Over all this world of evU energy Satan reigns, and all its collective power for evil is gathered up in his personality. He is the tempter (6 Treipdiuv,
1 Th 3^ 1 Co 7= ; cf. Mt i^'^ and parallels). Bodily diseases are ascribed to him just as in Lk 13"". Indeed, in one remarkable passage, 1 Co 5*- ', we even see Satan utilized for the advantage of the individual and the Church. The offender in a solemn Church assembly is to be delivered over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, in order that the spirit of the sinner may be saved in the day of the Lord's appearing. Satan, as the inflicter of physical malady, is apparently identified with the destroyer. Ex 12=^ (LXX A dXeepevuv, see APOL- LYON), Nu 16'i»-, to which 1 Co lO'" evidently alludes. Compare also the destroying angel of
2 S 24", 2 K 19^, and also Wis IS-'. According to Wis 2-* death entered into the world througli the devU, an idea which is closely related to the conception which prevails all through biblical literature, that long life is the reward of the righteous (Ex 20" etc.), while the wicked are cut ofl' and their lamp (of life) put out. Thus, accord- ing to St. Paul's own belief, surrender to Satan brought death as its ultimate consequence (1 Co 5', 2 Co 2") ; while in Jn 8" Satan is dvdpuTroKTbvos dv dpxni (cf. Gn 3"). This power Jesus destroyed by death (He 2").
St. Paul ascribed his own physical maladies to Satan's agency. ' The stake (<7k6\o\I/) in the flesh ' he calls ' Satan's messenger ' (2 Co 12'). The phrase iv daOeveltf in v.* followed by if dfrSevdcui clearly points to some bodily aflliction, probably chronic fever (see Ramsay, Expositor, July 1899, pp. 20-23). Here again Satan is made subordinate to God's purposes of grace, and becomes a servant of moral discipline which St. Paul was strengthened to bear, though he prayed frequently to be delivered from it. With this passage and 1 Co 6*- ' cf. 1 Ti P».
The apostle, like his contemporaries, did not think of the demons as inhabitmg subterranean regions (as the Arabs and ancient Babylonians
* Helnrid doubts this, and would prefer to Identify th« Stpx^iTK here with those of Ac 1337.
t Identified with tl xerii^xfinfit in Teit. Saiam.; sea Ever ling, p. 70.
J Der ZuKiU Britf det Petnu, eto. p. S7a
SATAN
SATAX
41i
did). The angels of God had their residence in the higher regions of the heavens ; and even Satan and liis retinue dwelt, not beneath the earth (their tinal destination after the last judgment), but in the lower atmospheric realm. Thus in Eph 2- .Satan is called 6 dpx"" '"^5 iiowriat toO aipoi. Cf. Eph 6" ' the wicked host of spirits 4y Toil iTTovpanioii.' An interesting j>arallel may be found in the Textitincnts of the X II Patr., Levi 3, where it is stated that ' he who fears God and loves hiK neighbours cannot be smitten by the spirit of the air (rot' aepiou in-ei/^aros), Beliar.' Other interesting illustrations may be found in Everling's treatise, p. 1U7 tl'. The most signilitant is from Asceivsion of Isaiah W (ed. Charles, pj). 'i, 132), in which we Teail that Jesus descends through all the seven heavens, assuming at each stage tlie form of the angels which inliabit that special region. At length He comes to the lirraanient where dwells the ' prince of this world' (cf. 7* 11^).
Beliar, * the variant of the name Belial (see Belial), is apjiarently identihed by St. Paul in 2 Co 6" with .Satan ; but about this question of identitication we have the greatest divergence in the Jewish and early Christian tradition. The subject is discussed in Bousset's learned mono- graph, Der AntUhrist, part II. ch. iv., Anhang i. (p. iii) fl'.). Belial seems identical with the 'Man of Sin ' in 2 Th 2" (see M.AN OF Sl\).
St. I'aul follows the Jewish tradition in identify- ing Satan with the serpent which tempted Eve. This clearly underlies Ro 16-'" ' The God of peace shall bruise Satan under j'our feet,' obviously based on On 3" (cf. 1 Ti 2"\ Kev 12' 20-). This view is again apparent in 2 Co 11--', where the apostle speaks of himself as though he were Christ's o .vn irapavviiipio'i (K.-sficJ), to guard the chastity of the Church from the devil's wiles of seduction (on the image, cf. Jn S'"), whereby Satan even transforms himself into an angel of light (v.").
(<•) The Book of Revelation obviously stands apart from the rest of the New Testament by reason of its strongly-marked Apocalyptic char- acter. Into the recent controversies respecting its original form, suggested by the ingenious theory of Vischer (supported by Harnack's autho- rity), this is not the place to enter. In the Book of Kevelation we enter a transcendental region where the world-drama is enacted before us in a scries of scenes of conflict between superhuman personalities. It is a xiXf^oj iv oipavtii between tjod with His angels of light, and Satan or the dragon, the 'old serpent,' the deceiver of the whole world (12"), with liis hosts of darkness. Chapter 12 has been the subject of much dis- cussion since Gunkel wrote his stimulating treatise, Scluipfung u. C'A/t'/.» (pp. 171-398). At the founda- tion of the story he sees Babylonian legend thinlj veiled. The dragon is Tifimat, the woman is Damkina, the mother of Murduk (here expressed by Christ). This primitive Habylonian myth was worke<l im into Jewish ajjocalyptic, Chaos or the Dragon CTiimat) being interpreted as Kome, and the entire legend transferred to the end of the world. But such a theory raises certain dilticulties, though some appear to be solved. Bous.set (Anti- christ, Anhan<^, p. 16'J) is by no means disposed to agree to the dictum that no essential trait in the narrative is of Christian origin. After the last great overthrow of the Bea-st and the kings of the earth (Kev 19), Satan is imjirisoned in the bottom- less pit a thousand years (20"). After this he is loos^ and deceives the nations, but at length ia