A Conflict between Judaism and Christianity - the View of Satan

[james1523]

The following is a result of a short study I undertook and thought it was interesting, it may still contain errors (welcome to correction/clarifications) from a Jewish perspective.

Every Christian has a copy of the Jewish scriptures in their Bible, the Old Testament. However having an authorized and accurately translated Scripture means little if we are conditioned to believe in a certain way. Jesus said something important to a non-Jewish woman, that "salvation is of the Jews" (John 4:22). It may surprise Christians then that despite Jesus being a Jew and salvation being of the Jews, the Jewish understanding of God and Satan are quite different to the Christian understanding. How these differences arose can be addressed by another topic, in this thread we can look at what are the differences and how it can help us in our reading and understanding of the Old Testament, or even our interactions and dialogue with Jews or Messianic Jews.

In Christianity it is believed that angels and Satan have free will. That Satan is a fallen angel who rebelled against God according to his own free will. However this view of Satan is a Christian concept and not found in Judaism or the Jewish Scriptures - our Old Testament. Perhaps the 12 disciples, the authors of the 4 gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John), or the apostle (Paul) had the Jewish understanding rather than the Christian one we have today. Seeing the Jewish view of Satan helps explain – why does God allow Satan to do what He does? Why doesn’t God just destroy Satan? Why does Satan have access to Heaven? Why was Satan in the Garden of Eden? Why did God allow Satan to tempt Adam and Eve?

In sharp contrast to Christianity where Satan is portrayed as a fallen angel, in Judaism there is no concept of fallen angels, because in Judaism, angels do not have free will. They are created beings who do what God created them to do. Satan is not a fallen angel, but rather like a prosecuting attorney. His created job is to remind God of mankind’s sins (as an accuser Rev 12:10). So while he is still a created angel doing what God created him to do, he is evil and is against mankind. However he is in no way a powerful or authoritative free-agent rival of God as Christianity portrays him – except what power and authority God allows him to have to do His will. For Jews, the Christian idea of a powerful God of Heaven against another “god” (Satan) who has power and authority of his own is not strictly monotheism - God is One, Supreme and Sovereign. The Jewish understanding of God is one who is the Creator of everything, both good and evil (Isaiah 45:7) and everything is under His control. In Judaism there is only one supreme force in the universe. But in Christianity, there are two forces - God and Satan, who is not under God's control and fights against God and Christ.

The Old Testament scripture supports the Jewish understanding of Satan, rather than the Christian one. In the book of Job, Satan is found in Heaven and pitting God against man (Job). Satan was allowed by God to torment Job but only as far as God allowed it. We find examples elsewhere in scripture where God sends evil spirits to perform his will (I Samuel 18:10, I Kings 22:20-23). These verses are hurdles for the Christian theologian because they simply do not fit within a theology that says "God does not create evil" and so the meaning of evil in these passages is often ignored or explained away.

In the Jewish thought, Satan refers not so much to an evil created angel, but to a principle for our good. According to Genesis, God is a good creator and everything was created good. Therefore Satan must also be part of God's good creation. In Judaism the principle of Satan is as an obstacle or stumbling block that helps us grow. The Christian view of Satan is a free-will enemy agent of God who is a person who must be overcome. But the Jewish view of God is that Satan is an agent of God designed to help us grow by putting obstacles before us that must be overcome.

This helps explain why Christ was led by the Spirit (God) to be tempted by the Devil. Matt 4:1 says "Then Yeshua was led of The Spirit of Holiness to the wilderness to be tempted by The Devil.". Satan was an agent of God designed to help Christ grow and mature (in his humanity).

In Judaism, Satan is the influences that cause us to do opposite to God's will. It is not an evil being called Satan driving people to commit sin, but rather the evil influences driving us to desire the things which are against God's will.

In Christianity the focus us upon overcoming the evil person, but in Judaism the focus is upon overcoming the obstacles. In Judaism, Satan is seen as a kind of blessing, as the obstacles, helps us grow and mature. This is reflected by the apostle Paul who says Rom 8:29 "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.". In Romans 8:18-30, Paul presents suffering as a way that God conforms us to His image, for our ultimate glorification. In fact, Romans 8 indicates that this is what God has predestined the elect for (verse 29).

This can be seen when Christ speaks to Peter in Matt 16:23 -
Matt 16:23 "Jesus turned and said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns."

In the Christian understanding of God and Satan, Jesus was calling Peter Satan, or inferring that Peter was influenced by the evil fallen angel called Satan.
But in the Jewish understanding, Satan was Peter's expressed human opinion that Jesus should not go to the cross, that was an influence, or stumbling block, trying to cause Christ to do opposite to God's will. When Jesus calls Peter Satan, He is not saying that the beloved disciple is the evil enemy of God, but that Peter's human opinion is a stumbling block for him doing God's will.

Some may quote Isaiah 14:12 as proof that Satan is in fact a fallen angel from heaven, but in Judaism this passage means something else. Firstly, the word Satan or Lucifer is not in the original Hebrew. A quick study of biblical translation will explain why that is the case, unless we are one of those people who believe that Jesus and the disciples spoke ye olde English. Secondly, it refers to the King of Babylon Nebuchadnezzar, comparing him to the morning star Venus (technically, a planet?) which is the last star to fall in the morning after other stars have disappeared. Hence, the morning star falling from heaven, is in reference to the high and mighty King Nebuchadnezzar falling from power.

 

[Brad Huber]

Yes, the Jews are so wise, they kill the prophets God sends them, and persecuted Christians in the early church. Not to mention the constant lack of morals found in the OT. Salvation is from the jews in the form of Jesus. And the Jews cannot see this either. Although I favor the Jews in many ways, they are not the fount of wisdom you espouse them to be.

 

[B-A-C]

Yet there are many Jews, who do believe that the King of Tyre in Ezek 28 is an allegory to Satan.
The being in Ezekiel 28 is called a cherub, he was in the garden of eden. He was a created being.
He was blameless for a while. Then unrighteousness was found in him and he was cast out of heaven.

While it's true "Lucifer" is simply a title (morning star).
The sins listed Isaiah 42 13-21; are generally the sins attributed to Satan's fall.

I do not doubt there was a being who was the King of Tyre, but I do doubt he was "the anointed cherub who was in the garden of eden".
Now of course the New Testament book of Jude has little to do with Judaism, but it does indicate that the angels made a choice
"to leave their proper abode" and "go after strange flesh" (generally this is taken to be the sin of Gen 6:2; angels with human women).
To say that God caused them to do this sin and they had no free will, would contradict the Bible.
Let no man say when he is tempted that he is tempted by God. God cannot be tempted and he tempts no one. ( Jas 1:3; )

 

[NoHype]

In Christianity it is believed that angels and Satan have free will. That Satan is a fallen angel who rebelled against God according to his own free will. However this view of Satan is a Christian concept and not found in Judaism or the Jewish Scriptures - our Old Testament.

James, you've just go too many wrong assumptions in that from men's doctrines.

The first wrong assumption is that all OT Israelites were 'Jews'. Not true per God's Word, nor history. The title 'Jew' is not... synonymous with Israelite. The title of Jew was derived from the sole tribe of Judah. It later became the title for all those joined with Judah at Jerusalem/Judea after God split all Israel into 2 separate kingdoms (including the strangers that lived among them). The two tribes of Benjamin, and Levi also became joined with Judah in the south after the split (1 Kings 11 through 2 Kings 17). Those became the Jews of OT history.

But the northern ten tribes of Israel that lived in the northern lands, which God split apart from Judah, were not known as Jews. They were known as 'Israel', or the "house of Israel" per God's Word and OT history. Just because those ten tribes were scattered out of the land first by God's Hand, never meant He lost them, or that they no longer were a people unto Him. On the contrary, God had much to say about the ten tribes after He scattered them among the Gentiles and the Jews lost knowledge of them.

Therefore, the Jews are not authentic historians when it comes to the subject of the scattered ten tribes of Israel. As it still is today, most Jews are well content to proclaim that 'they'... alone... are the only Israelites left. Our Heavenly Father says otherwise of course in His Word of Truth (Ezek.37 about the two sticks being one such Bible evidence for the future).

While many unlearned Christian brethren may believe that Satan is given free will to do whatever, there are a good many Biblically learned Christians that know otherwise per what God has said and shown us in His Holy Writ. So you cannot generalize all 'Christianity' in that.

Regarding what our Lord Jesus to the woman that Salvation is of the Jews; at that time in history at our Lord Jesus' first coming, the Jews of the "house of Judah" at Jerusalem/Judea were the ONLY TRIBES of Israel that were left... in the land! God had already removed all the ten tribes of Israel by that time, which were a much greater number of Israelites than the Jews. So applying that 'salvation of the Jews' quote to mean only Jews in Judea would have knowledge of Christ's coming, death, and resurrection, and OT history, is a false assumption, mostly by Jews because most of them rejected our Lord Jesus as The Christ. In the OT prophets God promised that a remnant among the scattered Israelites would know His Truth, which was where Apostle Paul was pulling from in Romans 11 of how God had preserved a remnant according to the election of grace.

As for Christ's Apostle's not understanding Satan's role in God's Plan, and that being the fault of a Christian understanding, that again couldn't be any farther from the truth. I guarantee, Christ's Apostles understood the OT Scriptures much better than you, because our Lord Jesus was there to show them.

What you are actually comparing Christianity with concerning Satan, comes from religious ideas like Zoroastrianism. That Persian religious system of old did... believe in two equal co-existing opposing forces or gods. That is NOT Christianity, nor has it ever been!

As for the concept of fallen angels, the OT saints DID recognize that idea; it's the later group of scribes and Pharisees and Sadduccees which rejected that in favor of their OWN traditions instead, which is... where the origins of 'Judaism' came.

In other words, Judaism is NOT the religious system of old Israel prior to the Jews going into their Babylon captivity for 70 years. The previous teachings and understandings from Moses were 'corrupted' by those later Jews, which is WHY Jesus rebuked them!

So in that sense, true Christianity, which always... has accepted ALL of God's Holy Writ as Truth, from Genesis to Revelation, has a much greater understanding of God's whole Plan of Salvation through His Son, as prophesied from the beginning, than the later corrupted system of Judaism derived from men's traditions of the later scribes and Pharisees.

Thus your comparisons are defunct, and actually embarrassing.

 

[james1523]

James, you've just go too many wrong assumptions in that from men's doctrines.

The first wrong assumption is that all OT Israelites were 'Jews'. Not true per God's Word, nor history. The title 'Jew' is not... synonymous with Israelite. The title of Jew was derived from the sole tribe of Judah. It later became the title for all those joined with Judah at Jerusalem/Judea after God split all Israel into 2 separate kingdoms (including the strangers that lived among them). The two tribes of Benjamin, and Levi also became joined with Judah in the south after the split (1 Kings 11 through 2 Kings 17). Those became the Jews of OT history.

But the northern ten tribes of Israel that lived in the northern lands, which God split apart from Judah, were not known as Jews. They were known as 'Israel', or the "house of Israel" per God's Word and OT history. Just because those ten tribes were scattered out of the land first by God's Hand, never meant He lost them, or that they no longer were a people unto Him. On the contrary, God had much to say about the ten tribes after He scattered them among the Gentiles and the Jews lost knowledge of them.

Therefore, the Jews are not authentic historians when it comes to the subject of the scattered ten tribes of Israel. As it still is today, most Jews are well content to proclaim that 'they'... alone... are the only Israelites left. Our Heavenly Father says otherwise of course in His Word of Truth (Ezek.37 about the two sticks being one such Bible evidence for the future).

While many unlearned Christian brethren may believe that Satan is given free will to do whatever, there are a good many Biblically learned Christians that know otherwise per what God has said and shown us in His Holy Writ. So you cannot generalize all 'Christianity' in that.

Regarding what our Lord Jesus to the woman that Salvation is of the Jews; at that time in history at our Lord Jesus' first coming, the Jews of the "house of Judah" at Jerusalem/Judea were the ONLY TRIBES of Israel that were left... in the land! God had already removed all the ten tribes of Israel by that time, which were a much greater number of Israelites than the Jews. So applying that 'salvation of the Jews' quote to mean only Jews in Judea would have knowledge of Christ's coming, death, and resurrection, and OT history, is a false assumption, mostly by Jews because most of them rejected our Lord Jesus as The Christ. In the OT prophets God promised that a remnant among the scattered Israelites would know His Truth, which was where Apostle Paul was pulling from in Romans 11 of how God had preserved a remnant according to the election of grace.

As for Christ's Apostle's not understanding Satan's role in God's Plan, and that being the fault of a Christian understanding, that again couldn't be any farther from the truth. I guarantee, Christ's Apostles understood the OT Scriptures much better than you, because our Lord Jesus was there to show them.

What you are actually comparing Christianity with concerning Satan, comes from religious ideas like Zoroastrianism. That Persian religious system of old did... believe in two equal co-existing opposing forces or gods. That is NOT Christianity, nor has it ever been!

As for the concept of fallen angels, the OT saints DID recognize that idea; it's the later group of scribes and Pharisees and Sadduccees which rejected that in favor of their OWN traditions instead, which is... where the origins of 'Judaism' came.

In other words, Judaism is NOT the religious system of old Israel prior to the Jews going into their Babylon captivity for 70 years. The previous teachings and understandings from Moses were 'corrupted' by those later Jews, which is WHY Jesus rebuked them!

So in that sense, true Christianity, which always... has accepted ALL of God's Holy Writ as Truth, from Genesis to Revelation, has a much greater understanding of God's whole Plan of Salvation through His Son, as prophesied from the beginning, than the later corrupted system of Judaism derived from men's traditions of the later scribes and Pharisees.

Thus your comparisons are defunct, and actually embarrassing.

Matt 12:24 shows the Pharisees believed in a Satan or ruler of demons. It is possible that the Jews misunderstand the nature of Satan as they do the nature of God. That and the fact that their Old Testament only refers to Satan three times, only once as a person (and they do not believe that the serpent in the Garden of Eden was Satan). Islam on the other hand, shares similar views with Christianity regarding the nature of Satan as a fallen angel opposed to God.

 

[NoHype]

Matt 12:24 shows the Pharisees believed in a Satan or ruler of demons. It is possible that the Jews misunderstand the nature of Satan as they do the nature of God. That and the fact that their Old Testament only refers to Satan three times, only once as a person (and they do not believe that the serpent in the Garden of Eden was Satan). Islam on the other hand, shares similar views with Christianity regarding the nature of Satan as a fallen angel opposed to God.

Judaism also denies God's revelations in Ezekiel 28 & 31 about Satan as the "anointed cherub that covereth", because of their later traditions after Babylon. Since they do not recognize New Testament Scripture at all, of course they also deny Scripture like Rev.12:9 and 20:2 which emphatically reveals that Satan was "that old serpent" in the Garden of Eden.

The fact that Christ's Apostles did not deny Satan's fall also reveals they rightly understood the OT Scripture on that.