1

9 FAQs ABOUT ANGELS AND DEMONS

A N G E L S A N D D E M O N S | 2

1 DO ANGELS REALLY EXIST?

WHEN THE TOPIC OF ANGELS COMES UP, particularly in western countries, it’s not uncommon to hear others express skepticism. Even Christians may doubt their exis-tence. The modern scientific understanding of the world doesn’t have a place for things that are not seen, felt, and heard. Spiritual beings, like angels, fall into the same cate-gory as goblins, ghouls, and the Greek gods: fantasy.

Are angels a myth? Should we take them literally, or are they metaphors and symbols? While skepticism may seem common, it appears that belief in angels isn’t all that rare. In fact, a 2016 Gallup Poll found that 72% of Americans believe in angels.1 Around the world, belief in angels is quite common, especially amongst Muslims in Asia and North Africa.2 These statistics show that there is a global interest in angels, and not just from Christians. Angelology, the study of angels, existed throughout history and is today a real area of theological and philosophical study. From Plato to Augustine, John Calvin to John Locke, Friedrich Schleiermacher to Karl Barth, many important philoso-phers and theologians have recorded their thoughts and beliefs about angels.

While there are many approaches to the study of angels, this article operates based on two assumptions. First, the Bible is God’s Word and it teaches that angels exist. Second, as God’s Word, the Bible reliably teaches us the truth about angels.

There is undoubtedly a “mythic” element to angelology. Like the Greek pantheon, angels are beings who are higher—both literally and in terms of power—than humanity. They exist above and beyond everyday experience. The angels of the Bible bear resemblance to the divine councils of other ancient myths and religions. This, however, does not mean

1 https://news.gallup.com/poll/193271/americans-believe-god.aspx2 http://www.pewforum.org/2012/08/09/the-worlds-muslims-unity-and-diversity-3-articles-of-faith/3 Stephen Noll, Angels of Light, Powers of Darkness: Thinking Biblically About Angels, Satan & Principalities, 204

they are not real. Stephen Noll writes, “Myth and metaphor are real ways of describing beings who are hidden from us above the firmament of heaven.”3 In other words, while mythic elements are used to describe angels to humans, that does not mean that the angels themselves are myth. There is something real behind stories of spirits and pagan religious beliefs. Angels are that reality, thus they can be thought of as “true myth.” We learn the truth about these beings through God’s inspired Word.

We can know both that angels exist and something of what they are like through the Bible. While experience should not be outright discredited, God’s inspired Word is infallible and inerrant and has the final say. The Bible affirms the exis-tence of angels as real, personal beings. On the one hand, Christians should seek to understand and articulate every-thing the Bible teaches about angels. However, on the other hand, Christians must be careful to not go beyond the things God has chosen to reveal. The topic of angels and demons seems to invite speculation. Christians, on the contrary, are called to be content that “the secret things belong to the Lord” and not delve into that which God has chosen to keep hidden (Deut. 29:29). In other words, the goal of angelology should be to say as much as the Bible does about angels, no more and no less.

Before we move on to more questions about angels and demons, we should address why it is important to study angels. Is it really worth time, energy, and focus? Aren’t angels a secondary (or even tertiary) issue when compared to the gospel or Christian discipleship? These are good questions, and they show that a careful balance must be struck in the study of angels. One theologian put it this way, “We must

A N G E L S A N D D E M O N S | 3

avoid both the over-estimation of angels on the one side and their under-estimation on the other. We contend for the sole lordship and glory of God, but we contend for the lordship and glory of God through the ministry of angels.”4 The study of angels, if rightly done, should lead us past the angels to their

4 Karl Barth qtd. in Stephen Noll, Angels of Light, Powers of Darkness: Thinking Biblically About Angels, Satan & Principalities, 172.

creator. It should inspire us to love and worship God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. If done correctly, angelology will lead to a deeper understanding of God and his plan of salvation for humanity.

A N G E L S A N D D E M O N S | 4

2 WHAT ARE ANGELS?

MEDIEVAL THEOLOGIANS ARE SOMETIMES RIDICULED for an obsession with obscure or unknowable questions like, “How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?” It’s easy to scoff at the absurdity of a question like this, but it misses the point. The question is asking about what angels are. It is ask-ing what they are made of, that is, what is their substance or essence. This is a very good question and one that is difficult to answer. The Bible gives us some information, but there is no exhaustive exposition on angelic beings and their nature. Let’s take a look at what the Bible does say.

First, the Scriptures teach that angels are creatures. The Bible begins by drawing an absolute distinction between God and his creation: “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth” (Gen. 1:1). God was there before the universe; this is taken as a given. God is there and, out of nothing, by the power of his creative Word, he called everything in heaven and earth into existence. This, of course, includes angels. Though angels are sometimes called “gods” or “Sons of God,” they are not divine. The Bible is clear that there is one eternal God (Deut. 6:4). He is the maker of heaven, earth, and everything in each realm. As the Psalmist writes, “Praise him, all his angels; praise him all his hosts…. Let them praise the name of the LORD! For he commanded and they were created” (Psalm 148:2, 5). Angels were made, like humans, to worship God alone, and it would be wrong for them to accept the worship that rightly belongs to the creator (Rev. 19:10, 22:9).

The second thing the Bible reveals about angels is that they are a different kind of creature than humans. Wayne Grudem describes angels as “spiritual beings with moral judgment and high intelligence, but without physical bodies.” 5 There are some

5 Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine, 397

ways in which the angels are similar to humans, but there are key differences. Angels are “spiritual” beings. The Bible uses the term “spirit” to differentiate angels from the physical and material (Luke 24:39; Heb. 1:14). This is why we can’t see angels apart from God miraculously opening our eyes (see 2 Kings 6:8-17). This also, incidentally, is why the question of how many angels can dance on the head of a pin isn’t totally foolish. The question is asking whether or not angels, as spir-its, take up any space. So, angels are a different kind of being from corporeal humans; they are “without physical bodies.” There are many questions we might want to ask about angelic bodies, but the Bible simply doesn’t answer them. We simply know that angelic bodies are different from the physical bod-ies we have now (see question nine). It is important to note that angels are not omnipresent or ubiquitous like God. They are spirit, but they still exist in one place at a time (Dan. 9:21-23; 10:10-14; Lk. 1:26).

Despite these differences, angels do have a key similarity to humans: they are personal beings. Angels have intelligence and a sense of morality, both marks of personhood. Angels have knowledge and can grow in knowledge (1 Peter 1:12). The Bible also indicates that angels have emotions (Lk. 15:10). Angels have wills of their own (2 Peter 2:4; Jude 6). They can choose between worship and obedience to God and rebellion (see questions five through seven). Some theologians infer from these characteristics that angels are made in the image of God; however, the Bible never explicitly makes that asser-tion. In sum, angels are beings in some ways quite similar to humans and in other ways radically different.

A N G E L S A N D D E M O N S | 5

3 WHERE DO ANGELS FIT

IN CREATION?

I ’LL BREAK DOWN THE ANSWER to this question into three sub-questions. First, when did God create angels? We will look at what the Bible teaches about angels in relation to the chronology of creation. Second, what is an angel’s place in creation? We will study what the Bible reveals about the heavens and the earth and where, spatially, angels fit into the universe. Third, how do angels relate to one another? We will see that Scripture reveals a hierarchy of angels.

The first thing to briefly consider is when God created angels. God gives us a hint in the book of Job when he says, “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding. Who determined its mea-surements—surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it? On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone, when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?” (Job 38: 4-7). It seems that the angels were present at the very start of the earth’s creation, watching with bated breath and bubbling over with joy at the sight of God’s creativity and power.

Angels were most likely created before the earth, which makes us wonder where they were. What is an angel’s place, spatially, in creation? The simple answer is “heaven,” but to understand this we must grasp the Bible’s blueprint of the universe. The Bible splits creation into three areas: heaven, the earth, and the underworld (i.e. Sheol, Hades). To say that angels live in heaven is not simply to say that they are up in the sky or floating in outer space somewhere. Heaven is a realm beyond the material universe. We might borrow an analogy from science fiction stories and think of it as another

6 Stephen Noll, Angels of Light, Powers of Darkness: Thinking Biblically About Angels, Satan & Principalities, 68. 7 Stephen Noll, Angels of Light, Powers of Darkness: Thinking Biblically About Angels, Satan & Principalities, 68.

dimension. This is seen in the first creation account. On the second day God separated the “waters from the waters.” This is not a horizontal separation but a vertical one. Between the waters above and below God placed a barrier, depending on the translation: an “expanse,” a “canopy,” or “the firma-ment.” In this expanse God placed the sun, moon, and stars. This heaven is what we would call outer space. But there is a higher heaven, one beyond the material universe, which is the dwelling place of angels (Gen. 21:17; Matt. 22:30, 24:36; John 1:51). The firmament is the dividing line, it “represents a metaphysical barrier between the transcendent throne of God and the earth as his footstool.” 6 Yet even within heaven there is a division; there is a highest heaven, the dwelling place of God almighty (2 Cor. 12:2). It seems that some angels are always before God in highest heaven (Is. 6:1-6; Rev. 4:6-11).

Our third question is how angels relate to one another. In answering this question the first thing to note is: While the Bible talks about angels living in different locations, the dis-tinctions may have more to do with authority or power than place. Stephen Noll explains it this way: “The angelic world is ‘up there’ or ‘out there’ in the hierarchical, not the astro-nomical, sense.” 7 The hierarchy of angels can be seen by the fact that some are referred to as “princes” or “archangels,” aka ruling-angels (Dan. 10:13; Jude 9). Angels seem to have differ-ing levels of authority and responsibility as well as different tasks. Angels are placed above man in this hierarchy, though God chose to ignore this order when he gave man dominion over the earth (Psalm 8:4-6). Angels, of course, are all below and subservient to God the creator (Heb. 1:1-14, 2:5-9).

A N G E L S A N D D E M O N S | 6

4 WHY DID GOD MAKE

ANGELS?

FIRST AND FOREMOST, GOD DECIDED TO MAKE ANGELS for the same reason he created everything else: for his glory. Angels were made to praise and worship God. In John’s vision of heaven, angels proclaim, “Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created” (Rev. 4:11). In the same vision he saw angels who praise God without ceasing, saying, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!” (Rev. 4:8) Angels do not just praise God for who he is; they also praise him for what he does to redeem sinners (Lk. 2:8-14, 15:10; Heb. 1:6). In addition to praising God, angels carry out his purposes by fulfilling the roles he has given them (Ps. 103:20).

The Hebrew word for angel, malak, and the Greek word, angelos, both mean “messenger.” This role is probably the most obvious one we find in Scripture. In the Old and New Testament, angels arrive at critical moments with mes-sages from God. Though the Bible contains a fair amount of instances of angelic visits, they are not as common as we might think when we recall the thousands of years that pass from the time of Abraham to the Apostles. Stephen Noll says, “Perhaps there were many more [angelic visits] that were never recorded, but the Bible seems to suggest that angels tend to appear at crisis times of history.”8 We might add that they seem to appear at important moments in redemptive history. To sum things up, God created angels to be his messengers and convey his word to humanity, particularly during important moments in the history of salvation.

Another role that has been given to angels is to rule and judge the nations. Deuteronomy 32:8-9 says, “When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance, when he divided

8 Stephen Noll, Angels of Light, Powers of Darkness: Thinking Biblically About Angels, Satan & Principalities, 172 9 R.C. Sproul, Unseen Realities: Heaven, Hell, Angels and Demons, 105.10 C. Fred Dickason, Angels: Elect & Evil, 62.

mankind, he fixed the borders of the peoples according to the number of the sons of God. But the LORD’s portion is his people, Jacob his allotted heritage.” God himself rules over his people, but in his wisdom he has elected to rule the nations through angels. This passage shows us that “one of the ways in which God mediates His providential supervision and rule over history and over creation is through the mission of these creatures that He formed to carry out His will, namely, the angels.”9 These angels whom God has allowed to rule over the nations are what Paul, in the New Testament, refers to as “rul-ers,” “authorities,” “cosmic powers,” and “spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Eph. 6:12). As Paul indicates, not all of the angels are good and holy. The Bible promises God will judge them one day (Ps. 82). In fact, though the final judgment is yet to come, Christ has judged the corrupt and evil angelic rulers of this world. Through his life, death, and resurrection, Christ secured the final victory over evil. While Christians must still engage in spiritual battle against the cosmic pow-ers and forces of evil in the heavenly places, the outcome of the war is sealed.

This leads us into the third role of angels: militants. God’s holy angels are his army. God is sometimes called the Lord of Hosts, a reference to his leadership over all the angels. The host “encompasses the whole array of God’s heavenly army and sees them employed as a military force to accomplish his will and to do His battles.”10 Sometimes God deploys angels to assist in physical warfare (Josh. 5:13-15; 2 Kings 19:35). However, in the bigger picture of redemptive history, angelic military victory is symbolic of salvation. The time of sending angels to do battle ended when the kingdom of Israel disappeared, how-ever when Christ returns to establish his kingdom the angels

A N G E L S A N D D E M O N S | 7

will come with him. Stephen Noll explains this well when he says, “Military victory therefore forms a central image of the mighty acts of salvation throughout the Bible. Salvation in the Bible is not merely salvation from an enemy, nor is God’s vic-tory merely a display of overwhelming power. God’s victory is

11 Stephen Noll, Angels of Light, Powers of Darkness: Thinking Biblically About Angels, Satan & Principalities, 157

always the vindication of his righteousness, and salvation is always directed toward the establishment of his kingdom.” 11 In short, the militant role of angels is to serve God’s kingdom. They fight against its enemies, guard its citizens, and if neces-sary, mete out punishment on the unrighteous.

A N G E L S A N D D E M O N S | 8

5 WHO IS SATAN?

SATAN APPEARS VERY EARLY IN THE HISTORY of the world. He “is an angelic being of wide and powerful influence, a major character on the moral stage of God’s universe.” 12 As we saw in question three, angels were created before the earth, thus Satan must have existed for some time before Adam and Eve met him in the Garden. Who was he? Where did he come from? Why was he tempting them? There are many questions about Satan that the Bible does not fully answer, but it does reveal enough for us to know who Satan is, where he came from, what he is attempting to accomplish, and how we can resist and have victory over him through Christ.

To understand who Satan is, a good starting point is to look at the names he is given in Scripture. To be more precise, they are titles, not names. The only proper name potentially attributed to Satan is Lucifer. This attribution is based off of Isaiah 14:12, “How you are fallen from heaven, O Day Star [i.e. Lucifer], Son of dawn! How you are cut down to the ground, you who laid the nations low!” This is only potentially a name for Satan because in its context this verse is clearly talking about the fall of the King of Babylon. Some think that is all it references and Lucifer should not be seen as a reference to Satan; others argue that only Satan is discussed in this verse. Finally, there are some who see this verse as a reference to both the king of Babylon and Satan.

In any case, the titles of Satan do a better job of revealing his nature and character than any personal name and they are what God has chosen to use in order to reveal who Satan is to us. The first title to consider is “Satan.” Satan is not a proper

12 C. Fred Dickason, Angels Elect & Evil, 121 13 C. Fred Dickason, Angels Elect & Evil, 129

name, it is a title meaning “adversary,” “opposer,” “accuser” or “opponent.” Satan is the enemy of God and his elect. He is full of malice and seeks to condemn God’s people (Rev. 12:9-10). In a similar vein his commonly-used title, “devil,” means “slan-derer or one who trips up.”13 Satan’s character is quite clear when you begin to study his titles. Jesus says the devil “was a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44). In this passage Jesus shows that Satan and the serpent who tempted Eve and told the first recorded lie in human history are one and the same. Satan is the “ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan” (Rev. 12:9; see also 2 Cor. 11:3, 14).

Satan is also called “the evil one” (John 17:15; 1 John 5:18), the “Destroyer” (Rev. 9:11), and the “tempter” (Matt. 4:3), just to list a few additional titles. In addition to revealing his evil nature, Satan’s titles show us that he has power. He is some-times called the prince or ruler of this world (John 12:31, 16:11). Similarly Paul calls him “the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience” (Eph. 2:2). Paul also refers to him as “the god of this world” (2 Cor. 4:4). It is important to note that this authority is not something Satan possesses by right or by might. The book of Job shows this clearly (Job 1:1-2:9). He has this authority because God has allowed him to. God has given him permis-sion to rule the earth and to rule in his evil manner only for a set time.

A N G E L S A N D D E M O N S | 9

6 HOW DID SATAN FALL?

NOW THAT WE KNOW A LITTLE ABOUT WHO SATAN IS from his titles, it is only natural to wonder about his story. If he is an angel created by God, how did he end up so evil? When God finished creating the heavens and the earth, he surveyed his handiwork and declared that everything was good. This state did not last, not for humanity nor for the angels. When the serpent shows up in Eden to tempt Adam and Eve, we realize that something has happened in the heavenly realm. Some angels have sinned and rebelled against the sovereignty of God (2 Pet. 2:4). Jude writes, “And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day” (Jude 6). We can notice a few things here. First, the angels’ rebellion was motivated by pride. Rather than accepting their God-given position and power, they sought to raise themselves up and overthrow God’s established order. Second, as a result, the angels were no longer allowed to stay in God’s presence. It is clear from his power and description in Scripture that Satan was the ringleader of this rebellion (Matt. 25:41; Rev. 12:9).

The Bible does not reveal much about Satan’s rebellion. The Scriptural references that potentially reveal the most about it are actually not about Satan’s fall, but use that event to describe the fall of nations. The quintessential passage that does this by drawing parallels between the fall of Babylon and Satan’s rebellion is Isaiah 14:12-15,

How you are fallen from heaven, O Day Star, son of Dawn! How you are cut down to the ground, you who laid the nations low! You said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to

14 John Calvin, Calvin’s Commentaries Vol. 7, 442 15 Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology, 413

heaven; above the stars of God I will set my throne on high; I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far reaches of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’ But you are brought down to Sheol, to the far reaches of the pit.

A very straightforward reading would see this text as only talking about Babylon. John Calvin wrote, “The exposition of this passage, which some have given, as if it referred to Satan, has arisen from ignorance; for the context plainly shows that these statements must be understood in reference to the king of the Babylonians.”14

However, others have put forth cogent arguments that a comparison is being made: The pride of the Babylonian king would lead to his downfall just as the pride of Satan led to his. Wayne Grudem argues,

This language of ascending to heaven and setting his throne on high and saying, ‘I will make myself like the Most High,’ strongly suggests a rebellion by an angelic creature of great power and dignity. It would not be uncommon for Hebrew prophetic speech to pass from descriptions of human events to descriptions of heavenly events that are parallel to them and that the earthly events picture in a limited way.15

Whichever way you take this particular passage, the overall teaching of Scripture is that Satan was cast out of God’s presence and awaits his final judgment because in his pride he sought to overthrow God, his creator and Lord.

A N G E L S A N D D E M O N S | 1 0

7 WHAT ABOUT DEMONS?

AS WE SAW IN QUESTION SIX, Satan did not rebel alone. Some angels joined in with him and therefore fell with him. Satan has a host of fallen angels that the Bible refers to as “his” (Matthew 25:41; Rev. 12:7). In both the Old and New Testament we find these angels described as “evil spirits” and “demons.” They are Satan’s minions and do his evil bidding. Satan is not omnipresent or omnipotent, so he must send out these fallen angels in his attempts to work evil in this world. They try to tempt humans into joining the rebellion, just as Satan first did with Adam and Eve. Like Satan they are liars and attempt to deceive men and women into indulging in idol-atrous and immoral beliefs and practices. The Bible shows they can impact both the body and mind and even possess individuals. Demons have power today, but it was radically curtailed by the coming of Christ:

By his ministry as exorcist and healer Jesus cleanses his peo-ple from the bondage of the earth and underworld of demons. By his death on the cross he casts Satan out of heaven as accuser and nullifies the legal bond against God’s elect. By his ascen-sion to God’s right hand he disarms the claims of the corrupted world order to define and divide the life of the nations. By his prophetic revelation through the Spirit he opens to his people a vision of a purified heavenly regime that will endure forever.16

Jesus showed his absolute authority over the demons by cast-ing them out of many people. The demons knew who he was and obeyed his commands. On the cross by taking on the punishment for our sin, Christ rendered Satan’s accusations impotent. He rose from the grave and ascended to the position of ultimate authority, the right hand of God the Father. Right now Christians have the Holy Spirit indwelling them, calling them to holy lives

16 Stephen Noll, Angels of Light, Powers of Darkness: Thinking Biblically About Angels, Satan & Principalities, 148 17 C. Fred Dickason, Angels Elect & Evil, 198 18 Stephen Noll, Angels of Light, Powers of Darkness: Thinking Biblically About Angels, Satan & Principalities, 150 19 R.C. Sproul, Unseen Realities, 157

as members of God’s kingdom and protecting and strengthening them against the attacks of Satan and his demonic forces.

Though the defeat of Satan and his angels is certain, the final battle is still in the future. This means that even now Christians must still war against spiritual forces of evil. This leads many Christians to wonder if they are susceptible to demonic powers and if they can be possessed. To address this concern it is helpful to begin by defining demon-possession. The word “possession” does not indicate ownership, but control. For this reason some suggest demonization as an alternate term. Demonization or demon-possession is “the inhabiting of a human by one or more demons who exercise various degrees of control with resul-tant physical, psychological, and spiritual manifestations.”17 Examples of these types of control can be found throughout the Bible (Lk. 13:10-17; Matt. 12:22-29; Lk. 8:26-39).

Can a Christian be demonized? This question does not have a crystal-clear answer in the Bible. For some, the lack of a spe-cific denial of the possibility means that it can occur. However, given the teaching of the New Testament this does not seem to be the right conclusion. Stephen Noll writes, “It is true that the apostolic writers never specifically deny that Christians can have demons, but it is remarkable that not one case is men-tioned in all the Epistles. Converted Christians will certainly be tempted by Satan, but they should never be demonized.”18 Christians are indwelt by the Holy Spirit and united to Christ. This does not make us immune to spiritual attacks, but it does mean that Satan and his minions cannot control us. As R. C. Sproul said, “Demons can oppress us, they can harass us, they can tempt us, attack us and so on, but thanks be to God, He who is in us is greater than he who is in the world (1 John 4:4).19

A N G E L S A N D D E M O N S | 1 1

8 DO CHRISTIANS HAVE GUARDIAN

ANGELS?

THE IDEA THAT each individual believer is assigned a guard-ian angel is a fairly popular one and it has been around for a long time. The medieval theologian Thomas Aquinas wrote, “Each man has an angel guardian appointed to him. This rests upon the fact that the guardianship of angels belongs to the execution of Divine providence concerning men.”20 Aquinas, like many before him and many after him, is expressing the belief God assigned angels to watch over each individual. While the existence of guardian angels has been taught by many throughout history, it is not something commonly discussed in the Bible. In fact, there are only two passages that might lead us to conclude that God gives each of us a guardian angel.

The first passage is found in the Gospel of Matthew. Jesus says, “See to it that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven” (Matt. 18:10) As you can see, Jesus makes reference to “their angels,” seeming to imply that each “little one” has an angel assigned to them. In studying the context to this verse, “Most commentators have concluded that in principle all believers are little ones.”21 In a nutshell, Jesus is teaching that all believers have honor and dignity, which is exemplified by the fact that “their angels” always see the face of God. It is clear that the saints have angels on their side, however, it is less clear whether or not each individual has a dedicated guardian angel.

For one, the idea of a guardian angel would be unique as there is nothing like that in the Old Testament apart from angels who guard entire nations (Dan. 10:21, 12:1; see question four). If Jesus was teaching something new about guardian angels we might expect a bit more explanation, if not from Jesus then from the rest of the New Testament. Yet there is no other passage that describes or teaches about guardian angels.

20 Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologia, Pt. 1 Q. 113 Art. 2 21 Stephen Noll, Angels of Light, Powers of Darkness: Thinking Biblically About Angels, Satan & Principalities, 170

In addition, the New Testament clearly teaches that Christ is the perfect mediator between God and man, thus making an angelic mediator superfluous (Heb. 8:1-2, 9:11-14).

Nevertheless, Jesus does reference “their angels” in relation to believers. If it is unlikely that this is a reference to individual guardian angels, then which angels is Jesus talking about? Some have suggested that it may be the 24 elders John sees in his vision of heaven. In Revelation we learn that these elders are in the presence of God worshiping and that they each hold a harp “and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayer of the saints” (Rev. 5:8). Perhaps these elders are a group of elite holy angels who guard and intercede in some sense on behalf of Christians.

The other passage that is cited in favor of guardian angels is found in Acts 12. This chapter records the story of Peter’s imprisonment and escape. In fact, it is an angel that leads him out of prison. Peter goes to a house where many are gath-ered praying together and knocks on the door. A servant girl answers the knock and when she hears Peter’s voice she is so excited she runs to tell everyone, leaving Peter locked outside! The believers tell the servant girl, “‘You are out of your mind.’ But she kept insisting that it was so, and they kept saying, ‘It is his angel!’” (Acts 12:15). Does this prove early Christians believed in guardians angels? It may. However, just because they believed in them does not mean they are real. This is a historical narrative describing what they said, not a Pauline epistle prescribing what to believe. It is hard to make a defini-tive case for the existence of guardian angels from this passage.

To sum things up, the Bible is almost completely silent on the prospect of individual guardians. However, it does clearly teach that God commissions his angels to protect and keep his people. While you or I may not have an angel personally assigned to us, we do have the help and assistance of the holy angels (Heb. 1:14).

A N G E L S A N D D E M O N S | 1 2

9 WILL CHRISTIANS BECOME ANGELS?

A COMMON PERCEPTION OF THE AFTERLIFE, at least as depicted in cartoons, is that Christians float up into the sky and become angels complete with wings and a halo. Eternity is an ethereal existence spent flying from cloud to cloud, pausing here and there to play the golden harp we all appar-ently receive upon entrance into heaven. This is far from the actual biblical picture of life in a new heavens and earth—a universe very much like the one we inhabit now—with the wonderful exception that the curse will be lifted and sin will be no more!

The question is, what will we be like in this new world? Will we become angels? Jesus told the Sadducees, “In the resur-rection they [men and women] neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven” (Matt. 22:30). When Luke recounts the same story he says that in heaven people “cannot die anymore, because they are equal to angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection” (Lk. 20:36). It might seem that when Christians die they are destined to become angels. However, a closer examination of the larger context to these verses shows that this is not the case. One of the central themes of Jesus’ ministry and the New Testament is the adoption of believers. In other words, what we find in these verses is the teaching that, “by God’s grace, the new humanity has been made higher than the angels and has been seated with Christ above all angelic powers.”22 To be a son of God is to be elevated in status, to rise into the presence of God in highest heaven because we are united to Christ and he is our mediator (Eph. 2:6; Heb. 9:24, 10:19). To be “like” or “equal” to the angels doesn’t refer to a metaphysical change but a hier-archical shift upwards.

22 Stephen Noll, Angels of Light, Powers of Darkness: Thinking Biblically About Angels, Satan & Principalities, 186

That being said, it is possible that there may be a change in our bodies such that we are like angels. When Paul writes to the Corinthians about the resurrection he describes our new bodies in this way:

So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. Thus it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being”;[a] the last Adam became a life-giv-ing spirit. But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual. The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven. (1 Cor. 15:42-49)

When we are raised from the dead, our body will be like that of Christ after the resurrection. It will be markedly different, imperishable rather than perishable, glorious, powerful, and—here’s an interesting descriptor—spiritual. The resurrection body, it seems, may be something like the angels’ bodies (see question two). To have a spiritual body does not mean we become angels, but perhaps the little we know of angelic bod-ies gives us a hint of what our glorified bodies will be like.

A N G E L S A N D D E M O N S | 1 3

RECOMMENDED READING

Dickason, C. Fred. Angels Elect & Evil. Chicago: Moody Press, 1995.

Noll, Stephen. Angels of Light, Powers of Darkness: Thinking Biblically About Angels, Satan & Principalities.

Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock Publishers, 1998.

Sproul, R.C., Unseen Realities: Heaven, Hell, Angels and Demons. Christian Focus, 2011.

CORECHRISTIANITY.COM ©2018