Is the devil tied up or free to roam?
Some rebellious angels are imprisoned while Satan roams. A contradiction requires establishing that Satan belongs to the exact imprisoned group, which these excerpts do not explicitly do.
- Textual conflict
- Weak contradiction
- The supplied passages do not establish incompatible claims. Different events, meanings, or conditions may account for the difference.
- Importance
- Major
- A major event or claim with wider implications.
The chained angels are never identified as Satan, so his roaming does not contradict imprisonment of that particular group.
An editorial assessment of the quoted passages. Importance describes the stakes; it does not increase certainty. Reading order weighs both.
Sinful angels are held in chains until judgment
For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment;
And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.