187. I. Concerning The Angels.

I. Concerning The Angels.

1. Realities of Existence.—The existence of such an order of beings is rationally probable. By no necessity is man the culmination of God’s creative work. Even naturalistic evolution has no right to prescribe for itself any such limitation. If man is the product of purely natural forces, as operative in this world, then in some vastly older and larger world such forces may have evolved a much higher order of beings. Atheistic evolution can oppose nothing to this inference. We, however, view the question from the ground of theism. As we ascend the scale of creative existences from its lowest form up to man, and then look away into the vastness of the heavens which God has set in order, the creation of beings higher than man seems most reasonable. The words of Scripture respecting the angels cannot be reduced to a merely figurative sense, nor to the meaning of mere things in the providential use of God, nor yet to mere forms of his personal energizing. In the clear light of the Scriptures the angels are realities of personal existence. That such was the faith of the Jews in the time of our Lord is above question. The Pharisees represented the common faith, which the Sadducees denied; and on this issue both Christ and his apostles were surely with the Pharisees, and against the Sadducees. Thus in a disputation with the latter, on a question which involved the future existence of man, Christ openly recognized the existence of the angels (Matthew 22:30). On this same question, and with the full statement of the issue, Paul in like manner openly declared himself with the Pharisees against the Sadducees (Acts 23:6-8). Hence on the authority of both Christ and Paul the angels are realities of existence. The rationalistic assumption, that both spoke simply in accord with the popular faith without any implication of its truth, is utterly groundless. It was not the wont of Christ so to speak, and could not have been his manner in this instance. The issue on which he spoke forbids the idea of such a manner. He answers the objection of the Sadducees to the resurrection and a future life by setting forth the new conditions of that life. The objection is void because in the transition we shall become “as the angels of God in heaven.” Christ could not have made such use of what he knew to be a popular error. If on this question Paul knew that truth was with the Sadducees, his joining the Pharisees against them was unmanly, dishonest, indeed.

2. Of a Spiritual Nature.—On the authority of the Scriptures, there can be no question of a spiritual nature of angels. Their endowments and activities allow no other view. That they have such a nature has been the common faith of the Church, though there has not been the same unanimity on the question whether they are wholly without corporeity. Their luminous appearance in some instances, together with the difficulty of conceiving the activity of an unbodied spirit, has led some to the opinion that they have a material body, very ethereal in its mode, yet furnishing the condition of their agency. It accords with the Scriptures that angels were not always visible when present, and hence that they possessed no corporeity with self-manifesting quality. Visibility, therefore, was in all instances voluntary. We cannot deny the possibility of such a manifestation without a material corporeity. Their offices in the economies of religion occasionally required their manifestation, and it is easy to think them endowed with such power, however mysterious for our conception. The activity of an embodied spirit has no peculiar difficulty for our thought. The activity of our own spirit is a familiar fact of consciousness; but if we seek for its mode we shall find it quite as hidden as the agency of an unbodied spirit. The common faith of the Church, that angels are without material corporeity, seems more in accord with the Scriptures.

3. With Personal Endowments.—The collocation of a few appropriate texts will set the personality of angels in a clear light. All that we require is such facts in them as belong to personality in ourselves, or such forms of activity as are possible only with the constituent powers of personality. The angels bless the Lord and fulfill his commandments, hearkening unto the voice of his word (Psalms 103:20). In such exercises there is an intelligent recognition of God and his claims, of his majesty and love. There is also a response of the religious affections in reverence and praise, and a voluntary self-consecration to the service and worship of God. With such forms of activity there must be intellect, sensibility, and will—that complex of powers which constitutes personality. The angel which announced to the shepherds the advent of our Lord, and the multitude of the heavenly host which quickly Joined him in the joy of the great event, were all personal beings (Luke 2:9-14). The angels which, with intent mind and intense desire, study the mystery of redemption, the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow, must have a personal existence (1 Peter 1:12). The joy of the angels over the repentance of a sinner is a personal joy (Luke 15:10). There must be an intelligent recognition of the interests which center in such an event, and also an affectional nature deeply responsive to its blessedness. The angel which ministered to Christ after the temptation in the wilderness, and the angel which strengthened him in the agonies of Gethsemane were personal beings. Any other view robs the facts of their deepest truth. Personal agency cannot be simulated; and beings who uniformly act in a personal manner must be persons.

4. Grade of their Powers.—Our own powers are the only standard with which we can compare the powers of angels. They are like us in personality, and finite like ourselves. They are neither omniscient nor omnipotent, and yet have much knowledge and power. They have a wonderful facility of movement, and large executive efficiencies. The truth of these statements lies in the facts of Scripture respecting the angels. “The wisdom of an angel” is used in an adjective sense for the expression of the highest measure of finite knowledge (2 Samuel 14:17; 2 Samuel 14:20). Angels are greater in power and might than men (2 Peter 2:11). They excel in strength, or are mighty in strength (Psalms 103:20). They are named as the mighty angels of the Lord, or the angels of his power (2 Thessalonians 1:7). The high grade of their powers is also expressed in their designation as thrones and dominions, principalities and powers (Colossians 1:16). Their facility of movement and executive power will fully appear in the treatment of the offices which they fulfill.

5. All Originally Holy.—The position, that all angels were originally holy, requires little more than its simple statement as a fact. Only some form of Manicheism could oppose to it any contradiction. The holiness of the divine Creator determines the primitive holiness of all personal orders. The angels must be included in the characterization of newly created existences as “very good” (Genesis 1:31). They must have been good in their kind, and therefore, as persons morally constituted, must have been holy in their nature. Consistently with this fact, and in further proof of it, evil angels are such only by apostasy.