The Devil in the Old Testament

The word “devil” does not occur at all in the Old Testament. Nowhere in the Bible from Genesis to Malachi, a period of 4000 years, is the word “devil” found. This Bible Fact may come as a surprise to many who have been taught that there is a supernatural devil that tempts men and women to sin. There is no place that even infers that man is tempted by a supernatural power which is the enemy of God.

The word “devils” occurs four times in the Old Testament and relates to pagan gods. These references are considered at the end of this lesson under the heading “Devils and Demons”.

Old Testament teaching on the source of temptation and sin

As has been well documented in earlier lessons, the root of temptation to sin comes from the mind or heart of man himself. The following references clearly demonstrate God’s teaching in the Old Testament on this point. They show that the root cause of sin lies in man himself.

Consider the following:

• “God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Genesis 6:5).

• “The imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth” (Genesis 8:21)

• “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9)

From these quotations we see that the “heart of man” represents man’s mental thought process. God shows that it is man’s own imagination that produces the temptations that lead to sin. Nowhere in the Old Testament is it taught that these sinful desires are to be attributed to a superhuman evil devil, as suggested by some religions. For 4000 years from creation to the time of Jesus, not one person, enlightened by the word of God, attributed temptation to such a devil. God treats man as a rational being who is responsible for his own thoughts and actions.

The Root of Temptation and Sin Defined in the New Testament

In the New Testament Jesus and the apostles clearly describe how we are tempted to sin.

• “For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: all these evil things come from within, and defile the man” (Mark 7:21–23). The Lord Jesus Christ describes where sin comes from—“out of the heart of man”.

• “Every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed” (James 1:13–15). The natural inclination of every one of us is to satisfy self. This urge is strong and leads to sin. James goes on to point out that sin then brings forth death.

• Paul, in Galatians 5:16–21, lists “the works of the flesh”, which are “adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like”, stating that “they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God”. Those who are associated with Christ strive to think and act differently. They “have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts” (v24). Paul, like Jesus Christ, is teaching that the promptings to sin come from within—from “the lust of the flesh”. In another place Paul calls the source of such promptings “the carnal mind” (Romans 8:7), or the mind of “the flesh”. We do not need a supernatural tempter to cause us to sin. As descendants of Adam, we are all prone to sin.

• “I know that in me (that is in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing”. Speaking from the heart, Paul tells of his constant personal struggle to overcome sin. He points out that it is in his own flesh that the desires reside which prompt him to sin (Romans 7:15–25).

The way to overcome temptation is to develop a mind that puts the will of God first. Jesus Christ is the supreme example for us in this. Like him, we must reject temptation to sin. As Paul says, we must “crucify the flesh”, or put to death “the [mind or thoughts of the] flesh” with its promptings to sin (see Romans 8:13; 6:6; Colossians 3:5).

As we consider these few verses in their context we see that the New Testament is in complete agreement with the Old regarding the root cause of temptation and sin. Not only so, but if we are honest with ourselves we will find that this is true of our own experiences in life.

Man’s Capacity to Sin Personified as “the devil” in the New Testament

Man’s sin-prone nature, the root cause of sin, is common to all mankind as descendants of Adam, including Jesus Christ. Those desires in our nature that can lead to sin are described in the New Testament by the Greek word diabolos, which in most places has been rendered “devil” in our Bible. Let us first look at the Greek word and its meaning. Vine in his Dictionary of New Testament Words states: “diabolos means an accuser, a slanderer (from diaballo, to accuse, malign)”. This is, in fact, the way that the word is rendered by the translators in the following passages:

• “Even so must wives be grave, not slanderers” (1 Timothy 3:11)

• “For men shall be...without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers” (2 Timothy 3:3)

• “That the aged women be...not false accusers” (Titus 2:3)

From the way this word has been translated we can grasp its meaning. It expresses the idea of “making a false statement about another”, whether of a man or of God. The first example of such a “false accusation” or “slander” in the Bible was when the serpent lied to Eve saying: “Ye shall not surely die: for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3:4–5). This is a blatant example of “false accusation” against God—it was a lie. God had said: “In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die” (Genesis 2:17). Eve listened to the serpent’s “slander” or “false accusation” against God and His word, and sinned by disobeying God and eating the fruit. If we were to use the Greek word to describe what took place we could say that the serpent was a diabolos or “false accuser” of God.

The “diabolos” or “false accuser”

Let us look at some of the places where diabolos occurs but is translated as “devil”.

• “Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil?” (John 6:70). Here Jesus speaks of Judas Iscariot and uses the word diabolos to describe him. If the word had been correctly translated it would read: “and one of you is a false accuser”. As we know, Judas Iscariot is the one who betrayed his Lord through his false accusation against him. He confessed:“I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood” (Matthew 27:3–6).

• “Ye are of your father the devil [Greek diabolos]” (John 8:41–44). As we read the context we see that there was an intense discussion taking place between Jesus and the Jews in the Temple in Jerusalem. The discussion centred on Fatherhood. The Jews protested that God was their Father, whereas Jesus claimed that he was the Son of God. It is in this context that Jesus shows the contrast between himself and them. Whereas he did the will of God, they were by their words and deeds clearly “the seed of the serpent” that had been foretold in Genesis 3:15 (see Matthew 23v33). This seed would follow their own desires and sin against God. Therefore, personifying the word diabolos, he says that they were the children of the diabolos. Jesus, and all who do the will of God are the sons of God. Thus Jesus points out that there are only two classes of people, those who do the will of God or those who follow the desires of the flesh that lead to sin who are the seed of the diabolos, or “devil”.

• In Acts 13:10 Paul describes Elymas the sorcerer in the following terms: “O full of all subtilty [like the serpent in Eden—Genesis 3:1] and all mischief, thou child of the devil [diabolos], thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord?” Elymas was acting in exactly the same way as the serpent had in Eden. He “perverted” the right way of God. Using personification for those sinful desires that motivated him, Paul describes him as a “child of the devil”.

• “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil [diabolos], and he will flee from you” (James 4:7). James has already pointed out that all temptation comes from within man (James 1:13–15), but if we commit our ways to God and resist sinful temptations, then we will overcome them.

We can see now that this word is used in the New Testament to summarise those sinful desires that are part of all human nature. Following Adam and Eve’s transgression, it passed through to all mankind (Romans 5:12). It is that sinful tendency that Paul spoke of when he said: “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing” (Romans 7:18).

The “diabolos” as a Political and Religious force

Because the word diabolos is used to represent that power that leads to sin, it is also used to represent those who are motivated by fleshly ambitions and desires. They can be either individuals or a group of people.

Following are some examples:

• “Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried” (Revelation 2:10). Here John speaks of the persecution that the believers in Smyrna were suffering from the ruling Roman power.

• “Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil” (Ephesians 6:11–12). Here Paul warns the believers in Ephesus of the persecution that they faced from both political and religious opposition that would falsely accuse and slander them.

• “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8–9). Here Peter warns of the persecution that the believers were facing from the authorities. This pagan political power falsely accused them, bringing terrible afflictions upon them.

Death—the Inevitable Consequence of Sin

The consistent teaching of the Bible is that death has come by sin. In the beginning Adam sinned and was sentenced to die (Genesis 2:16–17; 3:17–19), and we have all inherited that mortality that came by sin.

• “By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin” (Romans 5:12)

• God, however, has provided the means by which sin can be forgiven through the perfect sacrifice of His Son the Lord Jesus Christ, thus providing deliverance from that grim cycle ending in death.

• “As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive” (1 Corinthians 15:21–22).

• “As sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 5:21)

• “The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:23)

Adapted from “The Exploring the Bible Course” by David Evans