Why Does Satan Do What He Does?

My sister recently asked me what the Bible says, or what people have said, about Satan's motivations. What is it that has caused Satan to tempt humans or harm them? Why would he be so mean? 

This is a question that the Bible does not answer—or, not in any sort of direct way. People have found answers to this question in the Bible, in Isaiah 14 or Ezekiel 28, for instance, but of course those passages do not mention Satan. Indeed, I would argue that the entire Old Testament does not mention Satan, even where it does mention Satan. What I mean is that in the passages where Satan makes an appearance in our English Old Testaments (such as Job 1–2; Zechariah 3; 1 Chronicles 21:1), the Hebrew word satan does not function as a name (Satan, with a capital s) but would be better translated as opponent or adversary or executioner. In Christian Scripture, Satan is a character of the New Testament and not of the Old—at least if we're trying to interpret the texts according to their most probable original meaning. 

So, if you're going to look for Satan's motivations, it does you no good to look in the Old Testament, but neither does the New Testament really tell us anything about why he tempts or torments people. It just takes it for granted that he does these things. 

And yet there are ancient stories about Satan that fill in the details. One of the earliest (though hard to date) and most detailed accounts of Satan's fall from grace is in a work called The Life of Adam and Eve. I have been working on a project (as yet unpublished) that involves ancient traditions about Satan, and below I have pasted what I've written about this text. I have omitted the footnotes, but below the excerpt I have included some bibliography. The Life of Adam and Eve many centuries was asking the very same question as my sister recently asked, and it provides a fascinating answer, though I think one that would be a surprise to many of the people I go to church with. 

Here's the excerpt....

Perhaps the fullest ancient form of the legend of Satan’s fall is found in some versions of a work known as the Life of Adam and Eve. Now, this work, the Life of Adam and Eve, exists in several forms in different languages (Greek, Latin, Armenian, Georgian, Slavonic), and the different versions do not all include the same episodes. It’s sorta like different iterations of Spiderman. (Thanks to my wife, Jodi, for help with this analogy.) If you mention Spiderman, everyone knows what you’re talking about, but everyone also knows that there are different versions of the story of Spiderman—the Toby Maguire movies, and the inferior movies starring other actors, not to mention the comic books with their own various iterations of the character and different storylines, and the television shows, etc. Gwen Stacy is a character in many of these Spiderman versions, but not all of them, and when she does appear, her storylines are often very different in the different versions. Sometimes the alter ego of Spiderman is not even Peter Parker, but Miles Morales, such as in the Spider-Verse franchise that has produced the greatest Spiderman moves (sorry, Toby).

The ancient text known as the Life of Adam and Eve exists in a variety of forms reminiscent of these different Spiderman properties. The basic storyline and characters are more-or-less the same across the different versions of the Life of Adam and Eve, but there are also major differences between the Greek version and the Latin version (and other versions). For example, the episode that interests us right now (and is quoted below), in which the devil explains his fall from grace, is not contained in the Greek version of the Life of Adam and Eve, but it is contained in the Latin and Armenian and Georgian versions. Usually scholars argue (or assume) that the Greek form of the story preserves the earliest form of the text, and that the earliest form of the text may date as early as 100 BC—though everything about the origins of the Life of Adam and Eve is debated, even whether its author was Jewish or Christian. The earliest Greek manuscripts date to the eleventh century AD. Since the Greek text (presumably the earliest) does not include the story of Satan’s fall, that story was apparently added to (some versions of) the Life of Adam and Eve sometime in the early Christian era. 

At any rate, the story of Satan’s fall in the Life of Adam and Eve (when it is included) represents the devil as jealous of the first humans. When God created Adam in his own image, he commanded all the angels to bow before Adam. The devil and some other angels refused. (chs. 11–17). He is called here the devil and Beliar (17:2). He describes his pre-fall nature: “My wings were more numerous than those of the cherubim, and I concealed myself under them” (12:1). Then the devil describes his rebellion, speaking to Adam. 

The very day when you were created, on that day I fell from before the face of God, because when God breathed a  spirit onto your face, you had the image and likeness of Divinity. And Michael came; he presented you and made you bow down before God. And God told Michael, “I have created Adam according to (my) image and my Divinity.” Then Michael came; he summoned all the troops of angels and told them, “Bow down before the likeness and the image of Divinity.” And then, when Michael summoned them and all had bowed down to you, he summoned me also. And I told him, “Go away from me, for I shall not bow down to him who is younger than I; indeed, I was master before him and it is proper for him to bow down to me.” When the six classes of other angels heard that, then my speech pleased them and they did not bow down to you. Then God became angry with us and ordered us, them and me, to be cast down from our dwellings to the earth. As for you, he ordered you to dwell in the Garden. When I had realized that I had fallen by your power, that I was in distress and you were in rest, then I aimed at hunting you so that I might alienate you from the garden of delights, just as I had been alienated because of you. (Life of Adam and Eve 13:2–16:3)

This story explains most of what we would want to know about the origins of Satan. He was created good and became evil by his own choice due to his jealousy of Adam. This all happened immediately after the creation of Adam. The devil wants to bring pain on Adam and pain on God in order to exact revenge for his own fall from grace.

Bibliography

John R. Levison, The Greek Life of Adam and Eve, Commentaries on Early Jewish Literature (Berlin: de Gruyter, 2023).

Gary A. Anderson and Michael E. Stone, eds., A Synopsis of the Books of Adam and Eve (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1994), where the episode narrating Satan’s fall is labeled “pericope 5.”