What The Bible Has To Say About Angels
What The Bible Has To Say About Angels
What The Bible Has To Say About Angels
WHAT THE
BIBLE HAS
TO SAY
ABOUT
ANGELS
TABLE OF CONTENT
Effeminate Angels?
Heavenly Haloes?
On Wings of Angels?
PAM DEWEY
If you have questions or comments about any of the material in the articles
in this collection of Answers About Angels, you may write to:
oasis7@gmail.com
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INTRODUCTION
ANSWERS ABOUT
ANGELS
Fifty years ago, the average American gave lip service to belief in angels
once a year—at Christmas time. A large proportion of households, both
church-goers and non-church-goers alike, had at least two angels on
hand for the season. One went at the top of the Christmas tree.
This angel most often looked like a beautiful young lady in a ball gown,
frequently made of white silk or chiffon or lace, and had delicate white
wings, typically either of lace or feathers.
The other typical household angel came with the resident Nativity Set
of figurines, and often perched on top of the stable which held the Baby
Jesus and His family—or was affixed to the gable on the front of it, to
give the illusion that the angel was hovering.
Although this angel’s garb was usually simpler, in line with the humble
clothes of the Holy Family, and its wings might be a variety of colors, it
was indeed still a female wearing a dress.
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So this was the introduction to angel lore that most young children, for
many generations, had absorbed. Angels were flying women who were
connected in some vague way with the Christmas celebration.
Children who were regularly taken to Sunday School might have had
this image slightly adjusted, for some Bible stories make it very clear
that the angels in those stories were said to have looked like men. If
these young people eventually were exposed to the religious art of the
Middle Ages and Renaissance, they would expand that perspective just
a bit more. So that eventually, hearing the term “angel” might bring to
mind either male or female winged figures.
But of course the Christmas Angels would still be those pretty ladies in
the pretty gowns.
But even though the average American might eventually have a broader
concept of what an angel was, they still seldom thought of them at
other times of the year. The exception to this might be in a family that
was particularly pious regarding their religious faith. Some
denominations, particularly the Roman Catholic Church, give more
attention to angels, particularly the notion of “guardian angels” for
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people. In particularly dedicated Roman Catholic homes there would
be religious artwork depicting angels, and the children would be taught
from their earliest years to pray to their own guardian angel.
The traditional Christmas tree topper angels are still around, as are the
Nativity Set angels. But they are now more of a nostalgia item than a
vital part of the Angel Business. In many cases, the traditional figures
have even been replaced at Christmas by more … contemporary
versions of the same thing. Some tree topper angels no longer look like
those lovely ladies.
http://www.beliefnet.com/story/115/story_11544_4.html
A second theory is that in the last few decades, we humans have been
overcome by science and technology until we feel there is no mystery
left, and yet we know instinctively that this is untrue. The converse of
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this has also been suggested: that science is revealing so many
mysteries that we need to remind ourselves there is a loving presence
in the midst of it all. Have you seen the star show at the Rose
Center’s Hayden Planetarium in New York City? There is no way to
digest what we now know about the heavens without being absolutely
floored by the enormity and majesty of it all. The same goes for what
we’re discovering about human biology. The mystery is
overwhelming. We need help!
But these modern “angels,” for all the love they are said to spread, have
most often been ripped from the context of not only the nativity story,
but from any connection at all to the God of the Bible. A large
proportion of them have become the equivalent of an army of Fairy
Godmother-type beings, who can dispense wisdom in how to deal with
all of life’s little problems, and can intervene for everyone regardless of
religious persuasion (some surveys have found that more people believe
in the existence of angels than in the existence of God) to keep them
from harm and bring them a happy, prosperous life. They demand no
obedience to any particular creed, or standard of behavior or morals. In
fact, they demand nothing but belief in their existence. In exchange,
they promise peace, comfort, sunshine, and an unconditional love that
allows people to live life any way they please … if they only “believe in
angels.”
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Well, actually, “they” don’t promise any of this—for the reality is that
“they” are imaginary beings. The promises come from the Public
Relations efforts of the purveyors of Angelmania. It is even quite
obvious that some writers who would have written books on
Horoscopes, or channeling messages and advice for people from
“Ancient Ascended Masters,” in decades past have switched to touting
the blessings of looking to the “Angels Among Us” for guidance.
Does this mean that angels don’t exist? No, the Bible is very clear that
God does have supernatural assistants and messengers called, in
English, “angels.” Does it mean that angels don’t at times defend and
rescue humans in times of trouble? No, for the Bible is also very clear
that one of the primary missions of God’s angels is to do those very
jobs.
But what is also very clear is that the “angels” of popular culture bear
almost no resemblance to the nature of the angels of the Bible. They are
purely an invention of the human imagination.
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BIBLICAL ANGELOLOGY:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angel
Angel: Definition
The English word angel comes from the Greek word aggelos
(pronounced ang-elos). The Greek word implies the function of a
messenger.
messenger When translating the word from the Greek New Testament
documents, most English translators have considered whether the one
fulfilling this function is a human, or a supernatural being. If it is a
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human, the word is usually translated by a word similar to messenger.
When it is clearly referring to a supernatural being, it is translated as
angel.
John the Baptist was a normal human being, born to a mother and
father. He was commissioned by God as a messenger, but he was not a
supernatural being who came down from Heaven.
In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered
righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies
[aggelos; KJV: messengers] and sent them off in a different
direction? (Jam 2:25)
Jacob also went on his way, and the angels [malakim] of God
met him. When Jacob saw them, he said, “This is the camp of
God!” So he named that place Mahanaim. Jacob sent
messengers [malakim] ahead of him to his brother Esau in the
land of Seir, the country of Edom. (Gen 32:1-3)
It is clear that the OT term malak and the NT term aggelos are
interchangeable in their meanings, as the incident regarding Rahab and
Jericho as it appears in the book of Judges is described this way by
Joshua:
Even though the root of the English word angel is a Greek word that
could mean also a human messenger, centuries of the Biblical use of the
word have led to the term being used almost exclusively in modern
times to designate a supernatural being sent on a mission from
Heaven by God.
God
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Functions
In the New Testament, the author of the book of Hebrews notes the
primary function of angels who come to Earth:
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• Instructed Cornelius the centurion to send for Peter,
leading to the baptism of Cornelius and his household.
(Act 10)
In both the Old and New Testaments, the angels of God are also said
to do battle with evil supernatural forces which are attempting to
thwart the plans of God.
This same “Michael, one of the chief princes” is referred to in the New
Testament book of Jude:
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But even the archangel [archaggelos: chief angel] Michael, when
he was disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, did
not dare to bring a slanderous accusation against him, but said,
“The Lord rebuke you!” (Jud 1:9)
This would indicate that Satan has supernatural beings who accept his
own authority and assist him in doing his works of evil. For more
information on this topic, see “The Devil’s Dark Angels.”
Sample Scriptures
Click here for a sampler of scriptures with examples of these five main
roles of angels as they interact with the
servants of God: protection, provision,
comfort, guidance, and deliverance.
Named Angels
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This illustration is from a typical Eastern Orthodox Icon (picture used
in religious worship) that depicts “Saint Michael the Archangel”
triumphing over the Devil.
In Christian artwork,
such as the cast shown
here of a carving on a
cathedral from 1359,
he is often represented
as a winged figure
blowing a trumpet.
For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud
command, with the voice of the archangel and with the
trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.
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information on the history and reliability of the information in these
books.)
The only heavenly supernatural beings that are described in the Bible as
having wings are the cherubim and seraphim. See the next section for
details on these beings.
Heavenly Halos
On Wings of Angels?
Effeminate Angels?
A Hierarchy of Angels?
Besides the angels and archangels, the Bible mentions by name two
other specific types of heavenly supernatural beings which humans have
seen, cherubim and seraphim. Neither is ever given the designation
“angel” in the Bible. Neither is ever portrayed as performing the
function of “messenger” implied by the terms malak or aggelos. And
neither is ever portrayed as “ministering to the saints” as Hebrews 1:14
defines the role of an angel.
But for some reason they have been referred to historically as part of an
“angelic hierarchy,” and as being, in that hierarchy, a type of angel …
above the angels. This seems to make little sense. It might be more
useful to refer to them as “celestial beings.” Thus one could say that
angels are celestial beings, but not all celestial beings are angels.
Cherub/Cherubim
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The English word cherub is derived directly from the Hebrew term
kerub used in the Old Testament. We first encounter the word in the
account of the expulsion of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden.
God is said to have stationed guarding cherubim, along with a flaming
sword, at the entrance to the Garden, to prevent Adam or Eve (or
anyone else from then on) from approaching the Tree of Life in the
Garden. (Gen 3:24) In Hebrew, the addition of the suffix im at the
end of a word indicates the plural of that word. So cherubim is the
Hebrew word that refers to two or more cherubs. (The translators of
the King James Version of the Bible seemed not to have understood
this, and chose to use the word cherubims with an unneeded, added “s”
on the word.)
Are these exactly what the carved and embroidered cherubim of the
Tabernacle and later the Temple looked like? We have absolutely no
way of knowing, as the Bible just doesn’t say. In the Book of
Revelation, John has a vision in which he sees four creatures around the
throne of God in Heaven:
Also before the throne there was what looked like a sea of glass,
clear as crystal. In the center, around the throne, were four
living creatures, and they were covered with eyes, in front and
in back. The first living creature
was like a lion, the second was
like an ox, the third had a face
like a man, the fourth was like a
flying eagle. Each of the four
living creatures had six wings
and was covered with eyes all
around, even under his wings.
Day and night they never stop
saying: "Holy, holy, holy is the
Lord God Almighty, who was,
and is, and is to come." (Rev
4:6-8)
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influence from about 150 years earlier.
Seraphim
In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a
throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the
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temple. Above him were seraphs,
seraphs each with six wings: With
two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their
feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to
one another:
“Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty;
the whole earth is
full of his glory.”
The name "Seraphim" does not come from charity only, but from the
excess of charity, expressed by the word ardor or fire. fire Hence
Dionysius (Coel. Hier. vii) expounds the name "Seraphim" according
to the properties of fire, containing an excess of heat. Now in fire we
may consider three things.
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"First, the movement which is upwards and continuous. This signifies
that they are borne inflexibly towards God.
"Secondly, the active force which is "heat," which is not found in fire
simply, but exists with a certain sharpness, as being of most
penetrating action, and reaching even to the smallest things, and as it
were, with superabundant fervor; whereby is signified the action of
these angels, exercised powerfully upon those who are subject to
them, rousing them to a like fervor, and cleansing them wholly by
their heat.
In Ephesians 1:19-21, the Apostle Paul wrote about the role of Christ
after the Resurrection:
It isn’t quite clear from these passages why some would conclude that
the terms “principality, power, might, and dominion,” in Ephesians,
and the added note regarding “thrones” in the listing in Colossians, as
listed in the King James Bible version of this passage, are specific names
of “ranks” or “types” of angels in a heavenly angelic hierarchy. But that
has historically been an interpretation in many Christian circles.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hierarchy_of_angels
In this work, the author drew on passages from the New Testament,
specifically Ephesians 6:12 and Colossians 1:16 (considered by
modern scholars to be very tentative and ambiguous sources in
relation to the construction of such a schema), to construct a schema
of three Hierarchies,
Hierarchies Spheres or Triads of angels, with each
Hierarchy containing three Orders
Orders or Choirs.
Choirs In descending order of
power, these were:
• First Hierarchy:
• Seraphim
• Cherubim
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• Thrones or Ophanim
• Second Hierarchy:
• Principalities
• Virtues
• Powers
• Third Hierarchy:
• Dominions
• Archangels
• Angels
While it is useful to know that some religious groups accept this theory
of angelology, it is also important to realize that this is not something
that is clearly revealed in the Bible at all—but is primarily a very
strained speculation with no real basis in scripture.
The Bible only directly addresses one “type” of angel, which it calls
simply an angel (aggelos or malak), with the term archangel evidently
designating a “chief angel.” As mentioned above, cherubim and
seraphim appear to be names for other supernatural beings not of the
same “type” as angels—which are “messengers” and “ministering spirits
sent to serve those who will inherit salvation”—at all.
In Summary
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Effeminate
Angels?
But if one were to judge by the common pictures and statues of angels
today in the Angel Shops that fill shopping malls and the Internet, it
would be logical to assume most of the accounts in the Bible must have
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represented the beings as having the form of a human female.
female For the
vast majority of artwork of angels of the past century and more …
including even Christmas tree topper angels such as the two shown here
… have depicted creatures of graceful feminine beauty.
Perhaps, once many religious circles accepted the erroneous notion that
Bible angels had wings, some early artists, looking for examples from
which to draw inspiration, were attracted to
the feminine “winged Nike” figure of
ancient Greek mythology and art. This
example is from around 550 B.C.
Greek art
had
already
been
influenced
by Egyptian art, and the depiction of
the Egpytian winged goddess Isis may
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well have been of interest to Greek artists looking for motifs.
But what is even more likely is that what modern viewers and artists
perceive as “feminine” angels in many famous medieval European
paintings were not intended by the artists to be females at all.
Particularly during the Medieval period, the overt “sexuality” of much
classic Greek and Roman art was
almost totally repressed. Bodies were
totally covered, both male and
female, in long robes. For instance,
consider this painting of the angel
Gabriel (described clearly in the
Bible as appearing as a male figure)
from about 1400:
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And as for that pretty “dress,” look at a
painting of the coronation of Pope
Boniface IX, done during the same
century. All of these are male figures, in
typical religious garb of the time. Bright
colors and flowing garments were
obviously not limited to just the ladies of
those days!
Although there has been one recent instance of a woman wearing the
same outfit …
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Outside their historical and cultural context, all of these features of
paintings can be very misleading. Even hairstyles which to us may look
stereotypically feminine because of length or curliness or the like may
well have been just typical male hairstyles of the time. The robes
probably cause the most confusion, as they tend to totally obscure any
hints that we might pick up of male musculature in bodies. Here are
some Medieval paintings which, because of slight differences in
costume, allow it to be abundantly clear that these are depictions of
“masculine” angels.
15th
Century
12th
Century
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12th
Century
17th Century
But the motif of angels has been appropriated by many modern artists
and their patrons who may well have no Biblical interests at all. In fact,
their angels have been removed from any particular connection to the
God of the Bible, and are much more akin to mythological creatures
such as fairies and leprechauns … and perhaps even pagan gods and
goddesses. They may have a “spiritual aura” connected to them, which
makes them look otherworldly, but without any special link to a
Heaven where God’s throne is. They are viewed by many as being
benevolent supernatural beings whose primary interest is helping out
people—not necessarily because they have been sent by God to do so,
but because it is just “their nature.”
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And as this “new” kind of angel has taken shape in the past century or
two, the emphasis has shifted more and more to a sort of gentle,
nurturing, “motherly” (or “big sisterly”) role for angels—hence the
trend toward almost entirely representing them as female. Even
younger versions, of adolescent and preadolescent angels, seem aimed
almost entirely at just the sentimentality of the “prettiness” of little girls
and young ladies with wings. (There is a small subset of angels who are
viewed as being “supernatural warriors,” and believed by some to do
battle with malicious supernatural beings, and these are still depicted as
male.) The Internet is full of websites and online shops specializing in
angels—angel posters, figurines, artwork, collectibles—and only a
minority have any biblically religious emphasis at all. Most emphasize a
very “New Age” sort of pseudo-spirituality.
This trend started in the 1800s, as can be seen by angelic art works such
as this 1899 painting by Thayer (the model was his young daughter)
and the others below.
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Greeting Card circa 1900
And the trend continues to this day, removing angels farther and
farther in the public mind from the reality of the powerful heavenly
messengers of the Bible, and essentially implying that they are an army
of Fairy Godmothers!
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EXTRA-BIBLICAL ANGEL LORE:
Heavenly Halos?
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(connected by a thin wire to a headband to hold it on the head of the
pseudo-angel.)
Did this concept of the floating halo being part of the “outfit” of an
angel come from the Bible? If not, how and when did it become so
pervasive in society?
The Nimbus
The Bible says nothing about floating circles over the heads of any
being. And thus we have to look elsewhere for the origin of this
symbolism. That search takes us back to ancient pre-Christian art, and
a pictorial symbol known as the nimbus.
http://www.
m-
w.com/dictio
nary/nimbus
39
The Roman god, Neptune
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11080b.htm (bolding
bolding added)
40
In the miniatures of the oldest Virgil manuscript all the great
personages wear a nimbus. The custom of the Egyptian and
Syrian kings of having themselves represented with a rayed
crown to indicate the status of demigods, spread throughout the
East and the West. In Rome the halo was first used only for
deceased emperors as a sign of celestial bliss, but afterwards
living rulers also were given the rayed crown, and after the third
century, although not first by Constantine, the simple rayed
nimbus. Under Constantine the rayed crown appears only in
exceptional cases on the coin, and was first adopted
emblematically by Julian the Apostate. Henceforth the nimbus
appears without rays, as the emperors now wished themselves
considered worthy of great honour, but no longer as divine
beings.. In early Christian art,
art, the rayed nimbus asas well as
the rayless disc were adopted in accordance with tradition.
The sun and the Phoenix received, as in pagan art, a wreath or a
rayed crown, also the simple halo. The latter was reserved not
only for emperors but for men of genius and personifications of
all kinds, although both in ecclesiastical and profane art, this
emblem was usually omitted in ideal figures. In other cases the
influence of ancient art tradition must not be denied.
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than to His Godhead. Before long the nimbus became a fixed
symbol of Christ and later (in the fourth century), of an angel
or a lamb when used as the type of Christ.. The number of
personages who were given a halo increased rapidly, until
towards the end of the sixth century the use of symbols in
the Christian Church became as general as it had formerly
been in pagan art.
Iconography: …the
… traditional or conventional images or
symbols associated with a subject and especially a religious or
legendary subject
…the imagery or symbolism of a work of art, an artist, or a
body of art
http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/iconography
Halo Latin halos, from Greek halOs threshing floor, disk, halo
Halo:
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1 : a circle of light appearing to surround the sun or moon and
resulting from refraction or reflection of light by ice particles in
the atmosphere
http://www.m-
w.com/dictionary/halo
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But these haloes are not hovering above the heads of all of these
figures. In fact, they appear almost as if they are circular golden plates
placed behind each head. How did the halo get from this to the
hovering little golden tube
common today?
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plate in the picture, an element decidedly even more out of place.
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maintaining the illusion of depth in that way.
Protection, Provision,
Comfort, Guidance,
Deliverance
There are scores of passages in both the Old and New Testaments that
describe the roles that angels fulfill in God's plans for mankind. Below
is a representative sample.
With the coming of dawn, the angels urged Lot, saying, "Hurry! Take
your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept
away when the city is punished." When he hesitated, the men grasped
his hand and the hands of his wife and of his two daughters and led
them safely out of the city, for the LORD was merciful to them. As
soon as they had brought them out, one of them said, "Flee for your
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lives! Don't look back, and don't stop anywhere in the plain! Flee to the
mountains or you will be swept away!" (Gen 19:15-17)
See, I am sending an angel ahead of you [the Israelites who have been
delivered from bondage in Egypt] to guard you along the way and to
bring you to the place I have prepared. Pay attention to him and listen
to what he says. Do not rebel against him; he will not forgive your
rebellion, since my Name is in him. If you listen carefully to what he
says and do all that I say, I will be an enemy to your enemies and will
oppose those who oppose you. My angel will go ahead of you and bring
you into the land of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites,
Hivites and Jebusites, and I will wipe them out. (Exo 23:20-23)
Elijah was afraid and ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba in
Judah, he left his servant there, while he himself went a day's journey
into the desert. He came to a broom tree, sat down under it and prayed
that he might die. "I have had enough, LORD," he said. "Take my life;
I am no better than my ancestors." Then he lay down under the tree
and fell asleep. All at once an angel touched him and said, "Get up and
eat." He looked around, and there by his head was a cake of bread
baked over hot coals, and a jar of water. He ate and drank and then lay
down again. The angel of the LORD came back a second time and
touched him and said, "Get up and eat, for the journey is too much for
you." So he got up and ate and drank. Strengthened by that food, he
traveled forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the
mountain of God. (I Kin 19:3-8)
The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him,
and he delivers them. (Psa 34:7)
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If you make the Most High your dwelling—
even the LORD, who is my refuge—
This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was
pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was
found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph her
husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public
disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.
But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him
in a dream and said, "Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take
Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the
Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the
name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins." (Mat 1:18-
21)
After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary
Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb. There was a
violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven
and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. His
appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. 4The
guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead
men. The angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that
you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has
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risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go
quickly and tell his disciples: 'He has risen from the dead and is going
ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.' Now I have told
you." (Mat 28:1-7)
So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to
God for him. The night before Herod was to bring him to trial, Peter
was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and sentries
stood guard at the entrance. Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared
and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him
up. "Quick, get up!" he said, and the chains fell off Peter's wrists. Then
the angel said to him, "Put on your clothes and sandals." And Peter did
so. "Wrap your cloak around you and follow me," the angel told him.
Peter followed him out of the prison, but he had no idea that what the
angel was doing was really happening; he thought he was seeing a
vision. They passed the first and second guards and came to the iron
gate leading to the city. It opened for them by itself, and they went
through it. When they had walked the length of one street, suddenly
the angel left him. Then Peter came to himself and said, "Now I know
without a doubt that the Lord sent his angel and rescued me from
Herod's clutches and from everything the Jewish people were
anticipating." (Act 12:5-11)
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WHERE ANGELS FEAR TO TREAD:
Sources of extra-
biblical stories,
legends, myths, and
speculation about
angels
The information about angels provided by the writings in the Old and
New Testaments is very scanty. We know much more about specific
acts that they have performed throughout history (e.g., rescuing Lot
from Sodom, announcing the birth and resurrection of Jesus) than we
know about exactly what they look like, how they function, and what
they do with their time when they are not rescuing people and giving
announcements.
It would appear that God did not find it important to fill us in on these
details, perhaps for very good reasons of His own—which we may not
be able to understand with our human minds. But that has not
prevented mankind from being extremely curious about such details.
And from the history of religious speculation, it would appear that it
has not prevented many writers from rushing in to fill the gap in our
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knowledge. Since long before the time when Jesus lived on the Earth,
religious authors have collected, and written about … and sometimes
perhaps invented out of their own fertile imaginations … stories,
legends, myths, and speculations about the goings-on in the
supernatural realm. The separate article Biblical Angelology provides
an overview of what we can clearly know about angels with the
Bible as our sole source of information.
information.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biblical_canon
The word canon itself is derived from a Greek word that implies a
“measuring rod.” The underlying idea of the term is that the validity
and value of any information, any other writings, any interpretation of
religious ideas must be “measured” against a fixed standard. A simple
analogy would be the measuring sticks at the entrance to certain rides at
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many amusement parks. A child who wants to go on the ride must
stand next to the stick and see if he “measures up” to being tall enough
for the ride.
Since at least 100 AD or so, the Jews have accepted the 39 documents
that make up the collection of writings labeled the Old Testament in
Christian Bibles as being their canon of scripture. The Jewish term for
the collection is the Tanakh. Tanakh is an acronym (TNK) for the first
letters of the three sections into which they divide the collection: T for
Torah, the first five books, containing “the Law”; N for Neviim, the
Hebrew word for the books of the Prophets; and K for Ketuvim, the
Hebrew word for the other “Writings.” Although they may find other
documents of historical interest or as having useful speculation on
religious topics, only those 39 documents are accepted as having
unquestioned divine approval.
Extra-
Extra-Canonical Jewish and Christian Writings
The “closed canon” of the Jewish and Christian Bibles means that the
amount of information considered authoritative that is available on
topics of religious interest is very limited. And yet almost every bit of
the information we do have in the canonical writings leads to curiosity
and questions … for which there are no clear answers provided within
those writings. Examples:
Where did Cain and Seth get their wives, if everyone descended from
Adam and Eve? The logical conclusion is that they married their own
sisters, but the Bible doesn’t say that in so many words. This has led
some to speculate that perhaps the wording of the Bible that indicates
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God didn’t “create from scratch” any other people than Adam and Eve
is misleading, and that outside the Garden of Eden there were many
races of people.
What happened to the Apostles after the time in the Book of Acts
where the main attention is given to the ministry of the Apostle Paul?
The Bible doesn’t say. This has led to many legends and myths (and
possibly some actual history) about the travels of various individuals
and pairs of them to parts of the known world.
Curiosity and questions like these have been rampant since long before
the time of Christ. And wherever there has been curiosity, there have
usually been enthusiastic authors ready to respond to that curiosity with
written answers. Those answers may have been developed from oral
legends and myths. They may have been presented as being the result of
visions from God. And in far too many cases, they may have been
fanciful speculations from the fertile imagination of the author,
presented as solid facts.
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A large selection of manuscripts of this sort were circulating in the
centuries just before and after the time of Christ. And to this day, many
bookstores have translations of the most enduringly appealing of them.
Sometimes collections of some of them are labeled “Lost Books of the
Bible,” although this is a misleading designation. The implication is
that they were, once upon a time, considered part of the “canon of
scripture” of either or both the Jews and Christians, and that somehow
they were then strangely lost—or perhaps deliberately suppressed by
religious leaders. Both of these implications are erroneous. It is known
what documents were part of the Jewish canon at the time of Christ,
and they are the same ones that are in the Jewish Bible, the Tanakh,
now. There was considerable interest at the time, within Jewish
scholarly circles, in some of the extra-canonical books that were written
after the last of the books of the Tanakh. But there is no record that
there was ever any serious consideration that they should have somehow
been included in the official canon.
There are many records from the earliest years of Christianity showing
which documents were commonly considered inspired by Christian
believers of the first two centuries, and with a very few exceptions that
remained under dispute in some areas of the world, they are the same
ones as those currently in the New Testaments of today. The canon was
completely settled in most places by at least the fourth century AD. The
few debatable documents that finally were rejected as part of that canon
are well-known and were never lost—or suppressed, although perhaps
most people without an interest in ancient literature may have been
unaware of them.
It is not necessarily that any or all of these documents are without value
to the serious student of both history and the Bible. In a few cases they
may provide valuable and fairly reliable historical information about the
time in which they were written. (The primary example of this is the
First Book of Maccabees from The Apocrypha.) In other cases, they
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give a fascinating view of the legends and myths that were accepted by
some as being plausible. And in still other cases, they provide an
overview of what some minority sects of the Jewish or Christian
religions held as doctrine, and insight into the course of the
development of certain theological ideas. Unfortunately, a significant
percentage of Christians in recent decades have become fascinated, and
at times even obsessed, with the highly fanciful and speculative content
of many of these writings, and failed to ground their enthusiasm solidly
in the canonical scriptures so that they can “separate the wheat from the
chaff.” The result at times has been the acceptance and promotion of
some very aberrant doctrinal positions that are incompatible with the
Bible, and only supported by this extra-biblical material.
One of the major areas of doctrine that is addressed very little in the
Bible, but elaborated to a great extent in many of the extra-biblical
writings, is that of angelology. Many of the theories and speculation
and elaboration of both Jewish and Christian theologians over the
centuries about what the angelic world is like have been based not on
the Bible, which provides so little information on the topic, but on
material gleaned from the extra-canonical writings.
Apocalypse
Apocalypse:
Apocalypse One of the Jewish and Christian writings of 200
B.C. to A.D. 150 marked by pseudonymity, symbolic imagery,
and the expectation of an imminent cosmic cataclysm in which
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God destroys the ruling powers of evil and raises the righteous
to life in a messianic kingdom. (Etymology: … from Greek
apokalypsis, from apokalyptein to uncover)
http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/apocalypse
The word has even made its way into secular writing as a synonym for
“the end of the world as we know it,” in circumstances that have
nothing to do with religious belief. Any scenario which seems similar to
the massive destruction described in the Book of Revelation, which
might be caused by totally non-supernatural circumstances such as
nuclear war, or a collision of Earth with a huge asteroid, may be
referred to as “apocalyptic.” Science fiction writers have often used such
a scenario for either apocalyptic (during the disaster) or “post-
apocalyptic” (in the aftermath, short or long, of the disaster) stories and
films. An example of the former would include War of the Worlds, and
the latter the Planet of the Apes movies.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apocalyptic_literature
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When the Jewish people came back from exile in Babylon in the 5th
Century BC, and rebuilt Jerusalem and the Temple, there were high
expectations that the earthly kingdom of the Messiah would be
inaugurated soon. When their hopes failed to materialized, and the
ancient prophecies of the prophetic writings of the Tanakh, such as the
Book of Daniel, did not come to pass on the expected time table,
speculation arose that some series of cataclysmic events would
eventually usher in the era of fulfillment. And a whole genre of writing
arose in which authors purported to provide the details of such a
scenario. None of these were ever accepted by the Jewish religious
leaders as being authoritative and inspired by God, and thus none ever
made it into the “Old Testament canon.”
Apocrypha
http://gbgm-umc.org/UMW/Bible/apocot.stm
· Tobit
· Judith
· Wisdom of Solomon
· Baruch
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· The Letter of Jeremiah (Baruch ch. 6)
· 1 Maccabees
· 2 Maccabees
· 3 Maccabees
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· 4 Maccabees
A number of details about angels beyond what is in the Old and New
Testaments appear in The Apocrypha, including the names of two
specific angels, Raphael and Uriel. If the documents of The Apocrypha
are credible, inspired works, then this may be useful information. If, on
the other hand, they are only fictional accounts invented by their
authors or derived from legends and myths, then this information can
be misleading.
Pseudepigrapha
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pseudepigrapha
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called the Nephilim. When these creatures died, their “disembodied
spirits” became what were later termed “demons.”
Since this information is not in the Bible, and it purports to give details
of events in both ancient history and in the supernatural realm, either
the author of the Book of Enoch was truly inspired by God to know all
of these things, they sprang from his own imagination, or he compiled
them from myths and legends of his time. Evaluating some of the
content of the Book of Enoch in the light of the canon of scripture
should allow the reader to come to a conclusion on which of these
alternatives is correct. See “Sample Content from Some of the Most
Popular Extra-Canonical Books” for some excerpts from this book.
The Hebrew title of the document does not indicate it was material
written by a prophet named Jasher. The Hebrew word jasher is taken to
mean upright or righteous. And thus the title indicates that it is a Book
of the Upright or Book of the Righteous, an account of some of the
upright or righteous patriarchs. The book which currently has the
interest of some Bible students as being the original Book of Jasher was
reportedly first printed and circulated in Hebrew in Europe in the
1500s. The introduction to a Hebrew edition published in Spain in
1625 claimed that the original from which it had been copied had been
spirited away from Jerusalem to Spain not long after the destruction of
Jerusalem in 70 AD—but there is no historical evidence to validate this
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claim. The credibility of the book as an ancient writing from Biblical
times has been disputed for centuries by both Jewish and Christian
scholars, with the Encyclopedia Judaica noting that it was likely a
rabbinical writing of the 1200s.
The book surfaced in the US in the early 1800s, when a Jew named
Moses Samuel of Liverpool, England, translated the Hebrew version
into English and sold the translation to New York publisher Mordecai
Manuel Noah. Noah published an American edition in 1840. Latter
Day Saints founder Joseph Smith, just beginning development of his
Mormon movement, cited the book as early as 1842. The copyright
was obtained by Salt Lake City publisher J.H. Parry, which published
an edition in 1887, giving it credibility in Mormon circles, where many
consider it as being an inspired writing clear up to today. Given the fact
that Mormons were used to the idea of viewing “extra-biblical”
writings, such as Smith’s Book of Mormon and his other writings, as
inspired, it is understandable why they might give approval to such a
book. But it’s not quite clear why it has developed such a following in
more traditional evangelical circles, given the content, which in many
cases just cannot be harmonized with the Bible. For an overview and
excerpts of some of the content, see “Sample Content from Some of the
Most Popular Extra-Canonical Books.”
Just as there were a large number of writers who appended the name of
famous Old Testament personages on to their own writings to give
them credibility, a number of authors in the centuries after the death
and resurrection of Jesus composed documents purporting to have been
written by well-known New Testament characters or their associates.
These included apocalypses, Gospels (narratives of the life of Jesus
similar to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John in the Bible), epistles
(letters) similar to those of Paul in the New Testament, alleged
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collections of sayings of Jesus, and narratives claiming to tell of the
activities of the twelve Apostles or other disciples of Jesus after the
accounts in the book of Acts. There are close to a hundred of these
available in English translation today, and there is evidence that there
were at least 150 or more others circulating in the early centuries after
the time of Jesus. Some commentators refer to all of these as “New
Testament Apocryphal works.” Others use Pseudepigrapha as a
designation for all. And still others recognize a subset of the
Pseudepigrapha—those documents which had a wider acceptance in
the early Church even though they didn’t make it into the Canonical
New Testament—and reserve the term “New Testament Apocrypha”
for that collection.
http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/
This collection includes all the books of the canonical New Testament
as well as many of the Apocryphal and Pseudepigraphal works.
Rabbinical writings
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Rabbi:
http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/rabbi
Halakah:
http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/halakah
Haggadah,
Haggadah Aggadah
http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/haggadah
Rabbinic, rabbinical:
http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/rabbinic
The Talmud
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talmud
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The Talmud ( )דומלתis a record of rabbinic discussions of
Jewish law, ethics, customs, and stories, which are authoritative
in Jewish tradition. It is the fundamental source for rabbinic
legislation and case law. The Talmud has two components: the
Mishnah, which is the first written compendium of Judaism's
Oral Law; and the Gemara, a discussion of the Mishnah
(though the terms Talmud and Gemara are often used
interchangeably). While arranged as comments on the Mishnah
and related Tannaitic writings, the Gemara often ventures onto
other subjects and expounds broadly on the Tanakh. The
Gemara is the basis for all codes of rabbinic law and is much
quoted in other rabbinic literature.
The Jewish Oral law was recorded by Rabbi Judah haNasi and
redacted [redact: to edit and prepare for publication] as the
Mishnah ( )הנשמin 200 CE. The oral traditions were
committed to writing to preserve them, as it became apparent
that the Palestine Jewish community, and its learning, was
threatened. The rabbis of the Mishnah are known as Tannaim
(sing. Tanna ;)אנתmany teachings in the Mishnah are reported
in the name of a specific Tanna.
Many Christians who have heard of the Talmud assume that it is made
up primarily of legalistic discussions of just how to apply Old
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Testament laws, such as how to keep the Sabbath. This is not so. The
content ranges widely on almost every aspect of human life, philosophy,
ethics, government, personal relationships, and much more. And it is
full of discussions of all sorts of parables and stories, including
speculation on the nature of the supernatural world. It is in this context
that there were many Talmudic stories and speculations that made their
way into both some of the pseudepigraphal Jewish and Christian
writings, and the speculative theology of some of the early Christian
“church Fathers.”
http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=1521&lette
r=A&search=angelology
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For more details on the topic of Talmudic angelology, see the Jewish
Encyclopedia link above.
Early
Early Christian Writers
Pseudo-
Pseudo-Dionysius
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pseudo-Dionysius_the_Areopagite
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hierarchy_of_angels
• First Hierarchy:
o Seraphim
o Cherubim
o Thrones or Ophanim
• Second Hierarchy:
o Principalities
o Virtues
o Powers
• Third Hierarchy:
o Dominions
o Archangels
o Angels
For more details on the speculations about the angelic choirs, see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angelic_choirs
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Dante
The most influential of these, usually dubbed Dante’s Inferno, has been
published separately in numerous editions through the subsequent
centuries, right up to today. It covers in excruciating detail Dante’s trip
to what he describes as varying levels and compartments of Hell, being
given a tour by the first century pagan poet Virgil.
In spite of the fact that The Inferno was clearly identifiable as a work of
fiction, many religious writers and artists for the next 500 years used its
imagery as if it was an actual geography of the Underworld, and the
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descriptions of the torments of Hell in it as if they were elements of a
documentary.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Divine_Comedy
Milton
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Samples of illustrations by famous artists for editions of Paradise Lost
can be seen at:
http://www.paradiselost.org/4-stories-pictures.html
http://www.paradiselost.org/
In Summary
The Bible has very little to say regarding the “pre-history” of angels,
and about their activities when they aren’t making announcements to
humans or doing God’s bidding in ministering to humans. It does not
describe their appearance in detail, nor does it clarify anything about
some sort of heavenly “governmental hierarchy” within which they
might function. It only names two of them, Michael and Gabriel.
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groups such as the Mormons, Seventh Day Adventists, and many
more.
A person who accepts the 66 books of the Old and New Testaments of
the Bible as being the only sure foundation of information for Faith
would do well to take any such information not just with a grain of salt,
but perhaps a whole salt-shaker. If the Bible is a sufficient foundation
for Faith and salvation, and God did not see fit to include more
information about these topics within its collection of documents, then
embellishing its content with legends and myths about angels doesn’t
serve to enhance faith. It has seemed primarily designed at best to tickle
ears that want to know “some new thing.” And at worst, it has ended
up twisting some of the simple truths of the Bible, and taking people
down paths that have led to confusion and darkness.
If you have questions or comments about any of the material in the articles
in this collection of Answers About Angels, you may write to:
oasis7@gmail.com
mseedwork@yahoo.com
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