The accuser, i.e. the devil
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Σατανᾶς (Satanas) is the New Testament title and name for Satan, the personal adversary who opposes God’s purposes, tempts, deceives, accuses, and seeks to destroy faith. Jesus commands Satan to depart in the wilderness and answers temptation with exclusive worship of God.
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Full entry for Σατανᾶς (G4567) · Open the biblical lexicon
Σατανᾶς (Satanas) is the New Testament title and name for Satan, the personal adversary who opposes God’s purposes, tempts, deceives, accuses, and seeks to destroy faith. Jesus commands Satan to depart in the wilderness and answers temptation with exclusive worship of God.
The BSB source-word alignment has 36 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include Satan (27), of Satan (6), to Satan (2), of Satan [sits] (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 4:10. Its strongest book concentrations include Revelation (8), Mark (6), Luke (5), Matthew (4).
Σατανᾶς (Satanas) is the New Testament title and name for Satan, the personal adversary who opposes God’s purposes, tempts, deceives, accuses, and seeks to destroy faith. Jesus commands Satan to depart in the wilderness and answers temptation with exclusive worship of God. When Peter rejects the necessity of the cross, Jesus says, “Get behind Me, Satan,” identifying the adversarial direction of Peter’s words without claiming Peter is literally Satan.
Jesus warns that Satan has demanded to sift all the disciples, while Acts describes satanic influence in Ananias’s deceit without removing Ananias’s responsibility. Revelation identifies the dragon as the ancient serpent, devil, Satan, and deceiver of the whole world, yet also depicts him cast down through God’s victory and the Lamb’s blood. Satan is neither a symbol for all human evil nor a rival equal to God.
Scripture calls believers to sober resistance centered on Christ rather than fear, fascination, speculation, or blame-shifting.
Σατανᾶς names the personal adversary who tempts, opposes the cross, seeks to sift disciples, influences deceit, and deceives the world. Every selected passage also places his activity beneath Christ’s authority and God’s victorious purpose.
“Away from Me, Satan!” Jesus told him. “For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve Him only.’”
Jesus rejects the tempter’s offer and answers from Scripture with exclusive allegiance to God. Satan is commanded, not negotiated with, and the obedient Son refuses a kingdom gained apart from the Father’s will.
But Jesus, turning and looking at His disciples, rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind Me, Satan! For you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.”
Peter’s attempt to reject Jesus’ suffering aligns with adversarial opposition to the cross. Jesus rebukes the satanic direction of the counsel while continuing to address Peter as a disciple called to get behind and follow Him.
Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift all of you like wheat.
The plural “all of you” extends the threat to the disciples, while Jesus immediately speaks of His prayer for Simon and his future strengthening of the brothers. Satan’s demand is real but bounded by Christ’s intercession and restoring purpose.
Then Peter said, “Ananias, how is it that Satan has filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and withhold some of the proceeds from the land?
Peter names satanic influence within Ananias’s deliberate deception, and the following question still holds Ananias responsible for conceiving the act. Spiritual agency does not erase moral accountability.
And the great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.
Revelation gathers serpent, devil, Satan, and deceiver into one adversarial identity. The dragon’s worldwide activity is framed by expulsion, the Lamb’s blood, faithful testimony, and his limited time.
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders ItA compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
Greek word. the accuser, i.e. the devil
:--Satan.
Textus Receptus witness, full corpus Greek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
16 of 36 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
an adversary, Satan
Read versean adversary, Satan
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Read verseFull New Testament corpus: 260 chapters, 7,957 verses, 140,628 tokens. Data source: honza/textus-receptus (data only), with authority check against byztxt/greektext-textus-receptus.
How this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
This word appears as a noun across 5 case and number patterns. The form changes show how the word functions in a sentence; they do not change the basic lexical meaning by themselves.
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 5 selected witnesses from 36 lexical occurrence verses.
Identifies spiritual opposition active in the betrayal.
Personal agent of opposition.
Hebrew roots and equivalents that share conceptual or etymological ground with this Greek word.
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
The New Testament presents Satan as a real personal adversary, but never as God’s equal. He tempts Jesus, opposes the way of the cross, seeks to sift disciples, works through deceit, and deceives the world. Yet each selected scene places limits around his activity. Jesus commands him and remains the obedient Son. Peter’s satanically aligned counsel is rebuked, but Peter is still called to follow behind Jesus.
Satan demands to sift the disciples, while Jesus intercedes for Simon and prepares him to strengthen others after restoration. Ananias experiences satanic influence, yet remains responsible for the lie conceived in his heart. Revelation’s dragon is terrifying but cast down, overcome through the Lamb’s blood and faithful testimony, and aware that his time is short.
Christian resistance therefore avoids both denial and obsession. Believers submit to God, hold fast to Scripture, confess sin, refuse lies, remain within the church’s care, and trust the crucified and risen Christ. Spiritual warfare is Christ-centered fidelity, not speculative mapping of demons or fearful attribution of every hardship.
Rev.12.9
Σατανᾶς is a transliterated Semitic title associated with adversary or accuser and functions as a personal designation in the New Testament. Context identifies this figure through actions and parallel titles. The word should not be turned into a generic adjective for disliked people, institutions, or political opponents.
The serpent deceives in Genesis, the satan accuses in Job and Zechariah, and God promises that the serpent’s head will be crushed. Revelation explicitly identifies the ancient serpent with the devil and Satan, while the Gospel announces victory through the obedient, crucified, risen, and reigning Son.
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