I. The Origin and Fall of the Angels: Pride and Degenerate Creation
"The devil was made satan or an adversary, not by God, for he created him a good angel; but by voluntary apostacy. Hence, it is said that he abode not in the truth, from which we may infer that he must have stood in the truth, prior to his fall." [Zacharias Ursinus - Commentary on the Heidelberg Ca]
"But as the devil was created by God, we must remember that this malice which we attribute to his nature is not from creation, but from depravation. Every thing damnable in him he brought upon himself, by his revolt and fall." [John Calvin - Institutes]
"By saying that he abode not in the truth, he certainly intimates that he once was in the truth, and by calling him the father of lies, he puts it out of his power to charge God with the depravity of which he was himself the cause." [John Calvin - Institutes]
"...at their first creation they were the angels of God, but by revolting they both ruined themselves, and became the instruments of perdition to others." [John Calvin - Institutes]
"Pride took possession of them, to strive after another, higher rank. Sin first broke out in the world of spirits; it arose in the heart of beings of whom we possess only slight knowledge; under relations which are to us as good as wholly unknown. But this is, on the basis of Holy Scripture, certain, that sin did not first begin on earth but in heaven, at the foot of God’s throne, in his immediate presence, and that the fall of the angels took place before that of man." [Herman Bavinck - Reformed Dogmatics]
"He has from himself, through his own thinking, become dissatisfied with his position and his power; he has brought forth the lie out of himself and set it as a kingdom, as a system over against the truth of God." [Herman Bavinck - Reformed Dogmatics]
"Besides the good there also are evil angels, who delight in opposing God and antagonizing His work. Though they are also creatures of God, they were not created as evil angels." [Louis Berkhof - Systematic Theology]
"There are two passages in Scripture which clearly imply that some of the angels did not retain their original position, but fell from the state in which they were created, II Pet. 2:4; Jude 6." [Louis Berkhof - Systematic Theology]
"The exact time of this fall is not designated, but in John 8:44 Jesus speaks of the devil as a murderer from the beginning ( kat ’ arches ), and John says in I John 3:8, that he sins from the beginning." [Louis Berkhof - Systematic Theology]
"Their sin, or fall, was wilful; they commenced an open war against their Creator. Herein that enmity to God and goodness took its rise, which has ever since, in various instances, been expressed by them." [Thomas Ridgley - A Body of Divinity]
"The blessed Jesus is expressly said, not to have 'taken their nature upon him,'—language which intimates that their condition was irretrievable, and their misery to be eternal." [Thomas Ridgley - A Body of Divinity]
II. The Nature, Rank, and Domain of Satan and Evil Spirits (Demons)
"...devils are not nothing but bad affections or perturbations suggested by our carnal nature. ... when they are called unclean spirits and apostate angels, ... the very terms sufficiently declare that they are not motions or affections of the mind, but truly, as they are called, minds or spirits endued with sense and intellect." [John Calvin - Institutes]
"...the number of enemies with whom we have to war is almost infinite, that we may not, from a contemptuous idea of the fewness of their numbers, be more remiss in the contest, or from imagining that an occasional truce is given us, indulge in sloth." [John Calvin - Institutes]
"The Scriptures make a distinction between διάβολος and δαίμων, which is not observed in the English version. In the spiritual world there is only one διάβολος (devil), but there are many δαιμόνια (demons). These evil spirits are represented as belonging to the same order of beings as the good angels." [Charles Hodge - Systematic Theology]
"He is represented as the tempter of our first parents, and is distinctly mentioned in the book of Job written long before the Babylonish captivity. Besides this representation of Satan in general terms as the enemy of God, he is specially set forth in Scripture, as the head of the kingdom of darkness, which embraces all evil beings." [Charles Hodge - Systematic Theology]
"Satan appears in Scripture as the recognized head of the fallen angels. He was originally, it would seem, one of the mightiest princes of the angelic world, and became the leader of those that revolted and fell away from God." [Louis Berkhof - Systematic Theology]
"He is superhuman, but not divine; has great power, but is not omnipotent; wields influence on a large but restricted scale, Matt. 12:29; Rev. 20:2, and is destined to be cast into the bottomless pit, Rev. 20:10." [Louis Berkhof - Systematic Theology]
"The word satan means adversary and can in itself have a good sense; it occurs of human opponents... but yet Satan in the O. T. is already thought of as a being that stands hostile over against God and his people." [Herman Bavinck - Reformed Dogmatics]
"The N. Test. makes known to us a βασιλεια, Mt. 12:26, Mk. 3:24, Luk. 11:17, 18, of evil spirits, which forms the antithesis of Christ and his kingdom." [Herman Bavinck - Reformed Dogmatics]
"Never do they occur as an object of God’s love, although they are his creatures; Christ has not assumed their nature; an object of our love, of our intercession they may not be; for them there is no hope of restoration and preservation." [Herman Bavinck - Reformed Dogmatics]
III. The Sovereign Limitation of Satanic Agency: Under the Helm of God's Providence and Permission
"God so restrains the devil, by his power, that he cannot do what he desires; but only what, and as much as, God permits. Yea, he has not so much as control over filthy swine, much less over the most noble souls of men." [Zacharias Ursinus - Commentary on the Heidelberg Ca]
"...the devil can effect nothing against us, except God first give him permission; which should lead us to reverence and fear God, since the wicked one can accomplish nothing in all our temptations, except God give him power to do so." [Zacharias Ursinus - Commentary on the Heidelberg Ca]
"Hence it is also apparent, how God punishes the wicked, and chastises and tempts the godly by evil spirits, whilst he is, nevertheless, not the cause of the sins which are committed by the devil, nor is a partaker with him in his wickedness." [Zacharias Ursinus - Commentary on the Heidelberg Ca]
"With regard to the strife and war which Satan is said to wage with God, it must be understood with this qualification, that Satan cannot possibly do anything against the will and consent of God." [John Calvin - Institutes]
"Moreover, though we say that Satan resists God, and does works at variance with His works, we at the same time maintain that this contrariety and opposition depend on the permission of God." [John Calvin - Institutes]
"...since the will of God is said to be the cause of all things, all the counsels and actions of men must be held to be governed by his providence; so that he not only exerts his power in the elect, who are guided by the Holy Spirit, but also forces the reprobate to do him service." [John Calvin - Institutes]
"Although the will of God is the supreme and first cause of all things and God holds the devil and all the impious subject to His will, God nevertheless cannot be called the cause of sin, nor the author of evil, neither is He open to any blame." [Louis Berkhof - Systematic Theology]
"Although the devil and reprobates are God’s servants and instruments to carry out His secret decisions, nevertheless in an incomprehensible manner God so works in them and through them as to contract no stain from their vice, because their malice is used in a just and righteous way for a good end, although the manner is often hidden from us." [Louis Berkhof - Systematic Theology]
"The providence of God sets bounds and limits to their sin; as it does to the waves of the sea, when he says, 'Hitherto shall ye go, and no farther.'" [Thomas Ridgley - A Body of Divinity]
"What would not Satan attempt against us, had he an unlimited power!" [Thomas Ridgley - A Body of Divinity]
"They are dependent on God, and can act only under his control and by his permission." [Charles Hodge - Systematic Theology]
"Going back to Scripture and remaining with its data, confessing the absolute sovereignty of God, it could in Satan and his angels, however powerful, nevertheless see nothing other than creatures, who without God’s will can neither stir nor move." [Herman Bavinck - Reformed Dogmatics]
"Our life and end of life is not in Satan’s but in God’s hand." [Herman Bavinck - Reformed Dogmatics]
IV. The Temptations and Subtle Devices of Satan: Wiles, Seasons, and Instruments
"Satan is called the evil one, emphatically. He is the grand enemy of the saints; and that both in a military sense, as he fights against them with his temptations; and in a legal sense, as he is an accuser, and pleads against them; yet neither way, shall he prevail against God's children." [Thomas Watson - The Lord's Prayer]
"First, such motions to evil as come from our own hearts spring up more leisurely, and by degrees. Sin is long concocted in the thoughts, before consent is given; but usually we may know a motion comes from Satan by its suddenness. Temptation is compared to a dart, because it is shot suddenly." [Thomas Watson - The Lord's Prayer]
"Secondly, the motions to evil which come from our own hearts are not so terrible. ... but motions coming from Satan are more ghastly and frightful, as motions to blasphemy and self-murder. Hence it is that temptations are compared to fiery darts, because, as flashes of fire, they startle and affright the soul." [Thomas Watson - The Lord's Prayer]
"Thirdly, when evil thoughts are thrown into the mind, when we loathe and have reluctance to them; when we strive against them, and flee from them, as Moses did from the serpent, it shows they are not the natural birth of our own heart—but the hand of Joab is in this! Satan has injected these impure motions." [Thomas Watson - The Lord's Prayer]
"1st subtlety. He observes the natural temper and constitution of men. ... As the farmer knows what seed is proper to sow in such a soil—so Satan, finding out the temper of a man, knows what temptations are proper to sow in his heart." [Thomas Watson - The Lord's Prayer]
"2nd subtlety. He chooses the fittest season to tempt in. ... When we grow remiss after an ordinance, and indulge ourselves too much in carnal delights, Satan falls upon us by temptation, and often foils us." [Thomas Watson - The Lord's Prayer]
"3rd subtlety. Satan, in tempting, baits his hook with religion. He can tempt to sin under pretenses of piety. ... Thus he wraps his poisonous pills in sugar." [Thomas Watson - The Lord's Prayer]
"5th subtlety. Satan's policy is to hand over temptations to us by those whom we least suspect. ... By near friends... [He aims at the heart through the rib.] ... He creeps into a near relation." [Thomas Watson - The Lord's Prayer]
"10th subtlety. He labors to ensnare us by lawful things. More are hurt by lawful things than unlawful, as more are killed with wine than poison." [Thomas Watson - The Lord's Prayer]
"13th subtlety. Satan draws men off from the love of the truth, to embrace error. ... Error is as damnable as vice; poison kills as well as a pistol." [Thomas Watson - The Lord's Prayer]
"20th subtlety. Satan strikes at some grace, more than others. ... if you ask what grace it is that Satan most strikes at, I answer, it is the grace of faith." [Thomas Watson - The Lord's Prayer]
V. Demoniacal Possessions and Lying Wonders
"By possession is meant the inhabitation of an evil spirit in such relation to the body and soul as to exert a controlling influence, producing violent agitations and great suffering, both mental and corporeal. That the demoniacs mentioned in the New Testament were not mere lunatics or the subjects of epilepsy or other analogous diseases, but cases of real possession, is plain, First, because this was the prevailing belief of the Jews at that time; and secondly, because Christ and his Apostles evidently adopted and sanctioned that belief." [Charles Hodge - Systematic Theology]
"The difference between discriminating between miracles and these lying wonders, i.e., between the works of God and the works of Satan, has been anticipated and provided for by the sacred writers themselves." [Charles Hodge - Systematic Theology]
"Enchantments belong to magic, and consists in the use of certain words and ceremonies according to an agreement entered into with the devil... There is no efficacy or power in the words and ceremonies which are used; but the devil himself accomplishes what he has promised, with the design, that these persons may fall from God to himself, and that they may worship him instead of God." [Zacharias Ursinus - Commentary on the Heidelberg Ca]
"The δαιμονιζομενοι in the N. T. were not ordinary sick persons... The special thing with the possessed is that out of them another subject speaks than they themselves are, that that subject recognizes Jesus as the Son of God, stands wholly hostile over against Him, and does not leave the sufferer except at his command..." [Herman Bavinck - Reformed Dogmatics]
"Satan imitates everything; God reveals himself through theophany (incarnation), prophecy, miracle; the daemonic caricature thereof are obsessio, mantics and magic, to which Scripture therefore many times ascribes reality..." [Herman Bavinck - Reformed Dogmatics]
VI. Spiritual Warfare: The Armor of God, Faith, and the Final Triumph of Christ
"Being forewarned of the constant presence of an enemy the most daring, the most powerful, the most crafty, the most indefatigable, the most completely equipped with all the engines and the most expert in the science of war, let us not allow ourselves to be overtaken by sloth or cowardice, but, on the contrary, with minds aroused and ever on the alert, let us stand ready to resist..." [John Calvin - Institutes]
"...the promise of bruising Satan's head (Gen. 3:15) applies alike to Christ and to all his members, I deny that believers can ever be oppressed or vanquished by him. They are often, indeed, thrown into alarm, but never so thoroughly as not to recover themselves. They fall by the violence of the blows, but they get up again; they are wounded, but not mortally. In fine, they labour on through the whole course of their lives, so as ultimately to gain the victory, though they meet with occasional defeats." [John Calvin - Institutes]
"In our Head, indeed, this victory was always perfect, because the prince of the world 'had nothing' in him..." [John Calvin - Institutes]
"AND LEAD US NOT INTO TEMPTATION, BUT DELIVER US FROM EVIL; that is, since we are so weak in ourselves that we cannot stand a moment: and besides this, since our mortal enemies, the devil, the world, and our own flesh, cease not to assault us, do thou, therefore, preserve and strengthen us by the power of thy Holy Spirit, that we may not be overcome in this spiritual warfare, but constantly and strenuously may resist our foes, until at last we obtain a complete victory." [Zacharias Ursinus - Commentary on the Heidelberg Ca]
"Christ doth conquer his and his people's enemies, when he taketh away their power in part, that they have not dominion over his people; but then he doth completely conquer them, when he doth bring all enemies under his feet, and utterly abolish and destroy them." [Thomas Vincent - The Shorter Catechism]
"He came to earth, to break the works of the devil... Especially by the cross He triumphed over the principalities and powers, Col. 2:15, took from him the weapons of sin, death and world, John 16:33, 1 John 4:4, 1 Cor. 15:55, 56, Hebr. 2:14 and cast him outside the domain of his kingdom, John 12:31. And His triumph He celebrated over the evil spirits specifically in the resurrection." [Herman Bavinck - Reformed Dogmatics]
"Once at the end of the days he raises himself up once more in all his power... but then he will also be overcome by Christ and with all his angels be cast into the lake of fire, 2 Thess. 2:8, 1 Cor. 15:24, Op. 20:10..." [Herman Bavinck - Reformed Dogmatics]
"The Christian runs his race 'looking unto Jesus;' ... and by constantly looking to Him for the supply of grace and for protection and aid, that he overcomes sin and finally attains the prize of the high-calling of God." [Charles Hodge - Systematic Theology]