And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.
2 Corinthians 11:14-15 RSV
So it is not strange if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds.
Satan’s tactics, his modus operandi, haven’t changed since the Garden of Eden.
“For all that is in the world, the LUST OF THE FLESH and the LUST OF THE EYES and the PRIDE OF LIFE is NOT of the Father but is of the world.” AKA from Satan!
1 John 2:16
The explanation reveals that such developments as that of false teachers stealing the church away from the Lord are no “marvel” at all, in one sense, but merely what should have been expected in view of the nature and tactics of the evil one.
The tactics of such deceivers follow closely the pattern of Satan in Eden:
- (1) As Satan flatly denied God’s word, evil teachers do the same today, stridently declaring their soul-destroying doctrine of salvation “by faith alone,” contradicting the word of God which says people “are not justified by faith alone” (James 2:24).
- (2) As Satan promised Eve that she and Adam would “be as gods,” the sophisticated false teachers of this generation are doing everything in their power to deify humanity.
- (3) The same triple allurements of fleshly delight, pride of life, and lust of the eye which overthrew Eve are today carrying the thoughtless into every kind of sin.
- (4) As Satan pretended to be wise, so do the false teachers of all generations masquerade as wise ones, people in the “know” who make light of God’s commands and rush into rebellion against the Creator.
These are the people who make fun of Christian ordinances, deny the claims of God’s church upon people’s loyalty, and represent Almighty God as a doting, loving Father who will never punish anybody, and who will never notice the crimes of blood, lust and savagery raging under his very nose.
And as for worshipping God, “Let that be every man doing exactly what he pleases, when he pleases, if he pleases; and God will at last save everybody.”
With regard to the he connection between verses 14 and 15, Paul may be alluding to a Jewish legend that Satan appeared to Eve in the form of an angel and sang hymns like the angels.
But such a tale could hardly be anything except human imagination.
There does not seem to be in view here any actual event of Satan’s transforming himself into an angel of light; but, in all probability, this is a metaphorical statement of the exceedingly great power of Satan to deceive people.
He even appeared before the Lord during our Master’s temptation, advocating a sinful act and backing up the temptation with a misquotation from the Holy Bible (Matthew 4:4ff).
“Ministers of righteousness” This the false teachers do literally; and, from this basic truth, there derives the necessity for every soul who would be true to God to “search the scriptures daily, whether these things are so” (Acts 17:11).
Not one teaching of the New Testament is free from the corrupting devices of man; there are none of its doctrines that have not been denied; and there is no commandment in it which is not rejected out of hand, if not by one false teacher, then by another.
To borrow a line from Jesus (out of context), “What is written … how readest thou?” (Luke 10:26).
Luke 10:25-28
