T H E   S U P E R N A T U R A L   D E V I L  
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Down through time the devil has been described in various forms - from being an evil ghost, or bogeyman, to a "devilishly" handsome man in a red suit, with horns and a pitchfork! Ultimately these descriptions portray the devil as the cause of everything bad that people do and experience - the "epitome of all evil." Even the familar phrase "the devil made me do it" summarises the these ideas - While these ideas are common, they are all wrong!

There are even many dedicated Christians who , for a whole lifetime, blindly accept the pagan based idea that the DEVIL/SATAN is an evil, immortal spirit being, who was once an angel, before being banished from the presence of Almighty God. The Bible does not teach this radical idea at all and thus every Christian person should at some time in their life, attempt to find the BIBLICAL TRUTH of the subject.

WHY WAS JESUS BORN?

The FIRST "clue" to a truthful understanding of this simple matter, is to be found in 1 John 3:8, where the Apostle John assures us that Jesus Christ ..." ...the Son of God was manifested that He might destroy the works of the DEVIL." This simple statement reveals that we must understand the true Bible teaching about THE DEVIL before we can truly understand the basis of our faith and thus the reason for Jesus being born in Bethlehem. John the Baptist knew why Jesus had come, because, as he watched Jesus walk towards him, he proclaimed loudly..."Behold the Lamb of God that TAKETH AWAY THE SIN OF THE WORLD."..(John 1:29). No mention of the "devil or Satan", by John the Baptist.

WHAT BROUGHT DEATH TO MANKIND?

In Romans 5:12, the Apostle Paul declares..."...by ONE MAN (not one devil) SIN entered the world AND DEATH BY SIN", and thus it was SIN that was responsible for death.....Paul makes no mention of an imaginary DEVIL being to blame.. To make sure we understand this simple Biblical principle, in the next chapter he adds to that statement by writing...."For the wages of SIN IS DEATH, but the gift of God is ETERNAL LIFE THROUGH JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD."...(Romans 6-23)...two alternatives....one is death by (for) sin and the other is eternal life by "being in Christ". So John the Baptist taught that Jesus came to destroy the works of sin, which Paul tells us came into the world by the actions of ONE MAN, NOT BY THE ACTIONS OF A SUPPOSED IMAGINARY DEVIL.

Paul then assures us that SIN IS RESPONSIBLE FOR DEATH, not the DEVIL of pagan superstition.

JESUS AND THE DEVIL:

In order for Jesus to conquer sin he had to be a member of Adam's race----i.e. he had to partake of our nature: "God sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin condemned sin in the flesh". (Romans 8:3)

This teaches that...........

• Jesus partook of sinful flesh

• Because of this he was able to destroy sin at it's source....i.e. in the flesh.

Hebrews 2:14 teaches exactly the same thing in different words. If we set Romans 8:3 and Hebrews 2:14 side by side, we can immediately identify the DEVIL.

 From this, we can see that the devil = sin in the flesh. In Romans 7:23 it is called ..."The law of sin which is in my members." Since the Bible speaks of the devil as if it were a person (compare wisdom spoken of as a woman in Proverbs chapter 8) we may define the devil as "the personification of sin in the flesh."

We may confirm the above conclusion by noting carefully the teaching of Hebrews 2:14 quoted in the panel above:-

HEBREWS 2:14 TEACHES THAT JESUS DESTROYED THE DEVIL BY HIS DEATH:

Compare this with Hebrews 9:26:

"For them must he (Jesus) often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world (i.e. age) hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself."

• Hebrews 2:14 says Jesus destroyed the devil by his own death;

• Hebrews 9:26 says he destroyed sin by his death.

• Thus again we see the Bible's teaching that the devil and sin are one and the same thing.

HEBREWS 2:14 TEACHES THAT THE DEVIL HAS THE POWER OF DEATH.

Compare this with Romans 6:23:
" The wages of sin is death".....and also 1 Corinthians 15:56..." The sting of death is sin."
· Hebrews 2:14 says that which causes death is the devil.
· Romans 6:23 and 1 Corinthians 15:56 say that it is sin which causes death.
· Thus again we see the Bible teaching that the devil and sin are the same.

THE MEANING OF THE WORD DEVIL.

Devil is really a Greek word that has been modified and incorporated into the English. The original word is DIABOLOS. This is made up of two Greek words...DIA (= across, as in diameter, a line across a circle), and BOLOS (from BALLO =to throw). The diabolos, or devil, is that which throws across the line of God's law.

That which causes us to cross the line of God's law is the diabolos.....or devil

NOTE: Another word which means crossing a line is ............TRANSGRESS

The law of sin in our members is that which repeatedly makes us cross the line of God's law, i.e. transgress his law. Thus it is appropriately referred to as the DIABOLOS......the ' across thrower' or DEVIL.

SINFUL PEOPLE CALLED...."THE DEVIL".

The word devil is sometimes applied to sinful people.....(.e.g. Judas in John 6:70).........or sinful organisations......(e.g. Revelation 2:10) because these are manifestations of the sin which is in all men.

THE MEANING OF THE WORD SATAN.

Satan is a Hebrew word which was taken over into the Greek and then into the English. It means 'an adversary.' Satan as a word denotes neither a good nor bad adversary but it has to be interpreted according to the context in which it is found. We find the the following are referred to as "satan":-

• God himself was a satan to Israel....(1 Chronicles 21:1 compared with 2 Samuel 24:1 demonstrates this.)

• The angel that stood in the way of Balaam is said to have been an "adversary" to him, the word "adversary" being SATHAN in the original Hebrew in Numbers 22:22

• Peter when he was opposing the divine plan in Christ, is called Satan in Matthew 16:23.

• The Jews who prevented Paul from going to Thessalonica are described as Satan....(1 Thessalonians 2:18)

• A religious organisation that opposed the Truth in Revelation 2:9 is described as Satan.

• The person who influenced Annanias-----probably Sapphira his wife-----is called Satan....(Acts 5:3-4).

• But the great adversary of mankind is sin, and so we read of the way in which men can be delivered from their sinful state by the Gospel: "To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in Jesus"....(Acts 26:18).

The power of the adversary (Satan) from which men are made free in Christ, is SIN. The law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death..." (Romans 8:2)

THE SOURCE OF TEMPTATION AND SIN.

It follows from what has gone before that we cannot blame a supposed 'fallen angel devil' for our sins. This is confirmed by James when he writes..."Every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust". (James 1:14) This agrees with the teaching of Jesus when He said..."From within....out of the heart of man, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: All these evil things come from within and defile the man." (Mark 7:21-23)

It was this law of sin in His members that Jesus fought and won.. He overcame sin at it's source...."He was tempted like as we are , yet without sin..." (Heb.2:14). In other words....He destroyed the devil.

In English, DEVIL is translated from DIABOLOS, which is a masculine noun in Greek and thus must use a masculine pronoun, This does not in any way suggest that the "diabolos" is a person. In French, "la port" is the door, a feminine noun with a feminine pronoun, but never in history has anyone ever thought of a door being a lady. Gender in Greek, as in French, does not necessarily prove the object to be a person.

THE DEVIL, SATAN AND OURSELVES.

The greatest adversary we have to face is in our own being. We can say with Paul: "In me, that is, in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing" (Romans 7:18). We must strive, like Jesus, to overcome the law of SIN (devil) within us, as Paul Exhorts: "Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof"...(Romans 6:12). Which is the same as saying: "Resist the devil and he will flee from you....( James 4:7).

Learn more at our free Bible based seminar
on Sunday 10 June 2007 3.30 - 4.30pm
Christadelphian Hall: 234 - 236 Epsom Ave Redcliffe.