By Water & Blood

On the devil and the demons

On the devil and the demons.

As for the devil and the demons under him, we do not say, according to the fables of Marcion and Cerdo and those of Manes, that they are unbegotten. For if they are unbegotten, then they are of equal honor with the God of all; and if of equal honor, clearly also equal in power; and if equal in power, how do we say that they were created by the God of all? For how could those who received such a nature from the beginning be punished justly?

And that they will be punished, the Lord said expressly to those on the left: “Go from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” And the demons themselves know this clearly; whence they cried out: “What have we to do with you, Son of God Most High? Have you come before the time to torment us?” And again: “I adjure you, do not torment me.”

That they will be punished, then, we have been clearly taught. Let us next consider whether they will justly suffer this, if they received such a nature from the one who made them. And how could the maker of evil fittingly be called good, and how just the one who punishes a nature unable to do anything good, but bound by the chains of evil?

But we know that the God of all is just, and a fountain of justice; therefore he will not punish the demons and their leader unjustly. And we know that the good God is named by all who think well a creator of good things. Therefore he did not create a nature unable to do any good, but travailing only with evil against its will.

But if God neither created a wicked nature—for as good he is a maker of good things—nor endures to punish unjustly—for he is just and a lawgiver of justice—yet he does punish the devil and those under him, then the devil and those of his company are wicked by choice. For just as God, being good, created the human being good from the beginning, and by free choice some kept unimpaired the nature they received, while others declined toward the worse and corrupted the divine characters and made the godlike ones beastlike; so the devil and the band of demons, having come to be with the other incorporeal beings, did not emulate those others’ goodwill toward the Master God, but admitting the passion of pride and arrogance turned toward the worse and fell from their former rank.

And the divine Apostle indicated this when legislating concerning the episcopal ordination: “Not a recent convert, lest being puffed up he fall into the judgment of the devil.” For through these words he hints that pride became the cause of the devil’s fall. And writing to the Ephesians he indicated that before he turned toward the worse he had been entrusted with the governance of the air. For “According to the ruler,” he says, “of the authority of the air, of the spirit now at work in the sons of disobedience.” And having fallen from his former order, he has as helpers those who contradict God.

And the Lord also said in the sacred Gospels: “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.” And in another place: “That one,” he says, “was a murderer from the beginning, and has not stood in the truth.” And this indicates that having turned away from the truth, he chose the opposites of the truth.

And the blessed prophets Isaiah and Ezekiel also use similar enigmas. For this is what is meant by: “I will set my throne above the stars, and I will be like the Most High, and I will take the inhabited world as a nest, and as eggs left behind I will take them.” And Ezekiel through the ruler of Tyre hints at the apostate ruler who worked in that one. And he speaks thus: “Thus says the Lord Adonai: You are a seal of likeness, full of wisdom and a crown of beauty, and you were in the delight of the paradise of God; you were clothed with every stone.” Then, having enumerated the kinds of stones, he added: “From the day you were prepared, with the cherub anointed by God who dwells, and I set you on the holy mountain of God. You were born in the midst of fiery stones; you walked blameless in your days, from the day you were created until injustices were found in you. From the multitude of your trafficking you filled your storehouses with lawlessness and you sinned, and you were wounded. The overshadowing cherub brought you down from the mountain of God from the midst of the fiery stones. Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty. Your knowledge was corrupted with your beauty. Because of the multitude of your sins I cast you to the earth; before kings I gave you to be made a spectacle. Because of the multitude of your lawlessnesses and the injustices of your commerce I profaned your sanctuary. I bring forth fire in your midst; this will devour you.”

This prophetic word showed that the devil was made good from the beginning, but voluntarily admitted the inclination toward the worse, and by evil schemes increased the wickedness. For he called the trafficking and the commerce the devices of wickedness. He made him a spectacle, having refuted his weakness, and commanded that he be trampled by those who formerly worshiped him. For it is his voice: “Behold, I have given you authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and upon all the power of the enemy.”

And one can find very many other things through which it is easy to learn that the devil, having been created good, willingly declined into wickedness. And the punishment threatened against him is enough to show that his evil is of free choice. For it is not proper to a just God to punish one who became wicked by necessity.