THE BIBLE DOCTRINE CONCERNING THE TEMPTER CONSIDERED.
That diabolos, rendered devil in the Common Version, is SIN, appears from the expressions of Paul in various parts of his writings. He says “that having the power of death is diabolos.” The power of death is that which causes death. In a venomous serpent the to kratos, or power of death, is in its fang or sting. Remove this, and the most deadly reptile is perfectly innocuous. It has lost its power, not of locomotion, but of inflicting death. So if the power that makes death work strongly within us could be removed, we should never die. It is that power Paul styles diabolos. It is not death but the death-producing power, which is in every man, young and old, saint and sinner; therefore diabolos is in every human being.
Having ascertained, then, that the power of death resides in diabolos, if we can ascertain what is the death-power, we at the same time learn who or what diabolos is. Let us then, ask Paul a few questions. Thus, “Venerable Brother, you have said that diabolos hath the power of death, will you kindly inform us, what that power is?”—Readily. It is death’s sting; and that sting is SIN, which is strengthened in its workings by the law of God, which is contrary to it —1 Corinthians 15: 55-56. —“Why do you triumphantly inquire, “O death where is thy sting?”—Because, in speaking of the mortal and corruptible body common to all the saints, putting on incorruptibility and life, I saw that the sin in our flesh, which stings us to death, would be extracted, and the body consequently healed; and that, although we had been severely wounded in the heel, so to speak, we should recover and so cheat death of many victims. In other words, in the case of Christ’s brethren, they would get the victory over him, and verify the saying, “Death is swallowed up in victory.”—“You have said that “the body is mortal because of sin”—Romans 8: 10-11, pray how does the body get quit of this deadly principle, so as to be pronounced victorious over death?”—In two ways according to the believers acted upon; first, by dissolution into dust, and reorganisation thereof into body incapable of decay; and made to live by the creative Spirit of God in the hands of the Lord Jesus. This is resurrection. And secondly, by an instantaneous change wrought in living flesh and blood by the energy of the Spirit which will destroy the Sin-power, or sting, which gives place to that which hath the power of life, that is, the Spirit. This is transformation. —“But if the Spirit have the power of life, how is it that Jesus styles himself “the life?”—And so he is;
“For as the Father hath life in himself, so he gives also to the Son to have life in himself”—John 5: 26.
The Spirit, which “imparts life because of righteousness,” is placed at the Lord’s disposal “that he should give eternal life to as many as God has given him”—John 17: 2. The spirit-life, therefore, of the Saints is hid with Christ in God; and when he who is their life shall appear, then shall they appear with him in glory—Colossians 3: 3-4.
“Sin in the flesh,” then, and the Spirit of God, are the two antagonist principles to which human nature is amenable in the present and future states. The former hath the power of death, and is termed diabolos; the latter hath the power of life, and is styled “the Lord the Spirit”—2 Corinthians 3: 18; 1 Corinthians 15: 45.
Human nature is styled “sinful flesh”—Romans 8: 3, that is flesh full of sin; and Paul speaking of himself as sharing therein, says,
“In me, that is, in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing”—Romans 7: 18.
Sin in the flesh, then, is a very evil thing. It is that principle which works within us what is not good in thought and feeling; and these workings, the apostle styles “the motions of sins”—ta patheemeta toon hamartioon—the physical and mental emotions which when yielded to work transgressions of the law of God. So that when a man is tempted, he is not tempted of God, nor of such a monster as the gentile Devil; but as the apostle says,
“Every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it will bring forth sin: and sin, when it is perfected, bringeth forth death”—James 1: 14-15.
This is the philosophy of temptation, so to speak. Man is made up of certain desires. He desires what he sees, hears, feels, tastes and smells; in other words, he desires the gratification of his senses. There is nothing essentially evil in this. The evil lies in their inordinate gratification. Now, between the ordinate or regular, and inordinate or excessive, God has placed his law. He has said, you may desire, but you may not inordinately desire; or if you do, you may not gratify that desire contrary to my law, under penalty of death. Abstractly, there was no harm in picking up sticks on Saturday; but when God said “thou shalt do no manner of work on the seventh day,” this absolute harmless thing, became a high crime against heaven; and brought forth death to him who perfected the desire to gather on that day. Thus the divine law defines what is irregular, and therefore not to be done by those who would enjoy the favour of God.
Now, if God had given no law to his people (and he has given law to none else) they would not have known what he deemed regular and what excessive, what right or what wrong. In truth, there would have been no such distinction. There would have been neither virtue nor vice; and the only course would have been for a man to follow his instincts. In this there would have been no sin; because “sin is the transgression of law;” and where there is no law there can be no transgression. Had the Lord God not forbidden to eat, there would have been no sin in Adam’s eating of the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of good and evil. The pleasantness of the fruit in Eve’s sight, the appreciation of its goodness for food, and a desire to be as wise as the gods or Elohim, were things in harmony with the nature God had given them and which he had pronounced “very good:” but when he said, “Ye shall not touch the tree under penalty of death,” there was a law given that made the gratification of that nature sin. Hence, it was as true of them as of the apostle, who says,
“I had not known sin, but by the law: for I have not known lust (inordinate desire) except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.”
They coveted, being enticed by their own lust, which drew them away from the Eden-law. The desire to eat was conceived within them, by the suggestion from without setting the flesh to think and reason without subjection to the given law. The thinking and reasoning in harmony with their nature alone, was sophistry; and led them to conclusions in direct opposition to the divine law: had they allowed the commandment to guide their reasoning, they would have reasoned logically; and God’s thoughts and ways would have been approved, and cheerfully acquiesced in. But the reverse of this was the fact; and sophistry led them in the way of death, as it has all their posterity ever since.
“By the law is the knowledge of sin;” therefore those who are ignorant of the law, do not know when they sin. This is the case of those “without law;” who are consequently under “times of ignorance.” Nevertheless, they sin, though they know it not; and sin and ignorance work death, and “alienation from God’s life”—Ephesians 4: 18; for “the wages of sin is death,” and renewal unto life is by knowledge—Colossians 3: 10. Thus, sin had the power of death in Adam’s case, and in that of all his descendants. There was no sin in the terrestrial system till he eat. The serpent could not sin, because no law was given to it; and where there is no law there is no sin, and can be none. Sin entered the world not by the Serpent, but by Adam; as it is written,
“Sin entered into the world by one man, and death by sin; and so death penetrated into all men, because in him all sinned”—Romans 5: 12.
Adam’s nature was animal. Very good of its kind, as was the nature of all the other creatures. These did not sin, yet they returned to the dust whence they came. So probably would Adam, if he had been left to the ordinary course of things as they were. But he would not have returned to dust if he had continued obedient. He would doubtless have been “changed in the twinkling of an eye” on eating of the Tree of Life. But, being disobedient, his sin determined his fate, and that of the creatures. It doomed them all to death according to law, and “nature” unchanged was permitted to take its course. This sin became the death-power; for had there been no sin there would have been no death. Though death could have ensued without sin, it would not have been permitted to do so; but desire being conceived for an unlawful object, this unlawful desire enticed to a forbidden action; the enticement was yielded to, and shame and fear, the evidences of guilt, resulted. Thus a new mode of thought, the sophistry of sin, took possession of human nature, and caused it to fall. Sin reigned, and Adam obeyed it in the lusts of his body, yielding his members instruments of unrighteousness to sin. The sophistical thinking of the flesh gained strength, and became in him and his posterity the rule or law of their nature. This is termed in scripture “the law of sin;” the presence of which, within him, every man may know by the passions, or “motions of sins,” at work there to bring forth fruit unto death. Because of this, it is also styled “the law of sin and death,” to which the flesh of humanity is subject. Cain was conceived under the activity of this law of nature; hence he is said to have been, ek tou poneerou, from the evil, that is, from sin. This was his origin. Had he been begotten before that tempest arose in his parent’s nature which caused them to fall, he would not have been a murderer. But like produces like, and sin in activity produces pre-eminent sinners. The storm of passion had subsided, and a repentant mind had been established, ere Abel was conceived. When he was born, he was welcomed as “from the Lord,” and though born of sinful flesh, he did not derive his origin under the impulses of transgression, but in parental reconciliation to the divine law. Thus, these two sons were the one from the evil, the other from the good; that is, of the devil, and of the Lord.
The word sin is used in two senses; first, to represent that combination of principles within us which in excitation is manifested in passion, evil affections of the mind, diseases, death and corruption. They are called sin, because their manifestation was permitted as the consequence of transgression. And this is the second sense of the word; as it is written, “sin is the transgression of law.” Transgression was the effect of the unbridled inworking of humanity; and when the transgression was complete, or “finished,” that inworking and its result were both styled sin.
This unbridled inworking yielded to is licentiousness, and excessively deteriorating to flesh and blood. I degenerates the human organization, and produces what is observed in the barbarous, and savage races of mankind. Man left to himself can never improve; but must always get worse and worse, because his nature is subject to “the law of sin and death,” which is degenerating in its operation. The only real antagonist to this law is divine truth—“the word of the truth of the gospel of the kingdom.” If this can be made to take root in a man’s heart, it becomes there a rule of thought and action, incessantly antagonising “the law of sin.” This rule is termed “the law of the Spirit of life.” Between these two laws there is a deadly enmity; for “the law of the Spirit of life” is “the law of God;” and the other law, the law of sin, is rebellion against it. God’s law is from without; sin’s law is born in us. The law of God is implanted by reasoning the mind into conviction of his testimony alleged. It is the gospel transferred from the prophets and apostles to the believer’s heart; and is contrary in every particular to “the thinking of the flesh,” which is sin thinking within us. Now men the least fleshly can understand these things best. Hence Paul was well skilled in the matter. “I find,” says he, “a law that when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man”—the “new creature” formed within him by God’s knowledge: “but I see another law in my members”—the law of sin “warring against the law of my mind”—the law of the Spirit—“and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.” A man in whom the truth has no place cannot understand this; because he is subject to only one of these laws, namely, the law of sin and death. His experience, and that of the apostle does not agree. It is only the true believer can sympathise with the apostle—he in whom the truth is most active; he can discern the evil of his nature most acutely. It is such a man can exclaim with Paul, “O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death”—from this law of sin and death to which my body is subject? There is but one that can deliver, even Jesus Christ the Lord, who partook of flesh and blood that through death he might destroy this law of sin and death from the body, that is, diabolos. Paul fully aware of this, therefore, thanks God in prospect of it. And there he leaves it in the patience of hope, continuing “for his mind” (the mode of thinking erected within him by the truth as opposed to the unenlightened thinking of the flesh) subject to the law of God; but for the flesh to the law of sin.” This is the wretchedness of our case, that, however, approved of God for character, our flesh, because still subject to “the law of sin,” or “law of nature,” in the language of “philosophy,” is still burdened by that innate power, or diabolos, which reduces us to death, corruption, and dust.
But, how does Jesus through his own death destroy the devil? I could not answer this question if by “devil” is to be understood the Gentile Devil. But the devil Paul refers to in Hebrews is “that having the power of death,” which we have seen is Sin. The question therefore is How does Jesus through his own death destroy Sin? By making his life-blood an offering for sin, which offering is perfected by his resurrection; as it is written, “he was delivered for our offences, and raised again for our justification.” Now this sacrifice of Jesus becomes sin-destroying in every one who believes the gospel of the kingdom preached in his name; and is sprinkled with his blood in being baptised into him. All the past sins of such a believer are cancelled, or forgiven; and there is engrafted in him a principle, even the word believed, called “the law of the Spirit of life,” which in the remission has “made him free from the law of sin and death;” so that sin no longer reigns in his mortal body that he should obey it in the lusts thereof. He is “made free from sin” as the sovereign of his mind and actions; and has become the servant of God, whose will it is his study to learn and obey in all things; thus bringing forth fruit unto holiness, the end of which is everlasting life, when he shall be planted in the likeness of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Such a resurrected man is like Jesus, incorruptible and immortal. The power of death is no longer in him; but thoroughly eradicated from his nature, which is now “equal to the angels:” and as he is then, so will all the brethren of Jesus be, freed from diabolos, and therefore subject unto death no more.
But though at the resurrection of the just diabolos be destroyed to this extent, it is still strong and rampant in the rest of mankind; and consequently has then yet to be eradicated from among them: for it is Christ’s mission to destroy diabolos and the works thereof, in other words, to take away the sin of the world. This is his honour as the result of his obedience unto death. The first part of the work is to restrain sin, apocalyptically styled binding the Dragon, the old Serpent; who is designated also by the words diabolos and satanas; the former being rendered devil; and the latter left untranslated. The last part of the enterprise is to destroy sin; so that thenceforth there shall not exist upon the earth a single man having diabolos, or “that having the power of death,” in his nature; that is, that all the inhabitants of our planet, without exception, shall be incorruptible and deathless. The restraining of sin or diabolos, is to be effected a thousand years before its destruction; the destroying process consummating the work of the Millennial Reign.
The sin-power in an individual man, uncontrolled by the law of God, is strong for evil and ferocious as a beast of prey. It converts a man, as the phrase is, “into a devil;” and permits him to stick at nothing. The works of such a man are “Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like;” the doers of which, the apostle says, “shall not inherit the kingdom of God.” The Gentile Devil cannot be fabled to do worse than this. Now, if instead of one such reprobate, there are two hundred millions of the like associated together in one community, the power of the evil is increased so many million times. The increase of the power does not alter the nature of the evil—it is still sin in the flesh having the power of death, and therefore diabolos. Now, what things that community of sinners wills, contrives, and does, are the works of Sin, termed by John, ta erga tou diabolou, “the works of diabolos.” These works are civil and ecclesiastical institutions, styled in the scriptures, “things in the heavens and things in the earth, visible and invisible, thrones, dominions, principalities, powers.” They are political aggregations of the works of sin, or diabolos. In short, every thing that is not of the seed of truth of God is a work of sin; and destined finally to be destroyed. The institutions or polity of the two hundred millions are a fair and just representation of the character of the vast majority of them, and therefore of their nationality. The individuals being sinners, and for the most part desperate ones, the community they constitute is pre-eminently diabolos, or SIN POLITICALLY INCORPORATE. The excessive wickedness of such a Body Politic is illustrated by the Inquisition, and the popish priesthood—associations of adulterers, thieves, murderers, idolaters, and blasphemers; hypocritical pretenders to piety, but as “earthly, sensual, and devilish,” as their own “Devil” is supposed to be. Now, a community like this, with an Emperor, Pope, and Ten Kings, at the head of it, is represented apocalyptically by a Dragon with Ten Horns; and to show its sin-origin, Sin’s symbol is associated with it, and it is styled “the Dragon, the old Serpent;” and to show furthermore, its antagonism to God and his people, it is termed “diabolos and satan.” In the aggregate it is represented in Daniel by the image of a man, which Nebuchadnezzar saw in his dream. This man-Image is diabolos and satan in the climax of Sin’s power, glory, and wickedness; and styled by Paul, ho anomos, THE LAWLESS, whose manifestation is the result of the energy of the adversary, which is not fully developed till the near future. When the premillennial autocratic empire foretold by Ezekiel shall be fully organised, the SIN-MAN, perdition’s son, will stand God-defiant within the walls of Jerusalem. This Sin-Power, called the Devil and Satan in the English version, is “that having the power of death” manifested in full political and military array. And, who shall bind this strong one? There will be no power on earth equal to the enterprise. Britain, and the United States (notwithstanding their present professed adhesion to Washington’s foreign policy, too antiquated for the terrible future) will, on the principle of self-preservation, contend against him. But, their efforts will be in vain. The Binder of the Sin-Man must from heaven descend, as the apocalyptic angel, having “great power,” symbolised by “a great chain,” and “enlightening the earth with his glory.” When He appears he will strike him such a blow on the feet as to send him maimed, halt, and crippled to the west. After this blow, which is the battle of Armageddon, by which Jerusalem and Israel’s land are delivered, no more is heard in scripture of the Dragon; for, deprived of the dominion of the East, the Sin-Power can no longer be represented by “the Dragon.” What remains is diabolos and satan, the Sin-Adversary, represented by “the Beast, the False Prophet and the Kings of the Earth, with their armies;” styled in Matthew, diabolos kai hoi angeloi autou, anglice, “the Devil and his angels,” but properly the Sin-power and its messengers, or agents. These are the broken “pieces” of the Man-Image, which the Sin-Binder will have to reduce to powder subsequently to the fracture of its feet.
We see from these hints that diabolos, or “that having the power of death,” appears in divers parts of scripture in a sort of personal manifestation. The personality, however, is not that of a single individual; but the personification of a power in man, and in society antagonist to God and his people. Treating of sin in the flesh, the apostle speaks of it reigning, deceiving, and slaying its victims. While sin has the power of death, he says the strength of that power is the holy, just, and good law and commandment of God. That is, sin would have had no power to work death in a man for coveting, if the law had not said “Thou shalt not covet.” It is manifestly good not to covet any thing that is your neighbour’s; therefore the law that forbids it is a good law. But if there had been no such law given, to be covetous would not be punishable with death and exclusion from the kingdom. Hence the apostle says, “the good law was not made death unto me; but it made sin appear sin working death in me; that Sin through the commandment might become pre-eminently A SINNER.” In the common version kath’ hyperboleen hamartoolos is rendered “exceeding sinful.” This is a version, but not a translation of the words. Hamartoolos is “one who deviates from the path of virtue, a vicious person, sinful, detestable.” It is a substantive; not an adjective, as rendered in the English version; and therefore ought to be translated as above.
Now, this exceedingly great sinner, Sin, working death in man, the scripture styles diabolos: and it may be pertinently asked, Why is it so called? The following I conceive to be the reason. The attribute most characteristic of Sin’s character is deceitfulness; as it is written,
“Exhort one another daily lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin;”
“Sin taking occasion through the commandment deceived me;”
“Eve being deceived was in transgression;” and
“The Serpent beguiled her through his shrewdness.”
Eve being deceived, the Serpent’s part in the transaction was finished. He held no conference with Adam, who, the apostle says, “was not deceived.” Sin, the Seducer, approached him through Eve, whose eyes were open to evil. Sin incarnate in Eve was Adam’s tempter.
“With her much fair speech she caused him to yield, with the flattering of her lips she forced him.”
She gave him of the tree, and he did eat; and eating, fell. Thus Sin caused him to fall in casting him across the law-line; and therefore it is called diabolos. For diabolos is a noun derived from the verb diaballo, which is equivalent to the Latin trajicio, to throw or cast over, or across. Diaballo is from dia and ballo, to throw, cast; and in the perfect passive, to be thrown, or cast down. Diabolos is one who casts over the line; in a scriptural sense, by misrepresentation and subtlety, which is lying. Hence, diabolos stands for “slanderer, accuser, and whatever else may be affirmed of sin. This is the proper signification of the word and intelligible to every one; its improper meaning is devil, and understood by none. Sin is the devil of our planet; which few, perhaps, will believe, being so much in love with it, and delighting in its pleasures wherever they can be found. Gentile superstition is terribly afraid of its Devil; but it loves Sin dearly, and serves it in all its ungodly lusts. The scripture saith, however, “he that committeth sin is of the devil”—he is a child of sin; “for the devil sinneth from the beginning”—sin transgresseth ever. This is the unhappy lot of all the world, composed almost exclusively of the children of sin. Therefore, the apostle saith,
“Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.”
But here we must pause till our next, when we shall resume the subject from some other point of view.
EDITOR.
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