How deep-seated and venerable is the popular belief that all misdeeds of a certain gravity are due to Satanic influence. But this belief suggests a difficulty which has perplexed and distressed many a thoughtful Christian. Multitudes innumerable thus transgress. Nor are they to be found only in the squalid dwellings of our city slums, but in the abodes of wealth and culture; not only in our great unlovely towns, but in every village and hamlet in the land. Nor are these shores in any special sense the domain of Satan On the contrary, if vice and crime are signs of his presence and power, other countries must claim more of his activity than our own. And when we turn to the darker scenes of heathenism, the appalling tale of hideous vice and cruelty gives proof that, there, the devil must be still more busy than in Christendom. But if the majority of the many thousands of millions of mankind are thus under his personal influence, he must be acquainted with the life and circumstances of each individual. Are we, then, to conclude that he is practically omnipresent and omniscient? Are we to ascribe to him these attributes of Deity?
As regards the unseen world, any belief which does not rest upon revelation is essentially superstitious: what, then, is the testimony of Scripture on this subject? The first chapter of the Epistle to the Romans treats of the condition of the heathen with a definiteness which leaves nothing to be desired. To this passage, then, let us appeal, and by it let the popular belief be tested. Here are the words :-
"Knowing God, they glorified Him not as God, neither gave thanks; but became vain in their reasonings, and their senseless heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God for the likeness of an image of corruptible man, and of birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. Wherefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts unto uncleanness, that their bodies should be dishonoured among themselves: for that they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. For this cause God gave them up unto vile passions. . . . And even as they refused to have God in their knowledge, God gave them up unto a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not fitting" (Rom. i. 25-28, R.V.).
If Satan were immediately responsible for the baser immoralities of men, it is inconceivable that such a passage would contain no allusion to the fact; but allusion there is none. The words are clear and simple-" God gave them up"; and human nature in its alienation from God accounts for their depravity. Nor will it avail to plead that it is only pagan depravity which is here in question. If no devil is needed to account for the abominations of the heathen world, why appeal to the supernatural to explain the vices and crimes of Christendom? To do so is as unphilosophical as it is unscriptural.
And why should Satan tempt men in this way? His doing so would be intelligible if his power over them depended on their leading vicious lives. But Scripture vetoes this suggestion. Some who own his sway are slaves of vice, but others are religious zealots of blameless character; and our Lord expressly declares that it is the zealots who are farthest from the kingdom. (Matthew 21:31)
Not that immorality is any passport to heaven, any recommendation to Divine favour. On the contrary, it is a highway to "the City of Destruction"; but it is for this very reason that it brings a man within reach of hope, for in "the City of Destruction" it is that the Saviour is seeking the lost. The devotee of blameless life, who thanks God that he is not as other men, is entirely on the devil's side; whereas, were he tempted to open sin, he might be brought to his knees to pray that other prayer which would bring all heaven to his help.
How it would simplify matters if morality were a distinctive badge of the regenerate, and immorality characterised the rest! But vice is not the hall-mark of the devil's handiwork. "A form of godliness' (II Corinthians 11:14-15 R.V.) is one of his "devices." Among the most dangerous enemies of Christ and Christianity, are men who live pure and upright lives, and who preach righteousness. "And no marvel; for even Satan fashioneth himself into an angel of light: It is no great thing therefore if his ministers also fashion themselves as ministers of righteousness." And if "the very elect" are deceived by the fraud, it is mainly because they are blinded by this error of the Satan myth. It is not, I again repeat, in the domain of morals that the devil's influence is distinctively declared, but in the spiritual sphere. Our race has not sprung from Adam in Eden innocence, but from Adam the fallen and sinful outcast. Human nature is thus poisoned at its very source by ignorance and distrust of God. It is a fallen nature. And Satan it was who thus debased it. What wonder, then, that he is able to influence the main currents of human thought and action in regard to things Divine? What wonder that he can control the religion of the race!
All this may excite the contempt of the agnostic, but we challenge him to offer some other explanation of the well ascertained facts. The evolutionist pretends to account for the condition of the lower strata of humanity; but how can he explain the phenomena of the religion of Christendom? In spite of all the advantages which civilisation affords, men have bartered the sublime truths of Christianity for the superstitions of old-world paganism. Such figments as baptismal regeneration and the possession of mystic powers by a priestly caste are wholly repugnant to Christianity, and Judaism, even in its apostasy, was free from them; and yet they have been adopted as an integral part of the Christian religion. This one fact is proof that, so far at least as the origin of man is concerned, evolution is false and the story of the Eden fall is true.
But this kind of Satanic influence involves no knowledge of the inner experience of each life, no possession of Divine attributes. It implies no special action directed simultaneously against millions of individuals scattered over all the globe. That the devil does deal with individuals we know, but Scripture indicates that such cases are exceptional. The warning to the Twelve, that Satan desired to have them, though intended for all, was specially for Peter. It is but natural that he should seek to drag down those who stand out as champions of the truth. Nor can even the lowliest disciple be sure of immunity from his attacks. He "walketh about," we read, "as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour." (I Peter 5:8) And a prowling lion may seize even the very weakest for his prey. This may explain conflicts which sometimes try the faith even of the humblest Christian.
The old classification of "the world, the flesh, and the devil" is a right one. And "our wrestling is not against flesh and blood." (Ephesians 6:12) In the "flesh" sphere our safety is in flight. But flight from Satan is impossible. "Flee youthful lusts;" (II Timothy 2:22) but "Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." (James 4:7) Such is the distinction clearly marked in Scripture. The baser "lusts of the flesh" are entirely under a man's control, unless indeed he is enervated by vicious indulgence; but with the strongest and holiest of men "the whole armour of God" is the only sure defence against the attacks of Satan. (Ephesians 6:11)
Of the devil's aim and methods I have already spoken. No one, I repeat, may assert that he might not use the basest means to ensnare a minister of Christ, and thus mar his testimony and destroy his usefulness. But it cannot be asserted too often or too plainly that his normal effort is not to tempt to the commission of sins such as lead to contrition, and teach us how weak we are; but, by drawing us away to mere human morality, or religion, or philosophy, to deaden or destroy our sense of dependence upon God. For sin may humble a Christian; but human philosophy and religion can only foster his self-esteem. And pride is "the snare of the devil"; (I Timothy 3:6-7) not humility.
That there are "unclean spirits" we know. And certain abnormal phases of depravity may be due possibly, even in our own day, to demoniacal possession; but this is wholly distinct from Satanic temptations. And demons even are not all "unclean." The warned-against "teachings of demons" in "later times" are not incitements to vice, but to a more exacting morality and a spirituality more transcendental than even Christianity enjoins. Marriage itself is repulsive to this fastidious cult, and certain kinds of food, "which God created to be received with thanksgiving," it absolutely rejects. (See 1 Timothy 4:1-4. It may be noticed here in passing that during recent years, both in Europe and America, these doctrines have been insidiously taught by certain spiritualists, who commend their teaching by seemingly pure and blameless lives.)
The flagrant immoralities of some of the Corinthian converts drew from the apostle no suggestion of Satanic agency, save indeed as a possible means towards the restoration of those who had sinned. (I Corinthians 5:1-5) The warning, "Lest Satan should get an advantage of us," was given when their zeal to clear themselves betrayed them into resentment against the offenders. (II Corinthians 2:11) And it was the advent of false teachers "preaching another Jesus" which evoked the further warning against the Serpent's "subtilty," lest their minds should be "corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ." (II Corinthians 11:3-4) So again, when persecution prevailed in the Thessalonian church, he was solicitous "to know their faith," fearing "lest the Tempter should tempt them," and their confidence in God should fail.
There is one passage of Scripture which some seem to think refutes what has been here maintained. As a matter of fact it may be appealed to in support of it. The following are the opening words of the second chapter of Ephesians.
"And you did He quicken, when ye were dead through your trespasses and sins, wherein aforetime ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that now worketh in the sons of disobedience; among whom we also all once lived in the lusts of our flesh, doing the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest" (Eph. ii. 1-3, R.V.).
Those who read this passage in the light of the Satan myth entirely lose its special teaching. The life of every unregenerate man, whether marked by the grossest vice or by high morality, by utter atheism or by intense religious zeal, is "according to the spirit that worketh in the sons of disobedience." The life of Saul the persecutor had been as pure and blameless as was the life of Paul the apostle of the Lord. And yet he here brackets himself with the Ephesian converts. Hence the emphatic "all" of the third verse. All alike had walked "according to the prince of the power of the air," and therefore "according to the course of this world," for Satan is this world's prince and god. (John 14:30, 16:11; II Corinthians 4:4) So far from implying that their "trespasses and sins" had been due to supernatural incitement, the apostle expressly declares they had been altogether natural and human. The Gentile sensualists were but "doing the desires of the flesh"; the Jewish zealot "the desires of the mind." (In the N. T. the flesh means usually either the body, or bodily nature, of man, or else human nature as a whole in its fallen and corrupt condition. But in Ephesians 2:3 it is contrasted with the mind, and therefore it appears to mean mans corrupt bodily nature. In Ephesians 1:18; 4:18 (as also in 1 John 5:20), dia>voia is translated understanding. (In 1:18 the R. V. reads kardi>a.) St. Paul uses the word flesh in different senses even in the same passage; see Ephesians 2:3, 11, 15, ex. gr.)
Continued