What does the Bible say about Angels?
Angels are personal spiritual beings, having aspects of intelligence, emotions,
and will. This is true of both the good and evil angels. Angels possess
intelligence (Matthew 8:29;
2 Corinthians 11:3;
Peter 1:12), show emotions (Luke
2:13; James 2:19;
revelation 12:17), and demonstrate that they have wills (Luke
8:28-31: 2 Timothy 2:26;
Jude 6). Angels are spirit
beings (Hebrews 1:14),
with no true physical body. The fact that they do not have bodies does not
affect their being personalities (any more than it does with God).
The knowledge angels possess is limited by their being created beings. This
means they do not know all things as God does (Matthew
24:36). They do seem to have greater knowledge than humans, however. This
may be due to three causes.
- Angles were created as a higher order of creatures in the universe than humans
are. Therefore, innately they possess greater knowledge.
- Angels study the Bible and the world more thoroughly than humans do and gain
knowledge from it (James 2:19;
Revelation 12:12).
- Angels gain knowledge through long observation of human activities. Unlike
humans, angels do not have to study the past; they have experienced it.
Therefore, they know how others have acted and reacted in situations and can
predict with a greater degree of accuracy how we may act in similar
circumstances.
Though they have wills, the angels are, like all creatures, subject to the will
of God. Good angels are sent by God to help believers (Hebrews
1:14). Here are some activities the Bible ascribes to angels:
Angels are entirely a different order of being than humans. Human beings do not
become angels after they die. Angels will never become, and never were, human
beings. God created the angels, just as He created humanity. The Bible nowhere
states that angels are created in the image and likeness of God, as humans are (
Genesis 1:26). Angels are spiritual beings that can, to a certain
degree, take on physical form. Humans are primarily physical beings, but with a
spiritual aspect. The greatest thing we can learn from the angels is their
instant, unquestioning obedience to God’s commands.
Do we have Guardian Angels?
Matthew 18:10 states,
"See that you do not look down on one of these little ones. For I tell you that
their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven." In the
context, "these little ones" could either apply to those who believe in Him (v.
6) or it could refer to the little children (vv. 3-5). This is the key passage
when the discussion of guardian angels comes up. There is no doubt that good
angels help protect (
Daniel 6:20-23; 2
Kings 6:13-17), reveal information (
Acts 7:52-53;
Luke 1:11-20), guide (
Matthew 1:20-21; Acts
8:26), provide for (
Genesis 21:17-20;
1 Kings 19:5-7), and
minister to believers in general (
Hebrews 1:14). There are so many more instances of these in Scripture.
The question that is difficult to answer is whether each person or each believer
has an angel assigned to him/her. In the Old Testament, the nation of Israel had
the archangel (Michael) assigned to it (
Daniel 10:21; Daniel
12:1), but you do not have anywhere in Scripture where it states that an
angel was "assigned" to an individual (they were sometimes sent to individuals
on different instances but no mention of "permanent" assignment is given). One
commentator states that the Jews had fully developed the belief in guardian
angels during the time between the Old and New Testament periods. Some early
church fathers believed that each person had not only a good angel assigned to
him/her but also a demon as well (I am not sure who they believed assigned the
demon, whether Satan or God). But at any rate, the belief in guardian angels has
been around for a long time.
If one is to understand from the
Matthew 18:10 passage that guardian angels are referred to, it would
seem that these angels are not in an active duty, but rather "always see the
face of" the Father in heaven. The active duty or oversight seems then to come
more from God than the angels. In our society today, it is "in" to believe in
angels. We have movies that focus on angels; we have series on TV which portray
angels as being assigned to help. Scripture makes it clear that although angels
possess superhuman power and knowledge, they are created beings just as we are
and are "nothing" in comparison with God. As such, they are not to be worshipped
(
Exodus 20:1-6;
Colossians 2:18). Rather, worship is to be reserved for the Trinity alone.
Unfortunately, while the shows about angels give lip service to God, the Son of
God is rarely mentioned (if at all). And God says, in
John 5:23
that if one does not honor the Son, he does not honor the Father who sent Him.
It cannot be emphatically answered from Scripture whether each believer has a
guardian angel assigned to him/her. But as stated earlier, God does use them in
ministering to us. I believe that it is scriptural to say that He uses them like
He uses us, i.e. He in no way needs us or them to accomplish His purposes, but
chooses to use us nonetheless (
Job 4:18; Job 15:15). And in the end,
whether we have an angel assigned to protect us or not, we have a greater
assurance that God gives: that if we are His children through faith in Christ,
He works all things together for good (
Romans 8:28-30), and that Jesus Christ will never leave us or forsake us (
Hebrews 13:5-6). If we have an omniscient, omnipotent, all-loving
God with us, what does it really matter whether there is a finite angel along
side of us or not?