What the New Testament Says About Satan by Myra Kahn Adams for Town Hall
Thanks for joining our study. Today we conclude a two-part series about what the Bible says about Satan in the New Testament. Last week I linked to a commentary about all the names used to describe the personification of evil.
Note that only a sampling of Satan-related verses is discussed here due to space considerations. For further study, here is a list. Also, in Vol. 104, we explored “The Temptation of Jesus,” which occurred shortly after His baptism and marked the beginning of His earthly ministry. It is believed that Jesus was never in danger of succumbing to temptation. However, He and the devil still had a dramatic confrontation that impacts today’s study, in that Jesus was always aware of the devil’s schemes and frequently chastised him in the gospels.
Let’s begin with a noteworthy confrontation between Jesus and the Pharisees. They were the Jewish “holy” leaders threatened by Jesus’s teaching who plotted against Him after Jesus performed miracles that increased His following.
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On this occasion in Matthew 12, Jesus had just healed “a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute,” and now “he could both talk and see.” The people were astonished by Jesus and asked: “Could this be the Son of David?” Cue the angry Pharisees who said: “It is only by Beelzebub, the prince of demons, that this man drives out demons.” Were the Pharisees imprudent to accuse Jesus of being the devil after He healed a demon-possessed man? Here is Jesus’s brilliant response:
” ‘Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand. If Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then can his kingdom stand? And if I drive out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your people drive them out? So then, they will be your judges. But if it is by the Spirit of God that I drive out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you’” (Matthew 12: 25-28).
