How should we think about Satan?

Satan... masquerades as an angel of light. 2 Corinthians 11:14

Over the centuries Christians have often got themselves into a muddle over the figure of "Satan". Who exactly is he? Is he in fact a person at all, a "he"? Or is he some kind of impersonal force, an "it"?

Well, as far as I can see the Bible consistently presents him in a personal way, so that is how I have always thought of him, however mysterious his existence might be.

Whatever, what matters is that he comes across as the enemy of God's people, indeed of the human race as a whole, the originator of evil, lies and deceit, the one who tries to trip us up and make us fall. (The word “satan” means literally “accuser” or “adversary”.)

Try this for a question: were you aware that Satan is active in your life today? No? Then that means he has been getting on quietly with his work, perhaps doing damage which will only become apparent at some point in the future, sowing tiny seeds which will one day produce a bitter crop.

We can fall into opposite errors regarding Satan. Some Christians laugh at the whole idea: it's just a lot of primitive nonsense - we can't believe in such mythology in the twenty-first century! (This in spite of the murk we see when we shine a torch into the depths of our own souls, not to mention the unspeakably horrible evils we see around us in our groaning world.)

Others, on the other hand, become almost obsessed with him, sensing his presence at every corner. Whatever difficulty you have, there has to be a demon or evil spirit behind it. I remember big pastoral problems in my own ministry twenty or so years ago because people insisted on seeing demonic forces behind the most everyday problems. (I cringed once to hear of a man whose wife had just died having a “spirit of bereavement” supposedly cast out of him.)

Both these approaches are wrong. The only sensible way to look at it is to say that, yes, the devil is indeed active, and we should be aware of that fact. But we shouldn't go looking for him. James tells us: "Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God, and he will come near to you" (4:7-8). That just about says it all. Don't yield to temptation; just get on with living the Christian life in close fellowship with God. That's pretty much all that most of us need to know.

Jesus was tempted in the wilderness by the devil (Matthew 4:1-11). I'd love to know in what form the devil came to him. Was it just a voice in his head? Or a vision? Did the devil have some kind of bodily form? How exactly did he “take Jesus to the pinnacle of the temple"?

I don't know. But there’s one thing I do know: he didn't appear to Jesus with horns on his head, a long forked tail, and a smoking pitch-fork in his hand. More likely, as Paul puts it in our verse, he appeared "as an angel of light". 

And that is a warning to us. Yes, if Satan came to us in the cartoon manner I have described, well, at least we would know he was there. But no: he comes with a smiling face, with plausible words, possibly with remarkable displays of spiritual power. That, presumably, was how the "false apostles" Paul was so concerned about had come to the church in Corinth. The devil loves to deceive - and it's amazing how capable we Christians can be of being misled.

Before long now it will be Lent, a time for drawing near to God: yes, Easter isn’t far away. It's a time for self-examination, for repenting of our sins (though hopefully we do that regularly anyway). To help us with this we have, apart from that simple verse from James, the encouragement of Paul's words to the Christians in Rome: "The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet" (16:20). 

The message is clear: Christian, walk by faith; be filled with the Holy Spirit; get on with your God-given business; and if you have to think about Satan at all, think about him as a defeated enemy.

Dear Father, as Jesus himself did battle with Satan in the desert, so help me to do battle with him day by day, confident in the knowledge that he will be crushed under my feet. Amen.

Would you say you think about Satan too much - or too little?