Angel, is a word signifying messengers, both in Hebrew and Greek, and therefore used to denote whatever God employs to execute his purposes, or to manifest his presence or his power. In some passages it occurs in the sense of an ordinary messenger (Job i:14; I Sam. xi:3; Luke Vii:4; iX:52); in others it is applied to prophets (Is. lxiii:i9; Bag. i:13; Mal. iii); to priests (Eccl. v:5: Mal. ii:7); to ministers of the New Testament (Rev. i:20). It is also applied to personal agents; as to the pillar of cloud (Exod. xiv:19; xiii:21;xxxii:34); to the pestilence (2 Sam. xxiv:16, 17;2 Kings xix:30); to the winds (‘who maketh the winds his angels’ Ps. civ:4); so, likewise, plagues generally are called ‘evil angels’ (Ps. lxxviii:49), and Paul calls his thorn in the flesh an ‘angel of Satan’ (2 Cor. xii:7; Gal. iv:13, 14).
But this name is more eminently and distinctively applied to certain spiritual beings or heavenly intelligences, employed by God as the ministers of His will and usually distinguished as angels of God or angels of Jehovah. In this case the name has respect to their official capacity as “messengers,” and not to their nature or condition. The term ‘spirit,’ on the other hand (in Greek, pneuma, in Hebrew mach), has reference to the nature of angels, and characterizes them as incorporeal and invisible essences. But neither the Hebrew mach nor the Greek pneuma, nor even the Latin spiritus, corresponds exactly to the English spirit, which is opposed to matter, and designates what is immaterial; whereas the other terms are not opposed to matter, but to body, and signify not what is immaterial, but what is incorporeal. The modern idea of spirit was unknown to the ancients. They conceived spirits to be incorporeal and invisible, but not immaterial, and supposed their essence to be a pure air or a subtile fire. The proper meaning of pneuma (from I blow, I breathe) is air in motion, wind, breath.
The Hebrew mach is of the same import; as is also the Latin spiritus, from spiro, I blow, I breathe. When, therefore, the ancient Jews called angels spirits, they did not mean to deny that they were endued with bodies. When they affirmed that angels were incorporeal, they used the term in the sense in which it was understood by the ancients—that is, as free from the impurities of gross matter. The distinction between ‘a natural body’ and ‘a spiritual body’ is indicated by St. Paul (I Cor. xv:44), and we may, with sufficient safety, assume that angels are spiritual bodies, rather than pure spirits in the modern acceptation of the word.
It is disputed whether the term Elohim is ever applied to angels, but the inquiry belongs to another place. It may suffice here, perhaps, to observe that both in Ps. viii:5 and xcvii:7 the word is rendered by angels in the Sept. and earlier ancient versions; and both these texts are 1) cited in Heb. i:6; ii:7, that they are called Beni-Elohim, Sons of God.
In the Scriptures we have frequent notices of spiritual intelligence, existing in another state of being, and constituting a celestial family, or hierarchy, over which Jehovah presides. The Bible does not, however, treat of this matter professedly and as a doctrine of religion, but merely adverts to it incidentally as a fact, without furnishing any details to gratify curiosity. It speaks of no obligations to these spirits, and indicates no duties to be performed towards them. A belief in the existence of such beings is not, therefore, an essential article of religion, any more than a belief that there are other worlds besides our own; but such a belief serves to enlarge our ideas of the works of God, and to illustrate the greatness of his power and wisdom (Mayer, Am. Bib. Repos. xii:360). The practice of the Jews, of referring to the agency of angels every manifestation of the greatness and power of God, has led some to contend that angels have no real existence, but are mere personifications of unknown powers of nature; and we are reminded that, in like manner, among the Gentiles, whatever was wonderful, or strange, or unaccountable, was referred by them to the agency of some one of their gods. Among the numerous passages in which angels are mentioned, there are, however, a few which cannot, without improper force, be reconciled with this hypothesis (Gen. xvi:7-12; Judg. xiii:1-21; Matt. xxviii:2-4), and if Matt. xx:30 stood alone in its testimony, it ought to settle the question. Christ there says that ‘in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God.’ The force of this passage cannot be eluded by the hypothesis that Christ mingled with his instructions the erroneous notions of those to whom they were addressed, seeing that he spoke to Sadducees, who did not believe in the existence of angels (Acts xxiii:8). So likewise, the passage in which the high dignity of Christ is established, by arguing that he is superior to the angels (Heb. i:4, sqq.), would be without force or meaning if angels had no real existence.
That these superior beings are very numerous is evident from the following expressions: Dan. vii:10, ‘thousands of thousands,’ and ‘ten thousand times ten thousand.’ Ps. lxviii:17; Matt. xxvi:53, ‘more than twelve legions of angels.’ (Comp. Gen. xxviii:12; xxxii: 1, 2; Ps. ciii:20, 21 ; cxlviii:2). Luke ii:13, ‘multitude of the heavenly host.’ Heb. xii:22 23, ‘myriads of angels.’ It is probable, from the nature of the case, that among so great a multitude there may be different grades and classes, and even natures—ascending from man towards God, and forming a chain of being to fill up the vast space between the Creator and man—the lowest of his intellectual creatures. This may be inferred from the analogies which pervade the chain of being on the earth whereon we live, which is as much the Divine creation as the world of spirits.
Accordingly the Scripture describes angels as existing in a society composed of members of unequal dignity, power and excellence, and as having chiefs and rulers, It is admitted that this idea is not clearly expressed in the books composed before the Babylonish captivity; but it is developed in the books written during the exile and afterwards, especially in the writings of Daniel and Zechariah. In Zech. i:11 an angel of the highest order, one who stands before God, appears in contrast with angels of an inferior class, whom he employs as his messengers and agents (Comp. iii:7). In Dan. x:13, the appellation, “one of the chief princes,” and in xii:I, “the great prince,” are given to Michael. The Grecian Jews rendered this appellation by the term archangel, which occurs in the New Testament (Jude 9;1 Thess. iv:16),where we are taught that Christ wilt appear to judge the world with the voice of an archangel. This word denotes, as the very analogy of the language teaches, a chief of the angels, one superior to the other angels, like the term chief priest. The opinion, therefore, that there were various orders of angels was not peculiar to the Jews, but was held by Christians in the time of the apostles, and is mentioned by the apostles themselves. The distinct divisions of the angels, according to their rank in the heavenly hierarchy, which we find in the writings of the later Jews, were either almost or wholly unknown in the apostolical period.
Source: Fallows, Samuel, Ed. The Popular and Critical Bible Encyclopaedia and Scriptural Dictionary, Volume 1. Chicago: The Howard-Severance Company, 1914.
Angels in the Bible: Part 1
Angel, is a word signifying messengers, both in Hebrew and Greek, and therefore used to denote whatever God employs to execute his purposes, or to manifest his presence or his power. In some passages it occurs in the sense of an ordinary messenger (Job i:14; I Sam. xi:3; Luke Vii:4; iX:52); in others it is applied to prophets (Is. lxiii:i9; Bag. i:13; Mal. iii); to priests (Eccl. v:5: Mal. ii:7); to ministers of the New Testament (Rev. i:20). It is also applied to personal agents; as to the pillar of cloud (Exod. xiv:19; xiii:21;xxxii:34); to the pestilence (2 Sam. xxiv:16, 17;2 Kings xix:30); to the winds (‘who maketh the winds his angels’ Ps. civ:4); so, likewise, plagues generally are called ‘evil angels’ (Ps. lxxviii:49), and Paul calls his thorn in the flesh an ‘angel of Satan’ (2 Cor. xii:7; Gal. iv:13, 14).
(1) Spiritual Beings
But this name is more eminently and distinctively applied to certain spiritual beings or heavenly intelligences, employed by God as the ministers of His will and usually distinguished as angels of God or angels of Jehovah. In this case the name has respect to their official capacity as “messengers,” and not to their nature or condition. The term ‘spirit,’ on the other hand (in Greek, pneuma, in Hebrew mach), has reference to the nature of angels, and characterizes them as incorporeal and invisible essences. But neither the Hebrew mach nor the Greek pneuma, nor even the Latin spiritus, corresponds exactly to the English spirit, which is opposed to matter, and designates what is immaterial; whereas the other terms are not opposed to matter, but to body, and signify not what is immaterial, but what is incorporeal. The modern idea of spirit was unknown to the ancients. They conceived spirits to be incorporeal and invisible, but not immaterial, and supposed their essence to be a pure air or a subtile fire. The proper meaning of pneuma (from I blow, I breathe) is air in motion, wind, breath.
Angel Images
(2) Spiritual Bodies
The Hebrew mach is of the same import; as is also the Latin spiritus, from spiro, I blow, I breathe. When, therefore, the ancient Jews called angels spirits, they did not mean to deny that they were endued with bodies. When they affirmed that angels were incorporeal, they used the term in the sense in which it was understood by the ancients—that is, as free from the impurities of gross matter. The distinction between ‘a natural body’ and ‘a spiritual body’ is indicated by St. Paul (I Cor. xv:44), and we may, with sufficient safety, assume that angels are spiritual bodies, rather than pure spirits in the modern acceptation of the word.
It is disputed whether the term Elohim is ever applied to angels, but the inquiry belongs to another place. It may suffice here, perhaps, to observe that both in Ps. viii:5 and xcvii:7 the word is rendered by angels in the Sept. and earlier ancient versions; and both these texts are 1) cited in Heb. i:6; ii:7, that they are called Beni-Elohim, Sons of God.
(3) Spiritual Intelligences
In the Scriptures we have frequent notices of spiritual intelligence, existing in another state of being, and constituting a celestial family, or hierarchy, over which Jehovah presides. The Bible does not, however, treat of this matter professedly and as a doctrine of religion, but merely adverts to it incidentally as a fact, without furnishing any details to gratify curiosity. It speaks of no obligations to these spirits, and indicates no duties to be performed towards them. A belief in the existence of such beings is not, therefore, an essential article of religion, any more than a belief that there are other worlds besides our own; but such a belief serves to enlarge our ideas of the works of God, and to illustrate the greatness of his power and wisdom (Mayer, Am. Bib. Repos. xii:360). The practice of the Jews, of referring to the agency of angels every manifestation of the greatness and power of God, has led some to contend that angels have no real existence, but are mere personifications of unknown powers of nature; and we are reminded that, in like manner, among the Gentiles, whatever was wonderful, or strange, or unaccountable, was referred by them to the agency of some one of their gods. Among the numerous passages in which angels are mentioned, there are, however, a few which cannot, without improper force, be reconciled with this hypothesis (Gen. xvi:7-12; Judg. xiii:1-21; Matt. xxviii:2-4), and if Matt. xx:30 stood alone in its testimony, it ought to settle the question. Christ there says that ‘in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God.’ The force of this passage cannot be eluded by the hypothesis that Christ mingled with his instructions the erroneous notions of those to whom they were addressed, seeing that he spoke to Sadducees, who did not believe in the existence of angels (Acts xxiii:8). So likewise, the passage in which the high dignity of Christ is established, by arguing that he is superior to the angels (Heb. i:4, sqq.), would be without force or meaning if angels had no real existence.
(4) Numerous
That these superior beings are very numerous is evident from the following expressions: Dan. vii:10, ‘thousands of thousands,’ and ‘ten thousand times ten thousand.’ Ps. lxviii:17; Matt. xxvi:53, ‘more than twelve legions of angels.’ (Comp. Gen. xxviii:12; xxxii: 1, 2; Ps. ciii:20, 21 ; cxlviii:2). Luke ii:13, ‘multitude of the heavenly host.’ Heb. xii:22 23, ‘myriads of angels.’ It is probable, from the nature of the case, that among so great a multitude there may be different grades and classes, and even natures—ascending from man towards God, and forming a chain of being to fill up the vast space between the Creator and man—the lowest of his intellectual creatures. This may be inferred from the analogies which pervade the chain of being on the earth whereon we live, which is as much the Divine creation as the world of spirits.
(5) Biblical Allusions
Accordingly the Scripture describes angels as existing in a society composed of members of unequal dignity, power and excellence, and as having chiefs and rulers, It is admitted that this idea is not clearly expressed in the books composed before the Babylonish captivity; but it is developed in the books written during the exile and afterwards, especially in the writings of Daniel and Zechariah. In Zech. i:11 an angel of the highest order, one who stands before God, appears in contrast with angels of an inferior class, whom he employs as his messengers and agents (Comp. iii:7). In Dan. x:13, the appellation, “one of the chief princes,” and in xii:I, “the great prince,” are given to Michael. The Grecian Jews rendered this appellation by the term archangel, which occurs in the New Testament (Jude 9;1 Thess. iv:16),where we are taught that Christ wilt appear to judge the world with the voice of an archangel. This word denotes, as the very analogy of the language teaches, a chief of the angels, one superior to the other angels, like the term chief priest. The opinion, therefore, that there were various orders of angels was not peculiar to the Jews, but was held by Christians in the time of the apostles, and is mentioned by the apostles themselves. The distinct divisions of the angels, according to their rank in the heavenly hierarchy, which we find in the writings of the later Jews, were either almost or wholly unknown in the apostolical period.
Source: Fallows, Samuel, Ed. The Popular and Critical Bible Encyclopaedia and Scriptural Dictionary, Volume 1. Chicago: The Howard-Severance Company, 1914.
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