How is is possible for Satan to sin in Heaven?

[M-Dent]

Very little, actually. Believe it or not, much of what we take to be “gospel” about Satan and the fall of the rebel angels actually comes from Islam.

Nah, more accurately it derives from Judaism and possibly some Apocryphal writings.

 

[STT]

Nah, more accurately it derives from Judaism and possibly some Apocryphal writings.

Could you please give a citation?

 

[Tim_D]

Nah, more accurately it derives from Judaism and possibly some Apocryphal writings.

This hits all the key points.

 

[mdgspencer]

This seems an irrelevance. The idea of one God comes to Judaism originally. But this has nothing to do with whether it is true or not.

Nah, more accurately it derives from Judaism and possibly some Apocryphal writings.

 

[M-Dent]

Some seem to fail to recognize Jesus as a Jew and his teaching regarding Satan, which predated 7th century Islam. The disciples also had concepts of Satan from some writings which are Apocryphal in nature.

 

[Blue_Horizon]

The only thing we are required to believe is the following:

Scripture and the Church’s Tradition see in this
being a fallen angel, called “Satan” or the “devil”. [267] The Church teaches that Satan was at first
a good angel, made by God: “The devil and the other demons were indeed created naturally good
by God, but they became evil by their own doing.” [268]
392 Scripture speaks of a sin of these angels. [269] This “fall” consists in the free choice of these
created spirits, who radically and irrevocably rejected God and his reign. We find a reflection of
that rebellion in the tempter’s words to our first parents: “You will be like God.” [270] The devil “has
sinned from the beginning”; he is “a liar and the father of lies”. [271]
393 It is the irrevocable character of their choice, and not a defect in the infinite divine mercy, that
makes the angels’ sin unforgivable. “There is no repentance for the angels after their fall, just as
there is no repentance for men after death.” [272]
394 Scripture witnesses to the disastrous influence of the one Jesus calls “a murderer from the
beginning”, who would even try to divert Jesus from the mission received from his Father. [273]
“The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.” [274] In its
consequences the gravest of these works was the mendacious seduction that led man to disobey
God.
395 The power of Satan is, nonetheless, not infinite. He is only a creature, powerful from the fact
that he is pure spirit, but still a creature. He cannot prevent the building up of God’s reign.
Although Satan may act in the world out of hatred for God and his kingdom in Christ Jesus, and
although his action may cause grave injuries - of a spiritual nature and, indirectly, even of a
physical nature - to each man and to society, the action is permitted by divine providence which
with strength and gentleness guides human and cosmic history. It is a great mystery that
providence should permit diabolical activity, but “we know that in everything God works for good
with those who love him.” [275]

And yes there can be intellectual activity outside of time because, philosophically, succession can be instantaneous and infinite despite being timeless.

And, traditionally, there are 7 heavens. God “dwells” in the highest and to “dwell” there, by definition, means to “see his Face” (ie the Beatific Vision).
Satan was thrown down to the vault just below the 7th heaven, the sub-lunar realm, where he still has dominion.

This includes the earth, which is why he commands the Air.

 

[Wesrock]

There are two, maybe three points of discussion here.

(1) The Church’s doctrine on angels.

(2) Jewish-Christian traditions and apocryphal writings regarding the angels.

(3) A philosophical, metaphysical inquiry into what it is to be an angel and what that can tell us. This is the philosophy board.

Though let me highlight from the Catechism:

I. THE ANGELS

The existence of angels - a truth of faith

328 The existence of the spiritual, non-corporeal beings that Sacred Scripture usually calls “angels” is a truth of faith. the witness of Scripture is as clear as the unanimity of Tradition.

…

330 As purely spiritual creatures angels have intelligence and will: they are personal and immortal creatures, surpassing in perfection all visible creatures, as the splendour of their glory bears witness.190

…

**332 Angels have been present since creation **and throughout the history of salvation, announcing this salvation from afar or near and serving the accomplishment of the divine plan: they closed the earthly paradise; protected Lot; saved Hagar and her child; stayed Abraham’s hand; communicated the law by their ministry; led the People of God; announced births and callings; and assisted the prophets, just to cite a few examples.194 Finally, the angel Gabriel announced the birth of the Precursor and that of Jesus himself.195

…

391 Behind the disobedient choice of our first parents lurks a seductive voice, opposed to God, which makes them fall into death out of envy.266 Scripture and the Church’s Tradition see in this being a fallen angel, called “Satan” or the “devil”.267** The Church teaches that Satan was at first a good angel, made by God: "The devil and the other demons were indeed created naturally good by God, but they became evil by their own doing.**"268

392 Scripture speaks of a sin of these angels. [269] This “fall” consists in the free choice of these created spirits, who radically and irrevocably rejected God and his reign. We find a reflection of that rebellion in the tempter’s words to our first parents: “You will be like God.” [270] The devil “has sinned from the beginning”; he is “a liar and the father of lies”. [271]

393 It is the irrevocable character of their choice, and not a defect in the infinite divine mercy, that makes the angels’ sin unforgivable. “There is no repentance for the angels after their fall, just as there is no repentance for men after death.” [272]

The devil was created good, but he chose sin at the beginning, and this choice is irrevocable, his path set.

 

[goout]

Satan is a creature.
Satan has free will.

Whatever state Satan was in, he was not outside time like God, and he was not unchanging like God. God is not a creature, he is creator. Just because Satan had fellowship with God does not mean he shared God’s attributes.
He made a bad choice(es) with serious consequences.

Like many other articles of faith, there is no explicit detail of this in scripture. We can connect dots through Scripture and Tradition.
Those looking for explicit historical and scientific proofs are looking for fundamentalism.

 

[Blue_Horizon]

The only thing we are required to believe is the following:

And yes there can be intellectual activity outside of time because, philosophically, succession can be instantaneous and infinite despite being timeless.

And, traditionally, there are 7 heavens. God “dwells” in the highest and to “dwell” there, by definition, means to “see his Face” (ie the Beatific Vision).
Satan was thrown down to the vault just below the 7th heaven, the sub-lunar realm, where he still has dominion.

This includes the earth, which is why he commands the Air.

I forgot to add:
Satan, formerly titled “Lucifer” before he fell, is considered the pinnacle creature of the purely created order. This suggests he dwelt in the 6th “heaven” (the outer natural sphere beyond which lies the 7th Heaven where God “dwells”. Also known as the Emyprean Heaven).

Of course this wonderful yet ultimately scientifically naiive depiction of Christian (and indeed ancient secular “science”) spiritual realities being observed in the unreachable skies above us as actually visible to the eyes…finally collapsed in late medieval times.
It had already been seriously doubted even by religious academics considerably earlier including Aquinas.

Echoes and vestiges of this ancient cosmological “science” (with many variations depending on culture), which was taken for granted as true by many until medieval times (like evolution today), litter both the Old and New Testaments to varying degrees.

Interestingly the title “Lucifer” has been applied to both Mary and Christ and was a common Christian name in the first few centuries of the Early Church.

This suggests it did not always have the pejorative associations we assume today and that early Christian thinking re Satan has developed considerably until today.