"Your Father, the Devil": Satan as a Father in the Bible

 As a father of growing and changing children, I want to keep growing in both my understanding and practice of fatherhood. Recently, I was thinking of the fact that Satan is discussed as a father in Scripture. So, it seemed worth exploring what characteristics are associated with devilish fatherhood.

 The images and metaphors associated with the devil are almost always violent or oppressive in some way whether emotionally (hatred, wrath, tempt, incite, furious), physically (contend, death, snare, take away, bound, devour), mentally (deceit, lies, schemes, disguise), or social (accuse, harass). 

Meanwhile, the images and metaphors associated with God may also at times be violent (Genesis 6:13; Exodus 15:3), but they are neither exclusively nor predominately so. Indeed, the names of God particularly associated with fatherhood are of a particularly different variety (Father of the fatherless, Holy Father, our Father in heaven, the Father of glory, the Father of mercy, the Father of lights, the living Father, etc.)  Along with their sources in the Bible, these can be seen in the 'Biography of God' that I posted some years ago.  

So...

In Scripture, what traits are associated with the fatherhood of Satan/the devil / the evil one? 

What qualities in a father are not sourced in the fatherhood of God?

-       John 8:34-47 (38, 41, 44) - The devil and his children...

o   lie, "the father of lies"

o   fight against truth

o   murder; seek to kill

o   cannot bear to hear the word of Christ

-       1 John 3:8-15 (8, 10, 12) - The one who is of the evil one...

o   Makes a practice of sinning; Does not practice righteousness

o   Does not love his brother

o   Hates and murders his brother

-       Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43 (38-39) - the children of the evil (one)...

o   intermingled with those of the Heavenly Father and may be indistinguishable from those of the Father’s kingdom even to the angels. (cf 2 Cor 11:14)

-       Acts 13:6-12 (10) - This particular example of a 'son of the devil'...

o   opposed God's messengers and sought to turn another person away from the faith 

o   was an enemy of all righteousness

o   was full of all deceit and villainy

o   made crooked the straight paths of the Lord (cf. Luke 3:3-5; the opposite of John the Baptist) 

  Other references that seem vaguely relevant but not really: Matthew 23:15; Ephesians 2:2-3; 5:6;  John 17:12; 2 Thessalonians 2:3; 2 Peter 2:14

  If you have any thoughts or passages or disagreements to contribute, I'd be interested to hear them on here or in person.