The wicked angels are evil not because they were so created, but because they willingly fell away from God (non ortu, sed lapsu). We are not in a position to say why God did not provide a Redeemer for the fallen angels as He did for fallen man; but Quenstedt suggests as a probable reason (probabilis ratio) that the devils sinned without any temptation (Jude 6), while Eve was deceived by Satan (Gen. 3, 1-7) and Adam was tempted by his wife. But in no case must this explanation be used to limit the free compassion of the gracious God upon men. The fall of the evil angels affected their intelligence (vis intelligendi, intellect us). Scripture describes them, on the one hand, as exceedingly cunning, Gen. 3, 1 ff.; 2 Cor. 11, 3; Eph. 6, 11, on the other hand, however, as indescribably stupid, because they defeat their own purposes. Thus Christ's death, which Satan promoted, Luke 22, 53, was his own undoing, John 12, 31.
The evil angels constantly exhibit and exert their enmity toward God, Rev. 12, 7, and attempt the temporal and eternal ruin of man, Gen. 3, 1 ff.; 1 Pet. 5, 8. In their endeavor to injure man they harm him a) in his body, Luke 13, 11. 16; b) in his earthly possessions, Job 1, 12ff.; Matt. 8, 31. 32; c) in his soul, John 13, 27; Acts 5, 3; Eph. 2, 2. 3. Unbelief (status incredulitatis), with its dreadful punishment of eternal damnation, Mark 16, 16, is the result of Satan's pernicious work in men, Eph. 2, 1. 2; 2 Cor. 4, 4; Matt. 13, 25. All who refuse to believe the Gospel do as Satan prompts them; for he holds them in his power, Acts 26, 18; Col. 1, 13. The very denial of the personal existence of a devil is the result of the devil's operation in the human heart, 2 Cor. 11, 14.
On the basis of Holy Scripture we distinguish between spiritual obsession (obsessio spiritualis) and physical obsession (obsessio corporalis). The first applies in a wider sense to all unbelievers, who are held captive by Satan in spiritual darkness, Col. 1, 13, and in a narrower sense to those wicked persons whose minds are possessed, filled, and actuated by Satan in an intensified way (Judas, the Pharisees). Passages dealing with spiritual obsession in this sense are: Luke 22, 3; John 13, 2; Acts 5, 3; 2 Thess. 2, 9-11; 2 Cor. 4, 4. Spiritual obsession does not remove human responsibility, Matt. 25, 41, since the person so obsessed sins of his own free will, John 8, 43--45. Bodily obsession occurs when the devil immediately and locally inhabits and governs the body, controlling it according to his will, Mark 5, 1-19; Luke 8, 26-39. Bodily obsession is an affliction which may befall even true, believing Christians, as the passages just quoted show. In all cases of bodily obsession a person has no intellectual, emotional, and volitional functions of his own, but as long as the obsession endures, Satan, who is personally (κατ' οὐσίαν) present in him, acts in ~nd through him, so that in all cases of bodily obsession human responsibility ceases. (Cp. cases in which persons who are bodily obsessed deplore in moments of recovery the blasphemies which they uttered.)
The fury of the evil angels is directed especially against the Church of Christ; for they a) constantly seek to destroy it by their onslaughts in general, Matt. 16, 18; b) try to prevent bearers from accepting the Word of God, Luke 8, 12; c) spread false -doctrine, Matt. 13, 25; 1 Tim. 4, 1 ff.; and d) incite persecutions against the kingdom of Christ, Rev. 12, 7. In particular, Satan has wrought unspeakable harm in the Church by inflicting upon it the tyranny and doctrinal perversions of Antichrist, 2 Thess. 2. For the purpose of ruining the Church, the devil also troubles the political estate (1 Chron. 21, 1; 1 Kings 22, 21. 22) and the domestic estate (1 Tim. 4, 1-3; 1 Cor. 7, 5; Job 1, 11-19). Scripture teaches also that God employs the evil angels to punish the wicked for their rejection of truth (2 Thess. 2, 11. 12) and to try the faithful (Job 1, 7 ff.; 2 Cor. 12, 7).
The punishment of the evil angels is eternal torment in hell, Matt. 25, 41. The question whether the fire of hell is material (real fire) or immaterial (torment) we may leave undecided; for, on the one hand, Scripture speaks of the fire of hell in terms of real fire, Mark 9, 43; Rev. 14, 10. 11; 21, 8; on the other, it teaches that all material things in their present form shall cease with Judgment Day, 2 Pet. 3, 10---12. In either case the torment will be unspeakably great, Luke 16, 24; Matt. 25,46; 2 Thess. 1, 9; Jude 6. "1. All who deny that the damnation of the devil and his angels is everlasting must also deny the eternal salvation of the believers, Matt. 25, 46, since the term (αἰώνιος) is used to describe the endless duration of both heaven and hell.
In conclusion, let us remember that all things that Holy Scripture reveals concerning the fall, the works, and the punishment of the evil angels are written for our warning in order that we may escape the just judgment of God by believing in Him who destroyed the works of the devil, 1 John 3, 8.