If someone wants to know about God, there is a book they can go to—the Bible. But there is no such book about Satan. And maybe it makes sense for Satan not to try authoring one because, after all, who would believe him?

I suspect that this absence of adequate and authentic information about Satan is what has created room for so many opinions about what he is and is not, as always happens when humans face a void of reliable information. However, there are things the Bible tells or reveals to us about Satan that should guide our opinion of him.

The first of those things is that Satan and God are not sworn enemies who cannot see each other face to face. There are several interactions between God and Satan recorded in the Bible. These interactions, judging by what the text reveals, were calm and candid. I will highlight some examples from each Testament.

From the Old Testament we have a record of God and Satan having two separate conversations about Job spanning 13 verses (Job 1:6–12 and Job 2:1–6), with God saying 116 words to Satan and allowing Satan an audience to say 117 (according to the NIV Bible translation).

Other civil interactions from the Old Testament include 1 Samuel 16:14, and Judges 9:23. In these two passages, God and Satan are "working together" to achieve God’s purpose.

In the New Testament we find an interesting conversation between Jesus Christ and Satan after the former had finished His 40 days of fasting. This interaction is recorded in all the Gospels except John.

Taking the record from Matthew 4:3–10, Jesus Christ says 50 words to Satan, in conversations that took place at three different locations, while giving him an audience to speak 68.

It is also worth noting that it was the Holy Spirit who led Jesus Christ into the wilderness where Satan would tempt Him (Matthew 4:1). While we often pray for God not to lead us into temptation, God led His Son to the tempter.

There is also another conversation whose implications may surprise you as much as they recently surprised me. The interaction I am referring to can be found in Matthew 8:28–34.

The record shows that, again, Jesus Christ had a calm conversation with demons, entertaining 32 words from them and responding with only one: “Go!” What I had never recognised until recently from this passage is that Jesus Christ, God, listened to the demons and granted their request. Think about that for a moment.

All of us, followers of Jesus Christ, work on His behalf and can never be greater than Him. Yes, He calls us His brothers, His children, and His friends, but He also remains our Master. We can never be greater than Him. Therefore, if the Master could grant Satan an audience, why do we, His servants, posture to dislike him more than He does?

Speak of anything to do with Satan and many followers of Jesus Christ will, almost as a reflex, call down fire upon the Satan you speak of. I fear some have already called fire upon this article (and, probably, its author). Talking about Satan is almost a forbidden subject unless you are cursing, binding, or burning him (with speech). Is this not a stark contrast to how our Master interacted with Satan? 

Everything that Satan does—whether it affects us as individuals directly or not—is meant to frustrate God’s perfect plan (John 8:44,  2 Corinthians 4:4, 1 Thessalonians 2:18). But if the Owner of the perfect plan is not cursing or calling fire upon the chief saboteur, why do we?

I have found that one of the reasons we tend to be very dramatic about expressing our zero tolerance for Satan is because we blame him for most, if not all, the bad things that happen in our lives and those of others. However, we need to soberly examine the role Satan plays in bringing about the disorder we see before we give him more credit than he deserves.

The source of disorder in a person’s life is withdrawal from God’s presence, where His “good, pleasing, and perfect” will is experienced (Romans 12:2). And the Bible in Isaiah 59:2 explicitly tells us that it is our iniquity that separates us from God, not Satan.

“But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear.”

Although Satan tempts us, he is not responsible for our choices or decisions. God has even told us in 1 Corinthians 10:13 that He will not allow us to be tempted beyond what we can bear. This principle forms the basis of the long-awaited Judgement Day. If Satan were responsible for our shortcomings, why then would we be judged? In our spiritual walk, Satan—just like the Holy Spirit—is but an influencer.

So, if our lives lose their balance when we are away from God due to our iniquities and Satan is not responsible for our iniquities, who is? That is where things get interesting, as I expound in Part II.