Hello friend. Welcome to (or back to) The Moral Vision of Jesus Christ. If this is your first time here, you can orient yourself to this project by starting at the Introduction, which can be found here.
Where did we leave off?
We've followed Jesus out to the desert to see him tempted by "the devil," aka "Satan," in Matthew Chapter 4. We've discussed the likelihood that Jesus was having a hallucinatory experience in the desert, brought on by ascetic fasting. To better understand the narrative, we've been digging deeply into the origins of this "Satan" character.
Today, we continue digging in our multi-part study-within-a-study: "Understanding the Origins of Modern Common Conceptions of The Devil in Christianity," and witness the ending of the "Temptation" narrative in Matt.
Happy reading.
Understanding the Origin of Modern Common Conceptions of The Devil in Christianity
Part IV
Instances of "Satan" in The New Testament
Last time, as you'll recall, we discussed the presence of a figure that very closely resembles the modern "Satan" in an intertestamental, apocryphal, pseudepigraphical text called The Book of Enoch. The Book of Enoch may be the first extant text to contain the "biography of the devil." Now we will continue forward in chronological time to further identify, define and understand the concept of "Satan the Devil" in Christian Scripture.
Today, we will review every one of the thirty-three instances of the word "Satan" in The New Testament. Where we found no "capital-S" Satan in The Old Testament, The New Testament will surprise us with instance after instance of the "capital-S" Satan. However, as I've said before, we will not find Satan's biography in The New Testament.
This study is expanding a little bit past what I initially planned as its limits, in order to accomodate more detail. Next time we meet, we will comb The New Testament again, but for the term "devil" as opposed to "Satan." Between Parts IV and V of this study, then, we will be able to say resolutely that we've exhausted New Testament references to the Prince of Darkness in search of his biography, or any functional information about him, and found none.
Let's get started.
#1 - Matthew 4:10
Interestingly, Matthew 4:10 is also part of today's Gospel reading. Matt 4:10 shows Jesus rebuking Satan in the desert, after the temptations. He refers to Satan as the "capital-S" Satan, but we are offered no information about the character. The author of the text clearly assumes the reader's familiarity with the "capital-S" Satan.
#2 - Matthew 12:26
Here, Jesus is accused of performing exorcisms by the power of Satan. Jesus replies, roughly, "how can Satan drive out Satan, though?" meaning "why would Satan help defeat one of his minions?"
The fact that the wording surrounds a miraculous event makes the whole conversation dubious. We'll discuss this in greater detail when we get to it in our study. For today, we just need to understand that this verse offers no Satanic biography, and assumes the reader's prior knowledge of the entity.
#3 - Matthew 16:23
In Matt 16:22, Peter argues with Jesus about whether or not he must be executed in Jerusalem. In Matt 16:23, Jesus rebukes Peter for his argument by calling him "Satan." He also says Peter is an "obstacle" to him. Here, Jesus seems to return to an older usage of the word "satan." He seems to use it more as a generic term meaning "adversary," and less as the "capital-S" Satan.
#4 - Mark 1:13
Mark 1:13 is part of Mark's highly condensed version of the Temptation in the Desert narrative. In its entirety, the narrative consists of the following two verses from Mark Chapter 1:
12 At once the Spirit drove him out into the desert,
13 and he remained in the desert for forty days, tempted by Satan. He was among wild beasts, and the angels ministered to him.No Satanic biography. Just Jesus (probably) hallucinating in the desert.
#5 - Mark 3:23 and #6 - Mark 3:26
Mark 3:23 through Mark 3:30 is the Marcan analog of the conversation in Matt 12:26 (see #2). Here, Jesus asks how Satan can drive out Satan, as he did in Matt. The reader's knowledge of a capital-S Satan is assumed, and no biographical information about Satan is given.
#7 - Mark 4:15
In Mark 4:15, Jesus is explaining the Parable of the Sower to his guys. He says that Satan steals the word of God right out of some people once it is planted in them. He doesn't teach us anything about where Satan came from. He assumes the reader's prior knowledge of the Satanic biography, and the saying contains no moral prescription.
#8 - Mark 8:33
Analogous to Matt 16:23, see #3.
#9 - Luke 10:18
In Luke 10:18, Jesus says:
"I have observed Satan fall like lightning from the sky."
This is his response to the tidings of success brought to him by the Seventy-Two exorcists he had sent out to the countryside. He is not talking about an angelic fall like the one we saw in Enoch, but instead of the decline of Satan's power over Earth at that time due to the works of his followers. We can learn nothing about Satan's origin from this verse. Jesus, here, is merely telling his guys "good job," and is not offering moral teachings.
#10 - Luke 11:18
See #2, #5 and #6.
#11 - Luke 13:16
Luke 13:16 introduces us to a woman "who for eighteen years had been crippled by a spirit." The woman cannot straighten her back to stand up, which is blamed on this spiritual possession. Jesus heals the woman by driving the demon out of her. This occurs in a synagogue. The leader of the synagogue reprimands Jesus for doing work - healing - on the sabbath. Jesus says:
15 ... “Hypocrites! Does not each one of you on the sabbath untie his ox or his ass from the manger and lead it out for watering?
16 This daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound for eighteen years now, ought she not to have been set free on the sabbath day from this bondage?”
From this story we can learn nothing about Satan's biography except that he is capable of causing severe back pain.
#12 - Luke 22:3
In Luke 22:3, the Apostle Judas is possessed by Satan himself to betray Jesus to the authorities of Jerusalem.
This verse gives us no new information about Satan, but rather assumes the reader's prior knowledge of Satan, as do all of the verses on this list.
#13 - Luke 22:31
Luke 22:31 has Jesus talking to Peter about whether or not Peter will remain loyal to Jesus. Jesus says that "Satan" wishes to sift the disciples "like wheat," the meaning of which is not immediately and perfectly clear. Then he tells Peter "you will deny knowing me before the cock crows," parallel with Matthew 26:33-35 and Mark 14:29-31.
No good information about Satan can be gleaned from this passage. Here, as elsewhere, one could argue that "Satan" is just a stand in for the words "evil" or "fate."
#14 - John 13:27
About midway through the Gospel of John, we have Satan again entering Judas. Here, Jesus is eating with his men and he says, roughly, "one of y'all will betray me," and they say "which one?" and he says "the one who I give this piece of bread to." Then, he gives a piece of bread to Judas. It is only then that Judas becomes possessed by "Satan." Jesus then hurries the now possessed Judas off to accomplish his dark deed. "What you are going to do, do quickly.”
It is almost as if Satan is a minion or subordinate of Christ, here, helping Jesus accomplish his ultimate goal of dying at the hands of the Roman State.
Here we learn nothing biographical or functional about Satan.
#15 - Acts 5:3
Some time back, we glanced at the Book of Acts to learn what life was like for the very first Christians. At that time, we noted that the very first thing said about the very first Christian community as it existed immediately after Christ's execution was that they had "devoted themselves to the communal life," and that they were "together and had all things in common." This was to point out the stark contrast between the first Christians and today's American Christians, who honor Mammon* as their primary God, and Mars as their secondary.
In Acts, we also read a story about a guy in the first Christian community named Ananias. If you'll recall, Ananias and his wife were found to have hidden some of their personal wealth so they wouldn't have to give it to the common bank of the nascent Christian community. We bring this to light because, within that same narrative, we find one of our thirty-three mentions of Satan in The New Testament.
In Acts 5:3, Peter, the de facto leader of the community, is questioning Ananias as follows:
“Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart so that you lied to the holy Spirit and retained part of the price of the land?"The question proves to be rhetorical, as Ananias is struck dead by God, or by Peter through the power of God, before he can respond. When Ananias' wife get's home, the exact same thing happens to her.
(Yes, it appears the very first Christians were hardcore socialists of a sort.)
We learn nothing about Satan here at his mention, but I will always take any excuse to retell the tale of Ananias.
#16 - Acts 26:18
Acts 26:18 catches Paul of Tarsus in the middle of retelling the story of his conversion to Christ.
On his way to Damascus to persecute some Christians, Paul and his companions are struck to the ground by a great light in the sky and voice coming from it asking Paul "why are you persecuting me?" Paul says "who are you?!" The voice responds, roughly, "I am Jesus! And today, I'm turning you into a Christian so you can go out to the world and turn other people away from Satan and towards God."
This is another instance where we could replace the word "Satan" with the word "evil" and never miss a beat. We learn nothing functional about the Prince of Darkness, here.
Also, we find the story of Jesus' talking to Paul dubious at best, for reasons that will be explained later in great detail.
#17 - Romans 16:20
In Paul's Letter to the Romans, in a section now labelled "Against Factions," Paul tells the Christian community in Rome that he wants them to be cautious against divisions among themselves.
From Romans, Chapter 16:
17 I urge you, brothers, to watch out for those who create dissensions and obstacles, in opposition to the teaching that you learned; avoid them.
18 For such people do not serve our Lord Christ but their own appetites, and by fair and flattering speech they deceive the hearts of the innocent.
19 For while your obedience is known to all, so that I rejoice over you, I want you to be wise as to what is good, and simple as to what is evil;
20 then the God of peace will quickly crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.
As you can see for yourself, this does not offer the Christian follower any functional information about The Devil. Paul is just worried that the community will splinter apart in those turbulent and trying early years, and is warning against the factionalism that would lead to that outcome. He assumes his audience knows who Satan is.
#18 - 1 Corinthians 5:5
In 1 Corinthians, Paul writes to the Christian community in Corinth and tells them that he has heard of some incest going on with one of their community members. He instructs the community to kick the incestual lover out of their midst; to "deliver this man to Satan."
Paul is giving instruction to excommunicate the man for his sexual misdeeds. Excommunication would have been equivalent to being "delivered to Satan." Paul is extremely judgemental here.
In 1 Cornithians 5:5, Satan continues to serve as the opposite side of the dual natured universe. If you aren't in the community, with God, then you must be outside of it, with Satan. No biographical Satanic data can be found here.
#19 - 1 Corinthians 7:5
In 1 Corinthians 7:5, Paul tells the Corinthians how to administer their married lives. He tells the community at Corinth that when two people marry, they must give one another their body, so that the wife is in charge of the husband's body, and the husband is in charge of the wife's. He tells them specifically that neither should withhold sex from the other. He says they shouldn't deny one another sex "so that Satan may not tempt you through your lack of self-control." Here, "Satan" could be seen as a stand-in for the lustful sensations of human flesh. The instance of Satan here, like all the rest that we've seen in The Bible, is non-biographical. The meaning of "Satan" is totally taken for granted.
#20 - 2 Corinthians 2:11
Here, Paul contradicts what he had been saying in his first letter to the Corinthians. In this new letter, he tells the community to forgive members that break the rules. Paul says that forgiveness is a safeguard against Satan. Again, knowledge of this "capital-S" Satan is presupposed in the reader.
#21 - 2 Corinthians 11:14
Here, Paul is discussing the presence of false prophets who, at the time of the writing, are speaking in the name of Christ but are out of step with the larger Christ-Movement community. He says, roughly, "of course there are false prophets, because even Satan dresses up as an angel of light." Here again, Satan is the opposite of good; the counter-weight to God.
We learn nothing about Satan here, not that we would necessarily consider knowledge gained from a Pauline letter inherently "valuable."
#22 - 2 Corinthians 12:7
In 2 Corinthians ch.12, Paul rambles on back and forth about whether or not he should boast about himself and his accomplishments. He settles, roughly, on "I won't boast, even though if I did boast, it would totally be true, because I have had all these amazing revelations." Immediately after this deliberation, he explains his concern that he will become too "elated."
So that he won't become to "elated" as a result of his revelations, Paul says that "a thorn in the flesh was given to me, an angel of Satan, to beat me, to keep me from being too elated." God has sent some unspecified discomfort or pain to Paul's life, to keep him on the straight-and-narrow.
Satan as metaphor for pain.
This offers us no Satanic biography.
#23 - 1 Thessalonians 2:18
In his first letter to the Thessalonians - the one he actually wrote - Paul tells the Thessalonian community that he had meant to visit them in person, but that Satan had stood in his way. Here, the use of the capital-S "Satan" is merely a way to say "bad fortune." We learn nothing about Satan from this.
#24 - 2 Thessalonians 2:9
2 Thessalonians is, according to many modern scholars, pseudepigraphical. It was possibly written by someone who knew Paul and was trying to imitate Paul's first letter to the Thessalonians. Chapter 2 of the document seems to be talking about a coming Antichrist in the form of a "lawless one" who Jesus will "kill with the breath of his mouth." This "lawless one," in 2:9, is called the one who "springs from the power of Satan." A verse later, the author of this letter says that God is sending this deceiving "lawless one" to tempt people to believe a lie, so that they can be condemned.
The cosmology suggested here is nonsensical, and the text offers us no valuable information about Satan.
#25 - 1 Timothy 1:20
In 1 Timothy, which may be pseudepigraphical, Paul tells his friend Timothy how he wants the community Timothy oversees to be ran. As an example to Timothy, Paul says that some community members in his town had rejected "conscience" and "made a shipwreck of their faith," and so they were "handed over to Satan to be taught not to blaspheme."
This language is similar to that found in 1 Corinthians, Chapter 5. To be "handed over to Satan" in the early Christian community, was to be excommunicated. Paul is just telling Timothy to excommunicate some people.
There is no Satanic biography here.
#26 - 1 Timothy 5:15
1 Timothy ch.5 has Paul, or "Pseudo-Paul," writing to Timothy about how widows should be handled within the Christian Community. He says, roughly, "old widows can be full members in a community. They pose no risk of harm. But young widows tend to get into trouble with gossip and sexiness, so they need to get married again in order to be full members. That way, they have stuff to do, and they won't go around causing trouble. Trust me, we've seen this before, and some of our members have been turned away to Satan because of this."
There's a lot that should be said here that we won't say until a later date, when we look at 1 Timothy as a whole. What we will simply say for now is that 1 Timothy gives us no biography of Satan, and no functional information about him.
#s 27 through 33 - Revelation 2:9, 2:13, 2:24, 3:9, 12:9, 20:2 and 20:7
"Satan" is mentioned several times in The Book of Revelation. The biography of Satan in Revelation is taken for granted, as it is in every other New Testament book that mentions him.
Scholars aren't certain who wrote Revelation, but it is clear from a stylistic point of view, and by analysis of historical context, that the "John" who claims to author Revelation is not the same "John" who claims to author The Gospel of John.
Revelation claims to be a prophecy handed down directly by Jesus from Heaven. The narrative of Revelation occurs (generally) during the time in which it was written, not the distant-by-thousands-of-years future.
We feel comfortable lumping all the Revelation mentions of Satan together because Revelation is a fantastical fever-dream, and its narrative cannot be taken seriously except maybe as prose and literary context. We will study Revelation at length at some point. For now, just know that the last seven references to "Satan" in the New Testament - those found in Revelation - offer us no Satanic biography, but merely use Satan as the counterweight to God in a wild story about a time of epic war and tribulation. Knowledge about Satan's origin is presupposed in every case, here.
----
And that's it. We've reviewed every instance of the word "Satan" in The New Testament, and not one single time did the text tell us who Satan is, where he came from, how he gained dominion over Earth, how he became the administrator of Hell, or how he was given the job by God to tempt all humanity away from God.
In The Old Testament, the "capital-S" Satan does not even exist. In The New Testament, his existence and back-story are taken for granted. Again, all evidence points toward Satan's backstory having originated largely during The Intertestamental Period, and perhaps specifically in The Book of Enoch.
Next time, we will double-back and review every instance of the term "devil" in The New Testament in order to demonstrate that The New Testament absolutely does not offer us the biography of Satan, aka The Devil, aka Beelzebul, aka The Prince of Darkness. That will complete our demonstration that Satan is simply not explained or defined in canon Christian Scripture, and make way for a quick survey of Satan's evolution between the first-century and modern times. That should wrap up this multi-part study-within-a-study.
For now, let's get back to our Gospel.
#18 - 1 Corinthians 5:5
In 1 Corinthians, Paul writes to the Christian community in Corinth and tells them that he has heard of some incest going on with one of their community members. He instructs the community to kick the incestual lover out of their midst; to "deliver this man to Satan."
Paul is giving instruction to excommunicate the man for his sexual misdeeds. Excommunication would have been equivalent to being "delivered to Satan." Paul is extremely judgemental here.
In 1 Cornithians 5:5, Satan continues to serve as the opposite side of the dual natured universe. If you aren't in the community, with God, then you must be outside of it, with Satan. No biographical Satanic data can be found here.
#19 - 1 Corinthians 7:5
In 1 Corinthians 7:5, Paul tells the Corinthians how to administer their married lives. He tells the community at Corinth that when two people marry, they must give one another their body, so that the wife is in charge of the husband's body, and the husband is in charge of the wife's. He tells them specifically that neither should withhold sex from the other. He says they shouldn't deny one another sex "so that Satan may not tempt you through your lack of self-control." Here, "Satan" could be seen as a stand-in for the lustful sensations of human flesh. The instance of Satan here, like all the rest that we've seen in The Bible, is non-biographical. The meaning of "Satan" is totally taken for granted.
#20 - 2 Corinthians 2:11
Here, Paul contradicts what he had been saying in his first letter to the Corinthians. In this new letter, he tells the community to forgive members that break the rules. Paul says that forgiveness is a safeguard against Satan. Again, knowledge of this "capital-S" Satan is presupposed in the reader.
#21 - 2 Corinthians 11:14
Here, Paul is discussing the presence of false prophets who, at the time of the writing, are speaking in the name of Christ but are out of step with the larger Christ-Movement community. He says, roughly, "of course there are false prophets, because even Satan dresses up as an angel of light." Here again, Satan is the opposite of good; the counter-weight to God.
We learn nothing about Satan here, not that we would necessarily consider knowledge gained from a Pauline letter inherently "valuable."
#22 - 2 Corinthians 12:7
In 2 Corinthians ch.12, Paul rambles on back and forth about whether or not he should boast about himself and his accomplishments. He settles, roughly, on "I won't boast, even though if I did boast, it would totally be true, because I have had all these amazing revelations." Immediately after this deliberation, he explains his concern that he will become too "elated."
So that he won't become to "elated" as a result of his revelations, Paul says that "a thorn in the flesh was given to me, an angel of Satan, to beat me, to keep me from being too elated." God has sent some unspecified discomfort or pain to Paul's life, to keep him on the straight-and-narrow.
Satan as metaphor for pain.
This offers us no Satanic biography.
#23 - 1 Thessalonians 2:18
In his first letter to the Thessalonians - the one he actually wrote - Paul tells the Thessalonian community that he had meant to visit them in person, but that Satan had stood in his way. Here, the use of the capital-S "Satan" is merely a way to say "bad fortune." We learn nothing about Satan from this.
#24 - 2 Thessalonians 2:9
2 Thessalonians is, according to many modern scholars, pseudepigraphical. It was possibly written by someone who knew Paul and was trying to imitate Paul's first letter to the Thessalonians. Chapter 2 of the document seems to be talking about a coming Antichrist in the form of a "lawless one" who Jesus will "kill with the breath of his mouth." This "lawless one," in 2:9, is called the one who "springs from the power of Satan." A verse later, the author of this letter says that God is sending this deceiving "lawless one" to tempt people to believe a lie, so that they can be condemned.
The cosmology suggested here is nonsensical, and the text offers us no valuable information about Satan.
#25 - 1 Timothy 1:20
In 1 Timothy, which may be pseudepigraphical, Paul tells his friend Timothy how he wants the community Timothy oversees to be ran. As an example to Timothy, Paul says that some community members in his town had rejected "conscience" and "made a shipwreck of their faith," and so they were "handed over to Satan to be taught not to blaspheme."
This language is similar to that found in 1 Corinthians, Chapter 5. To be "handed over to Satan" in the early Christian community, was to be excommunicated. Paul is just telling Timothy to excommunicate some people.
There is no Satanic biography here.
#26 - 1 Timothy 5:15
1 Timothy ch.5 has Paul, or "Pseudo-Paul," writing to Timothy about how widows should be handled within the Christian Community. He says, roughly, "old widows can be full members in a community. They pose no risk of harm. But young widows tend to get into trouble with gossip and sexiness, so they need to get married again in order to be full members. That way, they have stuff to do, and they won't go around causing trouble. Trust me, we've seen this before, and some of our members have been turned away to Satan because of this."
There's a lot that should be said here that we won't say until a later date, when we look at 1 Timothy as a whole. What we will simply say for now is that 1 Timothy gives us no biography of Satan, and no functional information about him.
#s 27 through 33 - Revelation 2:9, 2:13, 2:24, 3:9, 12:9, 20:2 and 20:7
"Satan" is mentioned several times in The Book of Revelation. The biography of Satan in Revelation is taken for granted, as it is in every other New Testament book that mentions him.
Scholars aren't certain who wrote Revelation, but it is clear from a stylistic point of view, and by analysis of historical context, that the "John" who claims to author Revelation is not the same "John" who claims to author The Gospel of John.
Revelation claims to be a prophecy handed down directly by Jesus from Heaven. The narrative of Revelation occurs (generally) during the time in which it was written, not the distant-by-thousands-of-years future.
We feel comfortable lumping all the Revelation mentions of Satan together because Revelation is a fantastical fever-dream, and its narrative cannot be taken seriously except maybe as prose and literary context. We will study Revelation at length at some point. For now, just know that the last seven references to "Satan" in the New Testament - those found in Revelation - offer us no Satanic biography, but merely use Satan as the counterweight to God in a wild story about a time of epic war and tribulation. Knowledge about Satan's origin is presupposed in every case, here.
----
And that's it. We've reviewed every instance of the word "Satan" in The New Testament, and not one single time did the text tell us who Satan is, where he came from, how he gained dominion over Earth, how he became the administrator of Hell, or how he was given the job by God to tempt all humanity away from God.
In The Old Testament, the "capital-S" Satan does not even exist. In The New Testament, his existence and back-story are taken for granted. Again, all evidence points toward Satan's backstory having originated largely during The Intertestamental Period, and perhaps specifically in The Book of Enoch.
Next time, we will double-back and review every instance of the term "devil" in The New Testament in order to demonstrate that The New Testament absolutely does not offer us the biography of Satan, aka The Devil, aka Beelzebul, aka The Prince of Darkness. That will complete our demonstration that Satan is simply not explained or defined in canon Christian Scripture, and make way for a quick survey of Satan's evolution between the first-century and modern times. That should wrap up this multi-part study-within-a-study.
For now, let's get back to our Gospel.
------------------------------
Matthew 4:10 through Matthew 4:11
10 At this, Jesus said to him, “Get away, Satan! It is written:
‘The Lord, your God, shall you worship
and him alone shall you serve.’”
11 Then the devil left him and, behold, angels came and ministered to him.
------------------------------
It is an interesting coincidence that we've already had occasion to discuss Matthew 4:10 today.
Matthew 4:10 contains Jesus Saying #4. Recall that, last week, Satan offered Jesus all of the whole world if only Jesus would fall down and worship him. Today, we get Jesus' firm retort. He appeals to Jewish tradition and tells Satan to get lost.
Today marks the end of the "Temptation in the Desert" narrative. I will reiterate one last time that I am of the opinion that the "miraculous" events that we've seen recently described during Jesus' desert trek didn't actually happen. As I've said before, I do not believe in things that would defy human senses.
Even if the Temptation in the Desert had happened as we've seen it described, though, the events in the narrative shed no light on the human morality of Jesus, and don't further the cause of instructing humanity how to live their daily lives. Ultimately, that's what we are after, here at The Moral Vision.
We want to know, and we will precisely find out: "how did Jesus Christ advise us to live?"
Thank you for visiting. Thank you for reading. Please share this work.
Love.
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* Mammon means material wealth.
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