Why Is the Devil Necessary?

The answer to this question speaks to the nature of God. First John 4:8 says, "God is love." The Greek word for "love" is agape. This word denotes not a feeling or an emotion, but as one theologian described it, "a commitment to action for the object's highest good." As with all love, its nature desires reciprocation; hence, the creation of man as a creature who could return that "love," or make a commitment to God. 
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Heaven was filled with legions of angels of whom Nehemiah 9:6 proclaims, "The host of heaven worshippeth thee" because they are not creatures of choice. For a genuine reciprocation of "love," the creature must have a free moral agency (the power of choice). To truly prove that "love," or commitment, the creature must be presented with choice. For that to occur, there must be a source to present that choice, therefore, the necessity of Satan. 

Consider God's words to Satan in Job 1:8, when He said, "Hast thou considered my servant Job?" Here, in what is chronologically the first and oldest book of the Bible (penned in 2058 B.C.), Satan was established as the source utilized to present man with choice and the ability to prove his commitment to God, which Job did. The words of his commitment echo loudly down throughout the corridors of time when he cried in Job 13:15, "Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him." 

Earl R. Borders

From the October 2022 issue of The Gospel Trumpeter