20 Satan / Devil and Demon verses explained
Satan / Devil and Demon verses explained – dispelling common myths
regarding common verses that suppose traditions Satan, Devil or
Demons.
(see Sources of Evil, Sin nature and temptation, Satan, Devil, and Demons)
The following will hope to add additional information to various verses not already
covered.
u Gen. 3 The Serpent in Eden.
Gen 3:1 The serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the Lord
God had made. Donkey talks to Balaam. (Num. 22:21-23, 2 Pet. 2:16)
Adam did not even talk to the serpent. (in Adam all die, 1 Cor. 15:22)
The serpent was formed out of the ground. (Gen. 2:17) Man (Gen. 2:7)
All God had made was “very good.” (Gen. 1:31) This includes the serpent.
No mention of Satan, the devil or demons. The serpent, a beast of the field.
If angels sinned and fell and came to earth at this time in history Gen. 3, then where and when did they fall from in Gen. 6? Gen. 6 is many years after Gen. 3.
No mention of fallen angels that sinned, in Genesis.
Maybe the serpent ate from this same tree?
Eve saw it was desirable…. to make one wise. (Gen. 3:6)
Gen 3:6 When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a
delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise.
with
1 Jn. 2:16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes
and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the
world.
Gen. 3:6 Good for food 1 Jn. 2:17 Lust of the flesh
Delight to the eyes Lust of the eyes
Desirable to make one wise Boastful pride of life
V: 12 Adam blamed God, the woman whom YOU gave me, and blamed Eve.
V: 13 Eve blames the serpent. The serpent blames no one. He acted according
to his nature. The serpent acts as an amoral being.
V: 14 All the days of your life. Indicates the serpent has a life span
V: 14 The serpent is cursed, Satan the devil not cursed.
V: 19 Adam cursed by God to return to the dust. (Rom. 5:12-19) Not Satan.
(Eccl. 3:19-22 There is no advantage for man over beast.)
2 Cor 11:3 As the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness. (1 Tim. 2:13-14)
(Paul believed the story it as it is written, Satan not mentioned)
(So did Jesus, Matt. 19:5-6)
u Gen. 6:2-4 Sons of God and daughters of men.
No mention of Satan, the devil or demons in all of Genesis.
No mention of angels falling from heaven by sinning.
Sons of God, can and do refer to men. (see Angels section)
The sons of God “saw,” v: 2 No mention of coming down from heaven.
Angels cannot marry and take wives according to Lk. 20:35-36.
Divine Holy Angels cannot die. Jesus said we would be like the angels.
(Lk. 20:35-36) If Angels can sin. Then what is our hope?
(Rom. 6:23 wages of sin is death)
God’s will is always done on earth as it is in heaven. (Matt. 6:10)
Angels, Sons of God, always do His will. (Ps. 103:19-21) (see Angels section)
V: 3 My Spirit shall not always strive with man. Man equated with sons of God.
V: 5 The wickedness of man was great in all the earth.
If angels sinned and fell and came to earth at this time in history Gen. 6, then where and when did they fall from in Gen. 3? Gen. 6 is many years after Gen. 3.
V: 4 Giants/nephilim are offspring of men, called “men of old, men of renown.”
The Hebrew word for “giants” (Gen. 6:4) is the same word to describe the sons of
Anak. (Nephilim – giants, Num. 13:33)
Why should God punish men if fallen angels caused them to sin?
u Job 1 & 2 The adversary (Satan) of Job.
(see Attributes of God, Angels, Sources of Evil, Satan in the O.T.)
Satan is mentioned only in the first two chapters of Job, and nowhere described
as an angel.
Yahweh says to the adversary, “have you considered my servant Job?” (v: 8)
This was Yahweh’s doing not the adversary, He put the adversary up to
the task of testing Job.
The adversary has no power of his own, power is given. (Job 1:12, 2:6)
The adversary does Yahweh’s will and does not rebel against His command.
(Obedient servants, if an angel, see Angels section, Ps. 103:19-21)
Cannot be proved that the Satan was a son of God. (i.e. a man or an angel)
Job 1:6, 2:1 and Satan (the adversary) also came among them.
Yahweh recognized as the source of Job’s troubles not Satan.
Job 2:10 Shall we receive good at the hand of God, shall we not receive EVIL?
Job 42:11 All the adversity (evil) that the LORD had brought upon him.
(see also, Job 16:11, 19:21, 23:16)
Angels -
Satan going to and fro in the earth. Job 2:2 may indicate angelic participation.
Likened to living creatures going to and fro, Ezk. 1:14
Zech.1:10, 11, 4:10 implies a Hebraism for observing.
Angels, maybe the eyes of the LORD.
2 Chron. 16:9 The eyes of the Lord move to and fro throughout the earth.
Job 7:20 What have I done to You, O watcher of men?
Dan. 4:13, 23 An angelic watcher, a holy one, descended from heaven.
Even if the Satan (adversary) was and angel, no reason to think it was sinful.
.
Translation bias?
Job 1:11 Touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face.
(Job. 1:5, 11, 2:5, 9)
The word curse in Hebrew according to Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English
Lexicon is OT:1291 barak, verb, kneel, bless.
Strong’s numbers OT:1288 barak (baw-rak'); a primitive root; to kneel; by implication to bless God (as an act of adoration), and (vice-versa) man (as a benefit)
According to Englishman’s OT:1288 is used 330 times in the O.T., 324 times it is translated blessed, praised, congratulate, to kneel down, salute, etc…
Of the other six, four are translated as curse. (Job 1:5, 11, 2:5, 9)
The other two are translated blasphemed. (1 Ki. 21:10, 13)
Why? What happened to the word which means bless or kneel down?
Retranslate curse to bless in these verses and you may see a more accurate
picture of Angelic participation in the works of God toward man, and the character Job.
Job 1:5 My sons have sinned, and blessed God in their hearts.
(Blessing God in their heart, while they were sinning? Feasting?)
Job 1:11 Put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will
bless thee to thy face. (A watcher just doing his job? Observation?)
Job 2:5 Touch his bone and his flesh; he will bless You to Your face.
Job 2:9 Bless God (Elohyim) and die!
Other places where O.T. 1288 is translated bless in Job.
(Job 1:10, 1:21, 31:20, 42:12)
u Isa. 14:12-14 Lucifer, the King of Babylon
(see SATAN/DEVIL, Lucifer section)
No mention of Satan, the devil or demons in context.
No mention of angels falling from heaven by sinning.
No mention of Lucifer anywhere else in Scripture.
There is no indication of anything happening in Eden, or before creation.
Jer. 25:9, 43:10 The King of Babylon, is Gods servant, a man, Nebuchadnezzar.
Isa. 14:11 Brought down to the grave…Covered by worms. Angels cannot die
(Lk. 20:35-36) Lucifer cannot be an angel. The language is more suited
toward a man.
Why is Lucifer punished for saying, “I will ascend to heaven,” v:13 if he is already
there?
Thou shalt take up this proverb against the king of Babylon. (Isa. 14:4)
(Compare Jer. 25:9-14 with Isa. 14:4-23)
Isa. 14:12 How art thou fallen from heaven.
Ascending to heaven and falling from heaven are Biblical idioms often
used for increasing in pride and being humbled respectively – see
Job 20: 6; Jer. 51:53 ( about Babylon); Lam. 2 :1; Matt. 11:23 (about Capernaum): “Thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell” (the grave).
Isa. 14:12 O star of the morning (Lucifer), son of the dawn!
Applied to Christ, (2 Pet. 1:19; Rev. 2:28; 22:16)
Isa. 14:12 I will raise my throne above the stars of God.
Stars a type of Israel or people of God, (Gen. 37:9; Dan. 8:10; Rev. 12:1, 4)
u Ezk. 28:1-19 The Anointed Cherub, the King of Tyre.
No mention of the devil Satan or demons in all of Ezekiel.
No mention of angels or fallen angels.
Ezk. 28 Cannot be prophecy of Satan being in Eden and falling because of pride.
That event took place hundreds of years before the King of Tyre was
Born. (Isa. 23; Ezk. 27)
V:2 You are a man and not a god. A man not an angel.
Angels cannot die. (Lk. 20:35-36)
The garden of Eden was on earth not in heaven. (Gen. 2:8-14)
How could he (Satan) have been cast out of heaven then?
V:13 You were in Eden. In place not in time.
Ezk.31:16, 18 Of Pharaoh King of Egypt, brought down with the trees of
Eden. Was Pharaoh in Eden the Garden of God? (Ezk. 31:8, 9)
V:14 The anointed cherub was established by God.
V:15 You were perfect in your ways. Is no proof that a super-human being is spoken of here. Noah, Abraham, Job, and David were perfect too.
(Gen. 6:9, 17:1; Job 1:1; Ps. 18:23, 25)
Ezk. 27:3, 11 Likens the city of Tyre being perfect in beauty.
u Matt. 4:1-11; Lk. 4:1-13; Mk. 1:12,13 The wilderness temptation.
Jesus “was in all points tempted, like as we are” (Heb. 4:15)
Every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust. (Ja. 1:14)
Sin and temptation come “from within, out of the heart of man. (Mk. 7: 21)
The temptation was orchestrated by God. (see Temptation section)
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, an assumption made by many with no Biblical support.
Jesus was tempted just as we are. (Heb. 4:15,16)
Paul borrows the language of "the tempter" coming to Jesus and applies it to "the
tempter" coming to Christians. (1 Thess. 3:5)
The language cannot be literal.
Matt. 4:8 Jesus was shown all the Kingdoms of the World. This cannot be taken
literally as if Jesus actually went there and saw them.
Matt. 4:5 One saw Jesus or the devil on top of the temple. This would have made
a commotion in the city.
Matt. 4:1 His temptation was literally in the wilderness. He could not have gone to
Mt. Hermon (the highest mountain in the north of Israel) to see all the
Kingdoms of the world, or stand on top of the temple in Jerusalem.
The temptation account in Matt. 4 and Lk. 4 are in different order.
Lk. 4:3 Bread Matt. 4:3 Bread
Lk. 4:6 Kingdoms Matt: 4:5-6 Pinnacle of the temple
Lk. 4:9-11 Pinnacle of the temple Matt. 4:8-9 Kingdoms
Described differently in parallel passages:
Implies a forty day temptation:
Mk. 1:13 He was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan.
Lk. 4:2 Being tempted for forty days by the devil.
Implies He first fasted forty days then He was tempted:
Matt 4:2-3 When He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He
Was hungry. 3 Now when the tempter came to Him.
Jesus’ answers himself as if He is Israel in the wilderness, notice the context.
Bread Deut. 8:3-5 Man shall not live by bread alone.
Temple Deut. 6:13-18 You shall not tempt Yahweh.
Kingdoms Deut. 6:13-15 Fear Yahweh, serve Him only.
Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness, Israel was tested in the Wilderness of Sin.
Nelson’s Bible dictionary explains SIN (EGYPT)
Wilderness through which the Israelites passed on their journey toward
Mount Sinai (Ex 16:1; 17:1; Num 33:11-12). In the Wilderness of Sin the
children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron. The Lord sent
quail and manna to feed the people.
The figurative language of the temptation of Jesus points to the real area and place of temptation with in us. The wilderness of Sin in us, our hearts, our minds.
Other parallels with temptation in the Bible.
1 Jn. 2:16 The lust of the flesh (bread), the lust of the eyes (Kingdom), and the
pride of life (Matt. 4:6 If you are the Son of God).
1 Jn. 2:16 Gen. 3:6 The Garden of Eden
The lust of the flesh. Good for food.
The lust of the eyes. Pleasant to the eyes.
The pride of life. Desirable to make on wise.
The devil left Him for a season, Matt. 4:13. Examples for him returning.
John The wilderness temptations
The Jewish crowd wanted to make him king. (Jn. 6:15) Satan offers him the kingship of the [Jewish?] world.
The Jews ask for miraculous bread.
(Jn. 6:31) Satan invites him to make miraculous bread.
The [Jewish] disciples want Jesus to go to Jerusalem to show His power.
(Jn. 7:3) Satan takes Jesus to Jerusalem and tempts Him to show His power.
u 2 Cor 4:4 The God of this world.
There is only one God not two.
No mention of Satan, the devil or demons.
V:6 God is the one who gives light, therefore He gives darkness. (Isa. 45:7)
The God of this age is Yahweh.
Ps 145:13 Thy kingdom [is] a kingdom of all ages, And Thy dominion [is] in all
generations. YLT
Jer. 32:27 Yahweh, the God of all flesh.
The Eastern Aramaic texts read:
To those in this world whose minds have been blinded by God, because they did
not believe. (see Sources of Evil, Strong delusion etc..)
Rom. 11:8 God (not Satan) blinded Israel to the Gospel. (2 Cor. 3:14)
u Eph. 2:1-3 The prince if the power of the air.
No mention of Satan, the devil or demons.
V: 2, (i.e. living) Walking, according to the prince of the power of the air, is
defined in v. 3 as living according to the lust of our fleshly mind.
The lusts of our flesh comes from within us (Mk. 7: 21-23; Ja.1:14)
not from anything outside of us.
“The prince” is “the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience.” The spirit frequently refers to an attitude of mind. (e.g. Deut: 2:30; Prov. 25:28;
Isa. 54:6; 61: 3; Ezk. 18:31; Mk.14:38; Lk. 2:40; 2 Cor. 2:13; 12:18; Eph. 4:23)
V: 3 fulfilling the lusts of our flesh (which come from our heart- Ja. 1:14).
1 Pet. 4:3 Life before conversion as: “In the time past we wrought the will of the Gentiles…we walked in lusts”. Their own flesh was their “prince”. Thus walking according to the prince of the air (v.2) is parallel with walking in the flesh (v. 11).
An Aramaic term, "the prince of the power of the air," understood as meaning simply 'the head of the government', with no intended reference to the literal air.
u 2 Pet. 2:4; Jude 6 Chains of darkness.
No mention of the devil and Satan in these verses.
Angels cannot sin, (Lk. 20:35-36)
No mention of this event happening in Eden.
(Job 38:7 angel shout for joy; Gen. 1:31 Very good)
How can the devil or Satan or demons be causing trouble in the earth if they are
bound up until the judgment? (2 Pet. 2:4)
Angels can refer to men. (see Angels, Men also called angels)
“Chains of darkness” represent death in Prov. 5:22-23 (“cords” in v: 22 is
rendered “chains” in the Septuagint). Thus the angels are now dead.
They are “reserved” unto the day of judgment. “Reserved” does not
mean (in the Greek) “”kept prisoner”, it implies rather that God has
made a note of these people, and will give them their judgment
accordingly, at the second coming of Christ.
Context of 2 Pet. 2:1 is False prophets, false teachers, v: 4 is talking about these
angels (messengers).
Context of Jude 5 Speaks of unbelieving Israel in the wilderness.
u Rev. 12:1-9 Michael and the great dragon.
No mention of angels sinning, or any reference to Eden, or rebellion against God,
causing people to sin.
The serpent was one of the beasts of the field, made from dust, (Gen. 1:24-25)
(see notes on Gen. 3 above)
V: 3 The dragon a beast with seven heads and ten horns, a political or religious
system. Which is, that serpent of old called the devil and Satan (v: 9),
therefore it cannot literally be a serpent.
Pharaoh is liken to a dragon, Ezk. 32:2
Being cast out of heaven is symbolic of loosing authority or power,
(Isa. 14:12; Jer. 51:53; Lam. 2:1; Matt.12:23)
Is this literal or symbolical language?
V: 1 The woman, standing on the moon, stars on her head.
V: 4 The dragons tail is really long, threw a third of the stars of heaven
to earth? The earth would be destroyed if that really happened.
A particular beast cast out in v: 9 and in v: 10 there is rejoicing. This does not sound like the events of Gen. 3. Gen. 3:24 He casteth out the man, YLT.
Rev. 12 seems or mirror the events in Gen. 3 however, the snake was not cast out of the garden, man was. Man in Gen. 3 typifies the human system in authority at the time of Rev. 12. Dan. 7:9 the thrones of the beast / kingdoms are cast down, prior to the establishment of God’s Kingdom.
The beast of Rev. 12 representing a religious and/ or a political power seem to have the characteristics of the serpent in Eden. It does not say that is the snake. The snake was told that he would die,(Gen. 3:14) it was there fore mortal.
u Rev. 20:2, 7, 10 Devil and Satan bound.
No mention of angels sinning.
The dragon, that serpent of old, who is called the devil and Satan, Rev. 20:2 is the same dragon/beast/serpent/devil/Satan in Rev. 12.
Satan thrown into the lake of fire represents total destruction,
(Jer. 17:27; Jude 7) seeing that death is thrown there and is no more, v:14. God’s holy Angels cannot die, (Lk. 20:35-36) men are mortals that can die.
This serpent/Satan system appears with God’s permission again after the 1000 yrs., v: 3.
u The definite article “the.”
Why are we forced to believe that “Satan” is a personal name, a proper noun. When the term means an adversary, and or accuser, a noun or an adjective?
.
The definite article:
Waiter, please bring the check. the waiter brought us our check, lets go.
Truckers drive the truckers drove to Washington.
I like deviled eggs the deviled eggs are good.
He accused me of ----- the accuser filed his case in court.
His adversary opposed him the adversary opposed him.
This is like a description of job function or task being performed, the definite article does point to a specific adversary or accuser, depending on the context of the task being performed or described. Peter, Judas, an Angel, even God, etc… The context will usually determine the Satan or the devil. (see Satan in the O.T.)
According to the traditions argument, the definite article denotes the Satan, or the devil, (i.e. the fallen angel who sinned and fell from heaven, and tempts man) and his name is Satan.
What about these verses then?
Heb 2:14 He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil.
1 Jn. 3:8 He might destroy the works of the devil.
If the devil and the works of the devil are destroyed, then why are so many worried about this supposed fallen angel and his minions, namely demons?
The Septuagint describes Haman as ho diabolos, ‘the Devil’ or ‘the Satan”
(Esther 8:1)
Greek stuff
The article “the” acts as a function marker.
To denote adjectival positions.
Mk. 8:38 whenever he comes in his Father's glory with the holy angels.
In Genitive Phrases
Mk. 1:15 The kingdom of God is near.
With Nominative Nouns
Normally a subject will have the article (unless it is a pronoun or proper noun).
Lk. 11:7 The door is shut.
We never see in Scripture, the Jesus, the Yahweh, the Peter, the Paul, etc…
If the article were signifying a particular being all the time, then why do we not see the article in front of any other proper names? So the term, Satan or devil cannot be proper nouns.
Dictionary – MSN Encarta
proper noun
- capitalized name: the name of a specific person or thing, normally beginning with a capital letter and not used with the indefinite article or a modifier, e.g. "York," "Sally," or "Henderson"
