Hi, I was reading in the 'Christian Life New Testament, with master outlines and study notes' that:
"It is believed that Satan when first created, was the ruler of this earth, at at his fall, the earth 'was without form, and void'".
I believe these study notes are by Porter Barrington.
Now, I've never come across this story before... that Satan was the ruler of earth before the fall. The reference given is Gen 1:1...?
Anybody heard of this before?
Should Porter Barrington be avoided.
The study note is given in reference to Jude 6.
Hi.
In the Bible, the use of the word 'world' does not refer to the earth, we can say, about 99.999% of the time - if not 100%.
A few familiar examples are:
John 3:16 Go loved the world of mankind, which Jesus gave his life for.
1 John 2:15-17 shows that loving this system of things is not in harmony with God's will (James 4:4), and only those who remain no part of this world (John 17:16), remain forever.
These are just a handful of examples, but if we searched the Bible for the word 'world', we would likely come to the realization that the word refers to mankind - primarily mankind after the fall of Adam.
For example, many think that "foundation of the world" means creation of the earth. However, that expression does not refer to creation of the earth, nor creation of mankind.
That's a different topic, however.
Should Porter Barrington be avoided?
According to Jesus, the sick need a physician.
Millions of persons need help understanding the scriptures.
Hence, Jesus said at Luke 4:43, “I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns as well; for I was sent for this purpose.”
He said he was fulfilling Isaiah 61:1, 2
Christians follow Jesus' example.