Would you like to know what is the role of angels in the bible and your homework? Angels, also called cherubs or seraphim, are spiritual creatures that sing the glory of God and are sent to deliver messages. In fact, the word angel comes from the Greek angelos, which we also find in the Gospel, which means messenger.
Did you know that in the Bible, angels are mentioned more than 300 times? And the book of Revelation teaches us that there are “myriads” (Revelation 5, 11)! In Genesis, it is they who close the earthly paradise (Gen 3, 24).
The New Testament gives a great place to angels, beginning with the appearance of Gabriel to Mary. The New Testament also gives them a wide place, beginning with the appearance of Gabriel to Mary. To announce the most important events, God sends the best: the archangels, from the Greek arche which means first. There would be seven, but only three archangels are mentioned in the Bible: Michael, Gabriel and Raphael. Here we explain the ones that are mentioned the most in the word of God and what their role is
Angels in the bible from creation
Our times are ambivalent. On the one hand, theology, preaching, and studies barely speak of the action of angels in the cosmos. On the other hand, they are ubiquitous in the New Age nebula (about fifty books in ten years!).
Here you can learn about:
If we expand history and geography: in Africa, Southeast Asia, among the first peoples, the invisible world outweighs the visible world, while in the West, the second has supplanted the first since the Renaissance.
In the name of science, it is forbidden to speak of an action of angels in nature.
- What if the emptiness -which grace, like nature, abhors- of rationalism had prepared the overflow of the new gnosis?
- Has the Christian Revelation really expelled from nature these “spiritual, incorporeal beings” that are the angels?
Let’s see what we can find in the bible
angels in the bible
Let’s open the Bible. This is sober, but explicit: “The Law was decreed by the ministry of angels” (Ga 3.19; cf. Acts 7.53), who, therefore, acted on Mount Sinai, thundering and smoking (Ex 19,16-18).
Through an angel, the pool of Bethesda sometimes has a healing power (cf. Jn 5,3-4).
From Genesis (Gen 19.3), until the Apocalypse (Rev 7.1), going through the historical books (2 Kings 19.35; 2 Sm 24,15-17), sapiential (Salt 19,1; 119.89 -91), apocalyptic (Daniel 3:19-93), and, in the New Testament, the Gospels (Mt 28.2) or the Pauline writings and pastoral letters (1 Tm 5.21), the angels act effectively in nature.
Thus, Scripture speaks of the action of angels not only with men (Ex 24.20; 1K 19.5; TB 5.4; 2 Chr 32,30; Lk 1,26-38; Acts 5, 19; etc. .), but also in the cosmos. In this, it joins the Greek philosophy and, let’s repeat, how to understand it? We will highlight only two points. Let’s see:
Angels in the bible from the origin of creation
While we tend to think of angels in a world of their own, we must remember that the universe is one. Many Church Fathers were surprised that neither of the two creation accounts mentioned angels (Gen 1-2).
- Another intriguing fact: according to Gen 1, 3, light was created on the first day, at the beginning, therefore without a source and without a support. Now, the light needs a cause, the stars. The only answer, according to him: “this originally created light is not corporeal, but spiritual“.
In other words, God first created the angels on the first day. Created first, they will play an active role in the subsequent creation. Of course, creative ability is the exclusive property of God. But, as they contemplate God creating the material world for the next five days, the angels act as the first witness. They are not just a passive reflection of creative action; They attest that the universe is and belongs to God.
- The Hippo Doctor goes further: “It is first of all in the knowledge of the angel that the creature is produced.” This mysterious phrase can be understood as follows:
- an architect must first imagine the house before building it; God thus entrusted to the angels the idea, the arrangement of material creation, before it develops into matter.
This original intuition deserves an update.
Here are some ideas.
God wanted to pass through the angels, deposit in them the entire plan of material creation, in her typical beauty: in their minds and, dare we say it in their imagination, that ideal really exists.
So, in and through them, God was able to open up, experience the possibilities, the ways that nature explores (think of the hundreds of millions of species of plants and animals that have disappeared).
Finally, this typological role of angels would benefit from intersecting with what St. Thomas claims about their driving role in the stars, and why not consider their action on subatomic particles.
Angels in the bible at the “return” of creation
Just as all creation comes from God, it is also called to return to Him: not only at the end of time, but at all times. This return to the Father’s house is the key to universal harmony. Y the angels play a liturgical role there.
Indeed, to be perfect, this return requires consciousness, that is to say intelligence.
Even more, can only be done in an act of praise: what God gives by grace, returns to Him in thanksgiving. If the creation arises from the song of the Creator, the creatures must respond with their own song.
Just as the gift of God asks for the Fiat of Mary, who is the only one who fully receives it, so the whole cosmos asks for magnificence that is the only one who fully revolves it. Such a song, sometimes unknowingly, gives rhythm to many amazed researchers.
However, man cannot be enough for this universal hymn. Because creation preceded him; because his beauty is too varied and changeable; because some of its sumptuousness are too far away in all corners of the cosmos (ah, nurseries of stars!); because there are not enough contemplatives in number and in full faithful attention to exercise this ministry of praise.
How not to conclude that the angels are also arranged by God to glorify him? That is why they must also be so numerous, “myriads of myriads” (Dan 7.10). What Origins, what Confessor’s Maxim, what Teilhard de Chardin will today have a soul big enough and grateful enough to celebrate this cosmic liturgy?
Angelology: the doctrine of angels in the bible
The fact that God has created a realm of personal beings distinct from humanity is an appropriate topic for systematic theological studies, since it naturally broadens our understanding of God, what he is doing, and how he works in the universe.
We must not think that man is the highest form of being created. Just as the distance between man and the lower forms of life is filled with beings of various degrees, it is possible that between man and God there exist creatures of intelligence and power superior to humans. In fact, the existence of minor deities in all pagan mythologies presupposes the existence of a higher order of beings between God and man, superior to man and inferior to God.
This possibility is made certain by the express and explicit teaching of the Scriptures. It would be really sad if we allowed ourselves to be victims of sensory perception and so materialistic that we refuse to believe in an order of spiritual beings simply because they are beyond our sight and touch.
Modern society, apparently secular and desperately materialistic, desperately searches for some spiritual and supernatural meaning. If the angels can provide it, then the angels will.
Bookstores abound with books about angels and many claim encounters with angels. The author of Hebrews names them as “ministering spirits, sent to render service for the good of those who will inherit salvation.” This is also seen in the Psalm 91:11 and Matthew 4:11. So certainly, because of the inspired and infallible character of the Scriptures.
A simple definition of angels in the bible
Angels are spiritual beings created by God to serve him, although created above man. Some, the good angels, have remained obedient to Him and carried out His will, while others, the fallen angels, have disobeyed, fallen from their holy position, and are now in active opposition to His work and plan. God.
The used terms of the angels
Now, let’s look at the general terms of angels in the bible:
Angel
Although other words are used for these spiritual beings, the main word used in the Bible is angel. Three other terms that undoubtedly refer to angels are seraphim (Isaiah 6:2), cherubs (Ezekiel 10:1-3) and ministering spirits, which is perhaps more of a description than a name (Hebrews 1:13). This will be discussed later when dealing with the classification of angels.
The Hebrew word for angel is mal`achand the Greek word is angelos. Both words mean “delivery courier” and describe someone who executes the purpose and will of the one they serve.
The context must determine whether there is a human messenger in sight, or one of the heavenly beings called “angels“, or if it is being used for the second Person of the Trinity, as will be discussed below. The holy angels are messengers of God, they serve him and do his bidding. The fallen angels serve Satan, the god of this world (2 Cor. 4:4).
Illustrations of uses that do not refer to celestial beings:
- For human messengers from one human to another (Luke 7:24; James 2:25).
- For human messengers carrying a divine message ( 1:13; ga. 4:14).
- To an impersonal agent, Paul’s thorn in the flesh is described as “a messenger from Satan” (2 Cor. 12:7).
- For the messengers of the seven churches (Revelation 2-3). It is also used in connection with the seven churches of Asia, “To the angel of the church in…“. Some interpret it as a special messenger or a delegation to the church as a teaching elder, others interpret it as a guardian angel. .
Therefore, the term angelos is not only a generic term, belonging to a special order of beings (i.e. angels), but it is also descriptive and expressive of their office and service. So when we read the word “Angel”, we must think of her in this way.
Saints
Unfallen angels are also spoken of as “Saints“(Ps. 89:5, 7). The reason is twofold. First, being the creation of a holy God, they were created perfect without any flaw or sin. Second, they are called saints because of their purpose. Were “paragraphs” by God and for God as His servants and as assistants to His holiness (cf. Isa. 6).
hosts
“Host” is the hebrew tsaba“army, armies, hosts“. It is a military term and carries the idea of war. The…