What is a devil's advocate?
The phrase usually means someone who argues a case he does not hold, just to test how strong the other side really is. Scripture shows something far more serious: there is a real advocate for the devil's side, he argues in the presence of God, and much of what he says is true.
The Adversary Never Defends
The scene in Zechariah 3 shows the high priest Joshua standing before God in filthy clothes with Satan at his right hand. One writer asks whether Satan was there as any kind of defender, and answers point by point.
C E StuartWas it to take God's side against evil, as the advocate of offended majesty? Doubtless he had helped on, though he had not begun, the failure of the people. Man yields to him, and then becomes his tool. Satan's activity had surely contributed to the state of those garments. Did he minimise Joshua's guilt? Did he plead any excuse on his behalf? Did he ask for mercy for the sinner?... Satan was there, not to befriend, but to be the enemy; not to excuse, but to accuse; not to be the advocate for Joshua, but the busy advocate against the one who, he well knew, could say nothing to defend or even soften his conduct.
And his charges do not need to be invented. Another writer notes that the strength of the case lay in the evidence itself.
C E StuartMost probably all that Satan said was true; there was no reason, either, for exaggerating one single offence. Neither falsehood nor exaggeration is generally used where the charge is too clear to be refuted. Joshua's garments were enough, and, if everything depended on his defence, conviction was certain.
The Argument From Motives
In Job the devil argues that no one serves God for God's own sake. Since he cannot conceive of a clean motive, he explains away a good man by his circumstances.
J T MawsonIt did not please the devil, the great accuser, that in the world he wanted to dominate there should be a man who wholly served God; and being only evil he could not understand a pure and unselfish motive, so he put down Job's faithfulness to God to the good thing he was getting out of it. "Does Job fear God for no reason?" he asks. "Have you not put a hedge around him and his house and all that he has, on every side?"
The Argument Dressed As A Question
His first recorded words to a human being were not a denial but an enquiry. That is the method: not a flat contradiction, but a query that shifts God into the dock.
William KellyUnder the seeming modesty of a query Satan was undermining the prime duty of a creature! And what did he seek in particular by it? To insinuate a doubt of His goodness. What! May you not eat of all the trees? Is it possible that you are forbidden any? How can God love you and withhold a single good thing from you? Surely there must be some mistake.
The answer is not to debate the question on its own ground but to name where it came from.
C. H. MackintoshThe true way to meet Satan's questions and suggestions is to treat them as his, and repel them by the word. To let them near the heart, even for a moment, is to lose the only power by which to answer them.
When A Friend Speaks The Part
The most striking case is Peter urging Jesus away from the cross out of affection, and being answered as though the enemy himself had spoken.
Hamilton SmithHow solemn that, as true believers, it is possible to make statements with complete sincerity which come from Satan. Peter may have thought he was only expressing a loving sentiment for his Master; in fact he was doing the work of Satan by trying to turn the Lord from the path of obedience to the Father's will, and putting a stumbling block in the way of the disciples.
As one older writer put it in a line worth keeping: he "gives poison in a golden cup... Who would have thought to have found the tempter in the mouth of an apostle?" (Hamilton Smith).
The Advocate On The Other Side
Against the case for the prosecution stands a counsel for the defence, and the two activities are directly linked.
Hamilton SmithIn heaven, all through the ages, he has been the accuser of the brethren, but Christ has been their advocate. The sins of God's people that call forth the devil's accusations bring into activity Christ's advocacy. To all the devil's accusations they have a perfect answer. They can own with sorrow and humility the truth of his accusations, but they plead the precious blood which cleanses from all sin.
Which rules out the one defence we instinctively reach for.
C StanleyYour utmost efforts to justify yourself can never stop the mouth of the accuser — it can only be stopped by the blood of the Lamb.
Summary
- Accuser. The devil's role in court is fixed: never to excuse, always to accuse — the busy advocate against the person who cannot answer for himself.
- Argument. His case comes in three forms: doubt God's word ("Has God said?"), doubt God's goodness, doubt your motives ("Does Job fear God for no reason?").
- Agent. He prefers a golden cup — a sincere friend, even an apostle, can carry his case without knowing it, which is why suggestions must be tested by the word and not by affection.
- Admission. His charges are often true; commentators do not deny them. The believer owns them with humility rather than arguing the point.
- Advocate. Self-defence never silences him. Christ pleads His own blood, and where the accusations rise, His advocacy answers them.