Expert: Ernie Laurence, Jr. - 5/6/2010

Question
Dear Ernie,

Who is Satan? Why did God create satan? If satan is a evil one why don't God destroy him early.

Regards,
Praywin

Answer
There is little that we are told about the origins of Satan.  We infer that he is a created being from the fact that he does exist and that God created all that exists.  That he was evil before the fall of man we see in Genesis 3, but we do not know if he was evil at the moment of his creation.

As far as why did God not destroy Satan early on, that would miss the point of Creation.  God, who is omnipotent, could completely wipe out evil altogether or even never have allowed it to exist in the first place.  However, the purpose of creation was to provide opportunity for man to choose, by excercise of free will, to worship God or not.  God allows evil to exist so that man has the capacity to excercise free will.  Without evil, its not a choice but a lack of options.

Satan is a driving force for evil.  He works through selfish men to tempt others to disobey God.  Satan is a literal being, though a spirit rather than a physical creature.  At one time, he and his demons had the power to move whole nations (e.g. the Jews to kill Jesus) and possess people in a very real sense, but that power was removed after miracles ceased.  He now can only work through temptation and if anyone resists him, he flees.

The word Satan simply means "Adversary" and it is a word only used 49 times in the entire Bible.  Other references are "serpent" and "Devil".

A couple of myths concerning Satan:

1.  He does not live in Hell and send demons from there.  Hell is a place created by God to punish Satan and all those who follow him.  He fears it as much as humans.

2.  Satan is NOT Lucifer (Isa. 14) and was never an angel.  He can look like one, but is never stated to be one in scripture.

In Truth and Love,

Ernie