Reid on Satan

An interesting discussion about Satan’s relationship to God came up on the class forum. I think this quote shines and interesting light on the topic and Philippians 2 in particular.

“[The Apostle] Paul’s references to Satan always occur in the course of meeting the demands of his apostolic ministry; nowhere in the Pauline corpus is there any apparent attempt to set forth a systematic ‘satanology.’ But the picture which emerges from the fragments of evidence preserved in the Pauline letters seems in most respects compatible with that which we find in the common ‘satanology’ of Judaism –-though in Paul these themes are transposed into a Christian framework. Some have even suggested that the descent and ascent of Christ in the hymn of Philippians 2:6-11 is a mirrored counterimage of the story of Satan’s attempt to grasp equality and glory with God, and his subsequent punishment, based on Isaiah 14.”

Dictionary of Paul and His Letters (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1993) p 864