Satan in the New Testament

In the New Testament, the word ‘Satan’ appears in many places and in most instances he is regarded as a fallen evil angel. His role is to tempt and destroy mankind and in the process of doing this, turn people ‘away’ from God. He is accompanied by 1/3 of the ‘Fallen angels’ who are now referred to as ‘demons’.
So how did people’s perception change from the Old Testament view of ‘Ha-Satan’ as a neutral angel who did the role he was assigned, to the demonic evil that he is generally perceived to be now?

Foreign Influences

Whilst the early Hebrews had a general belief that there was only one God, they had lived in countries and experienced cultures that had differing views. During their time in Egypt, they would have been exposed to the Egyptian’s beliefs about good and evil. As with most ancient peoples, the Egyptians believed in many Gods, some of whom were good and helpful, whilst others were evil and harmful. So the Hebrews living in Egypt would have been strongly exposed to this concept of ‘dualism’. i.e. ‘Good’ and ‘Evil’ gods.

Similarly, during the Hebrew’s time as captives in Babylon, they would have been exposed to the main Babylonian religion of Zoroastrianism. Zoroastrianism strongly believes that there is an eternal battle between ‘good’ and ‘evil’ going on in the world. They believe there is one ‘good god’ and one ‘evil spirit’ who are controlling the world and they both are trying to get mankind to follow them. i.e. ‘The ‘good god’ wants people to be good, kind and helpful to one another, whereas the ‘evil spirit’ wants to corrupt and tempt people, so that they ultimately will be destroyed.

The New Testament

In the New Testament, there are many references to ‘Satan’ and generally they are interpreted in the context of an ‘evil being’ rather than the Hebraic view of being ‘the accuser’ only. He is called a

• ‘murderer from the beginning’(John 8:44)
• a ‘tempter of Jesus’ (Luke 4:1)
• a ‘ruler of demons’ (Matt 12:24)
• ‘the evil one’ (1 John 5:18)
• ‘a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour’ (1 Peter 5:8).

Therefore, the New Testament ‘view’ of Satan has ‘changed over time, and he is no longer viewed as Ha-Satan the ‘accuser’ but Satan, the evil one.

In Luke 4 we see Jesus being tempted by ‘the accuser’ to do certain things that would show that he was the son of God. Some scholars have suggested that as these ‘tests’ occurred immediately after Jesus had received ‘power’ from the Holy Spirit, the tests were to see if he would be tempted to use these powers, to demonstrate that he was in fact the son of God.

However, Jesus did not succumb to these temptations. It is interesting to note that at no time did Jesus accuse ‘Satan’ of being evil, a traitor, etc. Instead, Jesus just treated him as ‘the accuser’, responding as one would in a court of law. Additionally, it is highly probable that Jesus knew ‘Ha-Satan’ and therefore knew what his role and purpose were.

In Luke 10:18 we see Jesus saying

“I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you”.

However, supposedly Satan had fallen from heaven in earlier parts of the bible, so what was Jesus referring to in this scripture? Earlier Jesus had sent out 72 ‘disciples’ into Israel and whilst they had been mainly successful in their preaching, they also suffered persecution from the Jewish religious hierarchy. The Pharisees and priests were intent on destroying these ‘Christians’ and so they accused them of blasphemy and persecuted them.

Jesus knew that these Pharisees’ and priests’ authority was coming to an end and that they would no longer be in positions of power and authority, instead, they would ‘be thrown down like lightning from heaven’.

In this context, Jesus was calling the Pharisees ‘Ha-Satan’ because they were acting just like the angelic ‘Ha-Satan’ did by ‘accusing’ him and his disciples. In modern bible translations ‘the accuser’ has been replaced by ‘Satan’.

Jesus also told the returning 72 that they would be able to trample on snakes and scorpions. (Luke 10:18). So, was he referring to Satan, the ‘main snake’? Or was he referring to the Pharisees and priests? In Matthew 12:34 Jesus says to these religious leaders,

‘You brood of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.’

This passage of scripture is not referring to ‘Satan’ instead Jesus is calling the Jewish religious hierarchy, a bunch of ‘snakes’.

We have to remember that the New Testament, which contains 27 books, was written by an estimated 15 or so authors over a generally accepted time period from 60AD to 120AD. These ancient texts were ‘put together’ at the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD and updated around 400AD. Thus, there was plenty of time for influences from other beliefs to enter these ‘new translations.

The perceptions of Satan being a ‘fallen evil angel’ gained traction with the publishing of Milton’s ‘Paradise Lost’. In Milton’s poem, Satan is shown to be evil, starting a war in heaven and then being thrown down to the earth along with 1/3 of his ‘followers’. Milton had a vivid imagination. Dante’s ‘Divine Comedy’ added to this perception of Satan ‘ruling’ in Hell and having his ‘fallen angels, now called ‘demons’, torturing all the condemned. men and women who ended up in Hell

Checking facts

So why did this perception of an evil ‘Satan’ gain so much traction?

According to some scholars, in the 1500s, only about 10% of men were literate and a smaller percentage for women. In the 1600s this percentage rose to approximately 20% and each century the percentage of people who could read increased. Remember that before Gutenberg’s printing press was ‘invented’ in 1400, all books were handwritten on parchment, skins or expensive paper. This was a very expensive and time-consuming process and only undertaken by the wealthy.

Therefore the ‘average’ person would ‘learn’ by hearing what was preached to them and what was told to them by authority figures. The average person in the Middle Ages had no way to ‘check’ if the information was correct. If they were told that the events in the ‘Divine Comedy’ or in ‘Paradise Lost’ were real, then they would believe them and so those ideas would be perpetuated throughout their lives and the lives of future generations.

To us, with our modern technology, it is extremely easy to check up on the information we have heard and thereby confirm or deny what people have told us as being ‘factual’. It does require some ‘work’ as there is also now a lot of ‘fake news’ and disinformation available.

Satan has ‘evolved’ from being a servant of God to an evil being completely opposed to God. We have seen that external influences have assisted in this change of view.

What is Satan doing now?

Jesus knew that when he died and was resurrected into heaven, the ‘old way’ was going to be replaced by a ‘new way’. Therefore, Satan’s role of accusing people before God would have no functionality. Under the new covenant, Jesus has cleansed us from all of our sins and transgressions.

‘and He Himself brought our sins in His body up on the cross so that we might die to sin and live for righteousness; by His wounds, you were healed. ‘(1 Pet 2:24).

God has said that he would remember our sins no more.

‘For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.’ (Heb 8:12).

So now, God would have no need for a ‘Ha-Satan’ to report to him, that ‘job’ was no longer needed.

What is Satan doing now? A large number of people say that Satan is still ‘running around doing evil’ because there is still so much sin and evil in the world today. Others believe he is locked up in chains in the bottomless pit.

“And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season. (Rev 20:1).

Some scholars believe that Revelation is talking about events that occurred in 70AD, whilst others think Revelation is describing events that are in the far-off future. Either way, Satan no longer has the same access to God that he once did and so his powers must therefore be limited. As you can see from the above pages, Satan’s role was to accuse, then tell God, who would then decide if punishment was required, God would then allow ‘other forces’ to carry out that punishment. Additionally, there is no biblical evidence that 1/3 of the angels rebelled and became evil.

Regarding Satan being ‘bound with chains’, this is obviously not literal, it is a metaphor for having one’s ‘power’ or ‘authority’ limited or removed. Being ‘cast into a bottomless pit’ is again not literal, as a pit, by definition must have a bottom. Again, this is a metaphor to indicate that a person’s position has changed, from being high up, mixing with the ‘elite’, having authority, to now being amongst the low places with no prestige and no power.

So in the new ‘heaven and earth’ kingdom, it would appear that Satan’s power is extremely limited. The question then must be asked; if Satan is ‘bound’ and has ‘limited’ power, why is there still so much evil, pain and suffering on the earth? Well, maybe our perception of Satan and his role in our world is incorrect and has been distorted by events, people’s mindsets and ignorance, as detailed above.

Even if we just take a ‘logical’ view of Satan as being responsible for all evil, in my view, we can see inconsistencies with this theory. Was Satan responsible for tempting Eve? If he was, then his actions caused the entire world to fall into sin and so it would have been an incredibly destructive event.

Later, in Job, we see God talking to ‘Satan’ and having what appears to be a normal conversation. If Satan was responsible for destroying God’s creation would such a conversation occur? I think not. God never accused Satan of any evil while they were discussing Job.

Also, as God is omnipresent and can see the future, would he not have foreseen Satan destroying things? Similarly, when Satan came to tempt Jesus (who is God), Jesus didn’t accuse Satan of warring in heaven, and for bringing evil into the world. Jesus just referred to him as the role he had been assigned by God (And hence himself!), to be just the ‘accuser’.

Finally, let’s revisit 1 Peter 5:8

‘Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.

If we look at the Greek version of this scripture, we find it is written as ‘

‘Be of sober spirit, be on the alert, your adversary, legal opponent of you, slanderous as a lion; he walks around seeking whom he may drink up’

Some early versions of this scripture have ‘accuser’ instead of ‘adversary. legal opponent’, whilst early Latin versions have ‘diablos’, which has been translated from the Hebrew ‘accuser’. Some early versions also have ‘devour’ instead of ‘drink up’.

You may have noticed what ‘the accuser’ is doing; He is ‘walking around’.
Remember in Job when God asked ‘Ha-Satan’ (The accuser) where he had been and he replied’ ‘walking up and down on the earth’.
Therefore, it would seem that this scripture indicates that ‘Ha-Satan’, the accuser, is doing what his job description says he is to do, which is to walk up and down on the earth looking for people whom he can accuse before God.

However now that Jesus has defeated Satan at the cross, Satan has ‘lost’ his job as ‘the accuser’.
Has Satan essentially been reduced to a scapegoat to explain why we humans do evil things?

Many people have said
‘The devil made me do it.’