Satan is NOT Real!
Satan is NOT Real!
I knew that phrase would catch your attention! Now let me explain what I mean by that.
In the 7th century B.C. Esarhadden the Assyrian Emperor, carried the 10 tribes of Israel captive to Assyria. At that time Samaria and Galilee were repopulated with Assyrians so that Northern Aramaic became the language of that region. Before Nebuchadnezzer conquered Judea, the Assyrian language spread and was spoken everywhere.
2 Kings 18: 26 says "Then said Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, and Shebna, and Joah, unto Rabshakeh, Speak, I pray thee, to thy servants in the Aramaic language; for we understand it: and talk not with us in the Jews' language in the ears of the people that are on the wall."
About 480 B.C. Nebuchadnezzer carried Judah away into Babylonian captivity. During their time in Babylon, they forgot the Hebrew language, and Southern Aramaic became their daily language. Scholars tell us that there are some differences in dialect between the Northern and Southern Aramaic, which is why some of the Jews who spoke the Southern Aramaic didn't always understand the parables of Jesus, who grew up speaking the Northern Aramaic.
From the very beginning, all sacred writings were in Aramaic. Hebrew is a later dialect of Aramaic. The first five books of the Bible, the Pentateuch or Torah, were not written down until the time of the Babylonian Captivity, 500-600 B.C. and they were written in Aramaic, later translated to Hebrew. Moses was also NOT the author of them, he was already dead by the time they were written down. In the 3rd century B.C. the scriptures were translated into Greek because the Alexandrian Jews could not understand Aramaic. When this was done, many of the meanings of the idioms were lost.
Idioms are a problem for the student of any foreign language. We have a lot of idioms in English that give foreign students trouble. Ones like "He's in a pickle" or "He's in a jam" or other such phrases whose meanings are not literal. Aramaic, like most languages, has many idioms. When the translation was made from Aramaic to Greek, those who spoke Greek did not understand the idioms and their meanings were lost or misinterpreted.
In James 1:4, it says "But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing." In this verse, patience is given a personality. It is referred to as a she. Now no one would believe that this verse in any way is implying that patience is an actual person, divine or otherwise. It is just a figure of speech, giving personality to a concept or set of ideas.
Another example is Proverbs 1:23. "Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets." Here wisdom is given a personality, a female one, and it is even implied that she is given movement and a voice.
This tradition of giving personality to a concept or idea is often used in Eastern writing. We forget that Christianity and The Bible are Eastern in origin and influence. We pride ourselves on Christianity be "Western" and we look at anything Eastern as being pagan, or close to it. We need to realize that Christianity is AN EASTERN RELIGION. The Western church has, in many instances, changed Christianity into something that does not even resemble the original.
Now, I have given the two examples above to show you how figures of speech can be used in a way that is not literal, and give personality to a concept. In the original Aramaic language, which Jesus spoke and understood, and which was commonly spoken at the time of Christ, the word Satan was considered a figure of speech, a personality that was given to a concept, the concept of evil intent or opposition. SATAN WAS NOT CONSIDERED TO BE A REAL BEING. For instance, Luke 10:18 in which Jesus says "I beheld Satan as lightening fall from heaven," the Aramaic idioms would translate the concept of Satan falling from heaven as "evil destroyed." The word Satan itself means "to slide, to mislead, to slip; to miss the mark." In other words, Jesus was saying that his coming has destroyed the concept of sin and evil.
Isaiah 53:5 says that when Jesus came, he would take away sin and iniquity. When he came, he changed our understanding of sin. We used to think of sin as wrongdoing, as evil, as transgression of the law. Jesus came to take away and fulfill the law so that sin is no longer wrongdoing. He came to show us that if we think of our mistakes in that way, we might as well be living under that law of condemnation. He destroyed sin....he changed our view of why we must make mistakes and what they accomplish. Just as the trying of our faith works patience, every challenge we must face is an opportunity to learn.
Remember that in this universe, for every action there is an equal reaction. The scripture calls this the law of sowing and reaping. "Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously" (2 Corinthians 9:6). This verse teaches that every action we take has a consequence. You will reap what you sow. If you are involved in a challenging situation, the action you take will determine the consequence you must bear. Your punishment for choosing a "wrong" course of action is having to live with the consequences. However, no matter which course of action you choose, there is always enlightenment at the end because you learn something.
Hell was also not a literal place in Aramaic. In Matthew 5:22, "hell fire" is translated as "mental suffering." In Matthew 16:18, the "gates of hell" are translated as "evil forces, or opposition." Sheol was translated simply as "a resting place for the dead" but not a place of torment. Hell was used to refer to what one experiences on earth, the mental suffering that goes along with making wrong choices. In this way, the "punishment" for our sins is the consequences of our own actions. We needn't fear this will be held against us in the afterlife because we are receiving the punishment for it now.
"Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life. Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live. For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself; And hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man. Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation" (John 5:24-29).
Once again, this is a spiritual resurrection, not a physical resurrection. The same body is not going to come forth from the grave. After death, the spirit will have another life. If we have learned the lessons we are supposed to learn, we pass on to another dimension of existence, a better life. If we did not learn the lessons we were meant to learn, we must stay in this dimension of existence and repeat life until we learn our appointed lessons.
According to Hebrews 10:14, when Jesus made the sacrifice to come here and experience everything we did, and sacrified his very life to show us the way, it made us perfect already, even if we don't do everything right. The last part of the verse, however, indicates that our life here on earth is still a process that perfects us, or gets us closer to the perfection he has already bestowed. It's kind of like this.....let's say you were contacted one day and told that you had just been discovered to heir to the throne of a particular country. You moved to that country, and were given the power, position, and wealth deserved by a royal person. However, even though you already had the position given to you, you had no idea how to act the role. You didn't know how a king is supposed to act, or what a king's duties really are, etc. So even though you had been given the place, you had to learn to walk in your position. That's what we do every day. We cannot be lost....there is no hell.....but we CAN be doomed to a life of mental suffering because of the consequences of our actions. However, if we believe in Jesus, we can walk as he did and learn to perfect the holiness he has already placed within us, that has been within us from our creation.
My hope is that every person will stop worrying about Satan, sin and hell. This really frees a person to do good works for the right reasons rather than because of fear. I also hope that people will study the Aramaic idioms so that they can truly know their Bibles. Just remember, the Bible is written in an EASTERN style, with the influence of all the Eastern beliefs and customs. It is only people of the West that have interpreted the Bible in a style of condemnation.
Click Here for another explanation of how the misunderstandings about Satan began.
Click Here for a brief study on the English word "hell" and it's origins.
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