The Probert Encyclopaedia of Other Mythology

DEVIL

In theology, a devil (from the Greek, diabolos, a slanderer or accuser), is an evil spirit or being; specifically the evil one, represented in Scripture as the traducer, father of lies, etc. Most of the old religions of the East acknowledge a host of devils. The doctrine of Zoroaster, who adopted an evil principle called Ahriman, opposed to the good principle and served by several orders of inferior spirits, spread the belief in such spirits among the people.

The Greek mythology did not distinguish with the same precision between good and bad spirits. With the Muslim Eblis, or the devil, was an archangel whom god employed to destroy a pre-Adamite race of jinns, or genii, and who was so filled with pride at his victory that he refused to obey god.

The Satan of the New Testament is also a rebel against god. He uses his intellect to entangle men in sin and to obtain power over them. But he is not an independent self-existent principle like the evil principle of Zoroaster, but a creature subject to omnipotent control. The doctrine of Scripture on this subject soon became blended with numerous fictions of human imagination, with the various superstitions of different countries, and the mythology of the pagans. The excited imaginations of hermits in their lonely retreats, sunk as they were in ignorance and unable to account for natural appearances, frequently led them to suppose Satan visibly present; and innumerable stories were told of his appearance, and his attributes - the horns, the tail, cloven foot, etc - distinctly described.

The New Testament hardly describes more regarding the devil than that he has a distinct personality; that he is a spirit or angel who in some way fell; that he is devoid of truth and of all moral goodness, always warring against the soul of man and leading him towards evil; that he has demons, spirits, or angels under him who work his will, and enter into or 'possess' men; but of his or their origin, original state, or fall, the New Testament doesn't say.
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