The Sin of the Devil

“Now I know that the Lord is greater than all the gods; indeed, it was proven when they dealt proudly against the people.” 
Exodus 18:11

This is the first mention in the Bible of the sin of pride, and it appropriately refers to the primeval sin of the “gods” - that is, the supposed deities of the heathen.

Led by Satan, a great host of the created angels had rebelled against their Creator, seeking also to be “gods” like Him. Satan (i.e. “adversary”) thought he could become the highest of all. “O star of the morning, son of the dawn!...you said in your heart, ‘I will...raise my throne above the stars of God...I will make myself like the Most High.’ Nevertheless you will be thrust down to Sheol, To the recesses of the pit” (Isaiah 14:12-15).

Satan’s sin - and that of the other self-proclaimed “gods” - was that of being “conceited...the condemnation incurred by the devil” (1 Tim. 3:6). But they shall all, with him, eventually “be thrust down to Sheol,” and “into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil” (Matt. 25:41). This was also the sin of Adam and Eve, for Satan had seduced them with the promise, “you will be like God” (Gen. 3:5).

It is also the sin of all humanists and evolutionary pantheists, from Adam’s day to our day, for they seek to do away with God and make “gods” out of “corruptible man.” They have “worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator” (Rom. 1:23, 25).

But “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before stumbling” (Prov. 16:18). Our Lord of creation is “greater than all the gods,” even in that “it was proven when they dealt proudly against the people.” The sin of pride was the very first sin and is still the most difficult sin to overcome, but “God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble” (1 Peter 5:5).