If we insist that human suffering is merely a result of human sinfulness—introduced into the world by God either to correct and punish human sin or to establish a natural consequence for sin—then we’ll miss the malicious demonic purposes that operate alongside God’s own good purposes in our suffering. Maintaining an awareness of these darker purposes will help us both resist them and understand how great an evil human suffering is.

Suffering in the Scriptural Narrative

Scripture begins with God creating a good world and appointing humans to establish his generous rule over creation (Gen. 1:27–28). When humans failed to do so by listening to the serpent and falling into sin (Gen. 3:1–7), they ceded dominion over creation to Satan (Matt. 4:8–9; 1 Cor. 5:5). Thus, he is described as both “the ruler of this world” (John 12:31; 14:30) and “the god of this world” (2 Cor. 4:4). Today, “the whole world lies in the power of the evil one” (1 John 5:19), and he’s filled it with suffering and death. It’s only after he gained a foothold in the garden that humanity was cursed with relational strife, painful toil, agony in childbirth, and death (Gen. 3:16–19). And it’s no coincidence that immediately after the devil will be judged (Rev. 20:10), death itself will be done away with (Rev. 20:14), and a new world will be ushered in with no “mourning, nor crying, nor pain” (Rev. 21:4).

Moreover, death is the ultimate and archetypal human suffering, and Hebrews describes the devil as having “the power of death” (Heb. 2:14). Paul, too, links death with the authorities and powers—which is Paul’s terminology for demonic powers. That’s why it’s through the victory of Jesus and his saints over death (Col. 2:12–13) that God “disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him” (Col. 2:15).1 Elsewhere, Paul writes, “Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death” (1 Cor. 15:24–26).

Within this larger narrative, the Scriptures are filled with specific stories in which Satan causes suffering. Importantly, Satan is described as causing not only the suffering that comes as a direct result of human wickedness but also the seemingly “random” suffering that comes from natural disasters and disease. It is Satan who uses a great storm to kill Job’s children and strikes him “with loathsome sores from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head” (Job 2:7). Similarly, in the New Testament, Matthew and Luke depict muteness, blindness, and seizures as caused by demons (Matt. 9:32–34; 12:22–24; 17:15; Luke 4:35; 11:14–15). Jesus himself describes a woman disabled for eighteen years as bound by Satan in her sickness (Luke 13:16). Clearly, as the Scriptures show, physical illness is sometimes a result of satanic or demonic activity.

Today, many Christians imagine that certain sicknesses have physical causes and should be treated medically while other illnesses are caused by demons and can be cured through exorcism.

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