Question: Satan

I was taught that Satan fell from Heaven as a result of pride. Isaiah 14 was one passage used to back this up (along with 1 Timothy 3:6). But as I read Isaiah, I see that this passage refers to the King of Babylon. So how do we make the jump to say that it refers to Satan? Isn't this also the passage where the name Lucifer comes from (due to the latin translations of this passage, which use the word "Lucifer" in place of "Day Star")? Perhaps the author does allude to Satan here, but it seems like we can't quite tell for sure. I wonder if the author of 1 Timothy 3 got his information about Satan from this passage, or from somewhere else. He writes as if he learned it from somewhere, and does not indicate that it was revealed at the time of his writing. Hmmm...

I wonder how times we interpret the Bible based on tradition and translation rather than a careful reading. And if we took the time to wade through all of them, how much would our understanding of Christianity change?

Created about 1 year ago