We discussed this question at our church’s Bible Study last week. This was prompted by Matthew 4:1-11, where Jesus goes to the desert for 40 days and satan tempts him 3 times. In each of the times, satan starts the temptation by saying “If you are the Son of God…” It is obvious that satan knew Jesus was a holy and divine person, but he was not certain if he was the Son of God. 

Many people are surprised that satan did not know everything about Jesus’ divine person and mission on earth. Why are they surprised? Because we see how powerful satan is every day. Just watch the nightly news and we see suffering, disregard for the sanctity of life, lies, corruption, and so much evil everywhere. All of us have also suffered from temptations and have sinned, despite our best intentions to love God. satan sure knows how to take advantage of our weaknesses and successfully tempt us to sin against God. Because of that, we tend to think of satan as the equal opposite of God. We think of God as all-powerful and all-loving and satan as also all-powerful and all-evil. But that’s a flawed view of satan. We have to remember that satan is a falling angel, he is simply a creature. While his fellow Archangel Michael chose to obediently submit to God’s will, satan chose to rebel against God and exalt himself. Is he powerful? Yes, we see the results in the world and we need to be aware that he is trying to get us every day. As St Peter says in 1 Peter 5:8, “Discipline yourselves, keep alert. Like a roaring lion your adversary, the devil, prowls around, looking for someone to devour.”

He is powerful indeed, but as a creature, he is not omniscient and he is not infallible. I have heard exorcists say that he uses the same simple playbook to get souls over and over again. Additionally, as a sinful creature his mind “is not all there.” St Thomas Aquinas puts it this way:

“The minds of demons are utterly perverted from the Divine wisdom, they at times form their opinions of things simply according to the natural conditions of the same. Nor are they ever deceived as to the natural properties of anything; but they can be misled with regard to supernatural matters; for example, on seeing a dead man, they may suppose that he will not rise again, or, on beholding Christ, they may judge him not to be God. (ST I:58:5)”

So more than likely satan was not sure if Jesus was the Son of God early on in Jesus’ ministry and was testing him to find out. Jesus’ perfect resistance to satan’s temptations, sinless life, and performance of miracles likely convinced satan that he was truly the second member of the Holy Trinity. We see that later in Jesus’ ministry when a demon fell on the floor and said to Jesus “You are the Son of God” (Mark 3:11). Another time a demon cried out: “I know who you are — the Holy One of God!” (Mark 1:24). Even with this knowledge, satan did not fully comprehend Jesus’ salvific mission. Otherwise, he would not have tempted people to torture and crucify Jesus. Through his resurrection, he defeated the powers of satan, the powers of sin and death.

As baptized Christians, united in love with the triumphant body of Christ, and with the help of divine grace, we have the power to reject satan’s temptations. In the name of Jesus, and just as Jesus said, we say, “Get behind me satan!”