Satan was fully aware of what God had said in the Garden to Adam, "but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die." (c.f. Genesis 2:17 [NASB]). When Satan tempted Eve, it was a malicious act intended bring about her demise. Jesus said of Satan, "He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies." (c.f. John 8:44b [NASB])
If our image of Satan doesn't begin and end with his desire to see all of humanity destroyed, we have a rather inaccurate picture of who the bible describes Satan to be. Whatever the source of this murderous hatred for mankind is, it is real, and it is the defining point upon which we start such a commentary. Satan is a murderer, and a liar, and quite active in his murderous pursuits.
Satan is not alone in his rebellion, but drew along with him in his fall, a third of the heavenly host. Like minded, haters of men, who (unlike them) were created in God's image.
In the book of Daniel we read something that will help our discussion here a bit too. In Daniel 10:13 we read that an angel had tried to come to Daniel sooner, but was prevented from doing so for three weeks by another angel who had withstood him. From this we note that even spiritual creatures cannot be in two places at the same time.
Now, I want to be sure we understand what I am saying. God is not a creature, He is the Creator. God -is- omnipresent, but the same cannot be said of -any- creature, and that includes Satan, for Satan, like everything else, is just one of God's creatures; He is a part of creation - not a power separate from and equal to God, but a being that God not only created, but allows and sustains the existence of moment by moment. Should God suddenly decide to, he could stop sustaining Satan's existence, and poof! No more Satan.
In order to discuss the feasibility of selling a soul to Satan, one must know who Satan is.
If the idea that you can sell your soul to Satan does not come from scripture, where does it come from? Officially, I suppose it began with Theolphilus of Adana, but even then it was only the "Christianizing" of older fables. The idea that a human could enter into a bargain with a spiritual being is not a Christian teaching, but a pagan one. A sixth century bishop named Theophilus, or so the legend goes, gained the office of bishop through a pact made with Satan. The sixteenth century story of Faust is likewise based upon the same idea. Whatever this idea has grown into today, has its roots in paganism, and folklore.
But, we might ask, can a person really sell his or her soul to Satan?
To answer that, let's ask another question first, can you sell your neighbor's house to me? Why not? Well, because it is not yours to sell. You can draw up papers and we can both sign them, but the whole exercise has no legal authority whatsoever. So in that sense, yes, a person -can- sell their soul to Satan, in that they can have some sort of ritual, draft out an agreement, sign it in their own blood (or worse), even perform all sorts of macabre rites and whatnot - but at the end of the day, the whole thing is still quite bunk: You don't -own- your own soul, so you can't sell it.
No where does God say that you own your soul. He owns it, and you can't sell what is not yours to sell. In the same way, Satan (that liar!) couldn't (legally) buy it, since it isn't yours to sell. Even if Satan himself showed up at the signing ceremony, it would all be bunk - and Satan would know that.
But let us look even deeper at the typical pact: I will deliver my body and soul to Satan in exchange for such and such.
There are a few things wrong about that idea. To start with, Satan is a creature just like us. We can no more deliver our soul to Satan, than he could claim it. If you sold your soul to your neighbor, would it be a legitimate sale? Purchase? No. You don't own your soul, and so you can't sell it to your neighbor, nor can you give it away - it isn't yours to give (or sell). Satan is not God's equal, nor is he the "ruler" in hell. He is a creature, according to scripture, who is going to be thrown into the lake of fire on the day that God judges him. He has no authority or power to own your soul, even if you could sell it or give it away, Satan is just another creature, and therefore has no place to hold your soul, or power to do so.
Next, the idea that you sell your soul to the devil and hell, in exchange for something is preposterous on this count: If you have sinned even once, you are already going to hell, no matter how many good deeds you do. The idea that if our good deeds outweigh our bad we get to go to heaven is not found in scripture, and is not believed by Christianity. Christianity teaches (from the scriptures) that if you sin even once, you are condemned to hell, and that all of your good deeds are in fact tainted and worthless - they can no more purchase heaven for you than sin itself could. In short, anyone who can even imagine selling their soul, has probably told a lie or lusted in their heart - or stolen something, or even just hated someone - all of which marks them as rebels who have rejected God and His rule, and condemns them to hell. Thus, the devil has nothing to "gain" by pretending to buy your soul, since whether he buys it or not, you are already condemned to hell.
To be sure, the reason God sent Jesus into the world is because no one (bar none!) will escape hell by being good.
On judgment day God is not going to weigh the good you have done against the bad you have done and send you to hell if the bad outweighs the good. I reiterate this because most people who wonder about whether you can sell your soul or not have never read the bible in its entirety - and as such they think there are some things in it that are not there, and again, they think that some things that are not there are! So let me repeat, the idea that you go to heaven because you good deeds outweigh your bad is -NOT- what scripture teaches.
Scripture teaches that if you have -any- sin, from one sin, to a ga-zillion sins, you are a sinner, and all sinners will have their part, along with Satan, in the lake of fire. That is, if you have ever told a lie, you will go to hell. No probation, no mercy, and no amount of charity or good deeds will ever outweigh even the smallest white lie.
The race as a whole is condemned already. That is, the message of scripture - that is why we NEED a Savior. Jesus didn't come to save those who weren't cutting the mustard - He came to save people who could not save themselves - people who were already damned.
If you have ever sinned, you fall into that category - you have been separated from God, and are condemned already. You don't need to wait until judgment day to know where you are going, I will tell you today, if you trip on the way home, and crack your skull, you will wake before your Judge, and He has already found you guilty. What Jesus did on the cross will no longer be held out to you as a means of being reconciled to God. So it behooves you, if you don't know what it means to be a Christian, or are unsure of what Jesus did, to learn what Christianity really is.
So ask yourself, if everyone is going to hell anyway - what could Satan possibly gain in such a pact? You are already going to hell already, so..... why... exactly... would... Satan.. make himself your personal servant? The answer is, that he wouldn't - and since he can't be in two places at once, you would probably be entering into a pact with some demonic imposter anyway.
Yet Satan does benefit greatly, I think, in that he is a murderer bent of your destruction. The last thing Satan wants is for you to learn about your own condemnation and your pressing and dire need for Jesus to save you. He wants you to go on thinking that living a good life will get you to heaven, and that the only sure way to go to hell is to sell your soul to him. He would love if some fool entered into a pact with him, because and thereafter believed themselves to be damned on account of some bogus pact, since that might make them less inclined to learn the truth about salvation.
Let me tell you if you sold your soul to Satan a thousand times over, he would not own it, nor could he stop you from turning to Christ to be reconciled to God and thereby saved from sin, and consequently, from the damnation associated with it.
Satan doesn't care which one of his many lies ensnares you - so long as the end result is that you are cast into the lake of fire with him. He won't be your master in hell - just a co-sufferer.
In conclusion then, Satan doesn't need to buy your soul, for you are going to hell already because of your own sin. Satan cannot buy your soul because you cannot sell it, for your soul was created by God, just like Satan was -and both belong to God, and God has already declared what He plans to do with both the soul that has sinned and Satan - they shall be cast together into the lake of fire. The idea of selling your soul is not biblical, but pagan in origin. It is a fairy tale that borrows Satan's identity from the same scriptures that plainly reveal the folly of such a notion to those who are willing to read it. The creature named Satan has been embellished by this myth, and puffed up to be God's equal, when in fact he is nothing of the sort. Satan may be the most profound of all of God's creation, and his fall an epic thing - but make no mistake, Satan is dependent upon God for life just as you and I are - for God and God alone gives life - even to Satan, and no one and nothing can live autonomous from God.
The lesson we learn then is that you can go through the motions of selling your soul all you want - but such a thing is as bogus as can be. Satan doesn't get to define himself, nor do satanists get to re-invent the devil. If you want to know who the devil is, read the bible. If after reading this article you find yourself concerned for your soul - read the gospel - Jesus died to save you from damnation. Read the link I gave above that tells you how to be saved from your sins, and call upon the Lord while it is still today.Labels: myths, souls, the devil |
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