Topical Studies
What the Bible says about
Satan as father of liars
(From Forerunner Commentary)
Job 1:6-7
Was he just telling another lie? He was traveling back and forth on the earth, and he described it as walking. When he came before God, it was some other place than the earth. Where does God reside? The Bible names heaven as the only place of God's abode. So Satan must have left the earth and traveled to be in God's presence because this conversation did not take place on the earth.
John W. Ritenbaugh
Image and Likeness of God (Part Three)
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Matthew 13:24-29
Satan's malicious intention in sowing tares among the wheat is to cause problems and confusion (James 3:16). The bad seeds grow to become poisonous weeds that allow only the healthiest of the wheat to survive. Tares, like weeds, have never been a marketable product. "Tares" are actually darnel, a seed hardly identifiable from the wheat seed, and immature wheat and darnel look alike. To try to destroy the darnel would mean destroying much of the wheat, and separating one from the other would be beyond the servants' abilities. Only when the wheat has matured can the tares be detected. Then the tares are gathered together in bundles in the field and destroyed by fire. Many who are not in the process of conversion resemble those who are. Just like true Christians, they go to church, pray, and read the Bible, but they are only religious hobbyists. Jesus calls them "sons of the wicked one" (Matthew 13:38), and being tares, they will be destroyed. The tares are not originally from the wicked one, but they develop character according to his strong influence. They are led by him and so are his children (John 8:44).
Martin G. Collins
Parables of Matthew 13 (Part Three): The Parable of the Wheat and the Tares
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John 8:42-45
Spiritually, Satan has been our father. We already have had his mark placed on us, and in our lifetime we have shown his characteristics. That is exactly what Jesus is talking about here: He knew that Satan was the spiritual father of these people because they carried his mark in the way they reacted to Him and each other. Abraham had God as his spiritual Father, and Abraham did not attempt to kill the One who became Christ—in fact, He was hospitable to Him and honored Him. He was not hostile to Him in any way, but instead did everything in his power to submit to Him. But here were the people of Jesus' time trying to put Him to death. They were openly hostile to Him. Our problem is not worrying about taking on Satan's mark—we already have it. Our concern is to control and overcome it because God is now our Father, and He has already enabled us to resist that mark in our lives. It is our worshipful duty to work with God, to strive to break free of that foul spirit's enslaving hold on us.
John W. Ritenbaugh
The Spiritual Mark of the Beast
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John 8:43-47
Christ's audience had literal ears, of course, but that is not what He meant. The people heard the sounds, and the sounds formed into words, and words were comprehended to some degree, but they did not really relate to what He was saying. His words just did not hit the right chords so that they could make the right use of them. Jesus says in some exasperation, "Why do you not understand?" Then He goes on to explain why. He explains, "You are unable to hear what I say." He is implying that the problem is inherent. It was as if He were speaking in one language, and they were hearing in another, so that what He said was totally incomprehensible to them. John 8 deals with freedom or liberty. These people were in bondage, a kind of slavery, and they did not even know it. They said, "We have never been in bondage." They had a measure of political liberty, but even then, they were under the heel of the Romans. They had a certain amount of freedom, which they apparently considered enough for what they needed for their lives. Ordinarily, the Roman way was, once a nation was crushed, to give the people certain liberties, as long they behaved themselves. We can see that Jesus was speaking of one thing, yet they understood it in an entirely different way. He was speaking within spiritual parameters concerning the Kingdom of God. They were hearing within political parameters, and thinking about the here and now. It just did not jive. They became this way just as we do: They lived and operated in a world of lies. This is why Jesus mentions Satan, that he was a murderer and a liar from the very beginning. All the ways of this world - which seem to be so right carnally - are really nothing but behaviors founded upon deceptions, distortions, and falsehoods. To somebody reared in such a deceived environment, the truth of God comes out as so much gibberish. The mind simply does not relate.
John W. Ritenbaugh
We Are Unique!
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John 8:44
Notice that Christ pointedly tells these people that they want to do what their spiritual father does. In addition, he speaks what is natural to him. There is a strong drive in all of us to follow the path of least resistance, that is, to do what comes naturally.
John W. Ritenbaugh
Revelation 2-3 and Works
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John 8:44
Jesus describes Satan as a murderer in addition to being a destroyer. A murderer destroys life. Jesus also calls him a liar. He does not dwell in the truth at all, deceiving all the time. We are human beings, created in the image of God. We have tremendous capacity and potential, but we have used our powers just as the father of destruction, the father of lies, would have used them. The Hebrew word ruach (translated as "spirit"), Greek pneuma (also translated as "spirit"), and the English "spirit" all mean basically the same thing. The same general implication underlies all of their applications: that of an often powerful, invisible, immaterial, motivating force. This unseen force inspires or encourages people to do something, good or bad. Its quality is not relevant at this point. Thus, the Bible will use the Hebrew or Greek word for "spirit" for such invisible, motivating forces as "feelings" and "attitudes"—even "talents." E.W. Bullinger says in his Companion Bible that the Bible gives the word "spirit" eight different applications. Human spirits are not always invisible—they can be observed on a face or felt by those nearby—but they work as a force to motivate behavior or reaction. For example, if we walk into a room where people are scowling or perhaps even angry, we are affected. We might wonder, "What got into them?" meaning "What inspired their attitude?" "Why the angry spirit?" If we stick around for even a short while—it will not take long—that negative spirit will begin motivating us to react. Depending on the person with the negative attitude, the motivation to reaction could be swift! If that person happens to be our spouse, we can probably tell immediately that they are in a different spirit, and it will affect us right away. A spirit has flowed from one person to another. This flow of spirit also works positively. If we are around someone who is really up and happy and congenial, an outgoing person, his or her spirit will affect us in a positive way. We enjoy being around such people because we feel better and their spirits motivate us to be like them. These may be simple explanations, but that is how a spirit works. A spirit is invisible and immaterial, but it has powerful motivating effects. Because we have a spirit too, we can pick up on the spirit and attitude of other people—and of supernatural beings as well.
John W. Ritenbaugh
The Right Use of Power
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John 8:44
This is the spirit—the attitude, the mind, the heart—that is driving humanity. For anybody whose father is Satan, it is in his or her nature to break the commandments. This is why God says that "the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be" (Romans 8:7). It is impossible! There has to be a change, a conversion, to the divine nature. Thus, Satan cannot help himself. He gathers things to himself because he is self-centered, and he gathers them for the purpose of killing or abusing them.
John W. Ritenbaugh
Love's Importance and Source
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John 8:44
Jesus identifies Satan as the spiritual father of those Jews who opposed Him, implying that they had learned how to murder and lie because the Devil was their spiritual father. They were displaying his characteristics, just as children naturally adopt the traits of their parents. Yet was Satan actually responsible for their sins? Notice what the pre-incarnate Christ says earlier through Ezekiel: Yet you say, “Why should the son not bear the guilt of the father?” Because the son has done what is lawful and right, and has kept all My statutes and observed them, he shall surely live. The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not bear the guilt of the father, nor the father bear the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself. (Ezekiel 18:19-20) God holds the father accountable for his sins, and the children responsible for their sins. The sinning soul bears its own guilt and penalty—death (Romans 6:23). Ezekiel 18 completely nullifies the justification that a child can blame his parents for his faults. Even though parents exert tremendous influence, God's view of parent-child relationships does not allow this shifting of blame. Following this through, God will not accept this justification with regard to an individual blaming his spiritual father, Satan, even though he also wields considerable influence. According to the repeated principle in Ezekiel 18, Satan cannot bear the guilt of sins committed by a human. He bears the guilt for his own sins, which include deception, but Satan cannot make us sin. In verses 14-17, God even gives the scenario of a son recognizing the sinfulness of his father and choosing to go a different way. The Jews who opposed Christ in John 8 should have done exactly that—realized that the murder and lies in their hearts did not originate with God, then chosen to act differently from their spiritual father. In Genesis 3:17, God identifies the trigger of Adam's sin as heeding the voice of his wife. In the same way, our sin may also begin with heeding the voice of another (Satan), but he is not the author of our sin, any more than Eve was the author of Adam's sin. Though Adam and Eve played the blame game, God did not accept their excuses. If we hold to the justification that Satan is the real cause of our sins, we are trying to dodge reality, just as they did. The apostle Paul declares in Romans 5:12 that sin entered the world through one man, Adam. Notice that God does not put the origin of human sin on Satan, but on Adam, even though Satan sinned long before and overtly lied to Eve (Genesis 3:4). This is how God reckons human sin—as difficult as it may be to accept. The overall point in Romans 5 is that, even though the first man introduced sin to mankind, it is through the Son of Man that humanity will be justified and made righteous. Put simply, humanity has made the choice to sin, and Christ alone provides atonement upon repentance (Acts 4:12; Matthew 1:21; I Timothy 2:5-6). A few chapters later, in Romans 7, we find Paul's anguish over his struggle with sin. His conclusion is not that Satan is the real cause—the Devil gets only one mention in Romans, where the apostle writes that the God of peace will crush him (Romans 16:20). Instead, Paul concludes that he had indwelling sin. Rather than point the finger at Satan, he mournfully recognizes his sinful state and declares his faith in Christ's work and deliverance (verse 25). Paul's conclusion suggests that, in addition to Satan being completely unworthy of being represented by a substitutionary sacrifice, it is also wholly incongruous to suggest that the sins of the people belong on Satan's head. Their sins are their own, and Satan's sins are his own.
David C. Grabbe
Who Fulfills the Azazel Goat—Satan or Christ? (Part Two)
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John 17:21-22
Jesus' words should encourage us because they declare we can be in union with the Father and the Son to the extent that our experiences, knowledge, obedience, prayers, attitudes, and fellowship within the church will permit. It becomes our responsibility upon being baptized into the name of God, into God's very Family, to seek more intimate union with God. At that time, we become spiritually united with God. That is not the end of the process but its beginning, which will end in the Kingdom of God when we will have the same composition as the Father and the Son. At the first resurrection, we will be totally and completely in union with God. Why are we to seek oneness? As this same prayer says in verse 3, "[T]his is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom You have sent." Jesus defines eternal life as having an intimate relationship with God, that is, having many experiences with the Father and the Son and listening to God's Word so intently and then acting upon it with enthusiasm and energy. Such a close and loving sharing of a lifetime with them can truly be said to be like seeing and knowing the Father and the Son. Such union with God is a high ideal, but one certainly worth striving for. It allows the Father and Son to project Themselves by the Spirit into us and transform us into the image of God. The image They impart is not what He looks like facially but how His mind works, how He relates to experiences, and how He conducts His life. Central to becoming one with the Father and Son is Jesus' reference to truth in verse 17. The truth of God sanctifies us, sets us apart, for this very purpose, making it possible for us to become one, in union, with Them. Today, when some women marry and desire to retain their maiden name, they hyphenate it with their husband's last name, combining them. To God, doing so indicates divided loyalties. These brides are already beginning to hold their husbands at arm's length. They are not fully invested in their new family. Women have different reasons for retaining their maiden names, but it can indicate how their marriages will fare. This illustration may help us understand why those who do not love the truth will perish. They will not become united with the Father and the Son. It is that simple. If the truth sanctifies toward our becoming one with God, those who reject the truth will always be at odds with Him, and those who are at enmity with God will not enter His Kingdom. Why did Jesus say to the Jews in John 8 that they were of their father the Devil? "My word has no place in you" (John 8:37). Later, He also says, "[Y]ou are not able to listen to My word" (John 8:43), and "[B]ecause I tell the truth, you do not believe Me" (John 8:45). In that state, they had no hope to be in union with the Father. He could never live in them because they were rejecting what the Son taught, who says, "The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works" (John 14:10).
John W. Ritenbaugh
Image and Likeness of God (Part Four)
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Romans 8:14-16
A Christian is one who has the Spirit of God. Notice the use of the terms "Father," "Son," and "children," while in other places, the terms are "Bridegroom" and "bride," all of which suggest a family relationship. A family of which God is a part is a spiritual organism, and we are in it in a spiritual relationship, gradually taking on the characteristics of that spirit Family. When scattering and division occurs within the church, it is because we are losing those God-Family characteristics and reverting to the characteristics of our former spirit father, Satan.
John W. Ritenbaugh
The Holy Spirit and the Trinity (Part Four)
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2 Corinthians 4:4
God is sovereignly over both physical and metaphorical sight (understanding or comprehension). God states that He blinds, whether as a punishment for sin or simply because He deems it necessary in working out His purpose. However, translators of II Corinthians 4:4 use a lowercase g in the phrase, “the god of this age,” to signify that Satan has blinded the world. If the translators are correct, it creates two significant scriptural anomalies: 1) Satan is nowhere else said to blind; blinding is squarely in God's domain. 2) Neither God nor His servants ever call Satan a god of something—at most, he is one of the “so-called gods” that “are not gods” (I Corinthians 8:5; Galatians 4:8). Rather than blinding, Satan deceives, distorts, and twists the truth. At times, we may use the terms “blinding” and “deceiving” interchangeably, which can have similar effects on understanding. However, the critical distinction is that it comes down to intent. God is absolutely committed to truth—to what is real. Jesus declared Himself to be the Truth. God desires His children to understand and walk in truth. However, without the necessary spiritual faculties, a person can find truth overwhelming, even painful, just as a diseased eye may find bright light excruciating. God hides and reveals truth according to His will as He moves His creation toward everlasting light. In type, we do the same thing with our children. We recognize that some knowledge would be harmful to them before they are mature, so we limit their exposure to some of the realities of life. We also determine what knowledge they are responsible for, according to their capability. God does the same thing with His children. In their natural state, humans cannot deal with God's knowledge and understanding, so He opens their eyes according to what is appropriate. He also closes their eyes, either as a judgment (see Deuteronomy 28:28) or out of mercy. In the Parable of the Faithful Steward, the man who does not know the master's will is disciplined less because he is accountable for less (Luke 12:47-48). Because God has hidden some truth for the time being, He has concluded humanity in unbelief so that He can have mercy on all (Romans 11:32, KJV). In this age, He is not working with all mankind the same way, so He closes the minds—blinds the spiritual eyes—of those He will work with in later ages. As Solomon teaches, part of His glory is to conceal matters (Proverbs 25:2). Satan, though, is not committed to truth; he is instead the father of lies and liars (John 8:44). God has not granted him authority to open or close eyes, so instead, he plays fast and loose with the truth with ultimate skill. He is not devoted to God's reality but to his own agenda. He lies, exaggerates, acts, distracts, downplays, and employs any other subterfuge in his pursuit of superiority. He will use some truth, but he couches it in self-serving ways that do not reflect reality. Scripture never shows him opening eyes or taking away understanding God has given. However, he will twist and distort truth, encouraging human nature to deceive itself about the truth that is available. Some truth is readily available to all. Mankind is without excuse when it comes to the truth of God's existence (see Romans 1:18-21). Satan has not closed men's eyes to this reality. Instead, Paul says, people have suppressed that truth, closing their own eyes, and Satan has aided them along the way. Similarly, the serpent “helped” Eve reinterpret what God had said in a way that seemed to benefit her. In fact, the world's disintegration began with Eve seeking knowledge that was not appropriate for her yet: Adam's and Eve's eyes were opened through eating of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Satan neither opened nor closed their eyes, but he offered an alternative narrative that eased their rejection of what God had said. Cultivating a love for truth thus becomes paramount, for that love stands as a hedge against falling away. When we value personal comfort or interpersonal harmony more than living by God's every word, we close our own eyes. When we so choose, we alter our beliefs and can no longer see what we saw before.
David C. Grabbe
Spiritual Blindness (Part Two): The God of This Age
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Hebrews 2:14-15
Some religions make no mention of Satan as a reality. Others include him as a reality and enemy, yet they make little or no accounting of him actively working to destroy mankind and God's purpose. Jesus makes no bones about Satan actively working to destroy men. In John 8:44, in accusing the Jews of unbelief, He puts Satan's nature in plain words: You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it. Satan is clearly responsible for drawing Adam and Eve into the first of mankind's sins, opening the floodgate to the sins of all of their progeny, all physical and mental sickness, countless emotional agonies, and the billions of deaths that mankind has experienced. God makes it clear that the wages—the ultimate penalty—earned by one's sins is death (Romans 6:23). The sobering truth of this matter is that it takes only one sin for God to impose the death penalty! He warned Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden before they ever sinned, "In the day you eat of it you shall surely die" (Genesis 2:17). The death penalty falls immediately on anyone who sins, even if it is the first time! Any religion that is without Christ leaves the door open to thoughts that salvation can be earned by means of good works. The idea is that the evil an individual has done in the past can be compensated for by doing good deeds. This is the very charge the apostle Paul lays against the Jews in Romans 10:1-4: Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved. For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. In order for one to be justified before God and accepted by Him requires a righteousness that no man who ever sinned even one time can achieve. No amount of good works can compensate for even one sin. God will accept only the righteousness of One who has never sinned, and He will accept that payment only when a repentant sinner by faith believes. Peter's statement in Acts 4:12 confirms that salvation is found nowhere else: "There is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved" (emphasis ours). Christ's involvement in the forgiveness of sin for salvation is imperative; there is no alternative! Peter is not saying we can be saved or may be saved. The word "must" reveals necessity according to God's decree. Salvation is found through no other person and no other way of life except through the sacrifice of Jesus of Nazareth. Salvation denotes deliverance or preservation from harm or evil. In this case, it is deliverance and restoration from the effects of sin. The result, then, is deliverance from eternal death (unless one goes on from that point to commit blasphemy of the Holy Spirit, which Jesus says God will not forgive; see Matthew 12:31-32). This is because salvation begins upon one's repentance from his sins and faith in the sacrifice of Christ for the forgiveness of sins. This combination of acts justifies a person before God, and no human works, regardless of their quality or quantity, are acceptable for the forgiveness of sins. Does any other religion have a Savior with the qualifications of Jesus Christ? No other religion offers such a magnanimous gift. Forgiveness, and therefore justification, is available only through that perfect sacrifice, along with the sincere repentance of a believing sinner who exhibits faith in the God/Man Jesus Christ and in God's grace. God will then give us of His Spirit.
John W. Ritenbaugh
Where Is God's True Church Today?
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1 John 5:19
"Lies in wickedness" should be translated "lies [under the sway of] the wicked one," as the New King James has it. John makes an all-inclusive statement of Satan's position in terms of the earth. The wicked one, the Devil, holds authority over all operations of all cultural systems on earth. He is the king, he holds authority, over what the Bible calls "the world."
John W. Ritenbaugh
What I Believe About Conspiracy Theories
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