If Jesus tells us to love our enemies, does that mean we are to love Satan?
Listen: 115.1
The verse you are referring to is Matthew 5:44 where the Lord Jesus says, “But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.” Indeed, as Christians, we are to love our enemies. This may seem hard, or even impossible, to some. It is only because of the love of Christ in us that we are able to love those that hate or mistreat us. Romans 5:5 tells us that, “…the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.” We do have the ability to love our enemies because the love of God has been shed abroad, or poured out, into our hearts.
Satan is indeed our enemy, and we are warned about his devices and intents in 1 Peter 5:8, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.” Matthew 13:39 tells us that, “The enemy…is the devil…” Is Satan an enemy that we should love? No, he’s not. Satan stands for everything that the Lord is against; he stands against everything that the Lord is for. There is nothing in Satan that would respond to the love and goodness of the believer.
To those who completely rejected the words of the Lord Jesus, He had this to say in John 8:44, “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.” Notice the characteristics of Satan here; from the beginning he was a murderer and a liar. He is the father of lies. There is nothing about Satan that we should love, since he is totally contrary to the characteristics of Christ.
We should love those who are our enemies because showing them the goodness that is in our hearts because of Christ might lead them to repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus. Romans 2:4 teaches us that, “…the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance.” We should love and show love to all men because God is “…not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” as we read in 2 Peter 3:9. It may be that our testimony of Christ will be the very thing the Lord will use to lead our enemies to salvation. Although you should not love Satan, or anything that Satan stands for, you should, “love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.” In this, the Lord is glorified and ungodly men might be drawn to accept the Lord Jesus Christ as their own savior. (115.1)