Why did God create Satan?

[TonyChanYT]

God does whatever he does, Isaiah 45:

9“Woe to those who quarrel with their Maker,
those who are nothing but potsherds
among the potsherds on the ground.
Does the clay say to the potter,
‘What are you making?’
Does your work say,
‘The potter has no hands’?
10Woe to the one who says to a father,
‘What have you begotten?’
or to a mother,
‘What have you brought to birth?’

God used Satan to test/tempt people.

God uses Satan to demonstrate the power of the cross, 1 John 3:

8 Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.

If you are not on Satan's side but on God's side, you are okay, Romans 8:

28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

 

[marks]

God does whatever he does, Isaiah 45:


God used Satan to test/tempt people.

God uses Satan to demonstrate the power of the cross, 1 John 3:


If you are not on Satan's side but on God's side, you are okay, Romans 8:

God created a cherum that fell into sin. God did not create a devil per se.

Much love!

 

[Aunty Jane]

God used Satan to test/tempt people.

Yes he did, but only after satan abused his free will to become a rebel and adversary of the Living God.

Jehovah could have eliminated all three rebels at the very beginning of mankind’s history, but that would not have answered the challenges that satan raised to Eve about the character of the Creator…and his right to make and enforce his laws……the one who made himself “the devil”, virtually called God a liar, and accused him of not having the best interests of his children at heart…..

To have simply put the rebels to death would only have proven that God is more powerful…but satan cunningly did not challenge God’s superior power….he challenged his Sovereign right to set the limits on freedom of choice…..so, by allowing the rebels to live, he would catch the original rebel in his own trap. Setting him as a permanent example of where disobedience can lead us, and creating precedents for all time to come, so that God’s Sovereignty can never be challenged again….not by angels or humans.

Masterful, really.

 

[quietthinker]

Why did God create Satan?​

He didn't. God created Lucifer as the covering Cherub. It was Lucifer who chose to become the adversary.

 

[TheHC]

God used Satan to test/tempt people.

I think a better word is God “allows”

 

[TonyChanYT]

I think a better word is God “allows”

It is both. Initially, it was more like God used Satan. Satan was created for that purpose. See The Changing Role of satan [lowercase] and follow up there.

 

[Behold]

God used Satan to test/tempt people.

No he doesn't.

A person is tempted when they are lead into it by their own lust.

Satan is not omnipresent,.

He's not everywhere at once... so, when you have 7 billion people all over the world, who can all be tempted... and are at times, that is not "the devil is everywhere at once being used by God to temp everyone".

 

[Adrift]

A Yin without a yang is meaningless. Energy requires a force causing displacement of an object.

 

[TheHC]

Satan was created for that purpose.

I’m sorry but no, he wasn’t.

Honestly, does that really make any sense to you?

Just think about this: Who / which company, in their right mind, wants / hires someone to work against them?

Jesus said at John 8:44… “ that one (Satan the Devil) was a murderer when he began, and he did not stand fast in the truth”.

To “stand fast” in something, you had to have first been in it.

God did not “create” an opposer, any more than parents give birth to a thief. But a child can become a thief, by the choices he makes…. despite what the parents want.

At John 8:44 (partially quoted above), Jesus said Satan “was a murderer when he began”; when did the life of that particular spirit creature begin? Way before Eden, where he became a murderer! He no doubt was one of the numerous “sons of God” that was applauding when Jehovah made the Earth. (Job 38:7) The Bible makes an indication that he was a beautiful creature, see Ezekiel 28:13-15, and he no doubt had a name (that is not disclosed) which reflected that beauty. But he used his Free Will, ie., his unhindered ability to make choices, to turn against his God. He made himself a slanderer (devil), and an opposer (satan) against God.

Just as children can oppose their parents, and turn against them, by their choices.

Take care, my cousin.

 

[TonyChanYT]

Just think about this: Who / which company, in their right mind, wants / hires someone to work against them?

Right. See The Changing Role of satan [lowercase] and follow up there

 

[Brakelite]

A Yin without a yang is meaningless. Energy requires a force causing displacement of an object.

Can't agree with that. A good biblical worldview does not necessitate evil. One doesn't need evil in order to recognise what is good. And vice versa. Neither can coexist... Darkness cannot withstand light, so they cannot balance or blend. Evil has not always existed, for it had a beginning with a now fallen angel, and because we therefore know that evil is a finite concept, it will also have an end, and only good will then exist for eternity.

 

[Adrift]

Can't agree with that. A good biblical worldview does not necessitate evil. One doesn't need evil in order to recognise what is good. And vice versa. Neither can coexist... Darkness cannot withstand light, so they cannot balance or blend. Evil has not always existed, for it had a beginning with a now fallen angel, and because we therefore know that evil is a finite concept, it will also have an end, and only good will then exist for eternity.

You are incorrect. Light has no meaning without darkness. Large has no meaning without small. What could good mean if it is not in comparison to something else? There would be no need for a biblical view, muchless a bible, if there were only good. There would be nothing to be saved from.

 

[TonyChanYT]

Evil has not always existed, for it had a beginning

Right. See Did evil exist at the time of Genesis 3:5?

 

[Behold]

Right. See Did evil exist at the time of Genesis 3:5?

Evil existed in Lucifer, before Adam was created on Earth.

 

[quietthinker]

You are incorrect. Light has no meaning without darkness. Large has no meaning without small. What could good mean if it is not in comparison to something else? There would be no need for a biblical view, muchless a bible, if there were only good. There would be nothing to be saved from.

The tree of good and evil which Satan claimed was God's domain (the duality of God aka yin/yang) was a lie.

 

[Brakelite]

You are incorrect. Light has no meaning without darkness. Large has no meaning without small. What could good mean if it is not in comparison to something else? There would be no need for a biblical view, muchless a bible, if there were only good. There would be nothing to be saved from.

Surely you must agree that good and evil are diametrically opposed to one another? Would you also agree that both concepts had their beginnings in 2 seperate beings, one infinite, and the created/finite?
If evil therefore had a finite beginning in Lucifer/Satan, the concept of good must have existed previously on its own. We do not need a comparison to discern that God is good, and when evil came about through Lucifer, it manifested not as a companion to good, but as it's enemy, usurper, and it hoped , it's destroyer.
My church's official understanding on this issue is expressed thus:
All humanity is now involved in a great controversy between Christ and Satan regarding the character of God, His law, and His sovereignty over the universe. This conflict originated in heaven when a created being, endowed with freedom of choice, in self-exaltation became Satan, God’s adversary, and led into rebellion a portion of the angels. He introduced the spirit of rebellion into this world when he led Adam and Eve into sin. This human sin resulted in the distortion of the image of God in humanity, the disordering of the created world, and its eventual devastation at the time of the global flood, as presented in the historical account of Genesis 1–11. Observed by the whole creation, this world became the arena of the universal conflict, out of which the God of love will ultimately be vindicated. To assist His people in this controversy, Christ sends the Holy Spirit and the loyal angels to guide, protect, and sustain them in the way of salvation.—Fundamental Belief 8, “The Great Controversy."

If evil needed good in order to be recognised, presumably to be put away, then why did not Lucifer dispel the darkness he was inviting by his pride, at a time he was in the very presence of God Himself?

 

[Bob Estey]

God does whatever he does, Isaiah 45:


God used Satan to test/tempt people.

God uses Satan to demonstrate the power of the cross, 1 John 3:


If you are not on Satan's side but on God's side, you are okay, Romans 8:

This is an interesting question to ponder. Did God create Satan to test us? Did God create Satan, and then Satan rebelled?

 

[marks]

You are incorrect. Light has no meaning without darkness. Large has no meaning without small. What could good mean if it is not in comparison to something else? There would be no need for a biblical view, muchless a bible, if there were only good. There would be nothing to be saved from.

Consider . . . God is good regardless of whether anything other than He exists.

Much love!

 

[Jim C]

There is nowhere near enough information in the Bible on the subject to draw an informed conclusion, so basically this is all useless speculation.
All that can be said with any certainty is that God created him because it was His will to do so.