So far the message of this booklet has been rather negative. That has been unavoidable. Because so many people believe that the devil is a fallen angel it was necessary to begin by showing that this is not taught in the Bible. This chapter will be more positive. Now it is time to show what the Bible really does teach about the origin of sin. In other words, the previous chapters have shown what the devil is not; this chapter will show what the devil really is.
Plain Speaking
As we have seen, the writers of the Bible often used Satan as a parable of human sin. But they did not always speak in parables. Sometimes they spoke in very plain language about the source of sin. Here are four examples:
"The heart [that is, "human nature", as we call it today] is deceitful above all things, and desperately corrupt; who can understand it?" (Jeremiah 17:9).
"Out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a man" (Matthew 15:19,20).
"Let no one say when he is tempted, I am tempted by God'; for God cannot be tempted with evil and He Himself tempts no one; but each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin" (James 1:13-15).
"What causes wars, and what causes fightings among you? Is it not your passions that are at war in your members? You desire and do not have; so you kill" (James 4:1,2).
The message of these four Bible quotations is painfully clear. God says to us, in effect: don't blame somebody else when you sin. Don't blame a supernatural devil, or any other being. Blame yourself. That is where temptation and sin come from—from right inside your own heart.
Paul's Teaching in Romans
If you still have any doubt about this, take a Bible and read straight through the first eight chapters of Paul's Letter to the Romans. Here we have a wonderful account of the truth about sin and death, salvation and everlasting life. It is quite the most detailed explanation of these things in the whole Bible.
Yet in all these eight chapters there is not one mention of the devil or of Satan.
Those who believe in a supernatural devil are baffled by this fact. If a fallen angel is the real cause of human sin, how could Paul write such a detailed explanation of sin and its origin without even mentioning this evil spirit? They cannot answer this question. One thing must be perfectly clear to anyone who reads Romans with an open mind: Paul did not believe that a fallen angel was responsible for the sinfulness of the human race.
In Chapter 1 he describes the wickedness of mankind. But he does not blame this on some Satanic being—he puts it down to "the lusts of their [men's] hearts" (verse 24). Similarly, in Chapter 2, he tells his readers that their sin comes from "your hard and impenitent heart" (verse 5). Then in Chapter 3 he blames "our wickedness" (verse 5). He makes it clear that we have no excuse for this (verse 19). We have nobody to blame but ourselves. Chapter 5 is the plainest chapter of all. This explains how sin and death came into the world. It was not through a wicked spirit, but:
"Sin came into the world through one man [Adam] and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all men sinned" (verse 12).
In Chapter 6 Paul explains that a Christian must think of himself as a "slave of righteousness" (verse 18). Before we become true Christians we are slaves of another master. Who is this other master? If Paul had believed in a superhuman devil, he would surely have said, "You were once slaves of the devil." But he said no such thing. These are his words:
"Let not SIN therefore reign in your mortal bodies ... Do not yield your members to SIN ... You are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of SIN, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness ... You were slaves of SIN ... But now that you have been set free from SIN and have bcome slaves of God ..." (verses 12,13,16,20,22). Sin. Plain human wickedness. That is our real enemy, and, unless we follow the Lord Jesus, sin is our evil master.
So there is no point in looking outside ourselves, for an imaginary evil-spirit enemy. We must look inside ourselves, where the real enemy is. This is Paul's teaching in Chapters 7 and 8 also:
"I delight in the law of God, in my inmost self, but I see in my members [another name for his own human nature] another law at war with the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin which dwells in my members" (Romans 7:22,23).
If you live according to the flesh [yet another name for sinful human nature] you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body you will live" (Romans 8:13).
Why Is the Bible Hard to Understand?
This is a big problem to many people. God wants people to understand the Bible. Why, then, does He not make it so plain that everybody who reads it draws the same conclusions? Why do some passages speak of Satan in such a way that many people sincerely, but mistakenly, think Satan is a fallen angel?
Before we tackle this question, one thing needs to be understood. This sort of problem arises in connection with other doctrines besides that of the devil.
Many people misunderstand a number of important Bible teachings. Some of the people who cling most fiercely to the idea of a supernatural devil—for example, the body known as "Jehovah's Witnesses"—are quick to point out that lots of Bible readers do not understand what the Bible really teaches about the human soul. Many people believe that the soul is immortal—although the Bible teaches the opposite. [If you have any doubts about this, write to the address on the back cover for a free booklet about life after death].
The disciples of Jesus were worried about a similar problem: "Why do you speak to them [the unbelieving masses] in parables?" they asked their Master. He replied:
"To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. For to him who has will more be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away. This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand ... But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear" (Matthew 13:10-16).
Anybody who wished could become a disciple. But it meant hard work. The disciples stayed with Jesus long after the crowds had gone home for their suppers.
They found his teaching hard to understand. But they kept on studying with the Master, and eventually they found that they could see what he really meant. To use his phrase, they developed eyes that could see and ears that could hear. The masses were not so diligent. They came when they felt like it; they heard a few things, and then drifted away. The result was that they completely failed to understand the Lord's teaching. In his words, "Seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear."
It is much the same today. To understand the Bible one needs to work at it. But it is well worth the effort. This is why every faithful member of the Christadelphians tries to read at least a chapter or two every day. If we only look at the Bible once in a while—say, on Sundays, or whenever we go to a church service—we cannot expect to understand it properly.
Bible Language
The men who wrote the Bible were nearly all Hebrews (or, as we would call them nowadays, Jews). Most of them wrote in the Hebrew language, and the others thought in a Hebrew way. Even after it has been translated into our own language, we can still recognise the Hebrew way of speaking in our Bible.
The Hebrews loved parables. In one form or another, parable-language is found on practically every page of the Bible. Unless we realise this we shall often be led astray.
For instance, in Matthew 6:24 Jesus said, "No one can serve two masters ... You cannot serve God and Mammon."
You might think from this that Mammon was the name of a heathen idol, which some men worshipped instead of worshipping God. But you would be mistaken. "Mammon" was just a Jewish word meaning "money".
In these few words Jesus gave us a kind of parable. It was as if he had said, "Money is an idol to many people. Instead of worshipping my Father, they worship the great god Money. Let them beware!" His Hebrew listeners were in no danger of believing that there really was a wicked spirit called Mammon, even though modern readers could easily misunderstand Jesus if they were not careful.
Some parables run right through the Bible, from one book to another. One of these is the Parable of God and His Wife. In this, the nation of Israel (in the Old Testament) or the Christian church (in the New Testament) is likened to a woman whose husband is God or Christ.
So the parable we have been studying in this booklet is not unique. The Parable of God and His Enemy (Satan, or wicked human nature) occurs in about the same number of Bible books, and is mentioned about the same number of times, as the Parable of God and His Wife.
A careful Bible reader will not take either of these parables literally. He will not imagine that God's "wife" is a woman, even though she is given female names like, "Aholah", and "Hephzibah". He will not assume that God's "enemy" is a fallen angel, even though he is given the ugly name, "Satan". And, since every parable is meant to teach us something, he will look for the important lesson in this great parable of God and His Enemy.
Bringing Good out of Bad
As a first step towards grasping this lesson, we must note that God has a wonderful way of bringing something good out of a human disaster.
Jesus Christ was the King of the Jews. But they did not recognise him. The Jews murdered their King.
Was this a tragedy, or a good thing? It was both. Any murder is a terrible event, but this murder was different from any other tragedy. God used it to provide a Sacrifice for the sins of the world.
In much the same way, God can even use a false statement as a foundation for a true one! If you find this hard to believe, consider the story told by Jesus that we call the Parable of the Pounds (Luke 19:12-27).
In this parable a nobleman (Jesus) gave ten servants a pound each, and told them to trade for him while he was away. Some did so, but one was lazy and did not. This was his excuse:
"Lord, here is your pound, which I kept laid away in a napkin; for I was afraid of you, because you are a severe man; you take up what you did not lay down, and reap what you did not sow" (Luke 19:20,21). In these words the lazy servant slandered his master. The Lord Jesus is not "a severe man"; he does not "take up what he does not lay down", or "reap what he does not sow". But the Lord did not deny the slander. He replied: "I will condemn you out of your own mouth, you wicked servant! You knew that I was a severe man, taking up what I did not lay down and reaping what I did not sow? Why then did you not put my money into the bank, and at my coming I should have collected it with interest?" (Luke 19:22,23). We can learn a great deal from the Lord's answer. His opening words, "I will condemn you out of your own mouth", are very significant. This is another way of saying, "I will accept what you say (even though it isn't true) and use it to show how wrongly you have behaved".
The same principle is used several times in the Lord's dealings with men. It applies especially to the New Testament doctrine of the devil. The Pharisees had taken the Old Testament name of Satan, and had corrupted it by applying it to the heathen doctrine of a "devil"—a god of evil. Jesus did not correct their error. Although the Pharisees were using the word "devil" as part of their false teaching, Jesus was able to make good use of the word in his own teaching. But it is clear that he used it in a different way.
By taking up the Pharisees' word, devil, and using it as a parable of human sinfulness, just as the Old Testament had done with the word Satan, Jesus made his own teaching more effective. It was another application of the method he used in his Parable of the Pounds—"I will condemn you out of your own mouth."
Learning a Hard Lesson
His skilful teaching can help us today, if we will let it. The Bible picture of the devil is horrible. When we first read of this evil creature called Satan we are revolted by it. Then, if we read our Bibles very carefully, light dawns upon us. "Ugh, that dreadful thing is a parable of human nature. That's what I, myself, must be like inside!"
Without this wonderful parable to help us, it would be extremely hard for us to realise in our hearts just how wicked we are. This hideous picture of our natural selves as God's Enemy—Satan—is God's way of bringing home the truth to us with shattering force. If that does not teach us humility and the need for salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ, then surely nothing else will.
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