‘Satan’ is a Hebrew word that means ‘adversary’ and in the Old Testament it is translated as adversary on 10 occasions, although on 16 other occasions it is left untranslated as Satan. There is not just one satan. Any adversary is a satan.
In the account of Balaam and his ass in Numbers 22, we [...]
Answers about Satan
The most relevant Bible passage here is 2 Thessalonians 2 which describes a “man of lawlessness” who will be revealed before the second coming of Jesus Christ.
Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ . . . For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is [...]
This question appears to assume the popular mythology that Satan is a fallen angel. In fact, the Bible contains no such teaching. (See “Is Satan a fallen angel?”)
There are two passages that talk about Satan “falling”.
Luke 10:18
He [Jesus] replied, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.”
Here, Jesus is responding to his disciples reporting how [...]
See also What is the difference between “unclean spirit” and “demon”?
Why does OT and NT teaching on demons appear to differ?
It is undeniable that there is a difference between the way the OT and NT describe illness and disability:
Exodus 4:11 Then the Lord said to [Moses], “Who has made man’s mouth? Who makes him mute, [...]
The first question, before answering why Satan and the angel were fighting over the high priest, is to ask, what is a vision? Is a vision a view into real events happening in heaven? Or is a vision a kind of symbolic parable told by a prophet to illustrate a point.
Of course the answer is [...]
And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. (2 Corinthians 11:14)
This appears to be one of two references in 2 Corinthians to a Jewish myth circulating in the 1st Century.
The original primary source “The Life of Adam and Eve” appears to have been written in Aramaic in the 1st Century BC. However [...]
Early Christians after the 1st century AD typically understood the devil/satan as a supernatural evil being, either a fallen angel or a demon. However, some early Jewish interpreters held a very different view.
The famous 18th century Baptist commentator John Gill acknowledged that early Jewish teachers interpreted ’satan’ as a reference to the natural inclination [...]
If the devil were an enormously powerful supernatural being which tormented the wicked in hell, then it would be very difficult indeed to explain why God would create such a being. However the Bible does not teach that the devil is a supernatural being, or that it torments the wicked in hell. The Bible [...]
No, satan is not a fallen angel. God tells us in the Bible that angels do not sin, so they cannot “fall”: angels only do what God wants them to do:
Ps. 103:20
Bless the Lord, O you his angels, you mighty ones who do his word, obeying the voice of his word!
Angles obey what God says.
Likewise, [...]
Nothing happens to us without God permitting it, so whoever is in our lives is there because God has allowed it. But there is no evidence that anyone has to explicitly ask God’s permission to come into our lives.
The Hebrew word Satan simply means opponent or adversary. It is applied to many different people in [...]
