(7 minute read)

(From previous post): The litmus test on whether you were friend or foe was the answer to the questions …are you one of us who are really on the side of God? or …are you one of them that walks the way of the world or other nations?

The process was slow. This marked the beginning of the Israelites gradually embracing the influence of satan. They began to characterize misfortunes this way.

Conversion to Christianity in the first century CE required a transformation. Whether a Jew or pagan, it meant changing one’s perception of the invisible world and accepting the Christian dogma.

The Christian Myth of Satan

The author of Mark’s gospel was likely influenced by the mystical Essen community. “The vision of a cosmic struggle” was at the center of their beliefs. They believed that a material and unseen world co-existed and a constant battle between good and evil raged around them.

This community held a vivid belief in an afterlife. They told myths that eventually created an antagonist. This enemy became a full-fledged rival of God and their community. Much of their beliefs in the battle between good and evil remains ambiguous. This contrasts with the literal interpretation and details Christians will add in the coming centuries.

Followers of Jesus adopted this worldview. Each of the gospel writers wrote their account of this battle between good and evil. They each identified who they perceived as the mortal enemy. Matthew perceived the Pharisees as the enemy. Luke, a Gentile, saw the Hebrews as the enemy for rejecting Jesus as Messiah. John considered anyone not identified as the “sons of light” to be the enemy.

Any depiction of a superior cosmic enemy is still a far cry from the cloven hoofed, horned menace. This red figure would eventually become the very picture of Satan.

The Christian faith developed the idea of a ruler of the underworld outside of the Second Testament. A full picture of Satan “as we know it” is not found there. For such an important doctrine it is astounding the lack of details.

Instead, we have generations and centuries of Christians making assumptions and myths about the afterlife based on other cultural norms. They look for evidence in the first and second testaments but find only scraps. Hijacking, cherry picking, and crowbarring they make leaps of logic, mistranslated, and changed meanings for assumptions already made.

What Happened?

The early church thought the return of Jesus to create God’s heavenly kingdom on earth was imminent. As time passed there was an obvious “delay.” Explanations were needed as to why Jesus had not yet returned. The various Christian communities tried to come up with a reason.

To understand the myth of Satan, one must explore more than the early years of Christianity. These years are just as incomplete as the Second Testament. The myth is developed several centuries later.

The Gnostics

One of the earliest Christian communities to come out of the first century church were known as the Gnostics. They emerged in the mid-second century and it is their prominence that scholars say would dramatically change Christianity.

The mythical constructions of the faith started to yield to theology. Theology is a systematic way of thought. It relies on analytical and logical reflection upon revelation. Mythological constructs were built more on intuition. Christian thought leaders began to formulate doctrine. They merged intellectual rabbinical thought with Greek philosophies.

At the same time they also faced the hostilities of the Roman state and their “pagan” religion. Under such pressures competing thoughts and dissensions within the Church was a constant problem. There was no universal Christian doctrines. Each community lived under their own “brand” of Christianity.

As time progressed, a contingency of “orthodox–right thinking” leaders emerged. These leaders would later be known as the “apologetic fathers.” Apologetics means to speak in one’s own defense. Their defeated opponents conveniently came to be known as “heretics.” This term refers to those who were not considered to be teaching “established truth.”

Heresy never prospers.

Why? I daresay

If heresy prosper

None dare call it heresy.

Unattributed poem, Jeffery Russell, Satan

The Gnostics emerged as a force opposing the apologetic fathers. It was “one of the most significant movements in the history of Western religion.”

The writings of the Gnostics align with the Essene community. Gnostics stressed more of the dualistic existence (good and evil, body and soul, heaven and hell, etc.), more mythological, and adopted much of the Greek philosophy.

The focus of Gnosticism was obtaining a “knowledge” through self-revelation, a form of “knowing thyself.” It was a spiritual and self-centered religion with psychological depth and sophistication. Its purpose was to raise the spiritual level of the self by unlocking secret knowledge. This knowledge is usually found in scriptures, only shared by a few, and unfathomable to the uninitiated.

The orthodox fathers shared many of the Gnostics ideas and attitudes. A clear line between orthodoxy and Gnosticism was not drawn until the third century. In the meantime, many of those ideas “became permanently embedded in Christianity.”

The conflicts that arose between the fathers and Gnostics helped each to define their own worldview. In the end, these conflicts only helped the orthodox fathers achieve dominance. They emboldened their beliefs and attitudes.

The Gnostics would be labeled heretics. Yet, they were instrumental in the development of orthodox theology in the Christian church. This was particularly true about the question of good and evil. The Gnostics believed that the world was materially evil. They thought much of it was to be avoided. The apologetic leaders reacted by defining the goodness in the world created by God. Eventually, they also defined the doctrine of the Devil.

• The Devil was created by God and is inferior to Him
• The Devil’s power is fleeting and his knowledge is limited
• The Devil is the tempter of Adam and Eve and Jesus
• The Devil’s kingdom is already broken AND will be broken again(?)
• The Devil’s punishment has already begun but not yet complete

For more than 2,000 years, this belief about evil and the ruler of hell has remained universal. It is found in all Christian denominations.

Read The Emerging Christian Myths, Pt. 13

Sources

• Elaine Pagels, The Origin of Satan, First Vintage Books, 1995
• Charles Panati, Sacred Origins of Profound Things, Arkana, 1996
• Jeffrey Russell, Satan, Cornell University Press, 1987
• Michael Shermer, Why People Believe Weird Things, W.H. Freeman and Co., 1997
• Russell Short, Gospel Truth, Riverhead Books, 1997