BIBLICAL IMAGERY AND MYTH
Satan, the devil, demons, and their mythical cousins (i.e. the serpent, evil spirits) have a history in mythology and culture that precedes Judaism. They are all based on the many kinds of spirits with which Israel was well acquainted during its bondage in Egypt where Israel was surrounded by multiple Egyptian deities who regularly interacted with Egyptian people. These mythical, religious figures are the models that God employed to represent his relationship with his people and their relationships with each other.

One of these gods was Apep, the god of chaos, who was constantly at war with Ra, the sun god. We know that Apep is the model for satan and the devil in the Bible because he is represented as a serpent in Egyptian mythology. In other words, God used the symbolism of Egyptian religious deities to represent his spiritual truth about the chaos and conflict that religion brings to our lives. This is one application of the “first the natural and then the spiritual” principle in the Bible.

God used the myth of ongoing conflict between Apep and Ra to represent the ongoing conflict between good and evil that is first introduced in the Garden of Eden where the serpent (i.e. the devil) deceived Eve, and later represented in the temptations of Jesus.

STUDY TIP:  See this link for more about the temptations of Jesus.

Current cultural acceptance of these entities is documented in a 2008 Pew research report that says that two-thirds of Americans believe that angels and demons are active in the world today. Comparing this data with another study that reports that four out of ten Christians (40%) strongly agreed that Satan “is not a living being but is a symbol of evil,” we find that there is some disagreement among Christians about these entities.

See this link for research by others on what other people believe about the reality of Satan and the Devil.

AUTHORS’ NOTE: Jews have their own views on these subjects as found in the following links:

From these readings it appears that Jews readily accept the existence of angels but hold rigidly to their monotheistic beliefs by rejecting the existence of Satan, the Devil and demons as powerful, independent, spiritual entities The way we see it, Jews got it right about Satan but are wrong about angels.

We agree with the Jews on their rejection of satan/devil/demons because belief in such beings violates a monotheistic view of God. The reasoning goes like this:

Applying this logic, we conclude that people who do believe that satan, the devil and demons are real believe a lie that is the basis of several spiritual problems:

If it is true that none of these entities really exist, we must then ask why are there so many references to them in the Bible. The answer is that these are all symbolic representations of religious leaders. God has employed ancient, mythical creatures to represent his views of religious leaders.

STUDY TIP: See BIBLICAL IMAGERY AND MYTH for understanding of how God uses myths to represent spiritual truth.

Furthermore, since God has seen fit to employ these entities to educate us about spiritual matters, we are compelled to understand what or whom these characters symbolize and how to apply that symbolism to our lives. We do this believing that all scripture is useful for training in righteousness.

The Anti-Christ is different in the sense that it appears only in the New Testament. But, because of its strong association with the devil, we will include it here with its spiritual counterparts because it figures prominently in Christian end-times theology.