Angels -Part 1

Introduction

This three-part paper will discuss who the angels are as revealed in the Bible, and how they work in the world.

Background

Angels are spirit beings created by God to do the work of God. All of the angels were created holy, but some rebelled against God (Jude 6).1 One of the chief angels who rebelled against God, we know as the devil, Satan.2 The result is two groups of angels; those who rebelled along with Satan, and those who stayed true to God their Creator.

Misleading

Many people believe in angels these days, but non-biblical views abound. While these incorrect views are misleading, some can be dangerous to believe. First, some of the non-biblical views that are misleading:

  • Angels wear white robes and halos, sit on the clouds, and play harps.
  • All angels have wings (My artist wife points out that in some of the artwork, the angel’s wings are not big enough to support their weight for flying.)
  • When believers die, they become angels.

The concept that angels sit around with nothing to do is not presented in the Bible. Some have wings, but others do not have wings, sometimes appearing in human form. People live eternally as people, their souls either being with God, or apart from Him (referred to as Hell.) We will elaborate on these issues throughout the paper.

Dangerous

Here are just two of the dangerous beliefs about angels gathered from the internet:

  • Angels love everyone unconditionally. They look past the surface and see the godliness within us all. They help everyone who calls upon them, no matter what.
  • We have no reason to fear them or think that they will trick us, because they are divine.

Believing these false ideas ignores the biblical truth that the devil is a real person. He and his evil angels want to destroy us, (1 Peter 5:8)3 proving that all angels do not love everyone. Satan and his angels hate God and want us to worship him, rather than God. Therefore they do not all look out for our well-being. Our greatest well-being is to be reconciled to God and live with Him forever.

In addition, evil angels disguise themselves as angels of light to deceive us (2 Corinthians 11:14).4 Therefore we need to be on guard because some angels indeed want to trick us.

Hollywood

Depictions of angels from Hollywood movies also do not give us a clear picture of what angels are really like. Some of these movies can be entertaining, but we should not get our angelology5 from them.

  • It’s a Wonderful Life – The angel is on earth in order to earn his wings
  • City of Angels – An angel can choose to become human
  • Michael – Michael is supposedly a holy angel, but is gluttonous, and violates biblical morality
  • How Sarah Got Her Wings – Sarah dies and becomes an angel-in-training where she must do a good deed for someone in order to be allowed into heaven.

Biblical View

The Old Testament speaks about angels just over 100 times, while the New Testament does so about 165 times. Angels are mentioned in 34 books of the Bible.

In the rest of this paper, I present the biblical perspective concerning angels.

The Nature of Angels

I will refer to the biblical text for our information about the nature of angels. These verses depict the angels as they were originally created by God and therefore apply to both the good and evil angels. My comments follow after each set of verses.

Created by God

Psalm 148:1-5:
“Praise the LORD! Praise the LORD from the heavens; praise Him in the heights!
Praise Him, all His angels; praise Him, all His hosts!
Praise Him, sun and moon; praise Him, all stars of light!
Praise Him, highest heavens, and the waters that are above the heavens!
Let them praise the name of the LORD, for He commanded and they were created.”

Colossians 1:16 “For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created by Him and for Him.”

Psalm 148 calls on God’s creation to praise Him. The last line says that He (God) commanded, and they were created. Colossians 1 gives more understanding saying that all things ‘visible and invisible’ have been created. This would include the angels and demons. Since God created them, humans do not turn into angels.

Spirit Beings

Hebrews 1:13-14
13 “But to which of the angels has He ever said,
“SIT AT MY RIGHT HAND,
UNTIL I MAKE THINE ENEMIES
A FOOTSTOOL FOR THY FEET”?6
14 Are they not all ministering spirits, sent out to render service for the sake of those who will inherit salvation?”

Luke 11:26 “Then it goes and takes along seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they go in and live there; and the last state of that man becomes worse than the first.”

In these passages we learn that angels are spirits. In verse 13 of Hebrews 1, the author is speaking of Jesus, who is not merely an angel. Then, in verse 14, the writer calls the angels ‘ministering spirits.’

In Luke 11, the context is a man who has had a demon removed from him. Verse 26 calls the demon a spirit, and says that the spirit is evil.

Immortal and Do Not Propagate

Luke 20:36 “For neither can they die anymore, for they are like angels, and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection.”

Matthew 22:30 “For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.”

In these passages, Jesus tells us that in the resurrection, men do not marry or die anymore because they become like the angels. The angels are therefore immortal and do not have offspring.

Higher than Man but Lower than God

Hebrews 2:6-7 “But one has testified somewhere, saying,
“WHAT IS MAN, THAT THOU REMEMBEREST HIM?
OR THE SON OF MAN, THAT THOU ART CONCERNED ABOUT HIM?
“THOU HAST MADE HIM FOR A LITTLE WHILE LOWER THAN THE ANGELS;”

2 Peter 2:11 “Whereas angels who are greater in might and power do not bring a reviling judgment against them before the Lord.”

1 Corinthians 6:3 “Do you not know that we shall judge angels? How much more, matters of this life?”

From these three Scriptures, we learn that God has set an order for men and angels before the resurrection. Before the resurrection, the order is God, angels, and then men. Hebrews and 2 Peter describe the angels as being above men and greater in power.

The judging described in 1 Corinthians appears to be in the coming kingdom since it is contrasted to what happens in this life. Therefore, I conclude it is after our resurrection. We might conclude also that since we are ‘judging the angels’ we are placed above them in the hierarchy. If that is the case, the new order in the kingdom might then be God, redeemed humans, and then angels.7

End of part 1. For part 2, go to Angels -Part 2.

1 Jude 6 And angels who did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their proper abode, He has kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day.

2 I take the view that Ezekiel 28:11b-19 is in reference to Satan.

3 1 Peter 5:8 Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

4 2 Corinthians 11:13 For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. 14 No wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.

5 Angelology -the theological doctrine of angels or its study. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/angelology. 9/19/23

6 All caps in the New Testament indicate an Old Testament quote.

7 Many Bible commentators think 1 Corinthians 6:3 refers to the saints sitting with Christ during the judgment. They conclude that while the evil angels are being judged by Christ, we will understand their sentence and agree with His verdict.