Angel

An angel is an ethereal creature (meaning it is "of the air"), found in many mythologies, whose duties are to assist and serve God or the gods of many religious traditions.

Christian views

In the New Testament angels appear frequently as the ministers of God and the agents of revelation (E.g. Matt. 1:20 (to Joseph), 4:11. (to Jesus), Luke 1:26 (to Mary), Acts 12:7 (to Peter)); and Our Lord speaks of angels as fulfilling such functions (E.g. Mark 8:38, 13:27), implying in one saying that they neither marry nor are given in marriage (Mark 12:25). Naturally angels are most prominent in the Apocalypse. The New Testament takes little interest in the idea of the angelic hierarchy, but there are traces of the doctrine. The distinction of good and bad angels is recognized; we have names, Gabriel (Luke 1:19), and the evil angels Abaddon or Apollyon (Rev. 9:11), Beelzebub (Mark 3:22) and Satan (Mark 1:13); ranks are implied, archangels (Michael, Jude 9), principalities and powers (Rom. 8:38; Col. 2:10), thrones and dominions (Col 1:16). Angels occur in groups of four or seven (Rev 7:1). In Rev. 1-3. we meet with the "Angels" of the Seven Churches of Asia Minor. These are probably guardian angels, standing to the churches in the same relation that the "princes" in Daniel stand to the nations; practically the "angels" are personifications of the churches. A less likely view is that the "angels" are the human representatives of the churches, the bishops or chief presbyters. There seems, however, no parallel to such a use of "angel", and it is doubtful whether the monarchical government of churches was fully developed when the Apocalypse was written.

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The archangel Gabriel appeared to Mary in the traditional role of messenger to inform her that her child would be the Messiah, and other angels were present to herald his birth. An angel appeared at Jesus' tomb, frightened the Roman guards, rolled away the stone from the tomb, and later told the myrrh-bearing women of Jesus' resurrection. Two angels witnessed Jesus' ascent into Heaven and prophesied his return. When Peter was imprisoned, an angel put his guards to sleep, released him from his chains, and led him out of the prison. Angels fill a number of different roles in the Book of Revelation. Among other things, they are seen gathered around the Throne of God singing the thrice-holy hymn.

Related Topics:
Archangel - Mary - Messiah - Jesus - Myrrh - Resurrection - Heaven - Peter - Book of Revelation - Hymn

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An interpretation of the angels in the gospels is that angels are simply humans carrying a divine message. Indeed, the term "angel" frequently appears to describe not beings of power, but simply announcers of events.

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Angels are frequently depicted as human in appearance, though many theologians have argued that they have no physical existence. (Hence the frequently recounted tale of Scholastics arguing about how many angels could fit on a pinhead; if angels possess physical bodies, the answer is "at most a finite number", if they do not, then we rule out any finite number greater than zero as the answer.) Seraphim are often depicted as six wings radiating from a center ? either concealing a body, or without a body. Starting with the end of the 4th century, angels were depicted with wings, presumably to give an easy explanation for them travelling to and from heaven. Scholastic theologians teach that angels are able to reason instantly, and to move instantly. They also teach that angels are intermediaries to some forces that would otherwise be natural forces of the universe, such as the rotation of planets and the motion of stars. Angels possess the beatific vision, or the unencumbered understanding of God (the essence of the pleasure of heaven). Furthermore, there are more angels than there are anything else in the universe (although when first written this would have probably not included atoms since atomic structure was not known).

Related Topics:
Theologians - Scholastic - Seraphim - 4th century

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Religious thought about the angels during the middle ages was much influenced by the theory of the angelic hierarchy set forth in The Celestial Hierarchy, a work of Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, an unknown 5th century author or authors writing in the style of Dionysius the Areopagite. The creeds and confessions do not formulate any authoritative doctrine of angels; and modern rationalism has tended to deny the existence of such beings, or to regard the subject as one on which we can have no certain knowledge. The principle of continuity, however, seems to require the existence of beings intermediate between man and God.

Related Topics:
The Celestial Hierarchy - Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite - 5th century - Author - Dionysius the Areopagite

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Some Christian traditions hold that angels are organized into three major hierarchies which are subdivided into orders called "Choirs", and list as many as ten orders of angels. The Celestial Heirarchy is the source of the names that have become part of tradition: Angels, Archangels, Principalities, Powers, Virtues, Dominions, Thrones, Cherubim, and Seraphim. In this hierarchy, the Cherubim and Seraphim are typically closest to God, while the Angels and Archangels are most active in human affairs. Many of these names come from verses in the bible which would appear at first to be referencing a literal thing, although retroactively suggesting that they really mention angels can also make sense in the context. For example the verse in Paul "our struggle is not with earthly things but with principalities and powers" (meaning according to most theologians the fallen angels of those choirs, used as an example of all the fallen angels).

Related Topics:
Christian - Hierarchies - Archangel - Cherubim - Seraphim - Fallen angel

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Some Christian traditions also hold that angels play a variety of specific roles in the lives of believers. For instance, each Christian may be assigned a guardian angel at their baptism (although never defined by the Catholic or Orthodox churches, nevertheless it is personally held by many church members and most theologians). Each consecrated altar has at least one angel always present offering up prayers, and a number of angels join the congregation when they meet to pray. In the story of the 40 martyrs of Sebaste, in which 40 Christian Roman soldiers were made to stand naked on a frozen lake in the snow until they renounced their faith, angels were seen descending from Heaven placing the crowns of martyrs on their heads.

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Certain Christian traditions, especially the Reformed tradition within Protestantism hold that references to the "Angel of the Lord" are references to pre-Incarnation appearances of Jesus.

Related Topics:
Reformed - Protestantism - Incarnation

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Some medieval Christian philosophers were influenced by the views of Maimonides, and accepted his view of angels. Today, these views of angels are still technically acceptable within many mainstream Christian denominations. However, for all practical purposes most Christian lay people know little or nothing of these views, and do not accept them.

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Satan and the demons are thought by Christians to be angels who rebelled against God and were expelled from Heaven.

Related Topics:
Satan - Demons

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In many informal folk beliefs among Christians concerning the afterlife, the souls of the virtuous dead ascend into Heaven to be converted into angels. The Bible does state that at the resurrection, people will be like the angels with regard to marriage and immortality (Luke 20:35-36), and teaches such a transformation for instance at 1Cor 15:51; it states that the saints (all believers) will judge angels (1 Cor 6:3). Flavius Josephus (Discourse to the Greeks concerning Hades, VI) teaches of ressurected men and woman, i.e. male and female. (Zechariah 5,9) could be interpreted, that there are also female angels. The statement of 1Cor 11:10 could be interpreted, as if male angels could be vulnerable to the female attractiveness of worshipping woman. Official doctrines of most Christian churches teach that the virtuous are resurrected in the end of times, having a physical body again, unlike angels (see Swedenborgianism for a church that does officially and systematically teach that people enter heaven immediately after death).

Related Topics:
Folk beliefs - Afterlife - Bible - End of times - Swedenborgianism

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