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SATAN AND SCRIPTURE
by Cecil May Jr.
Satan can quote Scripture. Tempting Eve in the Garden of Eden, he misquoted God’s words, saying, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the gar- den?’” (Genesis 3:1). Tempting Jesus in the wilderness, he quoted Psalm 91:11,12, “For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways. On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.” For Scripture to serve Satan’s purposes, it must be twisted, mis- quoted, or misapplied. When Satan quoted God to Eve, he implied that God had restricted them more than He had. In quoting Psalm 91, Satan used Jesus’ formula, “It is written,” and suggested Jesus jump off the Temple to present spectacular proof that He was approved of God. Jesus responded, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test’” (Matthew 4:7, quoting Deuteronomy 6:16). God will protect His own who trust Him, but putting oneself in deliberate danger is testing God, not trusting God. Satan misapplied the Scripture. Many Scripture passages are still twisted to ungodly purposes. |
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Peter said, “...and count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruc- tion, as they do the other Scriptures” (2 Peter 3:15,16).
“The patience of our Lord” that counts as salvation is the grace of God that enables sinners to be justi- fied by faith. It has been “twisted” by those who “pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ” (Jude 4).
Scripture is God-breathed (2 Timothy 3:16). Jesus cited it as what God said (Matthew 19:4,5). What- ever it says is truth (John 17:17).
We who use Scripture, however, must handle it rightly (2 Timothy 2:15), in context, considering its grammar, word meanings, and historical setting. Scripture means what it says, not what it can be twisted by someone to seem to mean. ✞
Cecil May Jr. is Dean of the Bible Department at Faulkner University in Montgomery, Alabama, USA.
“The patience of our Lord” that counts as salvation is the grace of God that enables sinners to be justi- fied by faith. It has been “twisted” by those who “pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ” (Jude 4).
Scripture is God-breathed (2 Timothy 3:16). Jesus cited it as what God said (Matthew 19:4,5). What- ever it says is truth (John 17:17).
We who use Scripture, however, must handle it rightly (2 Timothy 2:15), in context, considering its grammar, word meanings, and historical setting. Scripture means what it says, not what it can be twisted by someone to seem to mean. ✞
Cecil May Jr. is Dean of the Bible Department at Faulkner University in Montgomery, Alabama, USA.