The Nature of Angels–Messengers and Ministering Spirits

The place and function of angels is not often mentioned in Scripture, because they exist as messengers and ministering spirits, serving us on God's behalf, not themselves, bringing God's message not their own. They are never the dominant subject of any scripture.

The nature and function of angels is not a very common Biblical theme, because, as will be seen, their role is subservient. They are the messengers, not the message. But the most complete discussion of what angels are and do is found in the Epistle to the Hebrews.

However, although Hebrews says as much about the nature and function of angels as is said anywhere in Scripture, none of the information about angels in Hebrews is given for the purpose of teaching about angels. Instead, it is given to contrast the angels to Jesus and to mankind, to show that humans were created higher in rank than angels, and, ultimately that Jesus, a man but also the Son of God, is much greater than the angels. All of it exalts Jesus and his redemption of us, not the angels. This purpose limits the interpretation of the words dealing with angels. With that limitation in mind, I will proceed to explain the passages that refer in passing to the nature and function of angels as a topic rather than merely presenting an example of an angel performing one of its functions or contrasting them to God or humans.

There are only three such passages. Two of them contrast Jesus to angels, but in the process say something positive about the angelic function and nature; the third speaks of fallen angels in a way that implicitly makes a statement about the nature of true, faithful angels. The first of these passages is Hebrews 1:7-8:

 In speaking of the angels he says,

“He makes his angels spirits,
    and his servants flames of fire.”

 But about the Son he says,

“Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever;
    a scepter of justice will be the scepter of your kingdom.”

This passage asserts six things about “angels.” The first is implied by the word “angel” (αγγελος) itself: “angels” are “messengers” or “envoys,” sent by God to carry messages, observe events or perform tasks. This is also true of the Hebrew word commonly translated “angel”– mal’ak. (For more discussion of word meanings, see the glossary of this series, Angels and Spirits–Basic Word Meanings). Both the NT and OT words in some contexts clearly refer to human messengers or envoys, and are correctly translated “messenger,” “envoy,” or “ambassador.” The fact that God’s “ambassadors” are, thus, directly compared to human “messengers” or “ambassadors” has a very important implication: just as what is important when a human sovereign sends an envoy is the envoy’s message or errand, not the envoy himself, what is important about an angel is the angel’s message or errand, and the Sovereign who sent it, not the angel itself.

Second, angels are “spirits,” pneumata. The word “spirit” (Pneuma, πνεῦμα), of which pneumata is the plural, is an extremely expansive word. Its primary meaning is “wind” or “breath,” and, indeed, a few translators have translated this line “he makes his angels winds.” (See a comparison of many English translations here). This appears to be the same sense of “spirit,” as compared to “wind”–i.e., free and humanly unpredictable–used by Jesus in John 3:8: “The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.” And, indeed, angels are sometimes pictured as winds, or as holding or controlling winds. See, for instance, Psalm 104:3-4 (from which Hebrews 1:7 is quoted); Revelation 7:1-2; Psalm 18:10; Matthew 24:31 . So this use of language indicates simultaneously that God’s angelic messengers are spiritual rather than physical entities and that as spirits they resemble the wind in their freedom (compare the Holy Spirit in Acts 2:2-4!) and often also in their effects.

In saying that an angel is a pneuma, the writer also appears to be saying that angels are, in some sense, living–they are breath. God is himself, by nature, pneuma. John 4:24, and see God is Spirit. All animals are said to have the “breath of life,” Genesis 6:17 (translated in LXX, πνεῦμα ζωῆς). This same Greek phrase is used in Revelation 11:11, in describing God resurrecting the two apocalyptic witnesses the beast had killed–“the spirit of life from God” (πνεῦμα ζωῆς ἐκ τοῦ Θεοῦ) entered into them, and they stood up. The spirit, the words Jesus speaks, breathes, are the source of life. John 6:63, and Jesus, raised from the dead, is a life-giving spirit. 1 Corinthians 15:45. In this sense of life and its source, at least as applied to humans, pneuma also frequently includes or refers to the rational faculties, and is (as in John 6:63) contrasted to the “flesh.” See, for instance, Matthew 26:41 (the pneuma is willing, but the flesh is weak); 1 Corinthians 2:11 (it is the pneuma of a person who knows what is in the person, and the pneuma of God who knows what is in God); 1 Thessalonians 5:23 (a human described as pneuma, and “soul” [psyche] and body”).

The author’s quotation from Psalm 104:4 then continues by identifying God’s messengers as his “servants” or “ministers” which additionally have the characteristics or function of a “flaming fire.” “Servants” or “ministers” here are leitourgoi, a word which does not generally refer to slaves or menial servants, but to what are now called “public servants”–important servants (“ministers”) of a king or state, or the closest attendants of a ruler–or to servants (“ministers”) of the priests in a temple. In performing this function as God’s close attendants, his leitourgoi have the characteristics or functions of flames of fire–always associated with flames of cleansing–as seen on those rare occasions on which they have been manifested visibly to humans–always associated with flames of cleansing or judgment. See, for instance Exodus 3:1-6, Exodus 19-20, Isaiah 6:1-7; and Ezekiel 1.

So, in calling angels “spirits” (“winds” and “breaths”),, “ministers” and “flames of fire” the writer to the Hebrews appears to be attributing to them: 1) freedom, 2) causative agency in the world, 3) life, in a sense somewhat different from humans, 4) unpredictability, at least as against our human attempts to predict or manipulate their actions (they are fully predictable to God), 5) power, 6) rationality, 7) ability to communicate, 8) a function as God’s trusted servants and 9) a function in cleansing and judgment, burning away all that which is inconsistent with God’s nature and purpose. All of these attributions is supported by scriptures describing the activities of angels, as will be discussed later.

In all of this, however, the angels are expressly contrasted to the Son. Angels, as leitourgoi, attend the One who sits on the Throne. Jesus, the Son, sits on that Throne. Angels, as flaming fire, follow the scepter, carrying out the King’s judgments. Jesus holds the scepter. Hebrews 1:8. Righteousness is the scepter of Jesus’ kingdom. Because Jesus, as a man, chose this, God has “anointed” him “with the oil of gladness” above all. Hebrews 1:8-9. Jesus, unlike the angels, was the “Lord” who “laid the foundation of the earth” and created the “heavens.” All these created things are temporal–they are bound to time and will one day disappear. But Jesus, who created them, is eternal. Hebrews 1:10-12. And Jesus, like us, is human. Hebrews 2:14-15; 1 John 4:2-3.

Thus, there is one important thing humans have that angels are nowhere said to have, even as pneuma breathed by God: They do not have physical bodies. Humans are spirits breathed into bodies, and, even in the resurrection, a body is a part of our existence. This also implies that, as non-embodied spirits, angels are not made in the image of God–which in a way we do not yet fully understand, requires a bodily existence (remember that Jesus was human from the creation of the world! Revelation 13:8). This, in turn, implies that angels, though they see God’s face and carry his messages, are not given the opportunity to know God and become one with him that we are given. All of these differences will be developed more fully in later posts.

The writer further contrasts angels to Jesus and other humans in verses 13 and 14. He first reinforces the contrast between angels and Jesus:

But to which of the angels has He ever said,

“Sit at My right hand,
Until I make Your enemies
A footstool for Your feet”?

Hebrews 1:13 (NASB).

The obvious answer to this rhetorical question is “none.” God has never told any angel that he would subjugate his enemies to that angel. He has made this promise only to his Son.

But the writer then goes a step further, and contrasts angels to humans God has made heirs of salvation through Jesus, simultaneously declaring the purpose for which angels exist and are sent:

Are they not all ministering spirits, sent out to render service for the sake of those who will inherit salvation?

Hebrews 1:14 (NASB)

In this verse, the phrase translated “ministering spirits” is leitourgika pneumata, which at first appears merely to restate the point made in verse 7 that angels are spirits (pneumata) and God’s “ministers” (leitourgoi). They are spirits whose function is to minister in important ways. But what is shocking about this verse is precisely that it does not say that the angels’ ministry is in service to God. No, instead, it asserts, in the form of a rhetorical question, that angels are being sent forth to serve us.

Looking more closely at the language used, the second part of this verse says that the angels, as ministering spirits, are being sent forth to serve. The word order is really “in order to to serve being sent forth.” The notion that the angels are “sent” or “sent out” is carried by the passive present participle apostellomena, from the verb apostellō, which straightforwardly means “to send out”–it is the verb from which “apostle” (apostolos) (“sent one”) is derived. It is in the passive because, although it is implicit that God is the one that sends the angels, what is in view in this verse is the function of the angels, not the identity of their sender. This verse does not imply that the angels act autonomously–i.e., send themselves to their tasks–or that we can send them. This is clear from the context, particularly verse 7, discussed above–angels are “his” (God’s) ministers.

“In order to serve” is “eis diakonian.” The preposition eis primarily denotes motion into or toward something; figuratively it denotes motion into or toward a purpose. That purpose is diakonia— narrowly “waiting at a table” (in this instance, God’s table), or more broadly. “service, ministry”. It is used of the human church servants called “deacons” in Acts 6:2-5 and possibly Romans 12:7, though the related word diakonos is more frequently used for this. Diakonia is also very generally used of ministry to people on God’s behalf. See, for instance, Acts 6:4; Acts 20:24; Romans 11:13; 2 Corinthians 4:1; 2 Corinthians 6:3. So, angels are sent out to enter into the purpose of serving people on God’s behalf.

Verse 13 closes by identifying the people angels are sent out to serve. Angels are sent out to serve those who are about to receive God’s deliverance. The exact language of the clause starts with the preposition dia followed by neuter article to, which specifies the later verb infintive kleronomein. This combination of dia to plus an infinitive commonly identifies the persons “for” whom–in the sense of “because of” whom–the action of the verb occurs. The infinitive kleronomein is also modified mellontas, a present participle of the verb mellō being used as an adverb, and indicates action which is “certain to” occur or “ready to” occur, see definition “d” in the linked definition of mellō. Thus the usual translation of this as “about to” is accurate, with the qualification that no uncertainty is involved. The described action certainly will happen. The infinitive this adverbial phrase modifies is kleronomein (the present infinitive of kleronomeō) to inherit, to receive by inheritance, to acquire. The thing to be inherited or acquired is soteria–deliverance (the primary meaning), or, by extension, salvation (the ordinary translation of this verse). Thus, angels are sent out to minister because of (and ultimately on behalf of) those humans who are certain to, and in that sense about to, receive deliverance. Angels are sent to serve humans for whom God has prepared a deliverance by participating in that deliverance.

Many interpreters prefer to limit soteria in verse 14 to “eternal salvation,” as defined by their own denminational tradition. Thus, to these interpreters, the verse says angels are sent only either to serve those who are either soon to have some group-defined “salvation experience” for the purpose of bringing them to that experience, or to serve those who are soon to die in right relationship to their ecclesiastical organization for the purpose of ensuring that relationship endures to the end. But that reading is certainly too narrow, as angels are sometimes 1) sent directly to people who are not apparently to be recipients of salvation (see the “Bad Example of Balaam,” previously discussed) for the benefit of third persons not present; 2) sent for the deliverance of people who are already eternally “saved” (such as, for example, angels delivering the apostles from prison); 3) sent as messengers to prophets or kings (sometimes gentile kings who are never to be “saved”); 4) sent for the deliverance of mixed groups of people from various predicaments; 5) sent simply to watch and report to God; or 6) sent as agents of God’s judgment. In each case, we who believe ultimately benefit, but not because the work of the angels involved brought us to “eternal salvation.” They were sent because of our “deliverance,” but not to cause a “salvation experience” or to keep any group of believers in the present era in a right relationship with any church organization. Examples of all of these are discussed below.

Finally, Jude 1:6 pertains directly to fallen angels–who have left their own (proper) domain and dwelling. But, in describing the fallen angels in this way, Jude implies angels have a proper domain (archē) and dwelling (oikētērion). Exactly what this means will be one of the subjects of the next few posts.