Is Satan Equal to God?

"For by him all things were created, in the heavens and on the earth, things visible and things invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers; all things have been created through him, and for him" (Colossians 1:16). That single verse ends the question before it can even develop into a real debate. Every spiritual being other than Yahweh, however powerful or however far it has fallen into rebellion, is a created being — and that fact alone rules out dualism categorically.
The very language Colossians uses for hostile spiritual forces elsewhere — thrones, powers, rulers, authorities — is here explicitly said to have been created through Christ and for him. A being that owes its very existence to God cannot be his metaphysical equal or his rival; the conflict, however real its consequences on the ground, is fundamentally a rebellion within a single created order, not a war between two independent, co-equal powers locked in an even contest. This is precisely why the accuser in Job, in Zechariah, and even in Daniel operates only within limits explicitly set by God rather than by his own free authority. Job 1:12 and 2:6 show the boundaries negotiated and granted, never seized. Daniel 10 describes a hostile "prince of the kingdom of Persia" who withstands God's messenger for twenty-one days — real, genuine resistance, until the archangel Michael intervenes and the message is delivered regardless. That is resistance that costs something and delays something. It is never resistance that prevents God's purpose from being accomplished.
Genuine but never equal, real but never on level footing, permitted to resist but never outside a framework God retains final authority over at every point — this is the shape of the conflict Scripture actually describes. Not two thrones facing each other across a battlefield. One throne, one rebellion within its reach, and one verdict already certain long before the last skirmish is fought.