Accuracy of Ancient Israelite View on Angelic Nature
Ancient Israelite views, as reflected in biblical texts, depict angels as distinct spiritual beings who serve as messengers and agents of God. The term "angel" (mal'akh in Hebrew, angelos in Greek) literally means "messenger" [1, 2]. These beings are consistently portrayed as separate from humanity, often appearing in divine encounters, such as the angel of the Lord leading Israel or appearing to Moses in a flame of fire [1, 8].
The New Testament further clarifies the nature of angels, particularly in the Epistle to the Hebrews, which emphasizes Christ's superiority to them, stating that he "has inherited a more excellent name than they have" [3]. This suggests a hierarchical order where angels, though powerful, are subordinate to Christ. The book of Revelation also depicts angels as guardians and participants in divine judgment and worship, such as the twelve angels guarding the gates of the New Jerusalem [2].
Later theological traditions elaborated on these biblical foundations. Thomas Aquinas, a prominent Scholastic theologian, systematically explored the nature of angels. He argued that angels do not possess bodies naturally united to them, as understanding is not an act of a corporeal body [7]. Instead, their essence is purely intellectual, making their intellectual nature more perfect than that of humans, and thus, they are more perfectly in the image of God in terms of intellect [5]. Aquinas also posited a hierarchy among angels, where higher angels understand by more universal species than lower angels, reflecting their proximity to God's singular, all-encompassing knowledge [4]. He believed that angels can have some knowledge of God through their own natural principles, by the presence of God's similitude in their knowing power [6]. Furthermore, Aquinas suggested that angels receive grace and glory according to the degree of their natural gifts
Sources
- Exodus “The angel of God, who went before the camp of Israel, moved and went behind them; and the pillar of cloud moved from before them, and stood behind them. -- Exodus 14:19”
- Revelation “having a great and high wall; having twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels; and names written on them, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel. -- Revelation 21:12”
- Hebrews “having become so much better than the angels, as he has inherited a more excellent name than they have. -- Hebrews 1:4”
- theology (Catholic (Scholastic)) “Aquinas, Summa Theologica, First Part (Prima Pars), Of the Medium of the Angelic Knowledge, Art. 3: Article: Whether the higher angels understand by more universal species than the lower angels? I answer that, For this reason are some things of a more exalted nature, because they are nearer to and more like unto the first, which is God. Now in God the whole plenitude of intellectual knowledge is contained in one thing, that is to say, in the Divine essence, by which God knows all things. This plenitude of knowledge is found in created intellects in a lower manner, and less simply. Consequentl”
- theology (Catholic (Scholastic)) “Aquinas, Summa Theologica, First Part (Prima Pars), The End or Term of the Production of Man, Art. 3: Article: Whether the angels are more to the image of God than man is? I answer that, We may speak of God's image in two ways. First, we may consider in it that in which the image chiefly consists, that is, the intellectual nature. Thus the image of God is more perfect in the angels than in man, because their intellectual nature is more perfect, as is clear from what has been said (Question [58], Article [3]; Question [79], Article [8]). Secondly, we may consider the image of God in man as rega”
- theology (Catholic (Scholastic)) “Aquinas, Summa Theologica, First Part (Prima Pars), Of the Angels' Knowledge of Immaterial Things, Art. 3: Article: Whether an angle knows God by his own natural principles? I answer that, The angels can have some knowledge of God by their own principles. In evidence whereof it must be borne in mind that a thing is known in three ways: first, by the presence of its essence in the knower, as light can be seen in the eye; and so we have said that an angel knows himself---secondly, by the presence of its similitude in the power which knows it, as a stone is seen by the eye from its image being i”
- theology (Catholic (Scholastic)) “Aquinas, Summa Theologica, First Part (Prima Pars), Of the Angels in Comparison with Bodies, Art. 1: Article: Whether the angels have bodies naturally united to them? I answer that, The angels have not bodies naturally united to them. For whatever belongs to any nature as an accident is not found universally in that nature; thus, for instance, to have wings, because it is not of the essence of an animal, does not belong to every animal. Now since to understand is not the act of a body, nor of any corporeal energy, as will be shown later (Question [75], Article [2]), it follows that to have a b”
- Exodus (Presbyterian) “Jamieson, Fausset & Brown on Exodus 3:2: the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire--It is common in Scripture to represent the elements and operations of nature, as winds, fires, earthquakes, pestilence, everything enlisted in executing the divine will, as the "angels" or messengers of God. But in such cases God Himself is considered as really, though invisibly, present. Here the preternatural fire may be primarily meant by the expression "angel of the Lord"; but it is clear that under this symbol, the Divine Being was present, whose name is given (Exo 3:4, Exo 3:6), and elsew”