5«
ANGELS
AA'GELS
one of the grave errors at Colossae (Col 2'*). So idolatry is described as a worshipping of demons (Rev 9-").
Much emphasis is laid, lest it should be thought that angels were of the same degree as our Lord, on the fact that Jesus is immeasurably higher than they ; as in He 1*^- (no angel is called ' the Son ' ; angels worship the Firstborn), 1'^ (no angel set at the right hand of God), 2^ (the world to come is not made subject to angels, but to man — v.*^- shows that the Representative Man is meant, who con- descended to be, in His Incarnation, made a little lower than tiie angels). In I P 3-"^ ' angels and authorities and powers' are made subject to the ascended Christ ; and so in Eph 1-'. In Col 2'^ (an obscure verse), we may understand either that our Lord, putting off His bodj', made a show of the principalities and the powers, triumphing over them in the cross (so the Latin Fathers) ; or, with the Greeks, that He, having stripped off and put away the principalities, made a show of them, etc. — i.e. that He repelled their assaults. Here the evil angels are spoken of. But the complete subjection of the poweis of evil to Jesus will not take place till the end of the world (1 Co 15-^^-).
Angels are spirits (He !''• ^*); of. Rev 16^*, ' spirits of demons.' In Ac 23*^- they seem to be dilleren- tiated from 'spirits' ('no resurrection, neither angel, nor spirit . . . what if a spirit hath spoken to him or an angel?'). But this is not so. The ' angel ' is the species, the ' spirit ' the genus (Alford). All angels are spirits, though all spirits are not angels. In v.* the Pharisees are said to confess ' both,' i.e. both the resurrection and angel- spirits ; only two categories are intended. We must also remember that in v.* non-Christian Jews are speaking.
But, though they are spirits, angels are not omnipresent or omniscient, for these are attributes of Deity. For their limited knowledge cf. Eph 3'o (whether good or bad angels are there spoken of) ; it is implied in 1 P 1'^ (the angels desire to look into the mysteries of the gospel) and in 1 Co 2^^-, if ' rulers of this world ' are the evil angels (see Demon). It is explicitly stated in Mt 24^, Mk IS^l The limitation of the angels' knowledge is also stated in Ethiopia Enoch, xvi. 3 (2nd cent. B.C. ?), where the angels who fell in Gn 6* (so • sons of God ' are interpreted) are said not to have had the hidden things yet revealed to them, though they knew worthless niysteries, which they recounted to the women (ed. Charles, 1893, p. 86 f. ). In the Secrets of Enoch (Slavonic), xxiv. 3 (1st cent. A.D. ?), God says that He had not told His secrets even to His angels. Ignatius says that the virginity and child-bearing of Mary and the death of the Lord were hidden from {iXadev) the ruler of this age (Eph. 19 ; for this idea in the Fathers see Lightfoot's note).
The good angels are angels of light, as opposed to the powers of darkness (2 Co 11''* ; ct. Eph 6'-) ; so, when the angel came to St. Peter in the prison, a light shone in the cell (Ac 12^). The name ' seraph ' perhaps means ' the burning one,' though the etymology is doubtful ; ef. also Ps 104^
They neither marry nor are given in marriage ; and so in the resurrection life tliere is no marrying, for men will be ' as angels in heaven ' (Mt 22^", Mk 12-*), 'equal to angels' [ladYyeXoi., Lk 20^^). Some have thought that tiiey have a sort of counter- part of bodies, described in 1 Co 15'"' as ' celestial bodies' (Meyer, Alford), though this is perhaps im- probable ; St. Paul's words may refer to tlie ' heavenly bodies' in the modern sense (Robertson- Plummer), or to the post-resurrection human bodies (cf. v,*) ; not to good men as opposed to bad (Clirysostom and others of the Fathers).
They are numberless (Rev 5'' [from Dn 7"], He 12--, 'myriads'; in the latter passage they are
perhaps described as a 'festal assembly' [RVm, dyYfXwJ' irav7)yvpei\).
The unfallen angels are holy (Rev 14^", Mk 8^^, Lk 9-'', and some iSISS of ]\It 2o'*i ; so perhaps 1 Th 3'^ Judei-* [see below, 5(a)]; cf. Zee 14^ 'ail the holy ones '). Tliis is the meaning of ' elect ' angels in 1 Ti 5'^^ — not angels chosen to guard tiie Ephesian Church ; they are mentioned here be- cause they will accompanj'^ our Lord to judgment or (Grimm) because thej' are chosen by God to rule. 4. Ranks of the angels. — There was a great tendency in later Jewisli writings to elaborate tlie angelic hierarchy. In Is 6^ '^ w e had read of sera- phim ; in Ezk lU of cherubim. But in Eth. Enoch, Ixi. 10 (these chapters are of the 1st cent. B.C. ?), the host of the heavens, and all the holy ones above, the cherubim, seraphim, and ophanim (rr'wlieels'; cf. Ezk P^), angels of power, angels of principalities, are mentioned (cf. Ixxi. 7) ; in the Secrets of Enoch (20) we read of archangels, incor- poreal powers, lordships, principalities, powers, cherubim, seraphim, 'ten troops.' Tlie 'gene- alogies ' of 1 Ti I'* and Tit 3* are thought by some to refer to such speculations. St. Paul shows some impatience at the Colossian fondness for elaborat- ing these divisions ; yet in the NT we find traces of ranks of angels. In Jude ^ the archangel (jNIiciiael) is mentioned ; so in 1 Th 4'^ where Michael is doubtless meant. In Romans, Colossians, and Ephesians no organized hierarchy is mentioned ; and sometimes the reference seems to be to the whole angelic band, sometimes to the evil angels, when principalities, powers, dominions, thrones are referred to (Col l'" dp6voi, KvpidrrjTes, dpxal; ^^ovcriai. ; 2'"- '^ ocpXV, iiovala ; Eph 1^^ o-pxh, e^ovaia, dvvafiis, Kvpidrris ; 3'" 6'^ apxo-i, i^ovcriaL ; Ro 8^ dyyeXoi, apxa-l-, dwdfieis ; 1 Co 15'-'' dpxv, i^ovcrla, dvi/afxis). In the passages in Col. and Eph. St. Paul takes the ideas current in Asia Minor as to the ranks of the angels, but does not himself enunciate any doctrine ; in- deed, in Eph P' he adds, ' and every name that is named [ovo/j.di'eTai, i.e. reverenced] both in this age and in that which is to come.' Some have thouglit that he refers to earthly powers ; but, though these may perhaps in some cases be included, there can be little doubt that he is speaking primarily of angelic powers, good and bad. ' Whatever powers there may be, Christ is Lord of all, far above them all.' In Eph 3'" only evil angelic powers are re- ferred to — they are in the heavenly sphere (iv rois i-rrovpaviois) ; and so in 6^-, where they are contrasted with ' flesh and blood ' (see also below). With these passages we may compare 1 P 3-^ ' angels and authorities and powers'; and possibly 2 P 2'"'-, where the 'lordship' (RV 'dominion'), 'glories' ('dignities'), and angels are thought by some to refer to ranks of angels ; if so, the higliest rank is 'angels,' who are 'greater in might and power' than the 'glories.' The cherubim of the ark (Ex 25'^) are mentioned in He 9*.