The Fall of Satan – A Theological Study

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Introduction

The Fall of Satan is a biblical episode that has continued to raise fascinated debates and discussions by commentators for centuries. The story of Satan goes like this: Satan was once an honored angel in heaven, with a good majestic appearance and status next to Jesus Christ. When God said to his Son, Let us make man in our image, Satan was jealous of Jesus and rebelled. It was the highest sin to rebel against the order and will of God.

Some of the angels sympathized with Satan in his rebellion and others felt he was wrong to go against the will of God and his Son. It was decided by the Father that Satan should be expelled from heaven along with the angels who supported him. Then, there was war in heaven. But the good and true angels prevailed and Satan, with his followers, was ousted from heaven. Thesis: Though the fall of Satan has been narrated and interpreted in multiple ways, the underlying theme is that Satan is an angel who falls as a result of his envy, pride, and arrogance and his fall is the reason for the fall of Man.

The Fall and the New Testament

In the New Testament, there is verbal evidence that Satan is a fallen angel who is “chief among a class of fallen angels”¹. II Peter 2:4 refers to angels that have erred and were punished by being thrown into hell… Jude 7 writes: “the angels that did not keep their own position but left their proper dwelling…” No reasons have been provided for the throwing of Satan from heaven in the New Testament. However, two passages in scripture are frequently quoted by experts in the context of the fall of Satan². The first is Luke 10:18, He (Jesus) said to them (the seventy sent out into the harvest-field), “I watched Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning”.

The second is Revelation 12:1-12, in which John claims to have had a vision of the great red dragon, which he describes using the words, “that ancient serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan” (v9). Michael and his angels were on God’s side and they fought against Satan who rebelled against God till Satan was defeated and was thrown to earth along with his angels.³. When did the fall of Satan take place? That question is answered in verse 10, when the loud voice in heaven says: “now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Messiah, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down”.

However, the salvation, the power, and the kingdom of God did not happen at the beginning of time, but during the crucifixion, when, through the suffering of Jesus, salvation was obtained, the power of the Kingdom of God was established and the enemy was defeated⁴. Jesus too had commented on this timing and the fall of Satan in a statement he made shortly before his death, “Now is the judgment of the world; now the ruler of this world (Satan) be driven out.

And I, when I am lifted up from the earth (on the cross), will draw all people to myself” – John 12:31. Though it is possible to argue that the two oft-cited passages: Luke 10 or the Revelation 12 passage do not necessarily refer to the fall of Satan from heaven before the beginning of time, it is very clear that both these passages refer to the defeat of the Satan that is wrought by the ministry, crucifixion, and resurrection of Jesus.

Luke 10 has also been interpreted as referring to the defeat of Satan⁵ and not literally to his fall. This latter interpretation is supported by R. Leivastad, Christ the Conqueror, Page 49, who says that Jesus’ statement is “a dramatic, illustrative way of expressing the certainty of the ruin of Satan”. A contrary view is expressed by G. B. Caird⁶ who says that “….in the main Biblical tradition the fall of Satan from heaven coincides with the ministry of Jesus and in particular with the Crucifixation⁷. Up to that point, Caird says that Satan was an angel who lived in heaven.

Pre-cosmic and Post-cosmic theories

In the Books of Adam and Eve⁸ there is an account of Satan’s fall after the creation of Adam. Satan as one of the angels of God had refused on the grounds of seniority to obey Michael’s command to worship Adam.

The Book of the secrets of Enoch⁹ provides an example of a theory of the fall of Satan before the creation of Adam. Satan, or Satanic, as one of the higher angels, “having turned away with the order that was under him, conceived an impossible thought, to place his throne higher than the clouds about the earth, that he might become equal in rank to…(God’s) power”. He was thrown from the height with his angels and flies in the air continuously above the bottomless abyss¹⁰. When man was created Satan envied him and sought to rule the world.

The Book of Enoch¹¹ narrates how the angels saw and lusted after the daughters of men, fell and were punished. Justin Martyr suggests it was the illicit union between angels and the daughters of men that resulted in the fall of angels, although another interpretation is that there had been a previous fall of the angels, a pre-cosmic event before the creation of man¹². Irenaeus only hints at a theory of the fall of Satan. Araneus says that the devil is a creature of God, like the other angels¹³, but transgressed and became an apostate¹⁴ by becoming envious of man¹⁵.

The idea of the envy of man being the cause of Satan’s fall places the event after the creation of man (post-cosmic) but long before the ministry of Jesus. Pre-cosmic theory of the fall of Satan does not appear explicitly in the texts as they do in apocalyptic literature¹⁶. Thus, there are no clearly uniform theories as to the origin of Satan in the selected literature of the early Christian tradition. There is a common belief among these diverse theories that Satan is a fallen angel, though the time and reason for the fall is a matter of varied opinions¹⁷.

The Fall in 2 Enoch

In 2 Enoch, there is reference of the creation of Adam and of Satan’s fall. Satan, according to chapter 31 of Recension J explains, was originally an angel called Satanail. Because he rebelled against the creation of Adam in the image of God, he was exiled from Heaven and received a shortened name. The text continues: “His nature did not change, his thought did, since his consciousness of righteous and sinful things changed.

And he became aware of his condemnation and of the sin which he sinned previously” (2 Enoch 31:5–6). This clearly refers to the fall of Satan before Adam. When Satan realized that he cannot get back to heaven, his inherent evil nature surfaced. He planned against God’s government. When Adam and Eve were placed in the beautiful garden, Satan plots to destroy them. He realizes that the couple would remain happy as long as they obeyed God and enjoyed his favor¹⁸. So, scheming with his evil angels, Satan decides to assume the form of the serpent and tempt them into disobeying God¹⁹. Thus, in 2 Enoch, there is reference to the fall of Satan as leading to the fall of Adam and Eve.

Jealousy over Adam

After the creation of Adam, God asked all the angels to come and pay their respects. That was when Satan, the greatest angel in heaven who had twelve wings instead of the usual six, refused to obey God saying: “Thou didst create us angels from the splendor of the Shekinah, and now Thou dost command us to cast ourselves down before the creature which Thou didst fashion out of the dust of the ground!” God answered, “Yet this dust of the ground has more wisdom and understanding than thou.”

After a trial of wits with Adam, Satan understood the superiority of Adam and raged. Michael addressed Satan: “Give adoration to the image of God! But if thou doest it not, then the Lord God will break out in wrath against thee.” Satan replied: “If He breaks out in wrath against me, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God, I will be like the Most High!” At this arrogance of Satan, God flung him and his host away from heaven, down to earth. The Fall of Satan marks the beginning of animosity between man and Satan.

Impact of the Fall – Fall of Man

Adam and Eve, while searching for food outside heaven, find themselves starving. They desire to go back to Eden. In order to persuade God to take them back to Eden or reduce their suffering, they undertake a forty-day rite of fasting²⁰. When they are halfway through, Satan appears before Eve in the form of an angel and tempts her to give up her fasting. abort their penitential rite. He is successful.

When Adam hears about how Satan has successfully aborted the penance of Eve, he is outraged. He demands that Satan explain why he was so full of enmity towards Adam and Eve. Satan answers that his wrath is due to the respect showered upon Adam and Even at the time of their creation. “When God blew into you the breath of Life,” he recounts, “your countenance and likeness were made in the image of God.” Satan, further explains to Eve that the angel Michael presented Adam to God, and Adam did obeisance. Michael then ordered the angels to worship Adam. Satan was outraged and furious: “I do not have it within me to worship Adam,” he replied, “I will not worship him who is lower and posterior to me.

I am prior to that creature. Before he was made, I had already been made. He ought to worship me.”²¹ The counterclaim of Satan is as true as it is remarkable²². Biblically, it is often seen that God favors the latter-born over the first-born. Esau, though born before Jacob, is doomed to eternal servanthood: “The older shall serve the younger” – Gen 25:23. Joseph, the son of his father’s old age, becomes master over his brothers in Egypt as predicted in his dream²³. Under these events, it is only natural that Satan considers himself above Adam based on the order of birth ²⁴.

When Satan was asked by God to show his respects to Adam, he refused and said that he will not worship someone who was inferior to him. He further says that as he was made before Adam, it only right that Adam should worship him.²⁵ The counterclaim of Satan is as true as it is remarkable²⁶. Biblically, it is seen repeatedly that God favors the latter-born over the first-born. Esau, though born before Jacob, is doomed to eternal servanthood: “The older shall serve the younger” – Gen 25:23. Joseph, the son of his father’s old age, becomes master over his brothers in Egypt as predicted in his dream²⁷. Therefore Satan’s argument is quite valid ²⁸.

In his anger he decides to win over the serpent, then Eve and ultimately Adam and lead to their downfall. Thus the major impact of the fall is the fall of Man. Augustine regarded the fall of the angels as an anticipation of the fall of Adam.

Genesis B

As a poem that uses the technique of converting heroic motifs to Christian uses, Genesis B²⁹ characterizes Satan as a disloyal thane of God who is exiled to Hell, where he plots out his revenge against God and schemes malevolently to push Adam and Eve into a similar fall as he has experienced ³⁰. However, Gen 1-3, that deals directly with the theme of the fall, there is no explicit description of Satan.

The Apocalypse of Moses

The Apocalypse of Moses does not have the story of Adam and Eve’s repentance and of the fall of Satan, which form the opening part of the other recensions of the primary Adam book. But at one point, Apocalypse of Moses implies knowledge of this story. There is a scene in Apocalypse of Moses 16:3 during which Satan talks to the serpent and encourages him to serve as the instrument of Eve’s deception. This assumes that the fall of Satan has taken place.

Theological Problems with the Story of Satan’s Fall

A theological doubt regarding Satan’s fall in the Life is whether its provenance is Jewish or Christian. Christian arguments regarding this event are found in a set of questions attributed to Athanasius³¹. “Question: When and on account of what reason did the Devil fall? For certain mythmakers have said that he received a command to venerate Adam (and having refused to do so) fell. Answer: Such is the nonsense of foolish men. For the Devil fell prior to the existence of Adam.

It is clear that he fell because of his arrogance as Isaiah the prophet says: “I shall place my throne upon the clouds and I will become like the Most High.” – Isa 14:14. This text suggests that Satan does not fall due to envy toward Adam but rather due to envy toward God. And, as such, the fall takes place prior to Adam’s creation. Augustine, sets the fall as happening close to the time of creation.

Bartholomew of Edessa claims that the story is not Christian at all, but rather Islamic in origin. “For the Muslims say,” Bartholomew writes, “that when Adam had been made, all the angels worshipped him at the command of God. But Beliar alone did not obey this command to worship Adam and on this account he fell.”

The reasons why the Life of Adam and Eve traditions became objectionable were Christological. If the entire angel community were to venerate Adam, he would have received the ultimate glorification. There would be no greater glory left for the second Adam, Jesus. Adam cannot be shown in more glorious light than Jesus Christ. This Christological aspect can be clearly seen in St. Ephrem, the Syrian and John Milton, the English Puritan.

The Fall of Satan and Scala Naturae

In Milton’s Paradise Lost, the fall of Satan is described not only as a fall from Grace but also as an ontological fall down the scala naturae. During the War in Heaven, those who rebelled against God became soaked in their own evil nature and thereby became corrupted physically. God notes that “though spirits of purest light, / Purest at first, [they are] now gross by sinning grown”³², and this ontological descent down the scale of Being is evident in all subsequent scenes involving Satan ³³. The descent continues even after the fall. In Book 4 when Satan takes the toad form to disturb the sleeping Eve, he is depressed to note that when he reassumes his angelic form, his luster is visibly impaired³⁴. In Book 9 Satan voluntarily adopts the form of the snake to facilitate the Fall of Eve, but he detests the “foul descent” down the scale of being³⁵.

The Fall and Paradise Lost

Milton changed the story of Satan’s fall as in the Life of Adam and Eve³⁶ in one manner. He focuses on the elevation of Christ rather than to the creation of Adam. God says: “This day I have begot whom I declare / My only Son, and on this holy hill / Him have anointed, whom ye now behold / At my right hand; your head I him appoint; / And by my self have sworn to him shall bow / All knees in heaven, and shall confess him Lord.” This decree to elevate God’s Christ is based on many biblical texts including Colossians 1:16, Psalm 2:6-7, and Philippians 2:9-10. The elevation of Christ is the provoking moment that triggers Satan to rebel openly against God.

It smokes-out the evil thoughts and secret hatred of Satan³⁷. Moreover, Christ’s elevation prior to the creation of man is also meant to be protective to humanity. It is said that the war between God’s Christ and His armies and Satan and his angels was very intense and took place over a period of three days. Considering this intensity, it is likely that humanity would have been destroyed if the satanic fury was unleashed upon Adam and Eve. The status of Christ has thus been closely juxtaposed with that of Adam and Eve. In Milton’s “Paradise Lost” the plot line of the Life of Adam and Eve has been changed to put the main focus on Christ, but the respect due to Adam, man who was made in the image of God, is not neglected.

The Fall of Satan in Carmina Nisibena

The figure of Satan occupies a large place within the theology of St. Ephrem. Ephrem does not directly link Satan’s jealousy with the fall of Adam and Eve³⁸. But he indirectly suggests it. This is evident from the way in which he tries to motivate the serpent to take his side and help him make Adam and Eve disobey God. Consider the conversation Satan has with Eve. In Carmina Nisibena, Eve gives a response that would have suited the snake in Genesis 3:29³⁹.

In these stanzas, the snake, Ephrem reasoned, should have been reproved by Eve for not paying heed to his subservient role. However, the snake had to be docile mainly because he was created after Adam and Eve and was junior to them. This assertion contradicts the narrative order of scripture, for in the first chapter of Genesis the animals are created prior to human beings⁴⁰. Nevertheless, Ephrem seems to suggest that Adam and Eve were the true first-born, and it was because of their creation that all other matter was created by God to help them in their existence. In Ephrem’s story, the main character is Christ and not Adam. Satan falls, when he realizes the true nature of Christ.

And he falls again and again every time a Christian disciple comes to the baptismal front and lays claim to the Kingdom of God The ‘Fall of Satan’ is not just a literary motif in the theology of Ephrem, it is part of the fabric of Christian life⁴¹.

The Fall of Satan in the Vita and Related Apocrypha

In the Vita the story of Satan’s fall is told in a flashback manner by Satan himself⁴². He recounts the story of his fall after Adam becomes aware of Satan’s second successful temptation of Eve (9–11). Adam, in his anger, questions Satan as to why he is so hostile towards him⁴³. Satan responds⁴⁴” “On account of you [Adam] I was cast out from heaven …

When God blew into you the breath of life and your countenance⁴⁵ and likeness were made in the image of God⁴⁶, Michael led you and made you worship in the sight of God. The Lord God then said: “Behold Adam, I have made you in our image and likeness.” Having gone forth Michael called all the angels saying: “Worship the image of the Lord God, just as the Lord God has commanded.” Michael himself worshipped first, then he called me and said: “Worship the image of God.” I answered, “I do not have it within me to worship Adam.” When Michael compelled me to worship, I said to him: “Why do you compel me? I will not worship him who is lower and posterior to me. I am prior to that creature. Before he was made, I had already been made. He ought to worship me.”

The story continues that after Adam was created by God⁴⁷ the angels were assembled and God showcased Adam as one created “in our image and likeness”⁴⁸. The angels are asked to bow before him. This act seems to suggest that the authority of Adam over the angels is as high as that of God⁴⁹. It was only then that Satan expresses his refusal: “I will not worship him who is lower and posterior to me. I am prior to that creature… He ought to worship me.” Satan is flung from Heaven to earth. It is then that Satan decides to have his revenge by plotting the fall of Adam and Eve⁵⁰. This is the story of the fall of Satan in the Vita and related Apocrypha.

Conclusion

The fall of the Satan is a crucial moment which has been narrated in different texts in different ways. While some texts hold direct reference to the event, there are other texts that reference it indirectly. The timing might be pre-cosmic or post-cosmic. The fall might refer to the literal fall directly or to the defeat of Satan. Satan might have felt jealous over Adam or over the Son of God. But the truth is that the jealousy of Satan leads to his fall and consequently to the fall of Man.

Bibliography:

Anderson, A. Gary. The Fall of Satan in the Thought of St. Ephrem and John Milton. Hugoye Journal of Syriac Studies. Vol. 3, No. 1. 2000.

Anderson, A. Gary. The Genesis of Perfection. Westminster John Knox Press. 2003.

Anderson, Gary; Stone, Michael and Tromp, Johannes. Literature on Adam and Eve: Collected Essays. Brill Publishers. Boston. 2000.

Bernstein, E. Alan. The Formation of Hell: Death and Retribution in the Ancient and Early Christian Worlds. UCL Press. London. 1993.

Boyd, W. James. Satan and Mara: Christian and Buddhist Symbols of Evil. Brill Archive. 1975

Graves, D. Neil. Infelix Culpa: Milton’s Son of God and the Incarnation as a fall in Paradise Lost. Philological Quarterly. Volume: 81. Issue: 2. 2002.

Jager, Eric. The tempter’s voice: language and the fall in medieval literature. Cornell University Press. Ithaca, NY. 1993.

Milton, John. Paradise Lost. Harvard University Press. 1851.

Spriggs, Julian. The fall of Satan – does the Bible teach it? 2008. Web.

Summers, H. Joseph. The Muse’s Method: An Introduction to Paradise Lost. Harvard University Press. Cambridge, MA. Publication Year: 1962.

The Holy Bible. NRSV (New Revised Standard Version).

White, Gould Ellen. The great controversy. 2007.

Footnotes

The Book of Enoch. Chapter XV, pp. 82ff.
Spriggs, Julian. The fall of Satan – does the Bible teach it? 2008. Web.
Boyd, W. James. Satan and Mara: Christian and Buddhist Symbols of Evil. Brill Archive. 1975.
Spriggs, Julian. The fall of Satan – does the Bible teach it? 2008. Web.
The present interpretation follows R. Leivestad Christ the Conqueror, p. 49, who says that Jesus’ statement reflects the certainty of the ruin of Satan. It refers to the defeat of the fallen angel and not to the historical fall of Satan.
Principalities and Powers, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1956, p. 31.
Lk. 10:18; Jn 12:31; Rev. 12:10.
cf. The Apocrypha, II. pp. 137ff.
cf Apocrypha, II, p. 447.
Boyd Boyd, W. James. Satan and Mara: Christian and Buddhist Symbols of Evil. Brill Archive. 1975 pp. 38.
ch. 6, pp. 62ff.
Boyd, W. James (1975). Satan and Mara: Christian and Buddhist Symbols of Evil. Brill Archive. pp. 40.
IAH, IV, XLI, 1 (ANCL, II, 51).
IAH, I, X, 1 (ANCL, I, 42).
IAH, I, X, 1 (ANCL, I, 42).
Boyd Boyd, W. James. Satan and Mara: Christian and Buddhist Symbols of Evil. Brill Archive. 1975 pp.40.
Boyd Boyd, W. James. Satan and Mara: Christian and Buddhist Symbols of Evil. Brill Archive. 1975 pp. 41.
White, Gould Ellen. The great controversy. First published 1858. Republished 2007. Forgotten Books. 2007 pp. 2.
Isaiah 14:12-20; Ezekiel 28:1-19; Revelation 12:7-0.
Anderson, A. Gary. The Fall of Satan in the Thought of St. Ephrem and John Milton. Hugoye Journal of Syriac Studies. Vol. 3, No. 1. 2000 1-38..
This text is taken from the Latin version of the tale, 12:1–14:3, which cites Isa 14 as a proof text for the rebellion of Satan (15:2-3)/
Anderson, A. Gary. The Fall of Satan in the Thought of St. Ephrem and John Milton. Hugoye Journal of Syriac Studies. Vol. 3, No. 1. 2000. pp. 1.
“The Exaltation of Adam and the Fall of Satan,” Journal of Jewish Thought and Philosophy, 6 (1997), 107-109, 131-34.
Anderson, A. Gary. The Fall of Satan in the Thought of St. Ephrem and John Milton. Hugoye Journal of Syriac Studies. Vol. 3, No. 1. 2000. pp.86.
This text is taken from the Latin version of the tale, 12:1–14:3, which cites Isa 14 as a proof text for the rebellion of Satan (15:2-3).
Anderson, Gary; Stone, Michael and Tromp, Johannes. Literature on Adam and Eve: Collected Essays. Brill Publishers. Boston. 2000. pp. 1.
“The Exaltation of Adam and the Fall of Satan,” Journal of Jewish Thought and Philosophy, 6 (1997), 107-109, 131-34.
Anderson, Gary; Stone, Michael and Tromp, Johannes. Literature on Adam and Eve: Collected Essays. Brill Publishers. Boston. 2000. pp.86.
Genesis Bernstein, E. Alan (1993). The Formation of Hell: Death and Retribution in the Ancient and Early Christian Worlds. UCL Press. London. 1993. B (or The Later Genesis) is so-called to distinguish it from the older (8th c.) Genesis A into which it is interpolated in Oxford Bodleian MS. Junius II.
Jager, Eric. The tempter’s voice: language and the fall in medieval literature. Cornell University Press. Ithaca, NY. 1993 pp. 146.
Quaestiones ad Antiochum, PG 28:604C.
Milton, John. Paradise Lost. Harvard University Press. 1851. Lines 660-61.
Graves, D. Neil. Infelix Culpa: Milton’s Son of God and the Incarnation as a fall in Paradise Lost. Philological Quarterly. Volume: 81. Issue: 2. 2002. pp. 159.
84950.
163-167.
Because of the history of this tale’s publication, citation of the document has generally followed either the Latin or the Greek version. In the case of the story of Satan’s fall, the reference is Life, 12-17. The story occurs in the Latin, Armenian, and Georgian versions of the Life; the Slavonic and the Greek omit it.
Anderson, A. Gary. The Fall of Satan in the Thought of St. Ephrem and John Milton. Hugoye Journal of Syriac Studies. Vol. 3, No. 1. 2000 pp. 1.
Anderson, A. Gary. The Fall of Satan in the Thought of St. Ephrem and John Milton. Hugoye Journal of Syriac Studies. Vol. 3, No. 1. 2000. pp. 1.
Anderson, A. Gary. The Fall of Satan in the Thought of St. Ephrem and John Milton. Hugoye Journal of Syriac Studies. Vol. 3, No. 1. 2000 pp. 1.
Anderson, A. Gary. The Fall of Satan in the Thought of St. Ephrem and John Milton. Hugoye Journal of Syriac Studies. Vol. 3, No. 1. 2000. pp. 1.
Anderson, A. Gary. The Fall of Satan in the Thought of St. Ephrem and John Milton. Hugoye Journal of Syriac Studies. Vol. 3, No. 1. 2000 pp. 1.
Vita 12–17.
Anderson, A. Gary. The Genesis of Perfection. Westminster John Knox Press. 2003. pp. 27.
12:1, 13:2–14:3.
Gen 2:7.
1:26.
Gen 2:7.
Gen 1:2.
Anderson, A. Gary. The Genesis of Perfection. Westminster John Knox Press. 2003. pp. 27
Anderson, A. Gary. The Genesis of Perfection. Westminster John Knox Press. 2003. pp. 27.

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