When Jesus rebuked Peter, we note that He did not rebuke an evil spirit in Peter. Mat 16:23. Rather, Jesus identified Peter himself as Satan. He could address Peter in this manner because Peter had received faith and believed that Jesus was the Christ. Jesus was not able to speak to Judas in this way, even though he, too, was a devil. This is because Judas did not believe that Jesus was the Son proceeding from the Father. Consequently, he viewed himself as a colleague of Jesus, whose interpretations of the Scriptures were equal, or even superior, to Christ’s.

A person who has become a satan is different from a person who is possessed by an evil spirit. Such possession usually manifests as multiple personalities on account of multiple unclean spirits. Jesus noted this principle in His description of a person who was delivered from an unclean spirit that returned with seven other spirits more wicked than himself. Mat 12:43-45.

Like Satan himself, a person who has become a devil presumes upon the right to judge the word, and to judge those by whom it is delivered. They make this judgement on the basis of their interpretation of the Law, which is the word of God. In so doing, they set themselves as the measure of what is true, making themselves equal to Christ and His messengers. This is the carnal conduct of collegiality.

A person who has a collegial bearing towards the word, the presbytery, and their brethren in Christ, is an unbeliever, even though they may claim to believe in God or even agree with certain expressions and applications of the word. Through their response to the word, the messenger is either rejected or patronised. The associated actions that they take are not obedience; rather, they are compliance. They comply because the word that they have heard appears to align with their private interpretation of the Scriptures. 2Pe 1:19-21. Such a hearer is unable to be discipled or fathered by the presbytery, which is the face of Christ in the church.