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What
the Devil!
By
the Rev. Dr. Nicholas Halligan, OP
There
has recently surfaced a somewhat popular interest in angels. It may
be a passing thing, perhaps related to the interest in the
extraterrestrial as portrayed in the movies or on television or to
the search for the transcendental. Whatever the explanation, it seems
not to be a theological inquiry about the nature of angels and their
benevolent action toward us humans.
At
the same time there seems to be currently little or no realization
that there are bad angels who have a definite influence in our lives.
These angelic creatures--devils or demons or evil spirits--are headed
by Satan, referred to in Christian writings as the chief enemy of
God, the tempter of our first parents and of Jesus Christ himself.
Nevertheless, there are many references in our language, as in
others, to the devil, such as "What the devil!", "The
devil you say!", "The devil with you!", and
"You're a devil!" In the history of religions there always
has been an awareness of the existence of evil spirits and of their
power over man.
In
Judaeo-Christian culture the devil has always been a definite
element. The Old Testament and especially the New Testament writings
attest that the devil or Satan exists and has a role in the life of
man on earth (I Chron. 21:1, Job 1, 2, Wis. 2:24, Matt. 4:1, 5, 8,
11, Mark 1:13, John 6:70, Acts 5:3, Rom. 16:20, 1 Cor. 5:5, 7:5,1
Tim. 3:6, Heb. 2: 14, Rev. 2:9, plus dozens of other verses).
In
the ceremony of initiation in the primitive Church, Satan was
renounced. The Catholic Church moreover has clear teaching on the
fallen angels as part of our faith. As all angelic beings, they were
created by God as fully spiritual creatures, magnificently endowed in
their nature. The devil and the other demons were created by God good
according to their nature, but they made themselves evil by their own
doing (Lateran IV, DS 800).
The
devil, and the other angels who associated themselves with him, gave
in to pride; they desired to exalt themselves above their created
condition, to be completely independent and to make themselves
divine. The angel sinned by seeking his own good from his own free
will, insubordinately to the rule of the divine will (Thomas Aquinas,
<Summa Theologiae> [ST] I :63: 1:4). Beatitude, which could not
be obtained except with the help of God's grace, the devils wished to
gain by their own efforts (ST 1:63:3). It is the irrevocable
character of their choice, and not a defect in the divine mercy, that
makes the angels' sin unforgivable. "There is no repentance for
the angels after their fall, just as there is no repentance for men
after death" (CCC 393).
Having
by their own free will lost their destiny, the devils were forever
barred from the vision of God and condemned into that everlasting
fire prepared for the devil and his angels (Matt. 25:41).
The
devils committed another sin which befitted their fallen state, the
abiding sin of envy, whereby the fallen angel grieved over man's good
and also over the divine excellence (ST I:63: 3). This explains the
tempting of our first parents. As for man, his sin was at the
prompting of the devil (Lateran IV, DS 800).
What
is meant by tempting? It is, "properly speaking, to make a
trial of something. We make trial of something in order to know
something about it: Hence the immediate end of each tempter is
knowledge.... But sometimes an other end, either good or bad, is
sought to be acquired through that knowledge.... The devil, however,
always tempts in order to hurt by urging man to sin. In this sense it
is said to be his proper office to tempt" (ST I:114:2).
The
manner in which the devil tempted our first parents is instructive
of his insidious malice. "The temptation which comes from the
enemy takes the form of a suggestion. . . . Now a suggestion cannot
be made to everybody in the same way: It must arise from those things
toward which each one has an inclination. Consequently the devil does
not straight-away tempt the spiritual man to grave sins, but begins
with lighter sins, so as gradually to lead him to those of greater
magnitude.... Thus, too, did the devil set about the temptation of
the first man. For at first he enticed his mind to consent to eating
of the forbidden fruit, saying [Gen. 3:1] "Why has God commanded
you that you should not eat of every tree in paradise?' Secondly, to
vainglory by saying [Gen. 3:1], 'Your eyes shall be opened.' thirdly,
he led the temptation to the extreme height of pride, saying, 'You
shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.'" (ST III:41:4).
In
the case of our first parents the devil could not tempt or influence
them from the inside. They were enjoying a state of innocence
involving the control of their lower faculties, which in this pure
state were under the autocratic control of their higher powers.
Moreover, they were favored by God with extra powers to enhance their
natural state.
"A
suggestion whereby the devil suggests something to man spiritually
shows the devil to have more power against man than outward
suggestion has, since by an inward suggestion, at least, a man's
imagination is changed by the devil, whereas by an outward suggestion
a change is wrought merely on an outward creature. Now the devil had
a minimum of power against man before sin, wherefore he was unable to
tempt him by inward suggestion, but only by outward suggestion"
(ST II-II:165:2:2).
As
a result of that first and original sin, human nature was tainted
and would remain so until in one way or another it was given a
healing from outside human nature itself, namely from God. Original
sin brought man into the orbit of the devil's power, as he had intended.
Man
"offending God by his sin, he drew upon himself the wrath and
indignation of God and consequently death which God had threatened
him and together with death captivity in the power of him who
henceforth 'has the power of death' (Heb. 2:14), i.e. the devil....
It is necessary to admit that all men had lost innocence in the sin
of Adam. . . . So completely were they slaves of sin [cf. Rom. 6:20]
and under the power of the devil and of death" (Trent, DS 1511, 1521).
Thus
the devil's influence over man is clearly stronger and more
pervasive since, unlike our first parents, we enter life separated
from God and without the full control of our lower self. This
diabolic influence was more destructive before the Passion and death
of the Messiah.
"There
are three things to consider regarding the power which the devil
exercised over men previous to Christ's Passion. The first is on
man's part, who by his sin deserved to be delivered over to the
devil's power and was overcome by his tempting. Another point is on
God's part, whom man had offended by sinning and who with justice
left man under the devil's power. The third is on the devil's part,
who out of his most wicked will hindered him from securing his
salvation" (ST III:49:2).
How
then does the devil exercise his influence over us in order to lead
us into sin and thus endanger our salvation? The Church, in
expressing its apostolic faith, has taught the existence and power of
the devil, but the number of demons or their precise sin or the
extent of their power have been left to theological inquiry.
In
this area the teaching of Thomas Aquinas, already referred to, is
instructive. He, the Common Doctor of the Church, is reknowned for
his extensive treatment of both the good angels and the fallen
angels. The following inquiry into this devil-man relationship shall
rely principally upon his understanding.
First
of all, the devil can influence us from outside, that is,
externally. Whatever change nature produces or has within itself to
produce, the demons can perform by employing these natural elements.
Thus they can move bodies around and assume the appearance of bodies
(ST I:114:4:2). They also can influence us through bad companions,
through persons of unsound doctrine or teachings, by the use of the
media of communications.
On
the other hand, demons cannot work miracles as such, since this
belongs solely to God as something done outside the order of created
nature. They can perform what appears to be miraculous in that it
exceeds human power and experience.
"Thus
demons can work miracles, that is, things which rouse man's
astonishment by reason of their being beyond his power and outside
his sphere of knowledge. For even a man doing what is beyond the
power and knowledge of another leads him to marvel at what he has
done, so that in a way he seems to that man to have worked a miracle.
It is to be noted, however, that although these works of the demons
which appear marvelous to us are not real miracles, they are
sometimes nevertheless something real. Thus the magicians of Pharaoh
by the demons' power produced real serpents and frogs" (ST I:114:4).
(continue
to page two of the article)
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