Christianity is concerned with the life, work and teaching of Jesus Christ. Yet we cannot possibly appreciate what he accomplished unless we understand what the Bible means by its use of the words Devil and Satan. The apostle John declared:

For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil' {1 John 3.8).

Paul said that Jesus shared the nature of his brethren in order 'that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil' (Heb. 2.14). In the course of his ministry Jesus gave exceptional powers to a number of his disciples and sent them out to preach the gospel and to heal the sick. When they returned, rejoicing in the success of their mission, Jesus said to them:

'I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven. Behold, 1 give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing shall by any means hurt you'. (Luke 10.18,19).

All these passages clearly show that the Devil, though a great power, is ultimately to be destroyed through the work of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The enemy of mankind
An understanding of the meaning of 'the devil and satan' is necessary not only for an appreciation of the mission of Jesus but also for an understanding of the effect of this power on ourselves. Throughout the New Testament the devil is portrayed as the enemy of mankind. For example, Peter exhorts the believers to..'be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: whom resist stedfast in the faith'. (I Peter 5.8,9). Paul told the believers: 'Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil'. (Ephesians 6.11). James said that if they resisted the devil he would flee from them. (James 4.7). Even Jesus felt the full force of this adverse power, being led into the wilderness and 'being forty days tempted of the devil'. (Luke 4.2). It is clearly very important for the servant of God to understand what the Bible means by the words Devil and Satan.

Who or What is the Devil?
Presented with this question most people would immediately think of an evil spirit being-an angel who has rebelled against God and whose primary aim is to turn men and women from obedience to God. A modern dictionary sums up this view: 'Satan ' is defined as The chief fallen angel; chief evil spirit, adversary of God and tempter of men, the Devil'. (Chamber's 20th Century Dictionary.) This is the conception of the Devil which was taught for centuries in the name of Christianity and which gave rise in the hearts of millions to an unreasoning and abject fear. Associated with fear of the Devil himself came fear of his supposed ministers, demons and evil spirits on every hand, and at death the horror of everlasting fire in hell where the devil and his angels reigned supreme. It cannot be disputed that down the centuries the power of the church has been upheld as much by the preaching of such doctrines as by the hope of salvation.

Most people have now rejected all such ideas, but in the main that rejection has come about not as a result of a proper understanding of Bible teaching but as a consequence of accepting the modern denial of all that savours of the supernatural. A minority still hold to a belief in the personality of the Devil, sincerely believing this to be the only way to understand Bible teaching on the subject. It will be the aim of this booklet to show that the Bible knows nothing of such a monster of evil but that in the terms Devil and Satan we have the very descriptive names given to that principle of sin and wickedness which is inherent in human nature.

What the Bible says
There are certain facts on which all students of the Bible should be able to agree. The Devil has the following characteristics:-

(a) It is opposed to God.
(b) It is manifested in many forms and is very strong.
(c) It not only affects every man and woman very personally but has wrought havoc throughout the whole creation.
(d) Only Christ could overcome this power.
(e) The death of Christ was essential to this victory.
(f) Ultimately the Devil is to be utterly destroyed.

In seeking to understand Bible teaching it would be helpful to look at the actual meaning of the words Devil and Satan.

Satan-Adversary
Satan is a word which has simply been taken into the English language from the original Hebrew of the Old Testament. Had the word been translated it would have been rendered 'adversary'. Indeed, there are a number of instances where this has occurred. For example, we read that 'the Lord stirred up an adversary unto Solomon, Hadad the Edomite'. (I Kings 11.14). Again, the Philistines feared to take David with them into battle lest, they said, 'in the battle he be an adversary to us'. (I Samuel 29.4). In these cases the original Hebrew word is 'satan'. nowhere in the Old Testament is the word associated with a fallen angel or any other such supernatural agency. It is worth noting that apart from the first two chapters of Job there are only three direct references to Satan in the whole of the Old Testament, and no references to 'the Devil'. Bearing in mind that the Old Testament covers the first 4,000 years of the development of God's purpose with man this is very remarkable if Satan really is an angel who fell in the beginning and is responsible for all the sin and evil which has existed in the world ever since. Israel, for example, were continually being reproved for sin and repeatedly punished by evil but the sin was their responsibility and the evil was from God. (see Isaiah 45.7). No other agency was held responsible. This is an important point which will be developed later. The first chapter of the book of Job is frequently quoted as an example of Satan at work. But the .words tell us nothing about this Satan. He was an adversary, as the word means, but who he was we do not know. There is no reason to think he was supernatural or had any exceptional powers. This, again, will be considered in greater detail later.

God as an adversary (Satan)
It will be helpful to look at other examples of the occurrences of the word satan where it cannot possibly refer to a monster of evil. In the first book of Chronicles we are told that 'Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel'. (I Chronicles 21.1). In the parallel record of the same incident in the second book of Samuel we read 'And again the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he moved David against them to say. Go, number Israel and Judah.' (II Samuel 24.1). God, then, was an adversary-a Satan-to Israel, his people; and there were other occasions when, because of their wickedness, God said Me was against (or adverse to) them. There was also the notable occasion when an angel of the Lord was an adversary to Balaam. Balaam had been hired by an enemy of Israel to prophesy against God's people. Though warned by God not to attempt to carry out his mission he persisted and set out. But 'God's anger was kindled because he went: and the angel of the Lord stood in the way for an adversary (Heb.: Satan) against him.' (Numbers 22.22).

Peter as an adversary
Soon after Peter made his remarkable confession of faith in Jesus as 'the Christ, the Son of God', Jesus began to warn his disciples that there was an aspect of his mission which, as yet.

they did not understand. Me said plainly that 'he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day'. Peter protested, 'Be it far from thee. Lord: this shall not be unto thee'. But Jesus reproved Peter: 'Get thee behind me. Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men'. (Matthew 16.16-23). At that time Peter was an adversary to Jesus. Notice particularly that Peter himself was the adversary (Satan). Jesus did not say he was 'possessed by Satan' as if Satan were an external power. It is to be noted, however, that there was an occasion when Jesus did seem to speak to Satan in this way. He said to his disciples, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat'. What this means will be considered later together with other passages which seem to suggest that satan is a title of a powerful being opposing God and leading man astray. For the moment we note that the Hebrew word in itself carries no such connotation.

The Devil
This is another word which is not a translation of the original language but which is derived from the Greek word 'diabolos'. This is a compound of 'dia' meaning 'through' and 'ballo' meaning 'to cast', and means literally 'to dart or strike through'. In the New Testament, according to Dr. Young in his Analytical Concordance, it means an accuser or calumniator. In the Authorised Version it has sometimes been translated as 'slanderer', (e.g. I Timothy 3.11). On most occasions it has not been translated; as, for example, when Jesus said to his disciples: 'Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil?' (John 6.70). As with the word 'Satan', the word 'Devil' in itself gives us no indication of precisely who or what is referred to. This must be learned from other considerations. However, it needs very little knowledge of the New Testament to appreciate that in many cases the title of 'Devil' (and occasionally that of 'Satan') is applied to one particular Slanderer and Adversary.