1. _As to the character of the Devil, the Bible teaches us that he is
a being absolutely wicked._ In Matt. 13:19 he is called, "_The Wicked
One_." That is to say, he is one who is the personal embodiment of
absolute wickedness. In I John 5:19 R. V. also he is called "The Wicked
One." God is "The Holy One," that is to say the One who is the personal
embodiment of perfect holiness. The Devil is just His opposite, the
personal embodiment of consummate wickedness.
2. The Devil is to evil what God is to good. In I John 3:8, we read:
+"He that doeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the
beginning. To this end was the son of God manifested, that he might
destroy the works of the devil."+ This does not mean that the Devil
sinned from the very origin of all things and that he was created
sinful, for we learn from Ezek. 28:15 that the Devil was created
upright. The verse does mean, however, that _Satan is the original
sinner_. The expression "from the beginning" is characteristic of the
epistle from which these words are taken and does not necessarily mean
from the origin of things (see for example verse 11). In a similar
way we are told in one of our texts—John 8:44—that the Devil was a
murderer from the beginning and that he is "A liar and the father of
it." There is absolutely "no truth in him." So much for the nature and
character of the Devil.