6. Great Enemy, Sin

There is one great enemy of man – Sin
(termed the devil) against which Christians have a lifelong struggle

against which Christians have a lifelong struggle

It is often difficult for people to come to grips with the question of sin. Its existence is a stark, ugly, undeniable fact. Sin has been present from the very beginning of history. The relentless struggle between the “forces of good and evil” – however the term may be understood – continues today with increasing strength! The very violence of today’s society, the rising crime rate, the constant story of bloodshed, are evidences of this fact.

But the question still remains to be answered: What is the real source of evil? Is there a supernatural “devil” such as has been the foundation of church teaching for centuries? There is only one way to get the true answer to this question. The Bible has a great deal to tell us about it. But we need to look at the Bible very, very carefully, because its teaching about the devil is very often misunderstood.

Does it makes sense?

• God leads mankind in ways of goodness and righteousness but one of His own angels can, with impunity, openly rebel against God triumphantly subjecting men and women to every form of wickedness and ungodliness.
• Why should God deal with rebellious angels by driving them out of His heavenly home to pester us? Why did He not kill them?
• If such an evil creature existed, it would remove responsibility from mankind for the sins and evil they commit. Then why are the prisons full of people while the real “criminal” goes free?
• Is God powerless to destroy this evil creature?
• Genesis/Exodus/Leviticus/Numbers/Deuteronomy (The Law of Moses) – for hundreds of years these books were the only Bible that God’s people had. It told them how to avoid sin and how God wanted them to live. It never mentions the devil, or Satan – not once. Why did God not warn His people about this deadly danger when He gave them this early Bible?
• The Old Testament as a whole makes up more than three-quarters of the Bible yet in all the Old Testament the devil is never mentioned by that name, not once. Even “Satan” appears in only three or four places.

Why does the Bible talk about a devil then?

There is a devil, let there be no mistake about that. But the real devil is something even worse than a fallen angel! The one thing worse than an enemy battering at the walls of a fortress is a traitor – an enemy inside -and that is what the Bible devil really is – an enemy inside US.

“Satan” and “devil” in the Bible is usually used as a parable of human sin. Sometimes very plain language is used about the source of sin. Here are some examples:

• The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately corrupt; who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9)
• Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envying, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like…And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.”(Galations 5:19-24)
• “The heart of the sons of men is full of evil” (Ecclesiastes 9:3)
• “If ye being evil know how to give…” (Matthew 7:11)
• “Out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a man.” (Matthew 15:19,20)
• “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” (Mark 7:15-23)
• “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).
• “Let no one say when he is tempted, I am tempted by God; for God cannot be tempted with evil and He Himself tempts no one; but each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire.Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin.” (James 1:13, 14, 15).
• “What causes wars, and what causes fightings among you? Is it not your passions that are at war in your members? You desire and do not have; so you kill.” (James 4:12)
• “When we sin we can’t blame a supernatural devil, or any other being. Blame ourselves. That is where temptation and sin come from – from right inside your own heart.
• Romans Chapters 1-8 – In all these chapters Paul gives a wonderful account of the truth about sin and death, salvation and everlasting life. Yet in all these eight chapters there is not one mention of the devil or of Satan. If a fallen angel is the real cause of human sin, how could Paul write such a detailed explanation of sin and its origin without even mentioning this evil spirit?

1. Chapter 1 describes the wickedness of mankind. But he does not blame this on some Satanic being – he puts it down to “the lusts of their (men’s) hearts” (verse 24).
2. Chapter 2 tells us that our sin comes from “your hard and impenitent heart” (verse 5).
3. Chapter 3 blames “our wickedness” (verse 5). He makes it clear that we have no excuse for this. (verse 19).
4. Chapter 5 is the plainest chapter of all. This explains how sin and death came into the world. It was not through a wicked spirit but: “Sin came into the world through one man (Adam) and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all men sinned” (verse 12).
5. In Chapter 6 Paul explains that we must think of ourselves as a “slave of righteousness” (verse 18). Before we become true Christians we are slaves of another master. Who? “Let not SIN therefore reign in your mortal bodies…Do not yield your members to SIN…You are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of SIN, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness…You were slaves of SIN…but now that you have been set free from SIN and have become slaves of God…” (verses 12, 13, 16, 20, 22).

Paul was arguably the finest Jewish Lawyer (Pharisee) of his day, and was also well versed in the law and culture of the Greeks. We appeal to you to read Romans and ask yourself why this brilliant man and direct student of Jesus Christ did not put the blame for our troubles on some “Devil” Creature!

Why does the Bible speak of the devil as a person?

The Bible often uses personification to convey ideas. For example:

• Proverbs 9:1 speaks of a woman called “wisdom” building a house
• Proverbs 20:1 compares wine to “a mocker”
• Matthew 6:24 speaks of mammon as a “master”
• Romans 5:21 speaks of sin “reigning”
• Romans 6:23 likens sin to a paymaster giving “wages of death”
• Luke 16:9 describes mammon as a “friend”
• Corinthians speaks of the people of Christ as “the body of Christ”

Bible terminology of ‘devil’ and ‘satan’ in a political context

The words ‘devil’ and ‘satan’ are also used to describe the wicked, sinful world order in which we live. The social, political and psuedo-religious hierarchies of mankind can be spoken of in terms of ‘the devil’. Thus we read of the devil casting believers into prison (Revelation 2:10), referring to the Roman authorities imprisoning believers.

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.

Where did the idea of a devil originate?

– Old Testament Times

• Historians explain that it all began in the country known as Persia (Iran). About 500 years before Christ, the Jews lived under the Persian empire and they knew a lot about the religious beliefs of the Persians. The Persians believed in many gods but especially in two great supernatural beings. One was a good spirit (Ahura Mazda) and the other an evil spirit (Angra Mainyu). The prophet Isaiah was concerned about this false teaching so he made a direct attack on the Persian religion.
• Isaiah 45:1-7 “Thus says the Lord to His anointed, to Cyrus…I am the Lord, and there is no other, besides me there is no God…I am the Lord and there is no other. I form light and create darkness, I make peace and create evil, I the Lord who do all these things.” Clearly the Lord God is the source of both light and darkness, and joy and suffering.
• Deuteronomy 32:39 “See now that I, even I, am He, and there is no God beside me: I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal; and there is none that can deliver out of My hand.” (Note it is not,” Satan wounds and God heals”, but “God wounds and God heals.”)
• 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 “Evil came down from the Lord unto the gate of Jerusalem.”

Evil Spirits in the Old Testament

There are only a few passages in the whole of the Old Testament that speak of evil spirits and they deserve a very careful reading, because people who have never noticed them before are often astonished by them.

• “And God sent an evil spirit between…” (Judges 9:23)
• “…and an evil spirit from the lord tormented him… (1 Sam 16:14-16)
• “And on the morrow an evil spirit from God rushed upon Saul…” (1 Sam 18:10)
• “Then an evil spirit from the Lord came upon Saul” (1 Sam 19:9,10)
• “Now therefore behold, the Lord has put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these your prophets.” (1 Kings 22:23 and 19-22).
• He [God] cast upon them [Egypt] the fierceness of His anger, wrath and indignation, and trouble, a band of angels of evil.” (Psalm 78:49 RV). They were called “evil” spirits simply because the men receiving punishment regarded it as an evil.

There are many references to angels in the Old Testament and in every one the angels are portrayed as creatures under God’s control. There is no suggestion that an angel could possibly disobey God. The possibility of a rebellion by angels in heaven is ruled out by this Scripture:
“The Lord has established His throne in the heavens, and His kingdom rules over all. Bless the Lord, O you his angels, you mighty ones who do His word.” (Psalm 103:19,20).

What about Demons?

In the Old Testament there are very few references to demons. The equivalent Hebrew words shed (destroyer) and sair (goat) both refer to evil heathen gods which the Jews were forbidden to placate with sacrifices (Deut 32:16-17). So why are there so many references to demons in the New Testament, to the extent that the Jews accused Jesus of healing by the power of ‘Beelzebub the prince of the demons’? The answer is found in the 450 years between the Testaments. During all this time the Jews had been subject to the influences of their Babylonian, Persian and Greek overlords and their pure monotheism became contaminated with polytheism with its good and evil gods constantly at war with one another.

Word Definitions

The word “Devil” is the English translation of two different Greek words: Diabolos and Daimonion.

Diabolos (Greek)	Signifies “false accuser,” “calumniator,” “slanderer,” etc. It has been rendered “slanderers” in 1 Timothy 3:11, and “false accusers” in 2 Timothy 3:3,” Titus 2:3. In no place is it used of a superhuman being tempting mankind to sin. It is translated “devil” in the following passages: Matt 4:1, 5, 8, 11, 13:39, 25:41, Luke 4:2, 3, 5, 6, 13, 8:12, John 6:70, 8:44, 13:2, Acts 10:38, 13:10, Ephes 4:27, 6:11, 1 Tim 3:6, 7, 2 Tim 2:26; Heb 2:14, James 4:7, 1 Pet 5:8, 1 John 3:18, 10, Jude 9, Rev 2:10, 12:9, 12, 20:2, 10. In all other places where the words “devil” or “devils” appear, the word in the original is daimonion. Diabolos is used to describe a person (John 6;70), slanderous women (1 Tim 3:11), false accusers (2 Tim 3:3), sin (Hebrews 2:14), the flesh (Acts 13:10), the antagonistic world (Eph 4:27), persecuting civil authorities (Eph 6:11, Rev 2:10).
Daimonion (Greek)	Is the word used to describe certain diseases attributed by superstition to the malignant influence of so-called spirits of dead heroes inhabiting a person. The Bible accommodates the language of the times, without endorsing this false pagan teaching. “Casting out devils” merely signifies curing a disease.
Satan (Hebrew)	Signifying “to oppose”, “to be an adversary.” The word is translated “adversary,” “resist,” “withstand,” and is also transliterated as “satan.” It appears as “adversary” or “adversaries” in the following places: Num 22:22, 1 Sam 29:4, 2 Sam 19:22, 1 Kings 5:4, 11:14, 23, 25, Psalm 38:20, 71:13, 109:4, 20, 29. It is translated :withstand” in Num 22:32; “resist” in Zech 3:1; “satan” in 1 Chr 21:1, Job 1:6, 7, 8, 9, 12, 2:1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7; Psa 109:6, Zech 3:1, 2, Matt 4:10, 12:26, 16:23, Mark 1:13, 3:23, 26, 4:15, 8:33, Luke 4:8, 10;18, 11:18, 13:16, 22:3, 31, John 13:27, Acts 5:3, 26:18, Romans 16:20, 1 Cor 5:5, 7:5, 2 Cor 2:11, 11:14, 12:7, 1 Thes 2:18, 2 Thes 2:9, 1 Tim 1:20, 5:15, Rev 2:9, 13, 24, 3:9, 12:9, 20:2, 7.
From the above it will be found that the term has been used to describe God when revealed as an opponent to Israel (1 Chr 21:10), an angel of the Lord (Num 22:22, 32), good and evil men (1 Sam 29:4, 2 Sam 19:22, Psa 38:20), an apostle (Matt 16:23, Mark 8:33), adverse religious communities (Rev 2:90), sickness (Luke 13:16), evil thoughts (Luke 22:3, John 13:27, Acts 5:3), the flesh (Acts 26:18), the world as adverse to God (1 Cor 5:5, 1 Tim 1:20), governments (Rev 19:9, Luke 10:18)

Common “Devil” belief myth busting:

(Please see more details in Common Concerns section at end of this article)

• We assert that the biblical link between a fallen angel and the Genesis Serpent is none existent. It is merely a tradition taught by men.
• To the contrary, the serpent is classified by the bible with the beasts of the field, and with “livestock” (Genesis 3:1 and Genesis 3:14).
• If Satan (in serpent manifestation) was a fallen angel, how come God did not acknowledge this at the time with the type of curse he pronounced?
• If Satan is roaming the earth in accordance with the devil myths, how come the curse of Genesis 3:14 never actually took hold upon him (to eat dust and crawl upon the belly)?
• We believe that the words “Devil” and “Satan” are used by the apostles to describe the collective power of sin in the social, political, and pseudo-religious hierarchies of their time.
• For example, we read of the devil casting believers into prison (Revelations 2:10). Was “the devil” that cast them into prison the character to the right? Of course not! It was the Roman authorities!
• We state that demons that could be driven out from people were not a feature of the bible prior to the Babylonian exile, and only became a feature of the culture and language of the Jews during and after their time of exile.
• An examination of the Christ healing stories reveals that Christ listened to sick people and met them where they were at in their suffering. If you were desperately ill, would you be ready for an intellectual argument as to the Babylonian myth of daemonic illnesses? No, you’d just want to get better. Jesus knew that.

Some Interesting References from Outside the Bible

(But always remember it is more important to ask “What does the Bible teach?”)

• Lauran Pain – “The reformation gave impetus to the idea that devils did not have to be individual entities, but could in fact be found in personal and private wicked thoughts and individual harmful actions.” (The Hierarchy of Hell, Robert Hale, London 1972, p 91)
• Canon Anthony Deane – “Insidious and plausible ideas beset him (Jesus)…Therefore he withdrew into the wilderness…There the battle against temptation was fought and won. In afterdays he told his friends of that experience, and described in vivid imagery the powerful suggestions of evil which presented themselves, suggestions which in turn he resisted and drove away.” (Jesus Christ, Hodder and Stoughton, London, 1927) Chapter 1, Section V)
• Charles Gore, Bishop of Oxford “We shall probably agree with the great third-century scholar, Origen, that the incidents described in the Temptation narrative…were not external occurrences; but that Jesus thus represented, as in a parable, to his disciples, what were really inward experiences of his soul…” (Jesus of Nazareth, Thornton Butterworth, London, 1929 , Chapter 2, p 47)
• A Lyons, A social scientist – “To the ancient Jews, who were hard-core realists, Satan symbolized man’s evil intentions.” (Satan Wants You, Hart Davis, London 1971, p 28)

Further reading

Common concerns re: personal devil