Bible Question: "Does God love Satan?"

Bible Answer: The short answer is "Yes." But I must confess my first reaction when a reader posed this question was "No, because God hates sin and Satan is the very epitome of sin."

But after considering what the Bible says, I had to change my reply. God makes a distinction between sin and sinners. He hates sin, but He loves sinners, even the chief of sin, Satan.

"But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us," Romans 5:8 says.

How many of us Christians were sinners before we got saved? All of us. We became Christians by understanding we were sinners and needed salvation, which is found only in Jesus.

I suppose this question about whether God loves Satan gives us a small insight into one of the greatest mysteries of all, why God allows Satan to continue to spread his evil in the world.

The mystery of evil, as it is called by theologians, is much too difficult for me or any other human to figure out, but though Satan has made himself God's enemy, God still must love him.

Isaiah 14:12-15 reveals the history of Satan, who was originally the chief angel, second in command to God. Yet he attempted to take over heaven and God cast him down to earth.

We, like Lucifer, are created with free wills, and we can choose whether we will serve God or rebel against Him and be cast out.

Satan is identified by Jesus as God's enemy in Matthew 13 in the parable of the tares among the wheat growing in a field.

"Another parable He put forth to them, saying: 'The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way.'" Jesus says in Matthew 13:24-25.

And Jesus identifies the "enemy" in Matt. 13:39 as "the devil."

But Jesus also taught we must love our enemies, not hate them.

Jesus says in Matt. 5:43-45, "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.'

"But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust."

God doesn't just tell us to love our enemies, He clearly practices what He preaches by allowing His sun and His rain to warm and water the ungodly just as well as the godly on earth.

And the entire book of Job is based on the premise that God allowed Satan to attack a godly man to teach Satan a lesson.

So if God hasn't given up on Satan yet, we shouldn't ever give up on anyone and say they're so evil they can never be saved.

And strange as it sounds, we shouldn't hate Satan either, only his evil ways that have ensnared so many minds into his error.

Submit Bible questions by email to writeme@johnwmyers.com

(John Myers has been a Christian lay speaker, Sunday School adult teacher and newspaper Bible study columnist for more than 20 years.)