Perhaps The Most Famous Satan Was Peter, the great disciple of our Master, Jesus the Christ, (Matthew 16:23; Mark 8:33). Here we have one Satan. If we read John 13:2 we have another Satan, in this case under the name of “devil” (cf. Luke 22:3; John 6:70). Who was the devil here? We can think about some Pharisee or a priest offering 30 pieces of silver for betraying his Master.
Jews as adversaries
Now let me offer some considerations. Unbelievably, we have forgotten that the first opposition to the preachers came from the Jews. They sought to kill Jesus many times. But they wanted to kill him by crucifixion. This could only be done if the Romans did the execution. The Jews could kill him by stoning because Rome permitted them to execute justice under the Law of Moses.
In the course of time, after Jesus’ death, the Jews continued resisting the preaching of the apostles, persecuting them and trying to kill them. Acts 9:1,2, shows us the great power of the high priest: He could send people to other nations to capture heretics and bring them to Jerusalem to punish them under the law of Moses. The Roman law permitted the Jews to do this.
Since the followers of Jesus the Christ were integrated into a sect inside of Judaism, Christianity was not a problem for Rome, but for Jews. They made every effort to eradicate the sect, scourging and killing some of the disciples. Accordingly, let us consider Judaism as one Satan.
The fornication reported in I Corinthians 5:1-5, was a sin punishable by death under the Law of Moses (Lev. 20:11). We could assume that there was a legal Roman formula to protect the members of the ecclesia, a way of escaping the Jews’ punishment. But if we interpret the words of Paul as the official excommunicating of a Christian, then this member could fall into the hands of Jews and be punished. This would confirm Judaism as one Satan.
In the same way we can find that I Timothy 1:20 refers to people being delivered into the Jews’ hands in order to be scourged “to learn not to blaspheme.”
We must never forget the legal status of the religion in every country conquered by Rome, and this could include every sect under every religion. Acts 18:12-16 shows us that local authorities did not wish to involve themselves at that time in religious matters.
Consider other references
I Peter 5:8,9, refers to Jews and judaizers who were spying on every Christian, waiting for an opportunity to catch them on blasphemy, or slandering them in order to find an excuse to justify their right to punish them.
II Corinthians 12:11, Revelation 2:9,13,24; 3:9 are all references to the Jews, Judaism or judaizers.
Matthew 13:39, may refer to the Jews acting devilishly after a Christian sower. The same would be true in Luke 8:12.
Revelation 2:10, clearly does not refer to the Roman local governors, but to the local Jewish authorities. These were interested in eliminating the sect even by death. Sometimes they delivered the Christians to the Roman governor. Never forget that the Jews had such authority in all the Roman Empire (remember Paul going to Damascus to persecute Christians).
Considering the context
In my opinion, we must look for every particular devil or Satan in all the verses referring to this topic. Sometimes the words refer to sin. In other cases we could apply the biblical logic and consider that by the end of the apostles’ ministry, they were confronting a great and efficient Devil or Satan: The rebellious Jews.
Be careful. We (the Christadelphians) are really Zionists (in the correct biblical sense of the word) and we cannot hate God’s people. God is their judge and He will give everybody his own reward.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One