Does satan know the Bible ?

Interesting!

There is a view that Satan thought he had it in the bag when he got Christ crucified ... never clicked that was the plan all along!

Thomas
 
I was going to say: depends on the translation (and, of course, the tradition that birthed the translation), but nah....

The fact that the Lord Jesus reportedly effectively answered satanic temptation with, "It is written," quoting OT Scripture, implies that it was recognized and yielded to as having authority.

Respectfully,

Learner
 
Interesting - do we have any early Christian writings where the authors describe resisting the temptations of Satan? Simply that I'd hate to think that with a string of councils over the centuries that no one reported having resisted. ;)
 
St. Hesychios the Priest:

'Through His incarnation God gave us the model for a holy life and recalled us from our ancient fall. In addition to many other things, He taught us, feeble as we are, that we should fight against the demons with humility, fasting, prayer and watchfulness.' -Watchfulness, 12.

'If you wish to engage in spiritual warfare, let that little animal, the spider, always be your example for stillness of heart; otherwise you will not be as still in your intellect as you should be. The spider hunts small flies; but you will continually slay "the children of Babylon" if during your struggle you are as still in your soul as is the spider; and, in the course of this slaughter, you will be blessed by the Holy Spirit.' -Watchfulness, 27.

'Just as it is impossible to fight battles without weapons, or to swim a great sea with clothes on, or to live without breathing, so without humility and the constant prayer to Christ it is impossible to master the art of inward spiritual warfare or to set about it and pursue it skillfully.' - On Watchfulness and Holiness, 99.

'As you sail across the sea of the intellect, put your trust in Jesus, for secretly in your heart He says: "Fear not, my child Jacob, the least of Israel; fear not, you worm Israel, I will protect you." If God is for us, what evil one is against us? For He has blessed the pure of heart and given the commandments; and so Jesus, who alone is truly pure, in a divine way readily enters into hearts that are pure and dwells in them. Therefore, as Paul counsels, let us ceaselessly exercise our intellect in devotion. For devotion uproots the seeds sown by the devil, and is the path of the intelligence.' -Watchfulness, 150.
 
I said:
Interesting - do we have any early Christian writings where the authors describe resisting the temptations of Satan? Simply that I'd hate to think that with a string of councils over the centuries that no one reported having resisted. ;)
Click to expand...
Personally, you mean?

Well we have the temptations of St Anthony (c 251–356), very colourful, very graphic.

We have lots on the temptation of Christ, but apart from that, nothing springs to mind. There must be something. I know the Fathers had a very psychodynamic view of evil, rather than the personified visions, which might belong to the Medieval West ... but I'll hunt around, and see what I can dig up ... and if I ever heard a 'fools rush in...' kind of statement, that was it!

If you smell sulphur the next time you think of me ... I went too far!

Thomas
 
It's okay, Thomas, I was being playful - but I think anything from the Church Fathers is worth a read where possible. :)
 
Then the devil took him to Jerusalem, and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, for it is written, 'He will command his angels concerning you, to protect you,' and 'On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.' "
 
Thanks, BlaznFattyz.

You got it right (by quoting the Scripture): Satan tempted Jesus with the Word, to which He responded, again quoting the Word in reply.

I have always wondered, in the absence of eye witnesses and scribes to this wilderness temptation episode, how any details of such an internal spiritual battle could be known. Jesus must have shared his experience, but in such detail, (meaning, the to and fro Scripture quoting)?

Anyway, I now see that (at least part of) the temptation experience was sorting out the Truths of Scripture, weighing different Words in his mind, and bringing them to order.

(This might just be a personal projection, but I thought I would mention it, and acknowledge my indebtedness for my new insight.)

Respectfully,

Learner
 
leastone said:
Thanks, BlaznFattyz.

You got it right (by quoting the Scripture): Satan tempted Jesus with the Word, to which He responded, again quoting the Word in reply.
Click to expand...
Actually, it was Jesus that steered the exchange towards scripture:
Matt 4
1 Then (A) Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the Devil. (B) 2 After He had fasted 40 days and 40 nights, (C) He was hungry. 3 Then the tempter approached Him and said, "If You are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread." (D)

4 But He answered, "It is written:
Man must not live on bread alone
but on every word that comes from the mouth of God. " (E) (F)
​

...and that is exactly what Jesus did--he made the scriptures (inscribed in stone) come to life by following the Spirit of the Law, rather than being allowed to be lead away from the Spirit of the Law via legalistic loopholes. It's the Spirit that gives life.
 
Genesis 3:1 Now the serpent was more subtle than any other wild creature that the LORD God had made....
Click to expand...

Satan in the form of deceit is always clever and just as aware of the Bible as is necessary to bite us. The Hebrew tribe of Dan became the unfortunate tribe of false faith and religious deceivers, symbolized by poisonous serpents along the path. A deceiving tongue or lie can be Satan and self control or patience can be a snake charmer (or Satan-suppressor).
  • Dan
    Genesis 49:16-18 Dan shall judge his people as one of the tribes of Israel. Dan shall be a serpent in the way, a viper by the path, that bites the horse's heels so that his rider falls backward. I wait for thy salvation, O LORD.

    Judges 18:30 And the children of Dan set up the graven image: and Jonathan, the son of Gershom, the son of Manasseh, he and his sons were priests to the tribe of Dan until the day of the captivity of the land.

    Jeremiah 8:16-17 "The snorting of their horses is heard from Dan; at the sound of the neighing of their stallions the whole land quakes. They come and devour the land and all that fills it, the city and those who dwell in it. For behold, I am sending among you serpents, adders which cannot be charmed, and they shall bite you," says the LORD.

  • Charming the serpent (the tongue?)
    RSV Genesis 4:7 If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is couching at the door; its desire is for you, but you must master it."

    YLT Ecclesiastes 10:11 If the serpent biteth without enchantment, Then there is no advantage to a master of the tongue.

    James 3:6-8 For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by humankind, but no human being can tame the tongue -- a restless evil, full of deadly poison.

  • Serpent in the heart
    Luke 22:3 Then entered Satan into Judas surnamed Iscariot, being of the number of the twelve

    Psalm 58
    2 Nay, in your hearts you devise wrongs; your hands deal out violence on earth.
    3 The wicked go astray from the womb, they err from their birth, speaking lies.
    4 They have venom like the venom of a serpent, like the deaf adder that stops its ear,
    5 so that it does not hear the voice of charmers or of the cunning enchanter.

    Jeremiah 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately corrupt; who can understand it?
 
seattlegal said:
Actually, it was Jesus that steered the exchange towards scripture:
Matt 4
1 Then (A) Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the Devil. (B) 2 After He had fasted 40 days and 40 nights, (C) He was hungry. 3 Then the tempter approached Him and said, "If You are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread." (D)

4 But He answered, "It is written:
Man must not live on bread alone
but on every word that comes from the mouth of God. " (E) (F)
​
...and that is exactly what Jesus did--he made the scriptures (inscribed in stone) come to life by following the Spirit of the Law, rather than being allowed to be lead away from the Spirit of the Law via legalistic loopholes. It's the Spirit that gives life.
Click to expand...

Hmm, this brings to my mind this scripture:
Matt 7
7 "Keep asking, (E) [c] and it will be given to you. (F) Keep searching, [d] and you will find. Keep knocking, [e] and the door [f] will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who searches finds, (G) and to the one who knocks, the door [g] will be opened. 9 What man among you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11 If you then, who are evil, (H) know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask Him! 12 Therefore, whatever you want others to do for you, do also the same for them—this is the Law and the Prophets. (I) [h]
​
It's interesting how we can use scripture to feed the spiritually hungry by bringing out the Spirit of the Law, or we can use the Law to stone people with. (Scripture as bread or as stone) It reminds me of Jesus telling Peter that if he loved Jesus, he would "Feed my sheep."
 
Does satan know the bible ?

there is an interesting verse in the bible that says


You believe there is one God, do you? You are doing quite well. And yet the demons believe and shudder.James 2;19


The demons who are followers of satan , certainly know that there is a God , and in the book of revelation in chapter 12;12 when they are thrown down to the earth, it says they know they have a short period of time left before they are put out of action .


On this account be glad, YOU heavens and YOU who reside in them! Woe for the earth and for the sea, because the Devil has come down to YOU, having great anger, knowing he has a short period of time."
rev 12;12
So down the great dragon was hurled, the original serpent, the one called Devil and Satan, who is misleading the entire inhabited earth; he was hurled down to the earth, and his angels were hurled down with him.:
rev 12;9






The demons, spirit creatures, angels disobedient to God, have actually seen God and know that he exists, and that he is one God.
Their knowledge of and belief in this fact have effects on them—they shudder, knowing that they are sentenced to destruction. (Mark 1:24; 2 Pet. 2:4; Jude 6) i would think that they know just what the bible teaches about them, but as for those demons haveing spiritual light from the most high they are in complete darkness.


understanding would be for obedient ones, not rebellious ones.


and i would think they would have seen the following verse in ROMANS 16;20

For his part, the God who gives peace will crush Satan under YOUR feet shortly. May the undeserved kindness of our Lord Jesus be with YOU.


.


THEY ARE SO ANGRY


Keep YOUR senses, be watchful. YOUR adversary, the Devil, walks about like a roaring lion, seeking to devour [someone]
I PETER 5;8

 
Another point is that although Satan and his minions will be ignorant of God's plan for man's salvation and of course work to disrupt it wherever they can, it is they who recognise Jesus as 'the Son of God' eg: "And behold they cried out, saying: What have we to do with thee, Jesus Son of God? art thou come hither to torment us before the time?" (Matthew 8:29)

They do not know then, in the sense that the question Christ's actions ...

Yet it seems they did not suffer the same doubts as humans do, with regard to Christ's divinity.

It would also seem they know they're backing the wrong horse, as it were, and yet they seem incapable of asking forgiveness, they cannot change, which should not be ignored when considering man's eschatalogical state and entry into the spirit world.

Thomas
 
Thomas said:
Yet it seems they did not suffer the same doubts as humans do, with regard to Christ's divinity.
Thomas
Click to expand...

:)

they seem incapable of asking forgiveness, they cannot change
Click to expand...

They also seem compelled to manifest in the presence of the Spirit of Holiness, having no choice in the matter, as Light cannot but expose the spirit and works of darkness.

Learner
 
"And behold they cried out, saying: What have we to do with thee, Jesus Son of God? art thou come hither to torment us before the time?" (Matthew 8:29)

They do not know then, in the sense that the question Christ's actions ...

Yet it seems they did not suffer the same doubts as humans do, with regard to Christ's divinity.

It would also seem they know they're backing the wrong horse, as it were, and yet they seem incapable of asking forgiveness, they cannot change, which should not be ignored when considering man's eschatalogical state and entry into the spirit world.
Click to expand...
Why so many demons in one man, and why does Jesus keep telling them to shut up? Why are they to be tormented since they cannot change and were permitted to torment the man in the first place? Why were Jews of the region raising pigs?

It is a curious verse however you view it. One strong view is that demonic possession is typically equivalent to modern day physical and mental ailments such as viruses and seizures. They're invisible, seem transferrable, etc. An author who did some extensive study about Jesus exorcisms is Graham Twelftree who wrote Jesus the Exorcist: A Contribution to the Study of the Historical Jesus, although I don't have a copy. Another good one is Andrew Perry's Demons and Politics (ISBN 0952619261) which discusses the various scholars who see this particular demon possession as symbolic of removal of idolatry from Israel. Its one answer to why this man was allowed to suffer the possession in the first place, similar to the answer of why a man was born blind. His suggestion is that the chained man possessed by many is a picture of historical Israel in Isaiah 65.
Demons and Politics said:
(pp 76-77) The man is possessed by many demons, and in Isa 65:11 the people are described as preparing a table for 'Gad' (MT) the god of fortune...Paul alludes to this Isaiah text in his warnings to the Corinthians about sharing a table with demons (1 Cor 10:21)....The region is one where pigs are raised, and in Isa 65:4 the people are described as eaters of 'swine's flesh'....These allusions present a picture of Israel as idolatrous. The Isaiah text is chiding the people as idolatrous and unclean, and declaring that there was another nation, not called by God's name, who was responding to God (v.1). Paul uses this text in support of the legitimacy of his Gentile mission (Rom 10:20-21). In a similar fashion, Mark is providing support for a Gentile mission through the implied criticism of the nation in Jesus' exorcism....

(pp84-85) The point of the exorcisms is not the healing of the individuals concerned; the point is the symbolic display of the kingdom of God. This may not have been perceived by his contemporaries, but Mark has sought to capture it in the transfer of oral tradition to literate form.
Click to expand...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top