2 Corinthians 11:14

14 Well, no wonder! Even Satan can disguise himself to look like an angel of light!

2 Corinthians 11:14 Meaning and Commentary

2 Corinthians 11:14

And no marvel
This need not be wondered at, nor is it any new or strange thing; nor should it be thought to be incredible that there are such persons in being:

for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light;
a good angel, one that has his abode in the regions of light; and is possessed of divine and spiritual light and understanding; who is clothed and arrayed with light, this is his form and essence. The apostle speaks agreeably to the notion, of the Jews, who say F20,

``(rwa Mh Mlk Mykalmhv) , "that all the angels are light", the clothing of God himself;''

and they have a distinction between (Mwyd Nykalm) , "angels of the day", and angels of the night F21: now Satan, the enemy of mankind, sometimes appears in the form of one of these; as he did to Eve in the garden, and to Christ in the wilderness; and by such appearances he often imposes on mankind; pretends the greatest friendship, when he designs nothing but ruin; and under a notion of good, either honest, or pleasant, or profitable, draws on into the commission of the greatest evils; and, under a show of truth, introduces the most notorious falsehoods and errors; and, under a pretence of religion, all sorts of idolatry, superstition, and impiety; it is in this way he has succeeded in his enterprises and temptations; these are his wiles, stratagems, and cunning devices.


FOOTNOTES:

F20 R. Abraham Seba, Tzeror Hammor, fol. 18. 4.
F21 Zohar in Numb. fol. 91. 1. & 93. 3.

2 Corinthians 11:14 In-Context

12 I will go on doing what I am doing now, in order to keep those other "apostles" from having any reason for boasting and saying that they work in the same way that we do.
13 Those men are not true apostles - they are false apostles, who lie about their work and disguise themselves to look like real apostles of Christ.
14 Well, no wonder! Even Satan can disguise himself to look like an angel of light!
15 So it is no great thing if his servants disguise themselves to look like servants of righteousness. In the end they will get exactly what their actions deserve.
16 I repeat: no one should think that I am a fool. But if you do, at least accept me as a fool, just so I will have a little to boast of.
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.