THE WICKED ONE ho poneros. This word is derived from ponos `labour, sorrow'

and so one causing pain and sorrow to others. The word takes us back to the Garden of

Eden, where sorrow and sweat of face are super-added to labour, labour both in

child-bearing and in food production, but a labour that is marked with vanity and

vexation of spirit, for it leads to the grave where dust unto dust returns.

It is not without deep suggestiveness that the English word `wicked' is derived from

an Anglo-Saxon word wicca meaning a wizard or wicce, a witch. Here wickedness is

related to the devil as surely as it is in the Scriptures. Satan is pre-eminently "The wicked

one", and Cain is said to be `of that wicked one' in the same epistle (I John 3: 12). It is

highly probable that the clause in the Lord's Prayer `deliver us from evil' should be

rendered `deliver us from the wicked one'.

SATAN. The word Satan is a Hebrew word meaning `adversary' and with the definite

article it is the title of THE great adversary of God and of the true seed. "Satan standing

at his right hand to resist him' (Zech. 3: 1) shows the great adversary acting in character,

for the verb `to resist' is the Hebrew word satan. He is called `the accuser' of the

brethren (Rev. 12: 10). The Septuagint (The Greek O.T.) translates this title `Satan' by

Ho diabolos, "The Devil', which clearly establishes the identity of the Satan of the O.T.

with the Devil of the New. Diabolos is one of the great number of Greek word derived

from the word ballo `to cast or throw'. Thus we have katabole `overthrow', ekballo `cast

out', parabole `throw or cast beside', hence a parable by reason of its construction.

Diaballo means literally `to cast through' but in practice it means to slander, to cast

aspersions. In Luke 16: 1 the unjust steward was not slandered but rightly `accused'

and so the Devil is called `the accuser' in Rev. 12: 10 and in I Tim. 3: 11 we find the

word diabolos used of some believers where it is translated `slander'. In Rev. 12: 9 and

20: 2 The Devil and Satan are titles that belong to `That old and ancient serpent' where

the link with Gen. 3: is firmly established.  Again in II Cor. 11: we read of the

Serpent who beguiled Eve, and of Satan who transforms himself into an angel of light

(II Cor. 11: 3, 14). We discover from the actual spoken testimony of the Saviour Himself

a most vital truth concerning this evil antagonist of God. "He was a murderer from the

beginning, and abode not in the truth" (John 8: 44). To this, we must add the testimony

of the first epistle of John, "The devil sinneth from the beginning" (I John 3: 8). Some

have endeavoured to show that Satan was created and appointed as such by God and have

actually maintained that he did the will of God as surely as did the Saviour! If it is

revealed truth that the Devil was a murderer from the beginning, then he cannot have

been the executor of the Divine will. God needs no murderer to carry out His behests,

and when He appoints a man unto death, that cannot possibly be described as murder!

John who records the words `He was a murderer from the beginning' also tells us that

`whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer' (I John 3: 15) leaving us in no doubt

concerning the term. It is clear that Satan is a fallen being, for it is written "He abode not

in the truth". Further he was a liar from the beginning, and our God is a God of truth and

without iniquity, just and right is He. We read in Job 38: 7 that at the creation,

when the Lord laid the foundations of the earth, the morning stars sang together and all

the sons of God shouted for joy. It would appear that at that time Satan was among them