{"id":4599,"date":"2013-10-09T00:05:16","date_gmt":"2013-10-09T07:05:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/?p=4599"},"modified":"2013-10-09T09:55:16","modified_gmt":"2013-10-09T16:55:16","slug":"satan-and-the-bible","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/2013\/10\/09\/satan-and-the-bible\/","title":{"rendered":"Satan and the Bible"},"content":{"rendered":"

One day Jesus was teaching in a synagogue on the Sabbath (see Luke 13:10-17). There was a woman in attendance who, for eighteen years, had been bent over and was unable to straighten up. Her deformity, as Jesus will later point out, was something Satan had done to her. Jesus noticed her plight and healed her.<\/p>\n

\tThe reaction of the synagogue leader was quick: he condemned the healing. Jesus had violated the prohibitions on working on Saturday, something the Bible was very clear about. In fact, it\u2019s part of the Ten Commandments (see Exodus 20:8-11). There\u2019s even the story from Numbers 15:32-36 of a person being stoned to death at God\u2019s command for even so minor a violation of the Sabbath as gathering wood. The synagogue leader took the Bible seriously and believed it was to be obeyed always. Jesus was without excuse. The synagogue leader knew the Bible was the word of God and he knew what it said. He knew his position was unassailable.<\/p>\n

\tSo what would Satan do? Agree with Jesus? Or join the synagogue leader in condemning Jesus for breaking one of the Ten Commandments and ignoring the very word of God?<\/p>\n

Satan believes the Bible is the word of God. He agrees with the bumper sticker, \u201cGod said it, I believe it, and that settles it for me.\u201d
\nA popular pursuit in my high school days was hunting through the Bible to find a \u201clife verse.\u201d I never really liked that fad. Shouldn\u2019t one\u2019s life be based on the entire revelation of God rather than one small snippet? I thought limiting myself to a single passage, like a clich\u00e9 inscribed upon the page of a calendar, was just silly. Likewise, it seemed to me that it would be so easy for such a verse to be pulled out of context.<\/p>\n

Forced by my youth group to pick something, in my teenage rebelliousness, I wound up picking Ecclesiastes 10:19:<\/p>\n

A feast is made for laughter,
\nwine makes life merry,
\nand money is the answer for everything<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\tIt seemed perfect for my purposes: ludicrous , devoid of context, and funny. People were appalled, but had difficulty criticizing my choice since it was, after all, from the Bible. And how can one criticize the Bible?<\/p>\n

\tSatan has read and studied the Bible. He can quote it. Satan\u2019s use of scripture in some ways may be similar to what I did with that passage. <\/p>\n

\tIn the story of Satan\u2019s temptation of Jesus, we find Satan easily quoting a passage from the Bible at Jesus. What does his use of Scripture\u2014and Jesus\u2019 responses, using the Bible in retaliation\u2014tell us about Satan\u2019s beliefs about the word of God\u2014and his understanding of it?<\/p>\n

The story of the Devil tempting Jesus appears in Matthew 4:1-11, Mark 1:12-13 and Luke 4:1-13. The author of Hebrews comments about Jesus\u2019 temptation in Hebrews 2:18 and 4:15, but without specifying when or which temptation may be in view. Luke 4:13 comments that \u201cWhen the Devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time\u201d while John states at the end of his gospel that \u201cJesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.\u201d (John 21:25) Combined, these passages suggest the possibility that Jesus faced other times of temptation beyond what is recorded by the New Testament authors.<\/p>\n

The lone quotation that Satan makes from the Bible is recorded in both Matthew and Luke:<\/p>\n

Then the Devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. \u201cIf you are the Son of God,\u201d he said, \u201cthrow yourself down. For it is written:<\/p>\n

\u201c \u2018He will command his angels concerning you,
\nand they will lift you up in their hands,
\nso that you will not strike your foot against a stone.\u2019\u201d (Matthew 4:5-6; Luke 4:9-11)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\tSatan quotes from Psalm 91:11-12. He does so based on his understanding of it as part of a messianic psalm. That is, like most scholars of Jesus\u2019 day, Satan understands it as a promise given to God\u2019s son in his incarnation as the Messiah. That\u2019s why Satan begins the temptation as a challenge, \u201cif you are the son of God,\u201d before telling him to toss himself off the temple and demonstrate that fact.<\/p>\n

\tBut Satan is not a perfect biblical scholar. Paul writes, \u201cNone of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory\u201d (1 Corinthians 2:8). Satan is understood, generally, as being the ruler of this age. Paul seems to so reference him in 2 Corinthians 4:4, where he also informs us that Satan blinds unbelievers so that they cannot see the light of the Gospel.
\nUsing the Bible like the Pharisees<\/p>\n

According to the Gospel of John (John 8:42-44), Jesus describes the Pharisees as being the children of Satan in their beliefs and practices. <\/p>\n

\tSo how did the Pharisees interpret the Bible? Consider their conclusions about the Messiah: who he would be, where he would come from, and how he would act. They had created a well-developed character study. Like an author preparing to create a novel or screenplay, they\u2019d made a list of things that the Messiah character must do and ways that he must behave. For example, he would be a stickler for the Law. He would condemn sinners. He would rail against the Roman government.<\/p>\n

\tBy their estimation, Jesus failed to live up to what they had decided they knew was necessary for someone to be the genuine savior of Israel. He was loose about keeping the Sabbath. He spent time with disreputable people. He was not overtly political.<\/p>\n

\tBased on their list, Jesus did not match their most important character requirements and so they concluded what was only reasonable and obvious: that he could not possibly be the Messiah. Since Jesus could not be the promised savior, they had to find alternative explanations for those things in his performance that otherwise would seem to confirm his identity. Miracles were explained away as the works of Satan. What else could they be, since Jesus\u2019 actions contradicted vital parts of their list? They could not imagine the possibility that their criteria was off in any way. They never entertained the thought that they might have misunderstood something. They were certain that what they had decided about the Bible\u2019s meaning was identical to what the Bible actually meant. <\/p>\n

\tWhen Jesus preached, \u201cyou have heard it said, but I say to you\u201d they did not hear Jesus correcting their misreading of Scripture. Rather, they heard Jesus contradicting Scripture. In their minds, they knew what the Bible said and what Jesus was saying was different from what they knew it said. Therefore, he had to be evil, since there were no other possible interpretations of the Bible but those that they had already decided upon. Their interpretations were obviously, unassailably correct. No other reading was even imaginable, unless one wanted to twist the Bible like a pretzel\u2014and that\u2019s precisely what Jesus was doing as far as they were concerned.<\/p>\n

\tPharisees took the Bible seriously. They were committed to the Bible. The Bible was the word of God and must be obeyed without fail.<\/p>\n

\tSatan takes the Bible just as seriously. He believed when he quoted the Bible to Jesus that he was making a powerful argument. If Jesus really were the son of God, then he would not be able to resist the Bible\u2014the very word of God\u2014and would be forced to obey it. <\/p>\n

\tWhen he told Jesus to jump off the temple, he had every reason to expect that Jesus would have no choice but to do just that. He was doubtless surprised when Jesus said no, creating cognitive dissonance in the Devil’s mind. He forced Satan to consider an entirely different way of understanding the verses. Jesus opened an interpretation of Satan\u2019s quotation that had never crossed his mind before. Satan had taken the passage in Psalms as a given, as a promise, as even a command. He hadn\u2019t considered the possibility that it could not, in fact, be used as a blank check against God\u2019s account.<\/p>\n

\tTo repeat: Satan is not infallible as a biblical scholar. His own biases get in his way as much as they did for the Pharisees\u2014or, if we\u2019re honest, with us. But Satan, like most Christians and like the Pharisees before them, believes the Bible and accepts it as the Word of God. He views it as authoritative. He is certain that if he can demonstrate something biblically, he has proven something, and that it cannot be argued against. This belief is also clear from the fact that Jesus, in responding to each of Satan\u2019s temptations, quotes the Bible at Satan, because Jesus knows that Satan believes the Bible and accepts it as valid, truthful, and an authority that must be accepted.<\/p>\n

\tWhen the serpent speaks to Eve in Genesis 3, the serpent does not deny the words of God that were given to her. Rather, he asks her a question about them\u2014he suggests by his question, not that God didn’t say what he said. Rather he asks her if she has really understood what he said. Do God\u2019s words mean what she thinks they mean?<\/p>\n

\tIn and of itself, such a question is not wrong. In fact, we will later find Jesus asking the Pharisees, his disciples, and others who are around him, just that sort of question. <\/p>\n

\tSo we can be confident that Satan believes the Bible and studies it. He wants to figure out just what it says.<\/p>\n

\tHowever, Satan approaches it counter to something Paul says about the spirit of the law verses the letter of the law (see 2 Corinthians 3:6, Romans 2:29, 7:6). The Pharisees\u2014along with those who think like them today\u2014approach the Bible much as a lawyer might approach a deposition or the statements of a witness. They want the list that will tell them what to do in all eventualities; they want the rules laid out so they know what they can\u2019t do, and so they can figure out what they can do without violating any of the other rules. Satan thinks like a lawyer–or an engineer\u2014or the child who notices if you don\u2019t play the game exactly right, or if you don\u2019t read the familiar bedtime story exactly the same way you read it last night. <\/p>\n

\tThe essence of this sort of approach to the Bible, with its focus on discovering the rules, is that such readers get locked into thinking about those rules rather than on what\u2019s right. They miss the whole point; they miss the stories; they miss the revelation of God. They forget that Jesus and Paul argue that the law\u2014all laws\u2014can be summed up by \u201clove your neighbor as yourself\u201d (see Matthew 22:34-40, Mark 12:28-31, Romans 13:9, Galatians 5:14). If one focuses on what\u2019s best for others, remarkably one doesn\u2019t have any inclination to harm them. Love fulfills all rules automatically, with not much thought needed. The details take care of themselves.<\/p>\n

\tBut of course Satan doesn\u2019t see that, can\u2019t imagine it matters, and thus misses the whole point of the Bible in his obsession with rules and regulations.<\/p>\n

Want to learn more about how the Devil thinks? Buy my book, What Would Satan Do? The Devil’s Theology<\/em><\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"What<\/a>

What Would Satan Do? The Devil’s Theology<\/p><\/div><\/a><\/p>\n

Available from Amazon, for the Kindle and Kindle Apps.<\/p>\n

Send to Kindle<\/span><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One day Jesus was teaching in a synagogue on the Sabbath (see Luke 13:10-17). There was a woman in attendance who, for eighteen years, had been bent over and was unable to straighten up. Her deformity, as Jesus will later … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_s2mail":"yes"},"categories":[18,17,16],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4599"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4599"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4599\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4603,"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4599\/revisions\/4603"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4599"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4599"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4599"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}