DEVIL. - An invisible personal power, mentioned in the Bible, that directs the forces of evil, in opposition to God's designs and to man's harm.
The term is the Greek translation (ὁ διάβολος) of the Hebrew haš-šāṭān ("the adversary") or Satan (v.); it passed into Christian Latin (Vulgate diabolus), into the Romance and Germanic languages (Eng. devil, Ger. Teufel), then into the Slavic. It is always in the singular, since it designates "the enemy" par excellence, who fights goodness and life. Διάβολος, "he who disunites" by inspiring hatred or envy, generally means "accuser" (διάβολος, from διαβάλλω "to accuse" [Lk. 16:1], is the "accusation," for the most part slanderous [Plato, Apol., 18d-24a, 33a; Eutyphr., 3b], and can take on the broader sense of "aggression" [Num. 22:32]) and "slanderer." In the Septuagint it corresponds to šāṭān (1 Chron. 21:1; Job 1:6-12; 2:1-7; Ps. 108:6; Zech. 3:1-2) designating the adversary of God's servants; but when šāṭān, without the article, indicates a human enemy (1 Sam. 29:4; 2 Sam. 19:22; 1 Kings 5:4 [Heb. 18], and cf. 11:14, 23, 25), it is translated ἐπίβουλος "plotter." Διάβολος translates šār and šōrēr ("enemy": Haman) in Esth. 7:4 and 8:1. While the Vulgate of the Old Testament transliterates satan 5 times, the Septuagint admits oṇrā only in 1 Kings 11:14, 23. Διάβολος also occurs in Wis. 2:24 (origin of "death in the world") and 1 Macc. 1:36.
The invisible enemy was conceived as the spy who accuses men before God and "tempts" them in order to have them condemned (Job 1:6 ff.; 1 Chron. 21:1; Zech. 3:1-2). Talmudic and midrashic literature ignores the fall of the angels, which is instead given great prominence by apocalyptic. The Talmud (Šabbāth jer., 5b) and the Midrash rabbā (on Ex. 21:7; etc.) present the šāṭān as "accuser" of men.
In the New Testament the d. or Satan is the head of the fallen angels or demons (v.), who stirs up evil and perdition (Mt. 25:41; 2 Cor. 12:7; 2 Pt. 2:4; Jude 6; Rev. 9:11; 12:7-9).
The term is used there 30 times in this technical sense of enemy of God and of his faithful, except in 3 cases where διάβολοι (plural) is the attributive "accuser" (1 Tim. 3:11 [detrahentes]; 2 Tim. 3:3 and Tit. 2:3 [criminator]; cf. St. Polycarp, 5:2). It also occurs 36 times as ὁ σατανᾶς (Mt. 4:1 a diabolos = Mk. 1:13 a satana; Vulgate always satanas and never satan), besides the related terms δαιμόνια (Mt. 8:31) and τὸ δαιμόνιον (63 times, 27 in the singular but 36 in the plural; 53 times in the Gospels). In Rev. 12:9 and 20:2 the being "called d. and Satan" is identified with the dragon (v.); ibid. 12:10 he is qualified etymologically as "the accuser (ὁ κατήγορος) of our brethren (= Christians) who accuses them (ὁ κατήγορος) before God day and night." The eschatological function of the d. is to lose men at the supreme judgment; the d. is ὁ ἀντίδικος "the adversary in court" (1 Pt. 5:8). Meanwhile he tempts men and deceives them to prevent their union with God; he frustrates God's ways for the salvation of men (Mt. 13:19, 30). Hence the opposition between "the children of the d." and "the children of God" (Jn. 8:44, 47 [Judas is a d.: 6:71]; 1 Jn. 3:8, 10), the former performing the "works of the d." (Acts 13:10) which are summed up in imposture or seduction (Jn. 8:44; 1 Tim. 4:2; Rev. 12:9; 20:9; cf. Acts 5:3-4), by which truth and justice are replaced by sin (Rom. 1:25-27; Jas. 5:19). The Christian must "resist the d." (Jas. 4:7; 1 Pt. 5:8) with "the whole armor" (Eph. 6:11), for the d. is "the prince of this world" (Jn. 12:31; 14:30; 16:11), he is "the god of this age" (2 Cor. 4:4).
In the Fathers, ὁ διάβολος or diabolos (always in the singular, as in the Bible) is the head of the rebellious angels (Tertullian, Apol., 22 ff., and De anim., 35; St. Augustine, Sermo 197 de temp.; etc.); he is the enemy of Christ and of his faithful (St. Ignatius, ed. A. Lelong, Paris 1910, p. xlii; St. Polycarp, 7:1) and the martyrs withstand his assaults (Passio s. Perpetuae, 3 ff., 10, 18, 20 ff.); cf. Romanos the Melodist (ca. 500), ed. G. Cammelli, Florence 1930, pp. 228-30 (διάβολος is the antichrist, p. 228), 272, 278, where he uses ὁ διάβολος in the plural. While d. remains an appellation, ὁ σατανᾶς takes on a more sacred meaning and tends to become a proper name (cf. Rom. 16:20; St. Ignatius, Ad Eph., 13:1). St. Bonaventure attributes to the demons the office of "accusers" (De ss. Angelis, serm. 5).
The form zabulus (perhaps contaminated by beelzebul) was frequent among the Latins, from St. Cyprian to St. Ildefonsus (8th century) and down to Orderic Vitalis (12th century); cf. C. Du Cange, Glossarium med. et inf. lat., ed. L. Henschel, VI, Paris 1846, p. 929.