ANGELS, PART II
Quotable Quote: “He (God) reaches down to meet us where we are at and doesn’t demand that we climb the ‘stairway to heaven’ in order to grovel before Him.”
I had a wonderful seminary experience. In fact, I spent years getting a Masters in Theology and doing course work toward a doctorate. At one time, I jokingly called myself the oldest living seminarian. I loved the challenge of learning and writing. However, as with many academic pursuits, seminary course work can often be very rarefied and unrelated to a pastor’s day-to-day experience. For instance, I found that congregants often have bible questions that are glossed over in seminary. The average “Joe” or “Jane” wants to know about angels and demons because they appear so often in the New Testament. Yet, I cannot recall one seminary lecture or discussion about these things.
The good news is that Angelology (the study of Angels) was a popular pursuit in Christian antiquity and during the Medieval era. So, we have sources to rely on. While I am not an expert, I know where to find expert input about angels and demons.
In this reflection I am going to pick up where I left off. However, if you have any questions about angels, please let me know and I will do my best to provide an answer in this series.
In Angels, Part I, I made the point that angels do not have bodies but they can appear to us in a bodily form so that we can relate with them. Thomas Aquinas stated it this way, “…by divine power sensible bodies are so fashioned by angels as to fittingly represent the intelligible properties of an angel” (Summa Ia, Q. 51, A. 2 ad 2). Notice that Aquinas says that “by divine power” an angel can fashion a body that humans can sense. So, it is God’s power working through the angel that actually produces the apparition (a supernatural appearance of a person or thing). We see that the bodily appearance of an angel is temporary and for our benefit. This, again, demonstrates the immense love that God has for us. He reaches down to meet us where we are at and doesn’t demand that we climb the “stairway to heaven” in order to grovel before Him.
By the way, angels do not engage in sex while they assume a bodily form. This would be impossible, unnatural, and unholy. Many Christians and, even, bible teachers have believed that “fallen angels” had sex with human women based on Genesis 6:4. Both Augustine and Aquinas taught strongly against this notion based on two things. First, the angelic being would have to be a real human to assume all the bodily functions of a human. There is only one heavenly being who has done this, and that is the Holy Son of God. This was accomplished by divine power. Angels–especially fallen angels–do not have the power to create a true miraculous incarnation. Secondly, an angelic incarnation would be derogatory of and diminish the uniqueness of Christ’s Incarnation. He is the only Mediator between God and man.
Both Augustine and Aquinas agreed that if Genesis 6:4 refers to demonic activity (and that is debatable), then it is referring to demons entering into humans spiritually to possess them. It cannot mean that angelic beings can create real human bodies and assume them.
What have we learned? For one thing, we have learned that the study of angels is an important topic because angels appear all over the place in the Bible. We have learned they are spiritual beings with their own will and intelligence. While they do not have bodies, by God’s power, they can appear to us in a bodily form. Most importantly, the Blessed Angels express God’s care and love for us. Think about it, God has created a whole category of being for the purpose of serving Him and ministering to us. What more do we need to convince us that God is inherently loving.
TheologyGuy 
If angels do not have bodies, then how to explain Isaiah’s vision of the cherubim that guard the throne of God, where he describes their feet, their mouths, and their wings?
Also, what about the many descriptions of God’s angels engaged in actual warfare against Satan and all his armies as found in Revelations? There are descriptions of them riding horses, and engaging in actual human-like battle using swords, etc. Seems like if they were just bodiless beings, then they could engage in spiritual warfare in a more esoteric way.
I can understand the argument above that angels only took on bodies when appearing to humans so we could comprehend them, but in examples where they are just being described in the scripture, I would think that’s not a necessary exercise – God could just speak about them in their natural state, and we certainly could grasp the idea that He created them as spirits only.
I’m no theologian, nor would I dare to compare my understanding to someone like Aquinas, but if we get to have our physical bodies in the resurrection, maybe it’s true that the Angelic beings also have bodies which are similar to ours, yet exist/operate only in the “spiritual realm” as opposed to the physical one??
LikeLike
Belle, thank you for your comment and questions.
First, I am sure you are aware that the Angels (both blessed and fallen) are referred to in the bible as “spirits.” This, then, is what Jesus told the disciples in Luke 24 about spirits:
Luke 24:39 Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself. Handle Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have.”
Secondly, how would a fallen angel (demon) “enter” and possess a person if they had a body?
The answer to your questions about both Isaiah and Revelation are essentially the same. Angels accommodate our need for sensory relationship by appearing to us in a way we can grasp and understand. Additionally, Revelation is apocalyptic literature and is highly symbolic in nature. The “red dragon” in Rev 12 with seven heads and ten horns that casts down 1/3 rd of the stars, for instance, symbolizes the devil and the fallen angels being cast out of heaven. Obviously, the devil is not a red dragon, nor does he have seven heads, etc.–these things symbolize aspects of his nature and power.
Finally, belief in regard to the nature of Angels is not an essential doctrine of the Christian Faith. So we are free to speculate about these things and free to disagree. So, thank you for your input.
LikeLike
Thanks for the clarification!
Ah yes, excellent point about demons entering a person if they had a body – hadn’t thought of that. That definitely helps me make more sense of it. But it also raises another question I have often wondered about: why do demons want to inhabit human bodies so badly, anyway? Could they not accomplish their intents from outside a person through temptation, trickery, etc.?
I have also wondered about the current state of the angels in Heaven. Obviously, the angels – both the fallen and the holy – have free will and thus 1/3 of them chose to defy God and follow Satan. But it seems like that was a finite event….as in, no angels have fallen since then. Kind of makes me wonder why, if they have free will, there have been no “defectors” since? Or am I just making an erroneous assumption?
Anyway, completely agree that none of these questions involve essential doctrine, so nothing to get hung up on. Just stuff I think about when reading God’s Word. My husband says I think about topics no one else would give a second thought, and he’s probably right, lol. Just reading your blog posts brought some of these ponderings to mind.
LikeLike
In regard to why demons desire to possess humans, I must presume it is for the purpose of affecting the decisions (the will) of humans and using the possessed person as a base of operations to create further mayhem. Some of the demoniacs recorded in the gospels and Acts were regionally famous and terrorized villages, etc.
Regarding the reason other angels have not rebelled; this is an interesting question. However, it is good to remember that we can only speculate on these matters. One of the most brilliant theologians of all time, Anselm of Canterbury, wrote a volume on the subject that is the quintessential work about this titled, “On the Fall of the Devil” De casu diaboli (1080–86). He (as well as others) work off the assumption that, though angels have free choice, they have a different form of intellect which is not limited by brain chemistry and other material limitations. What they know, they know completely, instantaneously and without fault. This is not to say they have infinite knowledge like God. On the other hand, they do not have to struggle like humans to grasp a concept or reason their way slowly to a conclusion. Therefore, the primordial fall of the angels was a swift and one time rebellion which–according to Anselm–took place before the angels were allowed to see God’s essence (this is called “seeing God face-to-face” by Protestants and the “beatific vision” by Catholics). At any rate, Anselm makes the case that no creature can behold God directly without meriting such a blessedness. As you know, humans will be allowed to behold God through the merits of Christ–he has secured this through the cross. Hence, before seeing God directly, the devil and 1/3rd of the angels rebelled while the others stayed steadfast and merited beholding God. Remember, Jesus said the blessed angels behold the face of God. Okay, so here is the point. Once a creature beholds God directly, they never seek any other thing. God infinitely satisfies. Therefore, though the blessed angels have free choice, they always choose God. God is the greatest good. Additionally, because of the nature of their intellects, the angels never waiver after making a decision. This is why the fallen angels will not repent. What they decide, they decide instantaneously and without wavering.
LikeLike
Makes clear and beautiful sense!! Thank you for sharing your knowledge. Helped bring clarity to my questions and a deeper understanding of the topic of angels and demons.
Best regards,
LikeLike