And he said unto them,
I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.
All Commentaries on Luke 10:18 Go To Luke 10
Cornelius a Lapide
AD 1637
And He said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven. Like lightning.
1. Unexpectedly: because as the lightning bursts forth unexpectedly from a tranquil sky, so were the devils suddenly cast down from heaven.
2. Violently, by the power of Michael and his angels, Revelation 13:7.
3. Swiftly, in a moment of time.
4. Openly, in the presence of all the inhabitants of heaven.
Christ took example from the lightning to show how great and swift was the fall of Satan. Euthymius. Many think that Christ here speaks literally of the fall of Satan from heaven, i.e. from the power of which he possessed over the world before the coming of the Saviour.
Ye tell me no new thing, 0 my disciples, for when I sent you forth I saw the devil deprived of power, falling as it were from heaven, and about to be yet more discomfited by your ministry. Christ saith this as if to magnify the power which He had given to the disciples. See how mighty a foe is subject to you through My name. So Nazianzen, S. Basil, and well-nigh all the Fathers.
Hear Theophylact. Some understand by the word heaven the honour and glory which Satan possessed, for before the coming of Christ he was worshipped as a god.
Euthymius also: Before the incarnation Satan was had in honour, and exercised kingly power, but he fell, not from heaven, because he had already fallen from it, but from all his glory and power when Christ was made man. So also Vatablus: When I sent you forth to preach I saw, saith Christ, that the power of Satan would be broken. "For" says S. Cyril, "Satan then fell from the heights of power to the extreme of weakness." He was venerated by men before the coming of Christ. He is now trodden under by the feet of the faithful
Hence it is written, "I give you power to tread upon serpents."
But this allusion to the fall of Satan is mystical and symbolical rather than literal. Literally Christ speaks of Satan"s fall from heaven, i.e. of the time when he and his angels were cast into the abyss, because through pride he sought to make himself equal with God, or because, as others think, he endeavoured to hinder the purpose of God in the incarnation of Christ.
Because, therefore, he envied the Divinity of Christ, he was cast out of heaven. The Greek word × ×•×£ï¢•×פב is in the past tense, and should therefore be translated as in the Arabic, "fallen." The whole passage, therefore, may be rendered thus, "Wonder not, 0 My disciples, that through My name ye have cast out devils; for I long since cast out of heaven Lucifer and his angels, because of their pride and discontent. But beware lest ye give way to pride, because the devils are subject unto you, and lest ye also for this cause incur a like punishment." So S. Jerome, and all the Fathers.*
But very appropriately is Lucifer compared to lightning.
1. Because by the brilliancy of lightning is very aptly shown the pre-eminence and fiery nature of Lucifer.
2. And also his excessive power to do hurt. For as the lightning shatters the hardest rock, so Satan overpowers all opposition.
3. Because of the shortness of his reign. For as the flash is quickly gone, so the dominion of Satan lasts but for this life, which is but as a moment compared with eternity.
Hence, figuratively, lightning, is an emblem of this world"s glory. For as it flashes, and is quickly gone, "so passes away the glory of this world."
Furthermore, as the brilliant lightning loses itself in the earth, so Lucifer, a bright angel, became through pride a foul fiend, and thus pride makes the best of men to become devils, whilst humility makes angels of the worst. See Isa. xiv. ii. "Thy pomp is brought down to the grave, the worm is spread under thee, and the worms cover thee."
4. Because of his outward appearance, "for he transforms himself into an angel of light," 2 Corinthians 11:14.
The full meaning of this verse is as follows:—I, saith Christ, as God saw the fall of Satan when he was cast out from heaven, and in like manner, I now, as the Son of Prayer of Manasseh , see him cast out of the temples in which he was worshipped, because I teach, and in My name ye also teach, the nations to break up their idols and to worship God alone. Hence, as I cast him out of heaven, so now I deprive him of his power over men. "How art thou fallen, 0 Lucifer, son of the morning. How is the light which was in thee become darkness." See Isaiah 14:12.
Moraliter. S. Bernard, in his sermon, on 1 Corinthians 3:12, says, "There is no security in heaven or in paradise, much less in the world. In heaven the angels fell in the very presence of God; in the garden of Eden, Adam; in the world, Judas, a disciple of Christ. I have said this, that no man lull himself into false security because "a place is holy ground." For it is not the place which sanctifies the men, but the men who sanctify the place."
Mystically. S. Jerome, Psalm 124:8, says, "Many earthly things became heavenly, and many heavenly things earthly." The traitor Judas was offered heaven, but chose earth. The apostle Paul, when persecuting the Church, was the enemy of Christ; but converted, he became meet for the kingdom of heaven. Let him, whose conversation is in heaven, beware of false security; and let not him who yet loves the world, despair of salvation.
