Was Satan The Actual Serpent In The Garden Of Eden?
Bodie Hodge, M.Sc., B.Sc., PEI
Biblical Authority Ministries, October 28, 2025 (Donate)
All Scripture NKJV
This interpretation primarily comes from Revelation 12:9 and
20:2 without much regard to other passages, such as Genesis 3.
So the great dragon was cast out,
that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world;
he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. (Revelation
12:9)
He laid hold of the dragon, that
serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years;
(Revelation 20:2)
These verses give excellent information about Satan and
his many names as well as his involvement back in Eden, being the serpent of
old. But does this eliminate a real serpent? Not necessarily. The whole of Scripture needs
to be consulted.
We read in Genesis 3 that there was a real serpent and it
received a real physical curse to crawl on its belly and eat dust for
the duration of its life (Genesis 3:14). Satan is not a physical being.
He is a spiritual being which operates in the spiritual
realm as evidenced in many passages which detail his spiritual attributes such
as 1 Peter 5:8, Matthew 16:23, and Acts 5:3. Thus, Satan cannot take physical
bodily form of his own power. Jesus even
speaks of spirits when offering proof of His resurrection:
"Behold My hands and My feet,
that it is I Myself. Handle Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and
bones as you see I have." (Luke 24:39)
This confirms that such fallen spirit beings cannot
materialize otherwise; Jesus’ proof of His resurrection would be null and void
because an evil spirit could have “faked it”.
So then, how can both Satan and a real serpent be the
culprit? From other passages, we find an important principle. Satan and other
fallen spiritual beings like demons can enter into people and animals and
influence them.
For example, Judas was entered by Satan in Luke 22:3; Peter
was influenced by Satan[1]
(Matthew 16:23) and the swine by Legion, which consisted of many demons (Mark
5, Matthew 8).
Although such things may escape us, God easily sees when
Satan is influencing someone and will often speak directly to him. Beginning in
Ezekiel 28:11, for instance, God is speaking to Satan who was influencing the
King of Tyre. In the sections prior to this, the Word of the Lord was said to
In Isaiah 14, the passage speaks to the King of Babylon and
some parts to Satan, who was influencing him. This concept of speaking directly
to Satan while he is influencing someone is nothing new. These things do not
escape God’s notice.
So, there is no stretch to understand that the Lord is
speaking to the serpent and Satan in Genesis 3. Genesis 3:14 is said to the
serpent and then Genesis 3:15 is said to Satan who is influencing the
serpent.
Martin Luther states it this way:
“Let us therefore, establish in the
first place that the serpent is a real serpent, but one that has been entered
and taken over by Satan,…”[2]
Mr. Luther has not missed this common attribute of Satan in Genesis 3 and neither should we. We need to understand that Satan cannot materialize and hence had to use a physical means (e.g., the serpent) to deceive the woman. Such instances of Satan entering physical beings are common in Scripture so this is nothing new. And because of Satan’s entrance into the serpent, he can rightly be called the “serpent of old” or “great dragon” in Revelation.
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Bodie Hodge, Ken Ham's son in law, has been an apologist
since 1998 helping out in various churches and running an apologetics website.
He spent 21 years working at Answers in Genesis as a speaker, writer, and
researcher as well as a founding news anchor for Answers News. He was also head
of the Oversight Council.
Bodie launched Biblical Authority Ministries in 2015 as a
personal website and it was organized officially in 2025 as a 501(c)(3). He has
spoken on multiple continents and hosts of US states in churches, colleges, and
universities. He is married with four children.
Originally at Answers in Genesis; Edited; Republished by permission.
[1]
This was prior to the outpouring/indwelling of the Holy Spirit for Christians,
which does away with the possibility of demonic or Satanic possession in
Christians.
[2]
Luther’s Works Volume 1, Martin Luther, lectures on Genesis 3:14, Edited by
Jaroslav Pelikan, Concordia Publishing House, 1958 in English,
