Is Satan Lawless or a Legalist?

[Carl Emerson]

One tends to remember the 'one liners' of one's mentors.

One of mine said that Satan was an "arch-legalist".

Yet he will be represented on earth as the "man of lawlessness".

Can he be both?

Thoughts please.

 

[klutedavid]

One tends to remember the 'one liners' of one's mentors.

One of mine said that Satan was an "arch-legalist".

Yet he will be represented on earth as the "man of lawlessness".

Can he be both?

Thoughts please.

I believe Satan is the accuser and accusations usually involve the law.

Jesus was constantly accused of breaking the law and the legal folk got him in the end.

Paul was accused of speaking against the law and they got him also in the end.

 

[friend of]

Satan is a legalist. You can be sure that he has studied the word of God exceedingly thoroughly in order to devise a way to outwit God using God's own word against Him. Which of course, such an endeavor is doomed to failure.

 

[Sabertooth]

Can he be both?

Yes. He appeals to our fallen understanding of the Law, deliberately obscuring the Spirit of the Law.

 

[GaveMeJoy]

Depends on what law you are speaking of. Satan’s great flaw was he desired to be like God. The truth of Creator vs created being was too much for him to handle and he wanted to be like God. To me this is a rebellion and the scriptures consistently indicate a rebellion as the vibe regarding satans fall. So I would say he is the epitome of lawlessness. He is also proud, and an accuser so he certainly weaponizes the law when possible but I don’t really see him as legalist.

Idk it’s not really a question that can be answered because it’s subjective

 

[Carl Emerson]

OK so why is his prime incarnation to come called the "man of Lawlessness"?

 

[Carl Emerson]

Yes. He appeals to our fallen understanding of the Law, deliberately obscuring the Spirit of the Law.

I think your comment comes the closest to explaining it...

Thanks.

 

[timothyu]

OK so why is his prime incarnation to come called the "man of Lawlessness"?

Why is he known as an adversary?

 

[Jeshu]

OK so why is his prime incarnation to come called the "man of Lawlessness"?

i believe that satan uses another force apart of the accuser we have the great harlot as well, she is everything unfaithful to God's design within the human heart and gets us to do the sin. Revelation 17:1-2

We both know that satan doesn't only accuses of with our sins but also tempts us into sin in the first place. He had been installed as the destroyer of wrong but rebelled and became unfaithful and became the destroyer of right instead. Nowhere do we see this more clearly at the cross. When the legalistic rulers proved themselves to be the most lawless of them all getting their Messiah crucified.

Sin is always lawless, also when it is legalistic, for the law of love is not obeyed and God is love, His laws without application in love reap condemnation rather than salvation.

 

[Nancy Hale]

One tends to remember the 'one liners' of one's mentors.

One of mine said that Satan was an "arch-legalist".

Yet he will be represented on earth as the "man of lawlessness".

Can he be both?

Thoughts please.

Lawlessness because he broke the law first and still? Of the 10 commandments, is there even one he kept?

 

[Daniel9v9]

A legalist and a lawbreaker both misuse God's Law; it's doing the same thing - rebelling against God and crowning oneself "lord" in an attempt to dethrone God.

 

[timothyu]

rebelling against God and crowning oneself "lord" in an attempt to dethrone God.

Isn't that what man does also when we put our will before his?

 

[Lulav]

One tends to remember the 'one liners' of one's mentors.

One of mine said that Satan was an "arch-legalist".

Yet he will be represented on earth as the "man of lawlessness".

Can he be both?

Thoughts please.

As is seen in the Beginning, he teaches mankind to Question G-d laws.

 

[Daniel9v9]

Isn't that what man does also when we put our will before his?

It certainly is! All who sin, which we all do, rebel against God. This is why it's written that if we break one command we've broken the whole law. Yet, God in His great mercy paid for our sins through the person and works of our Lord Jesus Christ, and this salvation is apprehended through faith. So salvation was given to man, but not to satan and his angels, of whom utter darkness has been reserved, along with all who through sin reject and disbelieve in Christ.

 

[Sal Robinson]

I think i agree, by being a legalist Satan burdens us with a false perception of what we and others should be doing>>>

he's leading us down a path of discouragement

 

[timothyu]

he's leading us down a path of discouragement

Hence the Tempter of the Hebrew religion.

 

[Tom 1]

One tends to remember the 'one liners' of one's mentors.

One of mine said that Satan was an "arch-legalist".

Yet he will be represented on earth as the "man of lawlessness".

Can he be both?

Thoughts please.

One idea I've come across in a few places is that of evil, embodied in the character of Satan or elsewhere, in biblical terms is to do with the supremacy of self and a total refusal to connect or empathise with anyone else in any way.

 

[timothyu]

in biblical terms is to do with the supremacy of self and a total refusal to connect or empathise with anyone else in any way.

Hence Jesus' commandment to put the will of God before our own and love all as self. Others rather than self interest.

 

[Soyeong]

One tends to remember the 'one liners' of one's mentors.

One of mine said that Satan was an "arch-legalist".

Yet he will be represented on earth as the "man of lawlessness".

Can he be both?

Thoughts please.

Legalism undermines both the intention of what God has commanded His followers to do and why He has commanded us to do it, which therefore is just as lawless and just as assuredly leads to death as refusing to submit to it.

 

[Carl Emerson]

Why is he known as an adversary?

Because he apposes God, the Godly, the Kingdom of God and all that it stands for.