God and the adversary

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Updated - February 9, 2025

God and the adversary - In almost all religions and world views, there is the idea of two opposing forces: good and evil, light and darkness, order and chaos.

The Bible says God as the all-powerful, just and loving Creator in contrast to the Adversaryoften referred to as Satan, Devil, Lucifer who is portrayed as a rebel, tempter and enemy of the divine order.

But how is this relationship to be understood? Is the adversary a necessary opposing force or merely a fallen servant of God? What significance does this dualism have for human beings?

The adversary as God's opponent

The word "Satan" comes from the Hebrew שָׂטָן (Satan) and means Opponent or Prosecutor. In the Bible he appears as Seducer, accuser and Adversary of God and man.

Job 1:6-12 describes how Satan appears before God and challenges him to put Job to the test. Paul warns in 1 Peter 5:8 "Be sober and vigilant! Your adversary, the devil, walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour." and John quotes Jesus in John 8:44 who calls the devil "Murderer from the beginning" and "Father of lies" is labeled.

It can be concluded from this that Satan is portrayed as a real, conscious person, not merely as an abstract principle of evil. His task is to destroy God's works, seduce people and sow doubt.

But where does the adversary come from? In Isaiah 14:12-15 a symbolic interpretation of Satan is described:
"How you have fallen from heaven, you radiant son of the dawn! [...] But you said in your heart: 'I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God.'"

Ezekiel 28:12-17 associates Satan with the Prince of Tyre and writes accordingly: "You were in Eden, the garden of God. [...] Your heart became haughty because of your beauty, and you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor."

These passages are often interpreted as indications that Satan was once a high angel (Lucifer = "light bearer") who fell into pride and rebellion against God. This supports Revelation 12:7-9where there is talk of a "war in heaven".

The role of the adversary in the Bible

Genesis 3:1-6 - The serpent in paradise
Satan appears in the form of a serpent and tempts Eve to transgress God's commandment. Sin begins with mistrust of God. Satan questions God's word ("Should God have said...?").

Matthew 4:1-11 - The temptation of Jesus
Satan tempts Jesus in the wilderness by tempting him to pride, selfishness and doubt. Jesus resists the adversary by relying on God's word. This shows that temptation can be overcome by divine truth.

Job 1:6-12 - Satan as accuser
Satan claims that Job is only pious because God blesses him. Satan tries to expose faith as mere self-interest. God allows the test, but only to a limited extent.

Revelation 20:10 - Enemy who will be defeated
"And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire [...] where they will be tormented day and night for ever and ever." In the end, Satan is destroyed. Evil has an end.

The worldly view - Satan as myth, symbol or reality?

Let us take three philosophers as examples: They do not see evil as a person (Satan), but as a inherent power in the world or consequence of human decisions.

Plato defined: "Evil is the absence of good.„

Immanuel Kant means: "Evil arises through the abuse of free will."

Carl Gustav Jung sees Satan as "an archetype of the "shadow self" that represents repressed dark aspects of the human psyche".

In this view, Satan is therefore not a real person, but a Metaphor for the evil in manwhile in art and literature Satan is often portrayed as Symbol of resistance, rebellion or seduction often detached from its religious meaning.

Interim conclusion

1 John 3:8 clarifies: "For this purpose the Son of God appeared, that he might destroy the works of the devil."

While from a worldly perspective evil is often recognized as a part of man himself, according to John Satan is an already defeated enemy whose influence is real but not eternal.

Satan's influence

After Satan as Prosecutor, Seducer, Word twisteretc., it is conceivable how he can influence people, especially in relation to their fellow human beings and their relationship with God himself.

However, it is difficult to imagine what this might look like in practice. You tend to put Satan in the fairytale corner, where he doesn't hurt. However, anyone who has witnessed many an experience live not only gets the proverbial goosebumps, but is gripped by the naked horror that you wouldn't wish on anyone.

Excursus - The Incarnate One

A seemingly harmless report comes from my grandfather, who was taken prisoner after the war and had to fight a bleeding stomach ulcer. Medication was rare and did not have the desired effect. But as was the case in those days, there was someone in almost every village who had a remedy for anything and everything. It was the same here. My grandfather was given a small bottle and told, "Take this, it will help you one hundred percent!" And so it was.

Now it is known that there is no remedy that actually helps one hundred percent. However, if the remedy is "discussed" (similar to discussing warts, etc.), the person who takes it comes under the influence of Satan. He is naturally interested in "helping" the person, convincing him of his ability and ultimately winning him over. The promise "helps one hundred percent" is a guaranteed fact in this case. However, what Satan conceals for safety's sake is that he thereby distances people from God and draws them under his spell.

To conclude with a blatant example: there are faith societies that distribute Bibles and Christian literature from house to house. Someone in the Eifel described his experience. The man rang the doorbell of a house in a rural area typical of the Eifel. An elderly woman opened the door just a crack and looked at him questioningly without saying a word. As usual, he recited his "saying" and handed the woman a Bible. She refused and was startled when a room door opened behind her and what must have been her husband stepped into the hallway. She gestured fearfully for him to leave.

Presumably we would be no different, because he just looked incredulous and completely uncomprehending as the man in the hallway became visible to him out of the darkness: the Bible was snatched from the visitor's hand and flew across the hallway in tatters, without him even getting within reach of the woman, the visitor or the Bible.

It should be understandable for everyone and beyond any doubt that the visitor gave up and stopped any further activity for that day, not to mention his mental state.
Similar occurrences are known from occult sessions, levitations, etc.

If you would like to find out more about this topic, you can find here, also additionally linked, further contributions, - partly also from own experience ...