Note and Comment

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Nov 5, 1914

Belief in a Personal Devil

A READER of the Sunday School Times recently asked the editor of that journal if he believed in a personal devil, and if so what reasons he should give for his belief. The writer states that “a very intellectual minister, at the present time preaching not far from this place, disclaims this fact.” To the inquiry the editor gives the following excellent reply:—

The Bible presents a personal devil so clearly that to understand its references to him as being merely figurative, standing for evil in the abstract, would be to bring the Bible below the grade of ordinary books in intelligence and trustworthiness. The Bible speaks of Satan or the devil as “he,” and “him,” not “it.” For example, we read in Heb. 2:14 that Christ took upon himself the body of a man “that through death he might bring to naught him that had the power of death, that is, the devil.” If only impersonal evil has the power of death, such a passage as this, together with many others, very needlessly and ignorantly goes out of its way to present the devil as a person. The unique inspiration of the Bible as the Word of God becomes a strangely helpless thing if the person Satan does not exist. Again, he is referred to as “the prince of the powers of the air” (Eph. 2:2),—a far-fetched reference for mere abstract evil. And “Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing judgment, but said, The Lord rebuke thee.” Jude 9. Was it impersonal evil that wanted to get at the body of Moses?

Our Lord Jesus Christ leaves us in no doubt as to the existence of the person Satan. When foretelling the time when the Son of man shall come in his glory, he says (Matt. 25:41): “Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into the eternal fire which is prepared for the devil and his angels.” Abstract evil needs no fire to punish it. . . . The apostle John is shown “the dragon, the old serpent, which is the Devil and Satan, . . . bound . . . for a thousand years” (Rev. 20:2); and later, “the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, . . . tormented day and night forever and ever” (Rev. 20:10). Answering those who accused our Lord of casting out demons by the power of the prince of the demons, Christ answered, “If Satan casteth out Satan, he is divided against himself.” Matt. 12:26. All this is strangely unnecessary language if there is no power of evil in the universe save abstract sin and sinful human nature.

And if there is no personal devil, how was the sinless Christ in the flesh tempted? He was led up into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. If the devil there means only abstract evil, how would that evil get access to Christ? There was no sin in him; evil promptings could not have come from his sinless nature; and he was alone in the wilderness. To do away with a personal devil leaves us in a difficult situation to explain this great crisis of our Lord’s earthly life.

Let any one who honestly desires the truth on this question take his Bible and a concordance, and thoughtfully, prayerfully read each passage listed under the words Satan and devil. Then let him ask, “Is there a personal devil?” There can be but one answer that does not stultify the Bible, its writers, God, and oneself. Satan is a person, present with his personal helpers in this world, seeking to destroy the works of God; he is the most terrible adversary that mankind has. But Satan met his eternal conqueror when, nineteen centuries ago, Christ “despoiled the principalities and the powers,” and “made a show of them openly, triumphing over them.” Not a single attack of our great adversary can harm us if we carry the shield of faith in our Lord, wherewith we “shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the evil one.”