The Origin of Satan

When we don’t turn to the Bible to inform us about spiritual reality, something else will take its place. Culture has replaced Scripture in the minds of many when it comes to understanding Satan. Indeed, many false beliefs fill our minds when we think of Satan.

MISCONCEPTION #1: “Satan is red with horns and a pitchfork.”

John sees a vision of Satan as being red with horns in Revelation: “Another sign appeared in heaven: and behold, a great red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads were seven diadems” (Rev. 12:3). Yet, there are many problems with thinking that this passage supports the idea that Satan is red with horns and a pitchfork.

First, there is no mention of Satan possessing a pitchfork in this text or in any other text in the Bible.

Second, John states that Satan is red with horns, but this is a “sign,” not to be taken literally. Indeed, if this is literal, then we would need to believe that Satan possesses “seven heads” and “ten horns”!

Third, the Bible depicts Satan as a beautiful being. Ezekiel describes Satan in this way: “You had the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. ¹³ You were in Eden, the garden of God. Every precious stone was your covering: the ruby, the topaz and the diamond; the beryl, the onyx and the jasper; the lapis lazuli, the turquoise and the emerald; and the gold, the workmanship of your settings and sockets, was in you. On the day that you were created they were prepared. ¹⁴ You were the anointed cherub who covers, and I placed you there. You were on the holy mountain of God. You walked in the midst of the stones of fire” (Ezek. 28:12-14). Paul writes, “Even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light” (2 Cor. 11:14). If we saw Satan, he would be so beautiful that we would be tempted to bow down and worship him.

Fourth, this bizarre and unbiblical description of Satan originated in the Middle Ages, but not because of biblical ignorance. At the time, believers held that Satan couldn’t stand being mocked. So, they depicted Satan in an outrageous way, making a fool of him.^[1] Our problem today is that believers are so biblically ignorant that they can’t distinguish a parody from the real thing.

MISCONCEPTION #2: “Satan lives in hell.”

Not true! When God asked Satan where he had been, Satan replied, “From roaming about on the earth and walking around on it” (Job 1:7). Satan lives on Earth, and he rules the Planet Earth. Paul calls him “the god of this world (2 Cor. 4:4), and Jesus called Satan “the ruler of the world” (Jn. 14:30). Likewise, John writes, “The whole world lies in the power of the evil one” (1 Jn. 5:19; Jn. 12:31; 16:11; Eph. 2:2; 6:12). Satan claimed to own the entire world when he encountered Jesus (Lk. 4:5-7), and Jesus never disputed that claim. Indeed, Satan’s temptation to give the world to Jesus would’ve been meaningless if he didn’t have the world to give.

Satan will eventually go to hell (Mt. 25:41; Rev. 20:10), but that will not happen for some time. Moreover, when Satan goes to hell, he will not be the warden over hell, but a prisoner within it. Consequently, we are uncertain as to where this concept originated. If we could speculate, however, this seems to be an excellent tactic of Satan. A brilliant enemy like Satan would want to convince us that he’s far, far away in hell, rather than alive and well on Planet Earth.

MISCONCEPTION #3: “Satan can force us to sin.”

Hyper-charismatic Christians seem to act as though Satan controls their choices. This is not the case. While we can be tempted, sin ultimately originates within us. James writes, “Each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust” (Jas. 1:14).

Furthermore, while Satan can tempt us, we are held culpable for acting on it. Indeed, whenever Satan tempts people, the individual is held responsible for succumbing to the temptation (Acts 5:3; Gen. 3:1-15). We might compare this to a college student getting drunk at a keg party because he succumbed to peer pressure. In this case, both the college student and his peers would be held responsible.

Finally, believers in Jesus have power over Satan. John writes, “Greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world” (1 Jn. 4:4). Believers have a source of infinite power at their disposal when they encounter Satan—the power of God himself. Thus, when we resist the temptations of Satan, he must flee. James writes, “Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you” (Jas. 4:7-8).

What does the Bible teach about Satan?

Satan is known by various names. Scripture calls him the evil one (Mt. 13:19, 38; 1 Jn. 2:13; 3:12; 5:18), our enemy (Mt. 13:39), our adversary (1 Pet. 5:8), the tempter (Mt. 4:3; 1 Thess. 3:5), the deceiver (Rev. 12:9), and the father of lies (Jn. 8:44).

Satan is a beautiful being. He can appear as an angel of light (2 Cor. 11:14), and he was created as God’s anointed cherub (Ezek. 28:12-14).

Satan is a brilliant being. He is so persuasive that he was able to draw away a third of the angels—even though they were in the very presence of God (Rev. 12:3-4). Furthermore, even though humans entered into God’s “very good” world (Gen. 1:31), and though they lived in God’s very presence (Gen. 3:8), Satan was able to persuade the first humans to revolt against God (Gen. 3:1-15).

Satan is a deceitful being. He is a master of deceit and lying (Jn. 8:44), often using half-truths (Gen. 3:1) or even quoting Scripture to deceive people (Mt. 4:6).

Satan is a malevolent being. A crime boss might capture and torture a man’s family in order to harm and torture him. In a similar way, Satan knows that he cannot directly harm God. So, he indirectly harms God by harming those whom God loves: humans. Jesus taught that Satan “was a murderer from the beginning” (Jn. 8:44), and Peter compares Satan to a lion who hunts down followers of Jesus (1 Peter 5:8-9). The term “diabolical” comes from the Greek term for “devil” (diabolos).

Satan rules over the demonic realm. When an evil regime rises to power, it is almost always ruled by a single dictator. Therefore, it shouldn’t surprise us to see Satan ruling over demons as their ultimate leader (Mt. 12:24; 25:41; Mk. 3:22; 11:15; Eph. 2:2-3). Satan’s leadership over the demonic realm also fits with the fact that he desires to be served and worshipped (Mt. 4:8-10; 1 Cor. 10:20).

Satan’s nature, origin, and fall: Key Passages

Genesis 3

Isaiah 14?

Ezekiel 28

Job 1

Job 2

(Gen. 6:4) Who or what were the Nephilim?

^[1] R.C. Sproul writes, “That portrait of Satan dates from the Middle Ages, a time when Christian people were acutely conscious of the reality of the spirit world and particularly of the reality of Satan. They took steps to defend themselves from the wiles of Satan, and in trying to identify his weak points, they came to the conclusion that his greatest point of vulnerability was his pride. So they attacked him at that point by making silly caricatures of him in order to poke fun at him. No one in the church at that time believed that Satan actually wore a red suit, carried a pitchfork, and had hooves and horns.” R.C. Sproul, Unseen Realities: Heaven, Hell, Angels and Demons (Christian Focus Publications, 2011), 142.