Greg Allison, PhD: "Historical Theology:" Ch. 14--Angels, Satan and Demons

ATOP MANY, MANY BIBLE REFERENCES. Athenagoras (c.133-c.190): “We recognize also a multitude of ministering angels, whom God the maker and framer of the world distributed and appointed to their various posts by His Word.” A Plea for the Christians, 10, in ANF, 2:133-134. Athenagoras, some angels have special assignments. “…entrusted with the control of the matter and the forms of matter…For this is the office of the angels: to exercise providence for God over the things created and ordered by him; so that God may have the universal and general providence of the entirety of the universe , while the particular parts are provided for by the angels appointed over them.” A Plea for the Christians, 24, in ANF, 2:142. Irenaeus (c.130-c.202). Some have responsibilities for nations and began at the Tower of Babel. (Dt. 32.8 as found in the LXX). “When the Most High divided the nations and scattered the children of Adam, he fixed the boundaries of the nations according to the number of the angels of God.” Against Heresies, 3.12.9 in ANF, 1:433. Tertullian on common speculations (c.155-c.220): “Every spirit possesses wings. This is a common property of both angels and demons. So they are everywhere in a single moment; the whole world is as one place to them.” Apology, 22, in ANF, 3:36. Tertullian: “You have sometimes read and believed that the Creator’s angels have been changed into human form. They have carried about so real of a body that Abraham even washed their feet and Lot was rescued from the Sodomites by their hands. An angel, moreover, wrestled with a man so strenuously with his body that Jacob desired to let loose.” On the Flesh of Christ, 3, in ANF, 3: 523. Biblical references: Gen. 18.4; 19.16; 32.24-30. Origen on church thoughts to date (c.183-c.253): “The teaching of the church has laid down that these beings exist indeed; but that what they are, or how they exist, it has not explained with sufficient clearness.” First Principles, preface, 6, in ANF, 4:420. Origen appealed to Daniel 10.13 and 20. 10.13: “13 But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days: but, lo, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me; and I remained there with the kings of Persia.” Daniel 10.20: “21 But I will shew thee that which is noted in the scripture of truth: and there is none that holdeth with me in these things, but Michael your prince.” Origen applies to the princes of Persia and Greece, using these texts to support angels over individual nations. First Principles, 3.3.2, in ANF, 4:335. Origen. Some angels help people to salvation. “…there are certain angles of God…which are his servants in accomplishing the salvation of men.” First Principles, preface, 10, in ANF, 4:241. Eusebius (c.260-c.340). Angels are allegedly to lead the nations under their control back to God. Angels operate to “turn toward realities which they saw in the heavens—the sun, the moon, and the stars. These objects, in fact, which hold a place of eminence in the visible universe, drew the eyes of those who saw them upward, as close as possible to the King of the universe, into his antechamber, so to speak, and by their grandeur and beauty led them to contemplate, by analogy, the Creator of the universe.” Preparation to the Gospel, 4.7-8. cited in Jean Danielou, The Angels and Their Mission: According to the Fathers of the Church, trans. David Heimann (Allen, TX: Christian Classics, 1987), 19-20. Cyril of Jerusalem (c.313-c.386) that corporeal presentations are the exception rather than the rule (see Tertullian above): heavenly creation “is incorporeal, since it is called—or is—‘fire’ and ‘spirit’…’spirit,’ as being a creature of the intellectual sphere; ‘fire,’ as being of a purifying nature.” Catechetical Lectures, 15.24, in NPNF, 7:111-112. Cyril of Jerusalem on the vast numbers of angels: “Consider how populous is the Roman Empire. Consider how populous are the barbarian tribes at the present, and how many have died within the last one hundred years. Consider how many nations have become extinct during the last thousand years. Consider from Adam down to this day. Great indeed is the multitude! But how little it is, the angels are many more….It is written [about angels]. ‘Thousand thousands ministered before him' [Dan.7.10]. This does not mean that the multitude is limited to that size; but the prophet could not express more than these.” Catechetical Lectures, 15.24, in NPNF, 7:111-112. John Chrysostom (c. 347 – 14 September 407). God’s helper angels of man towards salvation. God “has assigned to angels who are above us this ministry on our behalf. It is as if one should say, ‘For this purpose God employs them; this is the office of angels, to minister to God for our salvation.’ So that is is an angelic work, to do all for the salvation of the brothers. Or rather is is the work of Christ himself, for he indeed saves as Lord, but they as servants. Homilies on Hebrews, 3.4, in NPNF, 14: 377.