The angels are spectators of our lives : 1 Co 4^ ' a spectacle (eiarpov) to angels ' ; 1 Ti 5^' ' in the sight of God and Christ Jesus and the elect angels ' ; 1 P 1^, the angels 'look into' — 'glance at,' or jjerhaps 'pore over' (see Bigg, Com. in /oc.)— the Church and its Gospel ; they rejoice over the sinner's repentance (Lk 15'").
They are messengers to man. This is the office of angels which is most prominent in the NT ; see Ac 7^^- ^ (Moses) 8^« (Philip) W- ''• 22- so (Peter, Cornelius) IP^ (Peter) 12^-" (Peter in prison) 23» (Paul) 27"^ (Paul on his voyage). He 13^ (reference to Abraham, Gn 18), and frequently in Rev. [e.g. 1' 22«). St. Paul alludes to this work of the angels in Gal P, which suggests that they must be proved, as spirits must be (1 Co 12'", 1 Jn 4', etc. ; see Demon, § 2), to see whether they are true or false, and in Gal 4'*, where there is a climax : ' as an angel of God, nay, as one who is higher than the angels, as Christ Jesus himself.' For this function in the Gospels see Mt I'-^o 2'»- 1» 282-6, Mk 16»-^ Lk 111. 13. 19. 26. 30. 35 o^- 21 244- 23, Jq 1229 20^2 ; here we note that the ' angel of the Lord ' in the NT is not the same as the ' angel of Jahweh ' in the OT : it merely means an angel sent by God. This office of the angels does not exclude the Divine message coming directly to man (Ac 9* 22^ 26", Gal \^%
They are helpers of our worship. They offer the ' prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar ' (Rev %^^-). Their presence at Christian worship is a reason for decorum and reverence (1 Co 11"*: a woman should be veiled in the assembly of the faithful ' because of the angels ' ; this seems to be the meaning, not ' because of the clergy who are present,' as Ambrose, Ephraim Syrus, Primasius, nor ' because of the evil angels,' Avith a reference to Gn ei*-, as Tertullian [de Virg. Vel. 7 ; cf. 17], nor yet ' because the angels do so,' i.e. veil them- selves before their Superior [Is 62] ; see Robertson- Plummer, Com. in loc.). For the presence of angels at worship cf. Ps 138^ LXX and Vulg., To l2'2-i6. Three =".
Th.ej fght for man against evil, under Michael (Jude», Rev 12"- 19"»- i** 20^-^); they are 'armies' {(TTpaTevjjuiTa, Rev 19'*) and a ' host ' {arpaTid, Lk 2'^ ; not in He I222 RV where fivptdaiv is translated 'innumerable hosts'). They are the 'armies ' sent out by the King in the Parable of the Marriage of the King's Son (Mt 22').
They were the mediators of the Law (Ac 7^, Gal 3'", He 22) ; i.e. they assisted at the giving of the Law. St. Paul and the writer of Hebrews argue from this the superiority of the Gospel as being given without the interposition of created beings (Lightfoot on Gal 3). The presence of angels is not mentioned in Ex 19, but cf. Dt 332, Ps 68'' ; it was emphasized by the Jews as extolling the Law (see Thackeray, op. cit. p. 162), and this is perhaps the meaning in Ac 7^.
At death the angels carry the faithful departed to Abraham's bosom (Lk 1622). This was a common Jewish belief (DCG i. 57").
At the Judgment they will be the reapers of the harvest (Rev i4''-i9, Mt 133'-'- «).
They are viessengers of punishment (Ac 122* [Herod], Rev 141"), ^nd of judgment (Rev S^^-
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AIs^GELS
ANGELS
19"-"; cf. the pouring out of the bowls, 16'"", and the seven angels having seven plagues, 15'). In 1 Co 10'" the ' destroj^er ' (dXodpevrrjs) is not Satan, but the angel sent by God to smite the people (the reference is to Nu 16, where no angel is mentioned ; but cf. Ex 12-'*, 2 S 24'^). Satan is sometimes called ' the destroyer ' (aTroWijuy, Rev 9''), but oXodpevTTis is not used elsewhere in the Bible (see Robertson-Plummer on 1 Co lU'").
They intervene on earth to help man : an ' angel of the Lord' releases the apostles (Ac 5'^) and Peter (12'); and, according to an ancient gloss, probably African, originating before the time of Tertullian, who quotes it {de Bapt. 5), ' an angel of the Lord ' also ' troubled ' the water of Bethesda (Jn 5*). (Tertullian applies this text to Christian baptism, over w4iich he says an angel presides.) Generally, the angels guard men from evil. This leads us to the question of guardian angels. It is an ancient idea that each human being, or even every creature animate and inanimate, has allotted to it one or more special angelic guards. This idea is to some extent confirmed by the Avords of our Lord about the 'angels of the little ones' in Mt 18'", It was a popular belief that these guardians took the form of the person guarded, and the people assembled in the house of Mary the mother of Mark thought that Peter, when escaped from prison, was ' his angel' (Ac 12'^). This Jewish conception was long retained by the Chris- tians. Tertullian thought that the soul had a 'figure,' a certain corporeity, an 'inner man, difi'er- ent from the outer, but yet one in the twofold condition' (de Anima, 9); this is not quite the same idea, but we find it more clearly in the 4th cent. Church Order, the Testament of our Lord (i. 40), where all men have ' figures of their souls, which stand before the Father of Light, ' and which in the case of the wicked ' perish and are carried to darkness to dwell.' Similarly there are angels of fire (Rev W«), of water (l&''«- ; cf, 7"- and Jn 5*), of winds (Rev 7^ ; cf, Ps 104*), of countries (Dn 10'3-2»; cf. Sir 17") ; and the angel of the abyss, Abaddon (q.v.) or Apollyon (Rev 9"; cf. 20'). For Rabbinical ideas see Thackeray, op. cit. p, 168, and Ederslieim, op. cit. App. xiii.