Why did God make the devil?

“Why did God make the devil?”—Will

Unfortunately, the Bible doesn’t tell us very much. The devil is one of the most mysterious figures in Scripture.

Some speculate that the devil was once a beautiful creature (an angel?), intended to serve God and carry out His purposes. This creature, they say, got too full of himself and rebelled against God. Even though he was consequently condemned, he was allowed to remain on the earth, doing all he can to pull people away from God through temptation and twisted truths.

The “devil” rarely appears in the Hebrew Bible (most notably as an accuser of men before God; see Job 1, 2 and Zech. 3:1-2). In the New Testament, he is seen more clearly as the ruler of the demonic realm, the powerful and wicked “prince” of this world (Jn. 12:31; 16:11; Eph. 2:1-2).

We may not fully understand why God allows Satan to hang around but we do know these things: The Bible portrays the devil as the opposite of God (he is the essence of evil), but he is not equal to God. He is a creature gone bad, if you will, but not the Creator (he acts only within limits set by God). God doesn’t like what he does and we are given plenty of warnings in Scripture to “resist” him, “watch out for” him and not give him a “foothold” in our lives (James 4:7; I Pet. 5:8; Eph. 4:27).

The devil has been defeated (Lk. 10:17-18; Col. 2:10, 15)—he can’t make you do anything to which you don’t agree. He is ultimately doomed (II Thess. 2:7-10; Rev. 12:9; 20:10). He serves to remind you that though evil and corruption in the world are real, you remain confident that God, triumphant in Christ, wins in the end!