Hi Paul,
Actually to me they say virtually the same thing with different words. Ruiner, waster? What's the significant difference are you seeing? Harm, destroy? I guess my question is the same here as well. This is really no different than how much of scripture is phrased in a unique way through the variety of translations available.
In regard to the waster/destroyer himself here are a couple segments from LOF 2 & 4;"For the creature [and/or creation itself] was MADE subject to VANITY NOT WILLINGLY, but by reason of Him [that’s God] Who HATH SUBJECTED the same in hope. Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the BONDAGE OF CORRUPTION into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the WHOLE CREATION groans and travails IN PAIN until NOW" (Rom. 8:20-22)!
Wow! Did you know that Scripture is in the Bible? Have you ever meditated at length on its meaning? This one Scripture does much damage to Christian doctrine. From a strictly carnal-minded approach, this Scripture is devastating. Let’s see what these words entail from Strong’s GREEK DICTIONARY OF THE NEW TESTAMENT:
VANITY: empty, profitless, vain, transientness [temporary], depravity [wickedness].
BONDAGE: slavery, subjection, subserviency.
CORRUPTION: shrivel, wither, spoil, ruin, deprave, defile, destroy, decay, perish
GROAN: moan, calamity, be in straits, murmur, grief, grudge, anguish.
TRAVAIL: pangs, to pain together, travail as in birth.
PAIN: anguish, toil for daily subsistence, starving.
The force of these verses in Rom. 8:20-22 is inescapable. It was God HIMSELF Who subjected the whole creation to vanity, and He didn’t ask anyone’s permission before He did it. And it is only God Himself Who will deliver the whole creation from the bondage of corruption, pain, and suffering. Make no mistake about it:
God is the Creator of evil, and He takes full responsibility for the deliverance from the consequences of all the evils that have caused the creation to "groan and travail in PAIN until NOW" as Paul describes. God takes responsibility for the temporary failures of creation so that He can take all the credit and glory for its successes.
And most of the glory that God will receive is from the glory that He gives to all mankind.
It was not possible for Satan NOT TO SIN -- he was created for the express purpose of being God’s Adversary, and so, of course, he was a sinner "FROM THE BEGINNING"!http://bible-truths.com/lake2.htmlTHE ORIGIN OF SATANGod did not sin when He created His own enemy-Satan. Satan was never "Lucifer." Note these verses:
" ... from the beginning is the Adversary [Satan] sinning" (I Jn. 3:8).
"I have created the waster to destroy" (Isa. 54:16).
" ... His hand hath formed the crooked serpent" (Job 26:13).
"You are of your father, the Adversary [Satan] ... He was a mankiller [murderer] from the beginning ... " (Jn. 8:44).
Isa. 14:12-15 and Ezek. 28:1-19 are often used in desperation to prove that Satan was once a good Angel who went bad. The Authorized Version does a poor job in translating these verses. Even so, both are accounts of men and both men DIE. Neither of these two princes ever was Satan.
If Satan was a Archangel or Cherub who "went bad," and God didn't plan for that to happen, then God made a mistake and sinned. But God never sins. God never makes a mistake.
Whether they are aware of it or not, theologians accuse God of sin every time they make something take God by surprise.
The only way Satan, evil, and sin can be justified is if God brought these things into existence for a grand purpose and that they will be discarded when that purpose is accomplished. And that is exactly what the Scriptures say will happen.
Look at this verse:
"For this was the Son of God manifested, that He should be annulling the acts of the Adversary" (I Jn. 3:8).
Notice it doesn't say He will be "punishing" Satan's acts, but literally "annulling" them. And this is the same word used in Jn. 10:35 stating that the Scriptures cannot be "annulled." This is a powerful Scripture. But does even one in a hundred thousand believe it?
God is not running a damage control center from Heaven. God was, is, and always will be in total control of His creation. And seriously, would we ever want it any other way?
Notice Heb. 9:26:
" ... yet now, once, at the conclusion of the eons, for the repudiation of sin through His sacrifice, is He manifest." The King James says: "put away."
The Greek is athetesis [UN-PLACING] -- "repudiation!" The name "God" means "PLACER," and God is going to UN-PLACE SIN. Pretty powerful stuff, huh?
http://bible-truths.com/part4.htmPeace,
Joe