In this guide

A priest in first-century Palestine warned his congregation about a spirit named Belial, and the warning has echoed through two thousand years of Christian theology. The relationship between Belial and the New Testament is one of transformation: a Hebrew personification of worthlessness becomes a proper name for Satan himself, then fragments again in later occult traditions into a distinct Goetic king. Paul wrote the key passage in 2 Corinthians 6:15, and that single verse has shaped how demonologists, exorcists, and ceremonial magicians have understood Belial ever since.

Meta: How the New Testament redefined Belial from a Hebrew concept of worthlessness into a named demonic figure, and what that shift means for Goetic practice and Christian demonology.

What is Belial in the New Testament Context?

What is Belial in the New Testament Context

Belial appears only once in the New Testament, in 2 Corinthians 6:15, where Paul asks: “What harmony is there between Christ and Belial?” The Greek text reads Beliar (Βελιάρ), not Belial, and this spelling variation has generated centuries of debate. Paul treats Belial as a proper name for an evil spiritual being, the counterpart of Christ, which is a significant departure from the Hebrew scriptures where beliyya’al meant “worthlessness” or “destruction” without necessarily naming a specific entity.

The shift matters. In the Old Testament, “sons of Belial” described wicked men (Judges 19:22, 1 Samuel 2:12). By the time Paul wrote, Jewish apocalyptic literature had already begun personifying Belial as a satanic figure, and the New Testament completed that transformation. The Goetic grimoires of the Renaissance inherited this Christianized Belial and gave him a throne, a crown, and three legions of spirits.

Where Does Belial Appear in the New Testament?

Where Does Belial Appear in the New Testament

The single New Testament reference is 2 Corinthians 6:15, written by Paul around 55-57 CE. The full verse reads: “What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever?” Paul is arguing for separation from pagan practices, using Belial as the ultimate symbol of opposition to Christ.

The spelling Beliar in the Greek manuscripts has puzzled scholars. Some suggest it is a corruption of Belial from the Hebrew, possibly influenced by the Greek word diabolos (devil). Others argue it reflects a deliberate theological shift: Beliar sounds like the Hebrew beli ya’ar, “without forest” or “without light,” which early Christian writers like Origen connected to the idea of lawlessness. The Latin Vulgate rendered it as Belial, and that is the form that entered the Goetic tradition.

No other New Testament writer mentions Belial. The Gospels, Acts, the other Pauline letters, and Revelation all use “Satan,” “the devil,” or “the evil one” instead. This single verse carried disproportionate weight in later demonology because it gave scriptural authority to treat Belial as a named demonic power.

How Did Jewish Literature Between the Testaments Shape Belial?

The Dead Sea Scrolls, written between roughly 250 BCE and 70 CE, provide the bridge between the Hebrew concept and the New Testament figure. The Community Rule (1QS) and the War Scroll (1QM) name Belial as the leader of the forces of darkness, the angel of hostility who rules the present age. The Damascus Document (CD) warns that Belial will be unleashed in the end times to lead Israel astray.

These texts treat Belial not as a generic term for wickedness but as a specific spiritual entity. The War Scroll describes the final battle between the “sons of light” and the “sons of darkness,” with Belial commanding the latter. This dualistic framework directly influenced Paul’s language in 2 Corinthians: Christ versus Belial, light versus darkness, believer versus unbeliever.

The Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs, a Jewish pseudepigraphal work from the second century BCE, also personifies Belial as the spirit of deceit and sexual immorality. These texts were circulating in the first century CE, and Paul likely knew them. When he wrote “Belial,” his Jewish Christian readers would have understood the reference to this apocalyptic adversary, not merely a Hebrew adjective.

What Did Early Christian Writers Say About Belial?

The church fathers expanded Paul’s single reference into a full demonology. Origen of Alexandria (c. 184-253 CE) wrote in his Contra Celsum that Belial is the name of the adversary, the one who opposes Christ. He connected Belial to the Antichrist, reading 2 Corinthians 6:15 as a prophecy of the end-times opponent.

Tertullian (c. 155-220 CE) used Belial interchangeably with Satan in his writings against Marcion, arguing that the unity of scripture requires a single adversary figure. Jerome (c. 347-420 CE), in his Latin translation and commentaries, fixed the spelling as Belial and identified him with the devil.

The Apostolic Constitutions, a fourth-century Christian text, warns against those who “serve Belial” by practicing magic and divination. This association between Belial and sorcery would prove decisive for the medieval grimoire tradition. By the time the Lemegeton (the Lesser Key of Solomon) was compiled in the 17th century, Belial had become a Goetic king, created after Lucifer and commanding 80 legions of spirits.

How Did the Goetic Tradition Reinterpret the New Testament Belial?

The Goetic grimoires treat Belial as a distinct spirit, not merely a synonym for Satan. The Goetia (Book 1 of the Lemegeton) describes him as a king who appears in the form of two beautiful angels sitting in a chariot of fire. He was created after Lucifer but before the other fallen angels, which gives him a unique position in the hierarchy.

This description draws on the New Testament’s treatment of Belial as a named power but adds details from Jewish and Christian apocrypha. The chariot of fire echoes Elijah’s ascent in 2 Kings 2:11, and the beautiful angel form recalls 2 Corinthians 11:14, where Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. The Goetic Belial is not the crude destroyer of the Old Testament but a refined deceiver, which aligns with Paul’s warning about false apostles in the same chapter.

The grimoires also specify that Belial requires offerings and respectful treatment, unlike many other Goetic spirits. This may derive from the New Testament’s association of Belial with lawlessness: a spirit of rebellion demands careful handling. Practitioners are warned not to let Belial’s offerings fall into the hands of the unworthy, which echoes Paul’s command to have no fellowship with Belial.

What Are the Common Misconceptions About Belial and the New Testament?

The most persistent error is that Belial appears frequently in the New Testament. He does not. The single reference in 2 Corinthians is the only canonical mention, and even that uses the variant spelling Beliar. Every other New Testament reference to evil spiritual beings uses different names.

A second misconception is that Paul invented Belial as a demon. He did not. The personification of Belial was already established in Jewish apocalyptic literature, and Paul simply used the existing figure to make his rhetorical point about separation from pagan practices.

A third error is confusing Belial with the Antichrist. While some church fathers connected the two, the New Testament never makes this identification. The Antichrist is a figure in John’s epistles (1 John 2:18, 2 John 1:7), and Revelation describes the Beast, not Belial. The connection is theological speculation, not scripture.

Finally, some modern occult sources claim that Belial was a pre-Christian deity adopted into the Bible. There is no evidence for this. The Hebrew beliyya’al is a common noun meaning “worthlessness,” and its personification in Jewish literature is a development within Israelite religion, not an import from Canaanite or Mesopotamian sources.

FAQ

Is Belial mentioned in the Gospels? No. The Gospels never name Belial. They use “Satan,” “the devil,” and “Beelzebub” for the adversary figure.

Why does 2 Corinthians use Beliar instead of Belial? The Greek spelling Beliar may be a corruption of the Hebrew Belial, possibly influenced by the Greek word diabolos or by the Hebrew phrase beli ya’ar (without light).

Did Paul believe Belial was a real spirit? Paul treated Belial as a real spiritual power opposing Christ, consistent with Jewish apocalyptic literature of his time. He was not speaking metaphorically.

Can Belial be summoned using New Testament methods? No. The New Testament forbids summoning spirits. The Goetic tradition developed its own methods centuries later, drawing on medieval grimoires, not biblical texts.

The Weight of a Single Verse

One verse. That is all the New Testament gives us. Yet that single question from Paul, “What harmony is there between Christ and Belial?” became the foundation for a demonology that shaped medieval magic, Renaissance occultism, and modern Goetic practice. The Belial of the grimoires is not the Belial of the Hebrew scriptures, nor is he exactly the Belial of Paul. He is a third figure, born from the space between those two texts, where Jewish apocalypticism met Christian theology and produced a king of spirits.

For a deeper exploration of the Goetic kings and their origins, see our guide to demonology and Goetia. The relationship between biblical texts and grimoire traditions is also examined in our glossary entry on Belial, and the full hierarchy of the Lemegeton is detailed in our guide to the 72 spirits.