Chapter 24. The Devil Is a Perpetual Liar; He Apostatized from God.
Chapter 24
1. Just as the devil lied in the beginning, so he lied at the end too, saying, All these things have been delivered to me, and I give them to whom I will. To tell the truth, not he but the Lord institutes the kingdoms of this world: For the king’s heart is in the hand of God. And through Solomon he says, By me kings reign and the rulers decree what is just; by me princes are exalted, and by me the nobles govern the earth. To this end the Apostle Paul said, Let every person be subject to the governing authorities; for there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. And again he says of them, For he does not bear the sword in vain; for it is the servant of God, an avenger to execute his wrath on the wrongdoer. But that he did not say this of the angelic powers or of invisible rulers, as certain ones dare to explain, but of human authorities, he says, For the same reason you also pay taxes, for they are the ministers of God, attending to this very thing. The Lord confirmed this by not doing what the devil advised but ordered the tax collectors to pay the taxes for himself and for Peter, since they are ministers of God, attending to this very thing.
2. Since man, having become apostatized from God, became so much like a wild beast that he considered even his kin as an enemy and engaged in every kind of restlessness, homicide, and avarice without fear, God imposed the fear of men on him—for they did not acknowledge the fear of God—that having been subjected to human authority and educated by their law, they might attain some justice and show moderation toward one another, because they would fear the sword dangling before their eyes, as the Apostle says, He does not bear the sword in vain, for it is the servant of God, an avenger to execute his wrath on the wrongdoer. And for this reason the magistrates, too, have the laws as a mantle of justice and will not be questioned in regard to matters they have done justly and lawfully, nor will they be punished. On the contrary, whatever they have wickedly and impiously and unlawfully and tyrannically done for the overthrow of the just, in these things they will also perish; for the just judgment of God comes equally on all and is not wanting in anything. So the earthly kingdom has been established by God for the usefulness of the Gentiles—not by the Devil who is never altogether quiet. Why, he does not want even the Gentiles to live tranquilly—in order that they might fear the kingdom of men, and not devour one another like fish, but might by the passing of laws beat back the multiple wickedness of the Gentiles. And according to this they are ministers of God.
3. Now, <if they are ministers of God>, who exact taxes of us, attending to this very thing; <and if> the authorities that exist have been instituted by God, it is manifest that the devil lies in saying, They have been delivered to me, and I give them to whom I will. Really, kings are established by order of the same One by whose order men are born; and they are suited to the ones who are ruled by them at that time. For some of them [rulers] are given for the correction and usefulness of the subjects and for the preservation of justice; but some are given for fear and punishment and reproof; and some for deception, dishonor, pride, which they also deserve; whereas God’s just judgment, as we have remarked, comes equally upon all. The Devil, however, Angel that he is, can only accomplish this—what he did also in the beginning—to deceive and draw the mind of man to transgress God’s commandments, and gradually to blind the hearts of those who begin to serve him, that they might forget the true God but adore him as if he were God.
4. That is like a rebel who would seize a region in a hostile manner and would stir up trouble among these who are in it and usurp the king’s glory among those who are ignorant that he is rebel and a thief. That is how the Devil acts, since he is one of the angels who has been put over the spirit of the air, as the Apostle Paul revealed in his Letter to the Ephesians. He became envious of man, and so he became a rebel from the divine law; for envy is foreign to God. And since his rebellion was exposed by man, and since man became the test of his sentiments, he set himself more and more in opposition to man, envying his life, and he wished to include him in his own rebel power. But the Word of God, the Artificer of all things, vanquished him by man and showed him to be a rebel and, contrariwise, subjected him to man. He says, Behold, I give you authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, so that, just as he had dominion over man by rebellion, so his rebellion would be made void by man’s returning to God.