Question
Gramps,
Where in the scriptures does it say that Satan is a spirit son of God? I can’t find one scripture. My daughter is questioning our beliefs and all I find is that he is an “angel.”
Marianne
Answer
Dear Marianne,
First, please consider that individual questions like these may not be the actual problem and may not be where you want to spend a lot of time. By design, mortality requires faith. To enable us to develop that faith, God has intentionally not provided what the modern world would call “proof” of his existence or of the truth of Christ’s restored gospel. Our testimonies and knowledge must come through the Holy Ghost. Therefore, the best thing you can do for your daughter is to help her have experiences with the Holy Ghost. Also, you might find some help or comfort from Sister Runia’s talk In October 2023 General Conference, “Seeing God’s Family through the Overview Lens“.
It may help to remember that we are not obligated to present the truth of the restored gospel without the scriptures and prophetic teachings that come with it. Many demand that we prove our beliefs using only the Bible, but our beliefs include that there is more than the Bible. So, don’t be afraid to use latter-day scriptures or the teachings of latter-day prophets and apostles. Further, don’t be afraid to bear testimony – one of the Holy Ghost’s primary functions is to testify to truth. When you bear testimony, you invite the Spirit, and as I said above, this may be what your daughter needs most.
That said, to understand that Satan is a spirit child of Heavenly Father, just like the rest of us, requires understanding a few basic topics:
We are spirit children of God
Since this is not the primary question, I won’t go into detail, but will refer you to the Church’s Gospel Topics essay on the subject. It includes scriptures, study links, and the teachings of prophets and apostles. Your daughter will need to understand this teaching in order to understand that Satan is also a son of God.
Angels are people, not a separate species
Again, I won’t go into detail, but it’s key to understanding the issue at hand. Angels are either mortals, spirits (either pre- or post-mortal), or resurrected beings (see Bible Dictionary entry). Regardless of their form, they are messengers on the errand of God. (Though please note that Satan is also described as an angel and as having angels. Obviously, these are not on the errand of God.) An important understanding here is that when heavenly messengers (or beings in heaven) are described in scripture, especially those seen in vision (as opposed to those who come to earth with a message), their non-human features are symbolic. The symbolism of these features (such as wings) is sometimes explained in other scriptures (see D&C 77 for an example of such symbolism being explained).
Satan, Lucifer, and the devil are different names / titles for one person
Lucifer was his name as a spirit son of God before he fell, at which time, he became known as Satan or the devil. I’m going to provide three articles for you to study:
1. The Bible Dictionary entry for “Devil“. This covers what we teach, including links to scriptures where the information is found. Note that not all information is plainly stated in scripture, but the more you know, the more you’ll be able to help your daughter to see.
2. The Bible Dictionary entry for “Lucifer“. Much shorter, but has the same benefit.
3. The Gospel Topics essay for “Satan“. This has even more links for you to study in as much detail as you wish.
Now, I’ll present what I consider the best scriptural evidence that Satan is a child of God, just as the rest of us are:
In Moses 1, God tells Moses that Moses is God’s son. In verse 12, Satan comes. Note their interaction. Moses doesn’t reject Satan because he looks like a demon (horns, tails, red skin) – there isn’t even any mention of that. On the contrary, the interaction is as if one man is speaking to another. Further, in verse 15, Moses compares God and Satan, saying he (Moses) is able to distinguish between the two because the Spirit is still with him. Again, if Satan were not in the same form as a person, why would this be needed – Moses could have distinguished by the horns and tail (if the devil were physically different). Then, in verse 19, Satan claims to be the Only Begotten. Again, it would be preposterous were he not a person.
Now, I’m going to interrupt myself here and note that scriptures indicate that Satan can appear as an angel of light. One might assume this means he can change his physical appearance however he wants. One might therefore argue that Satan could indeed have a tail, horns, and red skin, but can make himself appear otherwise. I don’t know how to argue against this except that there is no direct scriptural foundation for believing Satan looks any different from any other person. The devil, thankfully, is not the primary concern of scripture – Christ is – and therefore, we cannot “prove” Satan’s physical appearance either way. But let us resume our trip through the book of Moses.
Later, the chapter teaches that Moses and God spoke face to face. In Moses 2:26 we have man created in the image of God (thus, God looks like a person). In Moses 3 we have an explanation of how all things were created spiritually before being created naturally – thus confirming that our spirits existed before our bodies were created (Abraham 3 helps with this as well). And finally, in Moses 4, we have God teaching Moses about Satan. Here we learn that Satan wanted to be God’s son. Now how could that happen unless Satan, like Christ, was already a spirit child of God? And in this chapter we learn that Satan became the devil and was cast out of heaven.
This recounting is the clearest demonstration I know of that Lucifer was a son of God (indeed, a “son of the morning” – which I take to mean that he was one of those spirits born earliest). He rebelled and through his rebellion, became Satan and the devil, and a “third part” of heaven chose to follow him rather than our Savior.
I know I have given you a lot to study, Marianne, but I hope that you will find herein the things you need, and that you will let the Spirit guide you as you lovingly help your daughter to feel the Spirit and gain her own testimony of the restored gospel, no matter how long it may take.
Gramps
