The concept of morphing, of shape shifting is very popular today and is generally applied to ghosts, aliens as well as angels and demons.
That old serpent called the Devil and Satan (Revelation 12:9 & 20:2) is not an angel nor a demon; is not a fallen angels but rather, a fallen Cherub (Ezekiel 28:14) and Cherubim and Angels are different categories of beings.
For whether Satan approached Eve in the literal shape/body of a serpent see the article: On satan, divination and metal
In view within this article is what, appears to be, a very straight forward statement about Satan being a shape shifter. 2 Corinthians 11:14 states that Satan does that which has been variously translated as follows:
ASV fashioneth himself into an angel of light.
HNV masquerades as an angel of light.
NIV masquerades as an angel of light.
KJV is transformed into an angel of light.
NKJV transforms himself into an angel of light.
YLT doth transform himself into a messenger of light;
DBY transforms himself into an angel of light.
WEB is transformed into an angel of light.
NLT disguises himself as an angel of light.
ESV disguises himself as an angel of light.
HCSB disguises himself as an angel of light.
NASB disguises himself as an angel of light.
RSV disguises himself as an angel of light.
The word in question is metaschēmatizō (Strong’s G3345) which refers to “to change the figure of, to transform.”
Thayer’s Greek Lexicon notes that it means:
…to change the figure of, to transform…to transform one’s self into some one, to assume one’s appearance…so as to have the appearance of some one…to shape one’s discourse so as to transfer to one’s self what holds true of the whole class to which one belongs, i. e. so as to illustrate by what one says of himself what holds true of all…the spiritual body being developed from the natural, as the butterfly from the caterpillar.
The word is found 5 times in the New Testament with 3 of those being within the text of 2 Corinthians 11:
And these things, brethren, I have in a metaschēmatizō metaschēmatizō (in the KJV as “figure transferred) to myself and to Apollos for your sakes; that ye might learn in us not to think of men above that which is written, that no one of you be puffed up for one against another. (1 Corinthians 4:6).
For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself (Philippians 3:20-21).
In 2 Corinthians 11 it appears in verses 13-15. Here is the relevant portion of the text so as to not take a text out context to make a pretext for a prooftext:
…But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him…
Have I committed an offence in abasing myself that ye might be exalted, because I have preached to you the gospel of God freely?…
But what I do, that I will do, that I may cut off occasion from them which desire occasion; that wherein they glory, they may be found even as we. For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, metaschēmatizō themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is metaschēmatizō into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be metaschēmatizō as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.
Clearly, the context is not shape/form but ministry, preaching, apostleship. Thus, the text, within context, is stating that human men pretend to be preaching Christ and that Satan pretends to be an angel/a messenger (which is what the word Angles means) of light/of the truth.
It is not about shape but about message and Satan’s deception; his corruption of the true message, the good news; the gospel.
Thus, there is no indication that he changes his shape when appearing as an angel of light but rather, that he changes his tone when appearing as a messenger of light; he pretends to be delivering messages from Jesus but delivers a corruption instead.
An important lesson in this case is that there are many different kinds of definitions for any given word; there are etymological definitions, grammatical definitions, common usage definitions, philosophical definitions, theological definitions, scientific definitions, etc., etc., etc.
In this case we learned that what a word means—when by itself; that is, removed from its context—is irrelevant since the context ultimately determines meaning. This may be what we can term a hermeneutical definition; when we allow a context to speak for itself and thus, define terms within the context.
The text could have stated that Satan “sausage’s himself as an angel of light” and we would still understand, from the context, that he is pretending to be something which he is not. The term is not as important and how the context coaxes us to understand the term.
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