Is it like the 'evil' trinity: Satan, Lucifer and the Devil?
They are three very different creatures yet they are all the same entity?
I'm trying to find where the 'devil' originally came from but noticed that the Old Testament only mentions Satan. Only in the new test the word 'Devil' starts appearing. Any thoughts?
2007-01-20 08:37:36 · 14 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
"Devil" comes from a Greek word, "diabolos" ,meaning slanderer or accuser. It was originally a legal term, and had nothing to do with any supernatural entity. If you are studying the old testament, take note that in the hebrew tradition, Satan is God's lackey, he is only capable of harming those whom God commands him to harm (see Job). It is only in the new testament that the concept of a "personal devil" appears, with Satan given equal status to God as a god of the evil in this world, clearly this is a perversion of the way the hebrews, who created the "Satan concept", view the "the devil".
2007-01-20 08:42:12 · answer #1 · answered by Prophet ENSLAVEMENTALITY (pbuh) 4 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Greek for calumniator, accuser. In the older books of the OT he is mentioned very rarely. In the later books it is an angelic being hostile to God. Called the serpent in Gen.3. Satan, Beelzebub in the NT. The NT developes the later Jewish teaching on the devil- he was a murderer from the beginning (Jn.8:44) . Satan whom Jesus saw 'fallen as lightening from heaven (Lk. 10:18). The word Satan is from the Hebrew-meaning adversary. Name Lucifer is latin for light-bearer (Is.14:12) All the same entity.
2007-01-20 09:00:18 · answer #2 · answered by Plato 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Devil means "Accuser, or opposition" same as Satan, only different languages. This is to point out that Satan is not a name, but a quality. the serpent in the garden of eden would have been called THE satan, or THE devil. it is, like lucifer, a word that remained untranslated and which became a name. lucifer is NOT the satan that you're thinking of. lucifer refers to a babylonian king. it mentions cities shaking and trembling on earth when lucifer "fell from heaven." if the satan fell from heaven before the garden of eden, what cities on earth could have trembled??? anyway, even later in the bible jesus is referred to as lucifer, morning star, light bearer... lucifer is latin and phosphorous is greek for the same words. imagine if we called him phosphorous, instead of lucifer?
the devil, or the satan, are NOT evil either. if they were then why would god LET them into the garden of eden? why would god have a nice talk with them in heaven at the time of job? why would jesus (god) be tempted by them in the desert? the devil is in fact an agent of god's who tests god's people. he offers them a path other than god's in order to see which they choose, and the faithful are rewarded.
2007-01-20 08:49:51 · answer #3 · answered by Shawn M 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Satan means "adversary" in Hebrew. Lucifer means "bearer of light" in Latin. Devil most likely comes from the Hindu "devi," which is where we get words like divine - it means god or spirit. In Judaism, Satan was NOT evil - Jews believe that angels are more like extensions of God's will than beings in their own right; Satan was (as can be seen in the book of Job) an angel with which God tempted/tested his followers. Similarly, Satan tested Jesus in the New Testament; the myth of Satan's rebellion from heaven and the modern concept of hell are only a few centuries old. The term Lucifer came into play because he was a Roman god - the god of the morning star (that's what it's called when Venus appears on the horizon during sunrise), and the Catholic Church was cracking down on heretics - the image of Satan comes from many pagan gods. His horns are from the Greek god Pan (so are the hooves), his pitchfork is Poseidon's trident, etc. Similarly, Devil comes from the Hindu word for deity/spirit because all pagan gods/deities were evil and really demons in disguise, according to the Church.
2007-01-20 08:47:01 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 0⤋
There are different spiritual dark forces. Satan, devils, demons, Lucifer (Halal) now a fallen angel. 1/3 of the angels fell. Satan is the big Red Serpent.
They are all spiritual dark forces, different beings. Satan is the Hebrew word. Satan is in the new testament and devils are in the new testament. Devils are usually demons. Lucifer is a fallen angels. There is the Prince of Tyre also a fallen angel.
2007-01-20 08:44:37 · answer #5 · answered by t_a_m_i_l 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Rev.12:9;The great dragon,
Serpent Genesis.3:1-5;
Devil 2Corinthians.4:3,4; 11:14;
Satan Matthew.4:1-11;
There is a phrase about the Devil etc which alludes to the fact that he has many forms, therefore many names and this is how he deceives.
2007-01-20 08:49:59 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
It seems there are many evils in many different devils. The main one is named Satan in Hebrew, Shayton in Arabic. The Greeks have a sexy little devil, the horned goat Pan playing with his flute. A handsome horned demon with Deer antlers is Cernunnos of the French Forests called Diable. The Italian Diabolo, and so on.
Yet, it seems that there is a hierarchy among devils this is what the Inquisition implied.
Lucifer is not a devil. I believe it is the Archangel Gabriel who carries the light of the morning.
2007-01-20 13:12:24 · answer #7 · answered by Nicolette 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The English word devil derives via Middle English devel and Old English dēofol and Latin Diábolus, from Late Greek language Diabolos, meaning, slanderer, from diaballein, to slander: dia-, across + ballein, to hurl (scriptural loan-translation of Hebrew satan). Jerome re-introduced Satan in the Latin Bibles (and thus in the European translations that followed), and English translators have used both in different measures. In the Vulgate, as had been the Greek usage, diabolus and dæmon were distinct, but they seem to have merged semantically in English and other Germanic languages.
Satan and Lucifer where spiritual beings whom hearts were poisoned with their egotistic thinking and as a result lost their status. I believe they are no more...
2007-01-20 08:46:51 · answer #8 · answered by Alexander K 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Rev.12:9;
The great dragon, serpent Gen.3:1-5; Devil 2Cor.4:3,4; 11:14; Satan Matt.4:1-11;
2007-01-20 08:46:01 · answer #9 · answered by jeni 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I've heard that Lucifer means "light bearer"
and Satan means "apposer". Many people
seem to think that Satan,Lucifer and the Devil are
all one and the same.
2007-01-20 08:42:13 · answer #10 · answered by ? 3 · 2⤊ 0⤋