Aggelos: Myths about Angels

Word of the Week

October 19, 2024

Aggelos: Myths about Angels

 

Do not neglect hospitality to strangers, for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it.

Hebrews 13:2 NASB2020

 

Pop culture knows quite a bit about angels.

Unfortunately, much of what it knows isn’t true.

A careful survey of the Bible will dispel many of the common myths about angels:

• Myth: Angels are people who have died and gone to heaven.
• Myth: Angels are cuddly infants.
• Myth: Angels always have wings.

According to Scripture, the reality is:

• Angels are completely different from humans. You will never become an angel.
• Angels appear as figures so intimidating that their first words are often “Fear not!”
• Angel wings are mentioned only for the special angels known as seraphim in Isaiah 6 and the cherubim in the Holy of Holies.

If you want to know more about angels, the Bible is the place to go.  And a good place to start is with the word angel itself – especially the Greek word for it.

Our English word angel actually comes from the Greek language.  In Greek, the word for angel is aggelos [AHN-geh-loss].  Angels appear a lot in the New Testament; the word occurs 175 times!  But it doesn’t always mean the kind of angels that we think of.

The core idea of aggelos is “a messenger.”  You can see that when you consider the related word aggelia [ahn-geh-LEE-ah] which means “message.”  An aggelos is simply someone who carries a message.

Sometimes it can mean a human messenger

John the Baptist was called the messenger predicted by Isaiah, who would prepare the way for the coming Messiah (Mark 1:2; Matthew 11:10).  When John was jailed later on, he sent some of his followers as messengers to ask questions about Christ’s ministry (Luke 7:26).   Jesus once sent some messengers into a village to make arrangements for his arrival (Luke 9:52).

Clearly, none of these messengers were angels!

More often it describes a supernatural servant of God

Angels appear often in the story of God’s redemptive plan.  They were present when God gave the Law to Moses on Mount Sinai (Galatians 3:19; Acts 7:53).  A host of angels filled the sky over Bethlehem when Christ was born (Luke 2:13) and angels brought messages to Zacharias (Luke 1:11), Mary (Luke 1:26) and Joseph (Matthew 1:20).  Angels rolled away the stone from the tomb and appeared to the women, announcing His resurrection (Matthew 28:1-2).  Angels were present when He ascended back to heaven (Acts 1:10-11).  And hosts of angels will be involved in His return (2 Thessalonians 1:7).

What do we know about angels?

They were created by God (Colossians 1:16).  They are spirit beings (Hebrews 1:14), although they can appear in visible form (2 Kings 6:15-17).  They do not reproduce or die (Luke 20:36; Matthew 22:30).  And they exist in great numbers (Revelation 5:11).

Angels are stronger than humans, but not omnipotent.

They are smarter than humans, but not omniscient.

They are swifter than humans, but not omnipresent.

In every way, Christ is superior to angels.  That is the whole point of Hebrews chapter 1.  Therefore, we should not worship angels (Revelation 19:10) or pray to them (1 Timothy 2:5).  Worship God, not His messengers.

Angels don’t draw attention to themselves; they are merely servants of God.  Perhaps you have experienced the ministry of angels.  That’s wonderful – serving the saints is part of their job description (Hebrews 1:14).  But if you have never noticed angelic activity around you, don’t worry.  God sometimes acts directly in our lives; at other times He chooses to use angels.  Either way, He gets the credit.

In short, there are many myths about angels, but angels are no myth!

 

Study Hint:

Why do we pronounce aggelos as if it were spelled angelos?  The third letter of the Greek alphabet is gamma, which is pronounced like the hard g in go.  When you put two gammas together, it’s almost impossible to say the sound twice, so it’s customary to pronounce it as if it were an ng sound.  And that comes out as our word “angel.”

 

Coming Up

Angels have one other characteristic:  they can be good or evil.  Next week we will examine the Greek word for evil angels.  Stay tuned!

©Ezra Project 2024