We have temptations that we face every day. Whether we recognize it or not, consciously or subconsciously, we engage in a back and forth mental exercise of “should I, or should I not.”
“I’m really hungry and that peach is just sitting there. I could just take it and no one would see me, but… God says stealing is a sin.” (Mark 10:19) Or, maybe…
“Wow, he’s a really good looking guy, what it would be like to kiss him…., but Jesus said that to look on a woman (or man) with lust in your heart means you have already committed adultery.” (Matt. 5:28) or, possibly…
“I could just plant that evidence to make sure the jury finds him guilty, but God says that bearing false witness is a sin.” (Matt. 19:18)
I would like to,… but God says it’s wrong. Or, maybe if I just tell them that…, but God says it’s wrong. We have this internal conversation in our minds every single day, and hopefully we turn away from these temptations of our lusts and desires, our selfish wants and wishes so that we can abide in God’s word, and keep living according to God’s will. Paul addresses this internal battle to resist sinning several times.
“18 for I have known that there doth not dwell in me, that is, in my flesh, good: for to will is present with me, and to work that which is right I do not find, 19 for the good that I will, I do not; but the evil that I do not will, this I practise. 20 And if what I do not will, this I do, it is no longer I that work it, but the sin that is dwelling in me. 21 I find, then, the law, that when I desire to do what is right, with me the evil is present,” (Rom. 7:18-21, YLT)
“24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. 25 Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. 26 So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. 27 But I discipline my body and keep it under control,[b] lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.” (1 Cor. 9:24-27, ESV)
“7 Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness; 8 for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.” ( 1 Tim. 7:8, ESV)
“22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such there is no law. “ (Gal. 5:22-23, RSV)
“for it behoveth the overseer to be blameless, as God’s steward, not self-pleased, nor irascible, not given to wine, not a striker, not given to filthy lucre; 8 but a lover of strangers, a lover of good men, sober-minded, righteous, kind, self-controlled,” (Titus 1:7-8, YLT)
Sin dwells in us. This is what the rabbis called the “yetzer hara,” the inclination to sin.
“A man without self-control is like a city broken into and left without walls.” (Prov. 25:28, RSV) or as the YLT has it, “A city broken down without walls, [Is] a man without restraint over his spirit!”
Jesus was speaking about self control, or denying ourselves in Luke chap. 9.
“23 And he said to all, “If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. 24 For whoever would save his life will lose it; and whoever loses his life for my sake, he will save it. 25 For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself?” (Luke 9:23-25, RSV)
Jesus became flesh (John 1:14), a man born into this earthly carnal realm. He was tempted in all things as are we (Heb. 4:15). He became one of us, and experienced all of the fleshly desires and temptations that we experience. Christ had to overcome the same temptations that we face in order to become that most precious lamb without spot to be sacrificed on our behalf.
Let’s look again at the temptations He faced after His immersion in the river Jordan, after He had fasted for 40 days and forty nights.
“Then Jesus was led up to the wilderness by the Spirit, to be tempted by the Devil, 2 and having fasted forty days and forty nights, afterwards he did hunger.
3 And the Tempter having come to him said, `If Son thou art of God — speak that these stones may become loaves.’ 4 But he answering said, `It hath been written, Not upon bread alone doth man live, but upon every word coming forth from the mouth of God.’
5 Then doth the Devil take him to the [holy] city, and doth set him on the pinnacle of the temple, 6 and saith to him, `If Son thou art of God — cast thyself down, for it hath been written, that, His messengers He shall charge concerning thee, and on hands they shall bear thee up, that thou mayest not dash on a stone thy foot.’ 7 Jesus said to him again, `It hath been written, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.’
8 Again doth the Devil take him to a very high mount, and doth shew to him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them, 9 and saith to him, `All these to thee I will give, if falling down thou mayest bow to me.’
10 Then saith Jesus to him, `Go — Adversary, for it hath been written, The Lord thy God thou shalt bow to, and Him only thou shalt serve.’ 11 Then doth the Devil leave him, and lo, messengers came and were ministering to him.” (Matt. 4:1-11, YLT)
Think for a moment how you would be feeling after fasting for 5 or 10 days. Jesus was probably weak and trembling, possibly delirious, and these temptations would have been very attractive. (The capitalization of the word “Devil” is the translators’ choice.) Can we not empathize with Jesus’ condition after 40 days and 40 nights of fasting. So, His human nature experienced the fleshly desires and lusts of a carnal existence, the same as we would.
The devil, or the “yetzer hara,” the inclination to sin, the sin that dwells in us also dwelled in His human flesh at that point, and His mind presented those temptations to Himself, so that He could overcome that internal inclination to sin. Being who He was, His temptations were of greater magnitude than ours could possibly be, but if we think about it…
“A warm slice of bread with butter and honey would be so nice about now, but… God says…”
“You know I could bypass all of this suffering by showing those Pharisees and Sadducees just who I am but… God says…”
“God said that I would have an everlasting kingdom, and I could rule all of the nations of the earth right now if…but, God says…”
Jesus refused to consider all of these powerful temptations. He overcame that inclination to sin that dwelled in His human fleshly body in order to follow the will of His Father in heaven, and to become the sinless justifier of all those who are covered by His righteousness.
Each time the word “devil” is used in the account of Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness, it is a personification of His own lusts and desires, His own inclination to sin, that the rabbis called the “yetzer hara” that dwelled in His human body. He had that same internal conflict, that same mental back and forth conversation that we have inside our minds every single day to control our fleshly lusts and desires.
Paul refers to it as “the tempter” in 1 Thess. 3:5, “…for fear that somehow the tempter had tempted you and that our labor would be in vain.”
“I have laid up thy word in my heart, that I might not sin against thee.” (Psa. 119:11, RSV)
All of these temptations took place while Jesus was in the wilderness. So, did He physically travel to the top of a mountain and then go back to the wilderness? Or did Jesus literally travel to Jerusalem and climb to the top of the temple and then return to the wilderness? Or, did these visions take place in His mind?
Matthew recorded that Jesus would face further temptations, and these all came from Jewish men who tempted Him at various times over these same issues to perform miracles (Matt. 12:38ff; Mark 8:11-13), and to cast Himself down from the cross (Matt. 27:40; Mark 15:31). God had promised that Jesus would rule over all the nations of the earth (Psa. 2:6-9; Isa. 9:6-7; Dan. 2:44; 7:13-14) and this was surely in Jesus’ mind as a possible temptation to end the suffering He experienced. It was the Jews who challenged Him on the cross, who were acting as His adversaries, or the “devil” / “Satan.” The Jews became His adversaries / ha satan.
“39 And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads 40 and saying, “You who would destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross.” 41 So also the chief priests, with the scribes and elders, mocked him, saying, 42 “He saved others; he cannot save himself. He is the King of Israel; let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. 43 He trusts in God; let God deliver him now, if he desires him; for he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’” (Matt. 27:39-43, RSV)
Indeed, the Sanhedrin, Sadducees and Pharisees were always His adversaries, the devil and Satan who constantly challenged Him. They were men who stood against Jesus, who opposed Him during His ministry, and who surrendered Him to be crucified.
“70 Jesus answered them, “Did I not choose you, the twelve, and one of you is a devil?” 71 He spoke of Judas the son of Simon Iscariot, for he, one of the twelve, was to betray him.” (John 6:70-71, RSV)
Jesus called Judas a devil. Jesus called Peter an adversary or “satan” (Matt. 16:23). Anyone who opposes God or God’s people is an adversary or devil to God. The Bible tells us that we become “the devil” or “satan” when we take action against God, or when we call Him a liar, or we oppose His will. And these are all decisions we make in our minds and hearts where evil comes from (Matt. 15:19; Mark 7:21).
So, God used the term “devil” as an appellation, a title or nickname for that part of our nature that becomes sinful, or a personification of our evil thoughts, and our inclination to sin (yetzer hara). And why would God use this type of language? Maybe because that sinful nature is foreign to Him (Psa. 5:4), and as God created us in His image (Gen. 1:26-27), then perhaps He does not want our holy image tainted with sin, and makes that part of us carry a different name?
The Devil we fight is within us. It is the sin that dwells in us. It is our inclination to sin against God. And when we act on that sin, we become that foreign creature, that evil being which God does not want us to be. We are not fighting against an invisible evil being. We are fighting our own contrary nature, our own lusts and desires – our own devil.
Further reading:
The Temptation of Jesus by Duncan Heaster – https://www.realdevil.info/5-8.htm
Shredding The Veil 
I find Revelation chapter 12 confusing. First of all, there is a dragon with 7 heads and 10 horns. I assume this is a reference to Rome, which is the sea beast in Revelation. Curious why the sea beast Rome is being called a “dragon” , and is also called “that ancient serpent called the devil or Satan.” I don’t know if the term “ancient serpent” is a reference to the serpent in the garden, but it seems to be a reference to Rome here. Chapter 12 in general just confuses me. I think the whole issue of Satan or devil confuses me. I understand that it is more often than not simply a reference to humans who are adversaries of God, but there just seems to be certain verses that are referring to some invisible entity of evil.
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Rev. chap. 12 begins the 2nd part of the book, & repeats much of the first 11 chapters. It rehashes for John pictures of events that had already taken place, & the mirror images of those soon to come. Remember that Christ told John in the first vs. of the book “shew to his servants what things it behoveth to come to pass quickly…” All of the chapters contain much symbolism used from the OT scriptures, and has to be viewed that way. Rev. 12:1, “And a great SIGN was seen in the heaven…” This is a symbol in a vision of the old testament congregation and Jerusalem, the mother church out of which was born the new testament church. The symbols and visions are not stated in literal terms, but we can match them to events we know have already happened. Christ was reminding John about Pentecost. The male child of course being Christ that rules all nations was threatened and in that same vs. 5 is the complete ministry of Christ, His crucifixion, resurrection and ascension to the throne of God. The chapter covers the events that had already taken place in Jerusalem & Judea, and then pictures the next events that would soon take place at His return in judgment of the persecutors that had crucified Him, and murdered His saints. It is a brief synopsis of the rest of the book, much as a forward introduction.
As all of these symbols have to be viewed as group actions by a multitude of ppl, why then do so many readers want to make the red dragon and the serpent into a literal invisible evil spirit? That “old devil” and the false prophet were thrown into the lake of fire in Rev. 20:10. As Christ told John that was one of the events that would soon take place, then why are we still plagued with that “old devil” today?
That old devil that entered the picture in Gen. 3 was the picture symbol of Eve’s inclination to sin. Her desires and lusts overcame her will to obey God, and her will to do what she wanted prevailed over God’s command. If we are to take the position that the “snake” made her do it, then why was Eve held responsible for her own actions. That old devil is our inclination to sin, and it was very active in the battle of the Sanhedrin, scribes, and Pharisees against Christ and His disciples in their persecutions & alliance with Rome. That entire alliance battled against the new testament congregation, the mother church in their desire to absolutely destroy Christ and His saints. The rebellious evil ppl – Herod, Nero and all their agents – only had a little time to try to gain victory over Christ (Rev. 20:3).
Christ won that spiritual battle between the false accusers and adversaries and Christ’s disciples (Michael’s angels / messengers). Two groups of ppl that were engaged in a battle of wills that turned into a physical war on the land. Christ’s victory over that battle is that He eradicated the sins of all who will obey Him, & put Him on in baptism to live for Him. That old devil sinful nature then is defeated by Christ’s sacrifice for us.
If everyone wants to say that the “old devil” was a literal spirit being that makes ppl do evil things, and I still hear many say it today that “Satan” is working to deceive the world, then Rev. ch. 20 becomes meaningless. What was and is still active is man’s inclination to sin. Man is the reason that evil things still happen in this world. Just like Eve in the beginning, man’s wicked desires cause all of the evil consequences that the rest of us have to endure.
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Thanks for explaining much of that and bearing with me. So regarding “that old devil sinful nature” as you put it……does that mean in Revelation 20:10, when the devil was cast into the lake of fire……should I take that to mean “that old devil sinful nature ” was cast into the lake of fire? So prior to A.D. 70 people had a sinful nature, but after A.D. 70 that sinful nature no longer exists?
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Not exactly. The lake of fire is also a symbol. Fire – God’s judgment. So, the lake of fire is the lake of judgment. I explored this metaphor thoroughly in my post The Lake of Fire (Nov 2018). So those adversaries who opposed Christ and His church – Herod, Nero, the Sanhedrin, scribes & Pharisees – collectively that old devil b/c of their own sinful actions – were thrown into the lake of fire. All of those spoke lies, and laid false accusation, false witness (devils) against Christ and His disciples / apostles. Those liars and deceivers were put into God’s judgment court room – the lake of fire – when that old temple was destroyed in AD 70. That judgment fire was part of the Revelation which Christ told John was going to happen soon. So, since those adversaries faced their doom in AD 70, then Rev. 12 & 20 was not speaking of the end of an evil wicked invisible being called “Satan” or the “devil.” Those appellations applied to the specific ppl of that day who rebelled against God. Chap 20 of Rev is book marked by the 1st chap and the last chap 22 where Christ told John that He was coming quickly. So, AD 70 was the end of that battle and the end of those “devils”.
Man’s inclination to sin was not thrown into the lake of fire. WE still struggle with that every day. But, those in Christ have His victory over our sins as they are forgiven, and forgotten as we repent of them. (Repentance meaning sorrowful through the heart, pieced thru the heart, so that we change and do those sins no longer.)
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I actually agree with everything you’ve written as true on one level. We are our own adversary, the devil because of sin within us.
But the scriptures portray much more than just your one dimensional description of the adversary.
Your interpretation actually has holes in it. Keeping to only your line of thinking, then is sin the satan, whom we read about in Job and the prince of Persia, the adversary we read in Daniel that hindered the angel Gabriel?
The devil was destroyed in the final battle according to Rev. 20:10. Amen!
“10 and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.”
But if the devil who was destroyed is our own sin, then why do Christians still battle sin today? The world is still steeped in sin. Your interpretation of satan as our sinful nature contradicts Rev. 20:10 unless you understand the passage as an allegory of an ongoing battle and triumph in each individual person overcoming sin every time.
Then, the Preterists’ historical interpretation of that passage is destroyed altogether.
It is not becoming that you mock Christians who acknowledge the scriptures’ personification of the devil in numerous accounts as having a reverence for ‘him’. In so doing you are yourself denouncing the word of God, which is more nuanced on the subject than you present it.
It won’t hurt to ask for a deeper understanding at the feet of Christ of who this adversary actually is that He defeated. May He open your eyes to the word of God that is indeed explicit.
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Please read the post here The Lake of Fire from Nov. 2018. You are maybe not considering the symbolism of Rev. 20:10.
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Excellent post. However, this will get you quickly uninvited to many church small groups and bible studies. It is almost as if denying the existence of an actual being called the devil is equal to denying the existence of God. It is very heartbreaking.
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Don’t I know it. I have broached the topic once in church, and was surprised how they cling to the idea of an invisible being that persecutes them. It is, I think, a kind of worship… which is idolatry, isn’t it? I was expecting some kick back here as well, but I bravely trod where some fear to tread. Thank you.
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Gina, I have started reading your blog as of yesterday. I saw your response to a question about the term “Satan” in bible manuscripts on Stack Exchange through a Google search. I have been coming to these conclusions on translation errors in the bible either intentionally or through ignorance over the past couple years. I don’t go to church because, yeah, what church would accept these conclusions? I consider myself a Protestant “Esoteric” Christian at this point. It seems to me a lot of Protestant denominations were headed down these paths a couple years ago before the main progenitors of those separate denominations died out and no one took up their inquisitive look into the documents we had two to three hundred years ago. Protestantism solidified around the Catholic creeds and basically stopped asking questions. The search into original intent and translation fell to secular institutions. Any translations using the critical approach to the texts gets branded as heretical and worldly by so-called Christian pastors. It’s a sad state of affairs for true Christianity. I think this pollution of Satanism and Demonology that exists in modern Christianity is truly foul and leads to a lot of people rejecting Christianity as some ancient mythology not appropriate to our modern age. Our “modern culture” is rotten, sinful and degenerate, but is it really that far off from ancient sinners? I doubt it. If anything, those pagan cultures were probably better than our current post-modern, deconstructionist, globohomo culture. Anyway, you’d be welcome in my home church small group Bible study, and I hope the Holy Spirit is working in more people to this effect.
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Thank you, brosef2021. When Martin Luther nailed his 95 thesis to the church door in Wittenburg, Germany he had only identified 95 things wrong with the Catholic teaching??? Yes, the Protestant Reformation still clung to much of the error taught by the Catholic church, and still clings to those same incorrect teachings. The Catholics absorbed many of the pagan customs and their culture, blending them into the gospel of Christ. It is very difficult to open the eyes of people who are just content to sit on their usual pews. I hear so many people around us speak about the “devil” causing people to sin, or the “devil” entrapping us and being the cause of all evil. And, they do not understand that this belief system takes away the other belief in free will choices. I appreciate your comments and your acceptance. God bless.
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” It seems to me a lot of Protestant denominations were headed down these paths a couple years ago ”
I meant two to three hundred years ago here as well. I have no idea where my train of thought was at.
Perhaps it was the Strong’s Concordance being published in 1890 that encouraged the shift of many churches to the KJV. I would guess that because so many churches today are KJVOnly that’s a big part of the end of any search into the original manuscripts for a better translation (not that churches don’t use newer translations or Christians aren’t involved with the new translations. Just look at the date of these newer translations and how much they differ from the KJV. They are mid-20th century onwards, and only get further away from the KJV the newer they are, typically) The Scofield Reference Bible was published in 1909, and I think it gets a lot of undeserved blame for what became of Protestant Christianity and the Judeo-Christianity we currently have. It’s only now, in the 21st century, that a lot of these KJVO churches are starting to take a step back from Judeo-Christianity and Zionism. My point is, they were KJVO, not using the Scofield Reference Bible. The idea of the Devil, angels, demons and all the associated Jewish mysticism has been baked into Christianity going back to the early church.
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I used to be KJVO, but I learned through further study that it also has certain problems due to the biases of the translators. I have discussed several of these here at this blog. I do not endorse the Scofield Bible at all. See my Part VI of It’s Not The End of the World from July 2016. So, I do try to bounce the translations against each other and especially against Young’s Literal Translation (YLT), and then go to the Interlinear translation and look up the Hebrew and Greek definitions using Strong’s. and the associated lexicons. It is absolutely amazing how connected all of God’s word is. Just more proof of the divine quality of His word. We all need to keep investigating, testing the spirits, and continuing to learn.
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