Correlative to Matthew’s description of the kingly activity of God in the person of his Son is his description of the rival activity of Satan. A transcendent, personal being with assorted names whose power is eclipsed only by that of God and of Jesus themselves. Satan is likewise said to have a kingdom (cf. 12:26), ruling in the world over angels (cf. 25:41), demons (cf. 12:24-29), and humans (cf. 13:38c). In his unswerving opposition to the Kingdom of Heaven (cf. 11:12), Satan is the arch-adversary of Jesus Messiah, the Son of God, and of Jesus Son of Man. The principal way in which he exercises his power is through temptation (cf. 4:3), that is, he endeavors to lead people to act or to live in a manner that is contrary to the will of God (cf. 16:23); hence, he is the supernatural fountainhead of all “lawlessness” (anomia, cf. 13:38c-39a, 41). Accordingly, Satan tempts Jesus Messiah in an effort to get him to divest himself of his divine sonship trough disobedience to his Father (cf. 4:1-11; also 27:40), he is active in Israel to bring the people and their leaders under his rule (cf. 12:39; 16:4), and he attacks the church of Jesus Son of God in order to bring disciples to fall (cf. 6:13; 13:19). In the world at large, Satan is the enemy of the exalted Son of Man, and in this arena, too, he is at work to raise up “sons” who will do his bidding (cf. 13:37-39a). But in the last analysis Satan cannot prevail, for not only has Jesus Son of God defeated him initially by resisting his temptations (4:1-11), but at the consummation he and all who are his will be cast by Jesus Son of Man into the eternal fire (25:41, 46). (Jack Dean Kingsbury, Matthew: Structure, Christology, and Kingdom [London: SPCK, 1975], 164-65)
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