Is the Devil a real person?

info All commentaries are written by volunteers, readers, or supporters of our Bible translation project. These are not official views of our project; we are not a religious denomination and we do not establish doctrine. These commentaries reflect a variety of views and some disagree with each other.

All one has to do is look at the titles he was given to realize that he is. To deny his existence negates the rest of the Bible.

For example, when dealing with Adam’s sin, why did God adhere so closely to a law when other options were available to Him? Why didn’t he just destroy rebellious Adam and create another man?

The fact is, He created both mankind and His spirit sons (‘angels‘) with the ability to choose whether they would be faithful or not…
None were just automatons.
And in the same way that a man (Adam) failed to be faithful in the Paradise;
We can assume that there were rebels in the heavens also (for the Scriptures support this).
So although many fail to understand it;
This is the reason why it became necessary for God to create a law for mankind that clearly outlined what rebellion against God constituted, and what the consequences for violating that law would be.

It was obviously not just for the sake of mankind;
But also, for the millions of millions of God’s heavenly spirit (breath-like) sons, that the issue of the first rebellion here on the earth had to be resolved by a legal means and in a way that demonstrated the love and loyalty of God’s first-born son…
Which resulted in the painful need for a ‘ransom’ (Jesus’ death).

But, notice that the idea (which some religions have promoted) that the Slanderer isn’t real but only a state of mind, creates some conundrums.
For example:

· When Jesus was being tempted in the desert, was he simply struggling with the bad within himself rather than against a real, evil personality?
If so, we would have to conclude that there was bad in Jesus.

· Is the battle in heaven that is spoken of in the Twelfth Chapter of Revelation to be just figurative (not a real war against the Opposer and his messengers)? If so, then in what sense would ‘the Opposer’ and his ‘messengers’ lose the battle and be confined to the earth? Also, why would this entity (if it is just internal evil) be ‘angry’ in knowing that he just has ‘a short period of time’ left?

· And when the Opposer entered God’s presence and spoke to Him (which we read about happening in the First Chapter of Job);
Could we assume that this inherent evil was found in God?

None of this is likely.