A Theological Investigation on the Open Theistic Understanding of Satan and Spiritual Warfare: An Amillennial Perspective

Abstract

Amillennialism is a particular understanding of eschatology and redemptive history that has roots in early Christianity and is further developed through a Reformed view of scripture and with a high view of God’s sovereignty. Open Theism is a more recent theological approach with roots in free-will deism and a goal of vindicating God in the face of the evil and suffering of our world. These two views of scripture intersect in what they teach regarding Satan, spiritual warfare, and theodicy. This research takes an integrated theology approach to formulate an amillennial perspective on Satan, spiritual warfare, and theodicy. It seeks to answer the question of ways that an amillennial interpretation of redemptive history and eschatology may respond apologetically to Satan and spiritual warfare as theologically constructed within an Open Theistic Theodicy. Both the amillennial and Open Theist understandings of Satan, spiritual warfare, and theodicy are developed from historical hypotheses of past and modern-day theologians. An in-depth exegetical analysis of Revelation 12 is provided and applied along with the historical hypothesis to develop further the amillennial formulation and then defend against the contrasting ideas from Open Theism. The amillennial formulation is shown to better represent the scriptures in what it teaches about Satan, spiritual warfare and theology. The amillennial formulation is also shown to provide a more hopeful and Biblical application to Christian discipleship in terms of God’s character and prayer.