Dualism
By Jake Kohl
The problem with the
common understanding of dualism and the idea that God and Satan are two eternal
forces that will struggle for eternity is that we must first look at what
dualism is. When speaking of dualism it is a “two-ness in which two categories
are in some sense contrasted with each other” (Hindson & Caner, 2008, p.
181). God created Satan, not as a god, but as an angel; who like us, was given
free will. Satan was lifted up because of his beauty; he corrupted the wisdom
by reason of his brightness (Ezekiel 28:17). Because of this corruption, Satan
was cast out of Heaven. God did not create evil, but gave us choice to choose
good over evil, just as He has done with Angels. He gave us all free will.
Ethical dualism maintains that good and
evil are co-equal principles that have been locked in an eternal conflict
(Hindson & Caner, 2008, p. 182). The Bible teaches different. The Bible
teaches that there is one God and that He is a good God that will one day crush
Satan and his kingdom in the pits of hell. If ethical dualism was correct, then
Satan’s fall from Heaven would be incorrect in Isaiah 14:12-17. Ezekiel 28 is a
reference to the King of Tyre.
A common objection to
Ezekiel 28 and Isaiah 14:12-17 is that some say it has a double meaning in
these two verses. It is said that these are a reference to the King of Tyre and
Satan at the same time. In response, Ezekiel 28:15 states that, “You were blameless in your ways from the day you
were created till wickedness was found in you” (Italics added). The word
blameless when looking at the entire text was also used for another man and not
Satan. Blameless was used for Noah in Genesis 6:9. When looking at the historical
background through exegesis, we can see that the audience would not have
recognized this as speaking about Satan. Therefore, assumption regarding this
scripture referring to Satan cannot be convincing to me.
The origin of
Satan explains that God did not create evil because in the beginning when God
created Satan, He created Satan as He has done with mankind; with free will.
Once Satan choose to rebel against God and was cast out, his free will was
influenced upon Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Thus, the seed of sin and
evil was born, based on free will. Because of free will and the choice to do
evil, both Satan and mankind were cursed to die. In the beginning, we all were
created perfect; God called His creation good and created us in His image,
which is also perfect. Our free will is what has separated good from evil.
From a biblical
point of view, Satan has limitations which are also proof that he is not God’s
equal but is in fact subservient to Him. According to Elmer Towns Satan
is neither omnipotent,
Omnipresent, or
omniscient (Towns, 2008, p. 359). These three attributes alone shows that he is
not equal to God. When Satan appeared to God in Job 1:8, God asked if Satan has
considered His servant Job to tempt with evil. If they both were equal, why did
Satan ask God to take down the hedge of protection? To ask this, shows that
Satan cannot do what God can do or Satan would have taken it down himself.
Finally, when a person is tempted and commits
sin, they cannot blame God or Satan because of free will. When we are tempted
by evil, we then have a choice to act on that temptation and choose to be
disobedient toward God. “Apart from total dependence on God, we cannot win the
victory over the devil.” (Towns, 2008, p. 387) God has created us with free
will to freely worship Him on our own. He did not create us to be robots where we love and worship Him
because we are designed too. He chooses to design us to truly love from our own
heart and worship Him from our own will. This is true love; to not be forced to
love, but to choose to love!
References
Hindson, E. E., & Caner, E. M. (2008). The
popular encyclopedia of apologetics. Eugene, OR: Harvest House Publishers.
Towns, E. (2008). Theology
for today. Mason, OH: Cengage Learning.
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