that there is no source of power in existence apart from Him. This is the reason why a true believer in God cannot accept the idea of a supernatural devil or demons.

Amos 3:6 says that if there is evil in a city, God has done it. If, for example, there is an earthquake in a city, it is often felt that 'the devil' had designs on that city, and had brought about the calamity. But the true believer must understand that it is God who is responsible for this.

In the book of Job we read how Job, a righteous man, lost the things which he had in this life. The book teaches that the experience of 'evil' in someone's life is not directly proportional to their obedience or disobedience to God. Job recognized that "The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away" (Job 1:21). He does not say "The Lord gave and Satan took away." He commented to his wife: "Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not (also) receive evil?" (Job 2:10). Job said to his friends, "...the hand of God hath touched me" (Job 19:21). At the end of the book, Job's friends comforted him over "all the evil that the Lord had brought upon him" (Job 42:11). Thus God is the source of "evil" in the sense of being the ultimate permitter of the problems that we have in our lives.

Satan can be for our Spiritual Growth

Hebrews 12:6-11, "For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth...If ye endure chastening...afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby."

This shows that the trials which God gives us lead eventually to our spiritual growth. It is setting the word of God against itself to say that the devil is a being which forces us to sin and be unrighteous, whilst at the same time he supposedly brings problems into our lives which lead to our developing "the peaceable fruit of righteousness". The orthodox idea of the devil runs into serious problems here. Especially serious for it are passages like this:

1 Corinthians 5:5, "To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus."

2 Corinthians 12:7,10, "And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong."

1 Timothy 1:20, "Of whom is Hymenaeus and Alexander; whom I have delivered unto Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme."

If Satan is really a being bent on causing men to sin and having a negative spiritual effect upon people, why do these passages speak of 'Satan' in a positive light? The answer lies in the fact that an adversary, a "Satan" or difficulty in life, can often result in positive spiritual effects in a believer's life.

If we accept that evil comes from God, then we can pray to God to do something about the problems which we have (e.g. to take them away). If He doesn't take them away, then we know that they are sent from God for our spiritual good. Now, if we believe that there is some evil being called "the Devil" or "Satan" causing our problems, then there is no way of coming to terms with them. Disability, illness, sudden death or calamity have to be taken as just "bad luck." If the devil is some powerful, sinful Angel, then he will be much more powerful than us, and we will have no choice but to suffer at his hand. By contrast, we are comforted that under God's control, "all things work together for good to them that love God " (Romans 8:28). There is therefore no such thing as 'luck' in the life of a believer.

The Origin Of Sin

It must be stressed that sin comes from inside us. It is our fault that we sin. Of course, it would be nice to believe that it was not our fault that we sin. We could freely sin and then excuse ourselves with the thought that it was really the devil's fault, and that the blame for our sin should be completely laid upon him. It is not uncommon that in cases of grossly wicked behavior, the guilty man has begged for mercy because he says that he was possessed by the devil at the time and was therefore not responsible for himself. But, quite rightly, such feeble excuses are judged to hold no water at all, and the man has sentence passed upon him.

We need to remember that "the wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23); sin leads to death. If it is not our fault that we sin, but that of the devil, then a just God ought to punish the devil rather than us. But the fact that we are judged for our own sins shows that we are responsible for our sins. The idea of the devil being a specific being outside of us, rather than the principle of sin within us, is an attempt to move the responsibility for our sins away from ourselves. This is yet another example of men refusing to come to terms with what the Scripture teaches about man's sin.

Mark 7:15-23, "There is nothing from without a man, that entering into him can defile him...For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders...pride, foolishness: all these evil things come from within and defile the man."

The idea that there is something sinful outside of us which enters us and causes us to sin is incompatible with the plain teaching of Jesus here. From within, out of the heart of man, come all these evil things. This is why, at the time of the flood, God said that "the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth" (Genesis 8:21).

James 1:14 tells us how we are tempted: "Every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed". We are tempted by our own lusts, our own evil desires; not by anything outside of us. "From whence come wars and fightings among you?", James asks; "Come they not hence, even of your lusts?" (James 4:1). Each of us has specific, personal temptations. They therefore have to be generated by our own evil desires, because they are personal to us. It has been truly said that we are our own worst enemy.

The book of Romans is largely concerned with sin, its origin, and how to overcome it. It is highly significant that there is scarcely a mention of the Devil and Satan in the book; in the context of speaking about the origin of sin, Paul does not mention the Devil or Satan. In the same way, "the devil" is a New Testament concept. If there is an external being who makes us sin, surely he would have been mentioned extensively in the Old Testament? But there is a very profound and significant silence about this. The record of the Judges period, or Israel in the wilderness, show that at those times Israel was sinning a great deal. But God did not warn them about some powerful supernatural being or force which could enter them and make them sin. Instead, He encouraged them to apply themselves to His word, so that they would not fall away to the ways of their own flesh (e.g. Deuteronomy 27:9,10; Joshua 22:5).

Paul laments: "In me (that is, in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing...for the good that I would I do not...if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me" (Romans 7:18-21). Now he does not blame his sinning on an external being called the devil. He located his own evil nature as the real source of sin: "It is not I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me" (i.e. "within me"). So he says that the opposition to being spiritual comes from something that he calls "sin dwelling in me".

The Scripture is quite explicit about sin originating from within man. If this is appreciated, there is no need to invent an imaginary being outside our own natures who is responsible for our sins. Jeremiah 17:9 says that the heart of man is so desperately wicked and deceitful that we cannot actually appreciate the gross extent of its sinfulness. Ecclesiastes 9:3 could not be plainer: "...the heart of the sons of men is full of evil." Ephesians 4:18 gives the reason for man's natural alienation from God as being "through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart". It is because of our spiritually blind and ignorant hearts, our way of thinking that is within us, that we are distanced from God. In line with this, Galatians 5:19 speaks of our sins as "the works of the flesh"; it is our own flesh, our very being and nature, which causes us to commit sin. None of these passages explain the origin of sin within us as being because the devil put it there.

The Word 'Satan' in the Scripture

Sometimes the original words of the Bible text are left untranslated. "Mammon", in Matthew 6:24, which means "riches," is an Aramaic example of this. Also, the word "Amen" is left untranslated in both the Hebrew of the Old Testament, and the Greek of the New Testament. As is "Anathema" in 1 Corinthians 16:22, which means "accursed." There are many other words as well.

As a word, "satan" is an untranslated Hebrew word which means "adversary," while "devil" is a translation of the Greek word 'diabolos', meaning "a liar, an enemy or false accuser." If we are to believe that Satan and the Devil are some being outside of us which is responsible for sin, then whenever we come across these words in the Bible, we have to make them refer to this evil being. The Scriptural usage of these words shows that they can be used as ordinary adjectives, describing ordinary people. This fact makes it impossible to reason that the words devil and satan, as used in the Scripture, do in themselves refer to a great wicked being outside of us.

1 Kings 11:14, "The Lord stirred up an adversary unto Solomon, Hadad the Edomite."

1 Kings 11:23,25, "And God stirred up another adversary...Rezon...he was an adversary to Israel"

In the above passages, the word "adversary" is from the same Hebrew word elsewhere translated "satan." This does not mean that God stirred up a supernatural being or an Angel to be a satan/adversary to Solomon; He stirred up ordinary men.

Matthew 16:22-23 provides another example. Peter had been trying to dissuade Jesus from going up to Jerusalem to die on the cross. Jesus turned and said unto Peter "Get thee behind me, Satan...thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men". Thus Peter was called a satan. The record is crystal clear that Christ was not talking to an Angel or a monster when he spoke those words; he was talking to Peter.

Because the word 'satan' just means an adversary, a good man, even God Himself, can be termed a 'satan.' In essence there is nothing necessarily sinful about the word itself. The sinful connotations which the word 'satan' has are partly due to the fact that our own decision to sin is our biggest 'satan' or adversary, and also due to the use of the word in the language of the world to refer to something associated with sin. God Himself can be a satan to us by means of bringing trials into our lives, or by standing in the way of a wrong course of action we may be embarking on. But the fact that God can be called a 'satan' does not mean that He Himself is sinful.

The books of Samuel and Chronicles are parallel accounts of the same incidents, as the four gospels are usually records of the same events but using different language. 2 Samuel 24:1 records: "The Lord...moved David against Israel" in order to make him take a census of Israel. The parallel account in 1 Chronicles 21:1 says that "Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David" to take the census. In one passage God moved David, in the other Satan moves him. The only conclusion is that God acted as a 'satan' or adversary to David, when He permitted David to number the people. He did the same to Job by bringing trials into his life, so that Job said about God: "With thy strong hand thou opposest thyself against me" (Job 30:21); 'You are acting as a satan against me', was what Job was basically saying to God.

Let me ask you a question. If an angel does the Will of God, that's the same thing as saying God himself did it. Correct? Because if God commands someone to perform his will, then it is really God who does that act, even though another carries out His will. Likewise, assuming Satan is a literal being, if Satan does the will of God, that's the same thing as saying God himself did it. Correct? Satan cannot do what is against God's Will, because God is sovereign. What God permits, God approves. And if Satan does God's Will and acts as an adversary, then it is really God who acts as an adversary, or a "satan." Therefore, it is really irrelevant as to whether or not Satan is a literal being or not, because either way, God's Will is being done. Whether it's God himself or an angel carrying out His Will with His permission, it is really God who does it.

The Word 'Devil' in the Scripture

And so it is with the word 'devil' too. Jesus said, "Have not I chosen you twelve (disciples), and one of you is a devil? He spake of Judas Iscariot..." who was an ordinary, mortal man. He was not speaking of a personal being with horns, or a so-called 'spirit being'. The word 'devil' here simply refers to a wicked man.

1 Timothy 3:11 and Titus 2:3 provide another example. The wives of church elders were not to be "slanderers"; the original Greek word here is 'diabolos', which is the same word translated 'devil' elsewhere. Thus Paul warns Titus that the aged women in the ecclesia should not be "false accusers" or 'devils'. And, likewise, he told Timothy, in 2 Timothy 3:1,3, that "In the last days...men shall be...false accusers" ('diabolos' or devils). This does not mean that human beings will turn into superhuman beings, but that they will be increasingly wicked. It ought to be quite clear from all this that the words 'devil' and 'satan' do not refer to a fallen Angel or a sinful being outside of us.

The Devil is our Sinful Tendencies within Us

The words 'satan' and 'devil' are used figuratively to describe the sinful tendencies within us. These are our main 'satan' or adversary. They are also personified, and as such they can be spoken of as 'the devil'- our enemy, a slanderer of the truth. This is what "the natural man" is like - the very devil (1 Corinthians 2:14). The connection between the devil and our evil desires - sin within us - is made explicit in several passages:

Hebrews 2:14, "Forasmuch then as the children (ourselves) are partakers of flesh and blood, he (Jesus) also himself likewise took part of the same; that through (his) death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;"

The devil is here described as being responsible for death. But;

Romans 6:23, "For the wages of sin is death;"

Therefore sin and the devil must be parallel. Similarly, James 1:14 says that our evil desires tempt us, leading us to sin and therefore to death; but Hebrews 2:14 says that the devil brings death. The same verse says that Jesus had our nature in order to destroy the devil. Contrast this with;

Romans 8:3, "God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:"

This shows that the devil and the sinful tendencies that are within us are effectively the same. It is vitally important to understand that Jesus was tempted just like us. Misunderstanding the doctrine of the devil means that we cannot correctly appreciate the nature and work of Jesus. It was only because Jesus had our sinful flesh - the 'devil' within him - that we can have the hope of salvation (Hebrews 2:14-18; 4:15). By overcoming the temptation to sin (the scriptural devil), Jesus was able to destroy the devil on the cross (Hebrews 2:14). If the devil is a personal being, then he should no longer exist. Hebrews 9:26 says that Christ was manifested "to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself". Hebrews 2:14 matches this with the statement that through his death Christ destroyed the devil in himself. By His death Jesus in prospect destroyed "the body of sin" (Romans 6:6), i.e. sin revealed in (the form of) our very bodies.

1 John 3:8, "He that committeth sin is of the devil;"

Why? Because sin is the result of giving way to our own evil desires (James 1:14-15), which the Scripture calls 'the devil'. "For this purpose the son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil" (1 John 3:8). If we are correct in saying that the devil is our evil desires, then the works of our evil desires, i.e. what they result in, are our sins. This is confirmed by 1 John 3:5: "He (Jesus) was manifested to take away our sins". This confirms that "our sins" and "the works of the devil" are the same.

Acts 5:3 provides another example of this connection between the devil and our sins. Peter says to Ananias: "Why hath Satan filled thine heart?" Then, in verse 4, Peter says "Why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart?" Conceiving something bad within our heart is the same as Satan filling our heart. If we ourselves conceive something, e.g. a sinful plan, then it begins inside us. If a woman conceives a child, it doesn't exist outside of her; it begins inside her. James 1:14-15 uses the same figure in describing how our lusts conceive and bring forth sin, which brings forth death. Psalm 109:6 parallels a sinful man with a 'satan': "Set thou a wicked man over him: and let Satan stand at his right hand", i.e. in power over him (see Psalm 110:1).

Lucifer

Isaiah 14:12, "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!"

The word "lucifer" only appears this one time in scripture. Many presume this applies to Satan. However, by reading this chapter in context, we can see it is not a supernatural angel that is being addressed, but Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon:

Isaiah 14:4, "That thou shalt take up this proverb against the king of Babylon,"

Notice, the passages after verse 4 is part of this proverb. The word "proverb" and "parable" are synonymous terms (parables are not to be taken literally, as Jesus has demonstrated). This proverb, in verse 12, is in reference to the king of Babylon. This verse is a description of this man! The truth is, the book of Isaiah speaks nothing at all concerning Satan, nor his fall, nor the occasion of that fall, which many people have, with great confidence, deduced from this one text.

Prince of Persia

Daniel 10:12-13, "Then said he unto me, Fear not, Daniel: for from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand, and to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard, and I am come for thy words. But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days: but, lo, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me; and I remained there with the kings of Persia."

It would go far to make a legend or a precarious tale of this important place to endeavour to maintain that either a good or evil angel is intended here. Cyrus alone was the prince of Persia (verse 1), and God had destined him to be the deliverer of his people; but there were some matters, of which we are not informed, that caused him to hesitate for some time.

Personification

However, you may reasonably reply: "But it does talk as if the devil is a being!" That is quite correct; Hebrews 2:14 speaks of "him that hath the power of death, that is, the devil". Even a small amount of Scripture reading shows that it often uses personification - speaking of an abstract idea as if it is a being.

Thus Proverbs 9:1 speaks of a woman called "Wisdom" building a house, and John 15:19 personifies "the world" as a "he" by saying "If ye were of the world, the world would love his own:.." Romans 6:23 likens sin to a paymaster giving wages of death. Our devil, the 'diabolos', often represents our evil desires. Yet you cannot have abstract diabolism; the evil desires that are in a man's heart cannot exist separately from a man; therefore 'the devil' is personified. Sin is often personified as a master (e.g. Romans 5:21; 6:6,17; 7:3). It is understandable, therefore, that the 'devil' is also personified, seeing that 'the devil' also refers to sin.

In the same way, Paul speaks of us having two beings, as it were, within our flesh (Romans 7:15-21): the man of the flesh, 'the devil', fights with the man of the Spirit. Yet it is evident that there are not two literal, personal beings fighting within us. This sinful part of our nature is personified as "evil" (Matthew 6:13) - the Scriptural devil. The same Greek phrase translated "evil" here is translated as "wicked person" in 1 Corinthians 5:13, showing that when a man gives way to sin, his "evil" - he himself - becomes "evil", or a "devil."

'Devil' and 'Satan' in a Political Context

These words 'devil' and 'satan' are also used to describe the wicked, sinful world order in which we live. The social, political and pseudo-religious hierarchies of mankind can be spoken of in terms of 'the devil'. The devil and satan in the New Testament often refer to the political and social power of the Jewish or Roman systems.

Thus we read of the devil casting believers into prison (Revelation 2:10), referring to the Roman authorities imprisoning believers. In this same context we read of the church in Pergamos being situated where Satan's seat, or throne, was (Revelation 2:12-13)- i.e. the place of governorship for a Roman colony in Pergamos, where there was also a group of believers. We cannot say that Satan himself, if he exists, personally had a throne in Pergamos.

Individual sin is defined as a transgression against God's law (1 John 3:4). But sin expressed collectively as a political and social force opposed to God is a force more powerful than individuals; it is this collective power which is sometimes personified as a powerful being called the devil. In this sense, Iran and other Islamic powers have called the United States, "the great Satan" - i.e. the great adversary to their cause, in political and religious terms. This is how the words 'devil' and 'satan' are often used in the Scripture.

Conclusion

In conclusion, it is probably true to say that, in this subject more than any other, it is vital to base our understanding upon a balanced view of the whole Scripture, rather than building massive doctrines on a few verses containing catch-phrases which appear to refer to the common beliefs concerning the devil. It is submitted that the doctrinal position outlined here is the only way of being able to have an understanding of all the passages which refer to the devil and satan. Those words can be used as ordinary adjectives, or in some places they refer to the sinful tendencies which is found within our own heart.

Those who have problems in accepting our conclusions need to ask themselves: (1) Is sin personified? Clearly it is. (2) Is it true that 'satan' can be used just as an adjective? Yes, it is. What real problem, therefore, can there be in accepting that sin is personified as our enemy/satan? The world is often personified in John's letters and Gospel; what better title for this personification than 'satan' or 'the devil'?

Your Questions Answered

1) What Happened In Eden?

Genesis 3:4-5, "And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil."

It is wrongly assumed that the serpent here is an angel that had sinned, called "Satan". Having been thrown out of heaven for his sin, he came to earth and tempted Eve to sin.

1. The passage talks about "the serpent." The words "satan" and "devil" do not occur in the whole of the book of Genesis. The fact that we can see serpents today crawling on their bellies in fulfillment of the curse placed on the original serpent (Genesis 3:14), proves that this is a literal animal and that snakes are physically with us.

2. The serpent is never described as an angel. Therefore it is not surprising that there is no reference in Genesis to anyone being thrown out of heaven.

3. Sin brings death (Romans 6,23). Angels cannot die (Luke 20, 35-36), therefore angels cannot sin.

4. The characters involved in the Genesis record of the fall of man are: God, Adam, Eve and the serpent. Nobody else is mentioned. There is no evidence that anything got inside the serpent to make it do what it did. Paul says, "the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty" (2 Corinthians 11:3) - notice that Paul doesn't mention the "devil" beguiling Eve. God told the serpent, "Because thou hast done this..." (Genesis 3:14). If "satan" was using the serpent, why is satan not mentioned and why was satan not also punished?

5. Adam blamed Eve for his sin: "She gave me of the tree" (Genesis 3:12). Eve blamed the serpent: "The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat" (Genesis 3:13). The serpent did not blame the devil - he made no excuse.

6. If it is argued that snakes, today, do not have the power of speech or reasoning as the serpent in Eden had, remember that:-

   (a) a donkey was once made to speak and reason with a man (Balaam): "The dumb ass speaking with man's voice forbad the madness of the prophet" (Numbers 22:28-30, 2 Peter 2:16) and

   (b) the serpent was one of the most intelligent of all the animals (Genesis 3:1). The curse upon it would have taken away the ability it had to speak with Adam and Eve.

7. God created the serpent (Genesis 3:1); another being called "satan" did not turn into the serpent. If we believe this, we are effectively saying that one being can enter the life of someone else and control it. This is a pagan idea, not a Biblical one. If it is argued that God would not have created the serpent because of the sin it caused Adam and Eve to commit, remember that sin entered the world from man (Romans 5:12); the serpent was therefore amoral, speaking from its own natural observations, and was not as such responsible to God and therefore did not commit sin.

8. Some suggest that the serpent of Genesis 3 is related to the seraphim. However, the normal Hebrew word for "serpent", which is used in Genesis 3, is totally unrelated to the word for "seraphim". The Hebrew word translated "seraphim" basically means "a fiery one" and is translated "fiery serpent" in Numbers 21:8, but this is not the word translated "serpent" in Genesis 3. The Hebrew word for brass comes from the same root as the word for "serpent" in Genesis 3. Brass represents sin (Judges 16:21; 2 Samuel 3:34; 2 Kings 25:7; 2 Chronicles 33:11; 36:6), thus the serpent may be connected with the idea of sin, but not a sinful angel.

9. Assuming the serpent was Satan, Satan cannot do anything without the approval, permission, and guidance of Almighty God. When an angel does the Will of God, it is really God Almighty doing that act. For example, "satan" asked God for permission to afflict Job, because "satan" cannot do anything unless God allows it. And God gave a command to "satan" to afflict him (Job 1 and 2). The book of Job acknowledges that God himself is responsible for what happened to Job, not satan. Because when an angel does something by the command of God, it is really God doing that act.

   James 1:13, "Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man:"

   If the serpent was Satan, and Satan was acting by God's command and permission, and Satan tempted Eve with sin, then this is the same thing as saying God himself tempted Eve with sin, for Satan can do nothing without God's command. Therefore, since God does not tempt anybody with sin, that means an angel cannot tempt anybody with sin, because angels cannot do anything unless God commands them to. Therefore, it could not have been Satan who tempted Eve, but a serpent, as scripture says.

Explanations:

1. Because the serpent was cursed with having to crawl on its belly (Genesis 3:14), this may imply that previously it had legs; coupled with its evident powers of reasoning, it was probably the form of animal life closest to man, although it was still an animal - another of the "beasts of the field which the Lord God had made" (Genesis 3:1,14).

2. Maybe the serpent had eaten of the tree of knowledge, which would explain his subtilty. Eve "saw that the tree was...a tree to be desired to make one wise" (Genesis 3:6). How could she have seen this unless she saw the result of eating the fruit in the life of something that had already done so? It may well be that Eve had had several conversations with the serpent before the one recorded in Genesis 3. The first recorded words of the serpent to Eve are, "Yea, hath God said..." (Genesis 3:1) - the word "Yea" possibly implying that this was a continuation of a previous conversation that is not recorded.

2) The Temptations Of Jesus

Matthew 4:1-11: "Then was Jesus led up of the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterwards an hungred. And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple, and saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; and saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him."

This passage is read as meaning that a being called the "devil" tempted Jesus to sin by suggesting certain things to him and leading him into tempting situations.

1. Jesus "was in all points tempted like as we are" (Hebrews 4:15), and "every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed" (James 1:14). We are tempted by the "devil" of our own lusts or evil desires, and so was Jesus. We are not tempted by an evil being suddenly standing next to us and prompting us to sin - sin and temptation come "from within, out of the heart of man" (Mark 7:21).

2. The temptations of Jesus evidently cannot be taken literally.

3. Matthew 4:8 implies that Jesus was led up into a high mountain to see all the kingdoms of the world in their future glory "in a moment of time" (Luke 4:6). There is no mountain high enough to see all the world, or all the Roman Empire (which the "world" in this case refers to). And why would the height of the mountain enable Jesus to see what the world would be like in the future? The earth being a sphere, there is no point on its surface from which one can see all the parts of the world at any one time.

4. The temptation to turn stones into bread would fit nicely if these temptations occurred within the mind of Jesus. Being of our nature, the lack of food would have affected him mentally as well as physically, and thus his mind would have easily begun to imagine things. Just going a few days without food can lead to delirium for some (1 Samuel 30:12). The similarity between rolls of bread and stones is mentioned by Jesus in Matthew 7:9, and doubtless those images often merged in his tortured mind - although always to be brought under swift control by his recollection of the Word.

5. Jesus probably told the Gospel writers the record of his temptations, and to bring home in words the intensity of what he underwent, he could have used the figurative approach seen in Matthew 4 and Luke 4.

6. It seems unlikely that the devil led Jesus through the wilderness and streets of Jerusalem and then they scaled a pinnacle of the temple together, all in view of the inquisitive Jews. Josephus makes no record of anything like this happening - presumably it would have caused a major stir. Similarly, if these temptations occurred several times within the forty days as well as at the end of that period, how would Jesus have had time to walk to the nearest high mountain (which would have been Hermon in the far north of Israel), climb to the top and back down again, and return to the wilderness? His temptations all occurred in the wilderness - he was there for forty days, tempted all the time by the devil (who only departed at the end - Matthew 4:11). If Jesus was tempted by the devil each day, and the temptations occurred only in the wilderness, then it follows that Jesus could not have left the wilderness to go to Jerusalem or travel to a high mountain. These things therefore could not have happened literally.

7. If the devil is a physical being who has no respect for God's Word and is interested in making people sin, then why would Jesus quote Scripture to him to overcome him? According to the popular view, this would not send the devil away. Notice that Jesus quoted a scripture passage each time. If the devil was the evil desires within Jesus' heart, then it is understandable that by his having the Word in his heart and reminding himself of it, he could overcome those bad desires. Psalm 119:11 is so relevant that perhaps it is specifically prophesying Christ's experiences in the wilderness: "Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against Thee."

8. Matthew 4:1 says that Jesus was "led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil." This was the Spirit of God which had just been bestowed upon him (Matthew 3:16). It would be an extraordinary thing for the Spirit of God to lead Jesus into the wilderness so that he could be tempted by a super being existing in opposition to God.

Explanations:

1. When Jesus was baptized in Jordan by John, he received the power of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 3:16). As soon as he came out of the water, he was driven into the wilderness to be tempted. Knowing that he had the power of the spirit to turn stones into bread, jump off buildings unharmed etc., these temptations must have raged within his mind. If a being was suggesting these things to Jesus and Jesus knew that being to be sinful, then the temptations were a lot less subtle than if they came from within Jesus' own mind.

2. The temptation to take the kingdoms to himself would have been far more powerful if it came from within Christ. Jesus' mind would have been full of Scripture, and in his afflicted state of mind, caused by his fasting, it would be tempting to misinterpret passages to enable him to use them to justify taking the easy way out of the situation he was in.

   Standing on a high mountain recalls Ezekiel being shown what the Kingdom would be like from a "high mountain" (Ezekiel 40:2), and John seeing "the holy Jerusalem" from "a great and high mountain" (Revelation 21:10). Jesus saw all the world's kingdoms as they would be in the future (Luke 4:5), i.e. in the Kingdom, when "the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ" (Revelation 11:15). Maybe he would have thought of Moses at the end of 40 years' wilderness wandering looking out at the Promised Land (the Kingdom) from Mount Nebo. It is emphasized in Daniel (4:17,25,32; 5:21) that "the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever He will." Jesus would have known that only God, not anyone else, could give him the Kingdom. Therefore, it would not have been much of a temptation if an evil monster claimed to be able to give Jesus the Kingdom, when he knew only God had that power. However, Jesus knew that it was the Father's good pleasure to give Jesus the Kingdom, and it must have been suggested by the "devil" within Jesus that he could take that kingdom immediately. After all, he could have reasoned, God has delegated all authority to me in prospect (John 5:26,27), to the extent that he had power to both give his life and take it again (John 10:18), although ultimately all power was given unto him only after his death and resurrection (Matthew 28:18).

3. With his familiarity with Scripture, Christ would have seen the similarities between himself and Elijah, whose morale collapsed after 40 days in the wilderness (1 Kings 19:8) and Moses, who forfeited his immediate inheritance of the land at the end of 40 years in the wilderness (Deuteronomy 34). Jesus, at the end of 40 days, was in a similar position to them - faced with a real possibility of failure. Moses and Elijah failed because of their own weakness - not because of a being called "the devil." It was this same weakness, the "satan", or adversary, that was tempting Jesus.

4. "And the devil said unto him, If thou be the Son of God..." (Luke 4:3). It must have been a constant temptation within the mind of Christ to question whether he really was the Son of God, seeing that everyone else thought he was the son of Joseph (Luke 3:23; John 6:42) or illegitimate (so John 9:29 implies), and that the official temple records described him as the son of Joseph (Matthew 1:1,16; Luke 3:23, where "supposed" means 'reckoned by law'). He was the only man not to have an earthly father. Philippians 2:8 implies that Jesus came to appreciate that he really was a man like us, inferring it was tempting for him to disbelieve he was the Son of God, or to misunderstand his own nature.

5. The temptations were controlled by God for Christ's spiritual growth. The passages quoted by Jesus to strengthen himself against his evil desires ("devil") are all from the same part of Deuteronomy, regarding Israel's experiences in the wilderness. Jesus clearly saw a parallel between his experiences and theirs:

   Deuteronomy 8 verse 2	Matthew 4/Luke 4
   "The Lord thy God led thee forty years in the wilderness to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep His commandments (word) or no."	"Jesus led up of the spirit" "forty days" "in the wilderness." Jesus was proved by the temptations. Jesus overcame by quoting the Scriptures that were in his heart (Psalms 119:11).
   verse 3 "And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna...that He might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word...of the Lord..."	"He was afterward an hungred." In John 6, manna is interpreted by Jesus as representing the Word of God - which Jesus lived by in the wilderness. Jesus learnt that spiritually he lived by the Word of God. "He answered...it is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word...of God."
   verse 5 "Thou shalt also consider in thine heart, that, as a man chasteneth his son, so the Lord thy God chasteneth thee."	Jesus no doubt reflected on his experiences. God chastened His Son, Jesus (2 Samuel 7:14, Psalms 89:32).

   Thus Jesus showed us how to read and study the Word - he thought himself into the position of Israel in the wilderness, and therefore took the lessons that can be learnt from their experiences to himself in his wilderness trials.