Bible Dictionary
Accuser
An accuser is one who brings a charge against another. Scripture especially presents Satan as “the accuser of the brethren,” while the term is also used for human prosecutors and slanderers.
Definition
An accuser is one who brings a charge against another, whether as a legal prosecutor, plaintiff, hostile speaker, or slanderer. The term may describe a human opponent or Satan in his hostile work against God’s people.
Biblical Usage
Satan is called the accuser of the brethren and is portrayed as bringing charges against people before God. The New Testament also uses the term for human prosecutors and those bringing charges in legal proceedings.
Historical Background
The Jewish teaching described Satan as hostile to God and man and as accusing people of disloyalty and sin before God’s tribunal. Greek terms translated “accuser” include one meaning prosecutor and another meaning adversary or slanderer.
Scripture References
Related Figures
Historical Bible Dictionaries
Easton's Bible Dictionary
Satan is styled the “accuser of the brethren” (Rev. 12:10. Comp. Job 1:6; Zech. 3:1), as seeking to uphold his influence among men by bringing false charges against Christians, with the view of weakening their influence and injuring the cause with which they are identified. He was regarded by the Jews as the accuser of men before God, laying to their charge the violations of the law of which they were guilty, and demanding their punishment. The same Greek word, rendered “accuser,” is found in John 8:10 (but omitted in the Revised Version); Acts 23:30, 35; 24:8; 25:16, 18, in all of which places it is used of one who brings a charge against another.
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE)
<p>a-kuz'-er: This word, not found in the Old Testament, is the rendering of two Greek words:</p><p>(1) kategoros, that is, a prosecutor, or plaintiff in a lawsuit, or one who speaks in a derogatory way of another (Ac 23:30,35; 25:16,18; Re 12:10);</p><p>(2) diabolos, meaning adversary or enemy. This word is rendered "accuser" in the King James Version and "slanderer" in the Revised Version (British and American) and the American Standard Revised Version (2Ti 3:3; Titus 2:3). According to the rabbinic teaching Satan, or the devil, was regarded as hostile to God and man, and that it was a part of his work to accuse the latter of disloyalty and sin before the tribunal of the former (see Job 1:6 ff; Zec 3:1 f; Re 12:10).</p><p>W. W. Davies</p>