Can a Person “Sell Their Soul” to the Devil?
You’ve no doubt seen a movie or read a story about a person selling his/her soul to the devil, like Ghost Rider or Faust. In these tales the individual makes a deal with the devil (or some lesser demon) by offering his/her soul in exchange for some extraordinary benefits, but there’s always a downside and a dire eternal price.
While these stories are fantastical, can a person in real-life sell his/her soul to satan? What’s the Bible say? Let’s start with the unpopular truth that…
In a Sense, the Devil ALREADY Owns the Souls (Lives) of Unbelievers
I realize that’s a pretty radical statement, but consider the biblical evidence: Some kind of lawful transference of power took place after Adam & Eve’s fall in Eden (Genesis 3) and this explains why the Bible says “the whole world is under the control of the evil one” who “leads the whole world astray” (1 John 5:19 & Revelation 12:9). How can this be? Simple: Satan possesses legal authority over physical creation. How else would he be able to tempt Christ with the offer of “all the kingdoms of the world” if they weren’t legally his to give? See Matthew 4:8-9.
The English Standard Version translates 1 John 5:19 as “the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.” The Greek word for ‘world’ in this verse is kosmos, which refers to the Earth or Universe. In short, the devil is legally in control of physical creation and therefore calls the shots, which is why the Scriptures refer to him as “the god of this world” who is able to blind the minds of those who don’t believe (2 Corinthians 4:4). Some translations render this as “the god of this age” since the Greek word for ‘age’ is not kosmos, but rather aión, which is where we get the English eon, aka an age. This shows that Satan’s dictatorship is limited to “this present evil age” and is not forever (Galatians 1:4).
Believers of course are looking forward to the eternal age of the New Heavens and New Earth where “there will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain” (2 Peter 3:13 & Revelation 21:1-4).
Getting back to our primordial parents, since Adam & Eve willingly believed and obeyed the word of satan over the Word of God they became slaves to a new master through the acquisition of a sinful nature, which is the satanic nature. Everyone born from the seed of Adam — meaning the entire human race — was born with that same satanic nature. This of course doesn’t mean that unredeemed people don’t have a capacity for good (since they ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, not just evil); yet their spirit is dead-to-God and in dire need of regeneration in order to reconnect with the LORD and attain eternal life (John 3:3, 3:6 & 3:16). This state is what theologians call spiritual death.
This explains why Christ frankly told a group of conservative religious leaders of Israel that the devil was their spiritual father (John 8:44). It also explains why the Messiah commissioned Paul to turn unbelievers “from the power of Satan to God” (Acts 26:18).
You see? Unbelievers are already children of the devil in a spiritual sense and thus under satan’s blinding power to some degree, whether they realize it or not. The awesome message of Christ is all about transferring people from the kingdom of darkness & death to the kingdom of light & life (Colossians 1:13 & John 3:36).
While this is true…
People “Sell” their Souls (Lives) to the Devil Depending on How Much They Live Out of Their Flesh
I realize that sounds like an extreme statement, but it’s based on these factors:
- The Hebrew & Greek words for ‘soul’ refer to the person’s life.
- Since the flesh or sinful nature is the satanic nature, the more an individual lives out of their flesh the more they produce the works of the devil on Earth.
The first point can be observed in this verse where the two Greek words for ‘life’ are used:
“The man who loves his life (psuche) will lose it, while the man who hates his life (psuche) in this world will keep it for eternal life (zoe).”
We see here two kinds of “life”:
What is the difference between zoe “life” and psuche “life”? Generally speaking, psuche refers to the individual life, that is, the living being itself, whereas zoe refers to the life of that being (Vine 368). Psuche of course is where we get the English words psyche and psychology. In other words, it has to do with the unique mind, being or disposition of the individual.
Now let’s relate this to Jesus’ statement in John 12:25 above: Psuche refers to the person himself — his very soul or being — and zoe in this context refers to the perpetual life of the person in the coming age. This explains why psuche is often translated as “soul” or “being,” such as in Christ’s statement here:
“Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.”
The Lord was talking about what the Bible calls the “second death,” which is the everlasting destruction of soul and body in the lake of fire (Revelation 20:11-15, Hebrews 10:26-27, 10:31, Luke 19:27 & 2 Thessalonians 1:9). The point is that that psuche in this context refers to the inward life of the person — as opposed to the outer person, the body — which is the conventional understanding of ‘soul.’ *
* In some contexts psuche refers to the whole person, inner and outer, like 1 Peter 3:20 where ‘people’ is psuche in the Greek. It’s similar with the Hebrew nephesh. For details see this article on human nature.
With this understanding, the more a person chooses to live out of his or her flesh — the sinful nature — the more they’ll produce the works of that destructive, satanic nature as opposed to the fruit of the spirit (Galatians 5:19-23). Since the works of the flesh correspond to the character traits of the devil, the person who decides to live out of that nature produces the devil’s works in whatever situation they are involved. In short, they give legs to satan on Earth.
For instance, I was involved with a fellowship for several years where the granddaughter of the pastor would regularly lie about congregation members, which is gossip/slander. In essence, she gave legs to the devil in that assembly and understandably caused many needless problems. She unfortunately maintained the favor of the pastor because of her familial status, which is the foolish ‘Eli Syndrome’ (1 Samuel 2:12-25).
Closing Word
People don’t literally sell their souls to the devil in real-life, although I’m sure some satanists do so in their buffoonish goat-sucking rituals. However, people can “sell their souls” to the devil simply by living out of their sinful natures because the flesh is the satanic nature and thus people who choose to live out of this nature produce the evil works of that nature and in essence give legs to satan, creating carnal havoc in whatever situation they’re involved, whether in the neighborhood, friendship, school, marriage, work or ministry.
Eli’s sons are one example in Scripture (1 Samuel 2:12-25), but there are many others, like the so-called prophetess ‘Jezebel’ at the assembly of Thyatira (Revelation 2:20-24).
The key to not “selling your soul (your life) to the devil” in this manner is to simply walk in the spirit rather than the flesh. Those who do so will produce the fruit of the spirit, which are the character traits of God (Galatians 5:16 & 5:19-23).
Related Topics:
Spirituality — How to be Spirit-Controlled Rather than Flesh-Ruled
The Fall of Man (Humanity) and Slavery to Satan
Why is this World so Messed Up?
Religion vs. Christianity (video)
Human Nature — Spirit, Mind & Body
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