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Particulars
of Christianity:
311
Spiritual Warfare
Spiritual
Warfare Part 3a
Biblical/Historic View of Angels & Demons
Spiritual
Warfare Part 1a: A Study of Demonic Activity
Spiritual
Warfare Part 1b: A Study of Demonic Activity
Spiritual
Warfare Part 2a: The Spiritual Warfare of the Believer
Spiritual
Warfare Part 2b: The Spiritual Warfare of the Believer
Spiritual
Warfare Part 2c: The Spiritual Warfare of the Believer
Spiritual
Warfare Part 2d: The Spiritual Warfare of the Believer
Spiritual
Warfare P. 3a: Biblical/Historic View of Angels & Demons
Spiritual
Warfare P. 3b: Biblical/Historic View of Angels & Demons
Spiritual
Warfare P. 3c: Biblical/Historic View of Angels & Demons
Spiritual
Warfare Study Conclusions
Spiritual
Warfare Additional Quotes and Definitions
Introduction
Now that we have examined the first two questions that we
posed at the beginning of this study we will take a look at
the third and final question.
3. What is the correct Biblical understanding of angels and
demons? How do they relate? What distinguishes them from one
another?
In this section we will refute the following modern church
view that:
5. Demons are another name or term to describe fallen, wicked,
or evil angels.
What we will demonstrate instead is that there are four types
or categories of spiritual being described in the Bible. The
first is God, the second is angels, the third is man, and
the fourth is demons, which was defined in our fifth point
at the beginning of this study.
5. Demons are NOT another term for fallen angels, but are
a distinct type of spiritual being, the spirits of the Nephilim
- the offspring of angels who sinned by having children with
women.
(NOTE: we will not spend time discussing God or men in this
study, but will focus on the ontological difference between
angels and demons. Ontology is the study of being. For the
purposes of this study it means that we will be taking a look
at the categorical distinction between the spiritual beings
known as angels and those known as demons. For more on the
ontology of angels and men please see our studies in the Bible
Cosmology section of our In Depth Studies.)
In this section the priority of the Grammatical-Historical
Method of Bible Interpretation will be of the utmost importance.
To understand what the correct Judeo-Christian view of angels
and demons should be we must understand what the Bible says
in the way that it was understood when it was written. In
keeping with that guiding precept of the Grammatical Historical
Method we will first look at Genesis 6:1-4 and then we will
review orthodox, non-canonical sources from before and after
the writing of the New Testament to see how God's people understood
the Biblical text on this subject.
Genesis 6:1 And it came to pass, when men began to
multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born
unto them, 2 That the sons (1121) of God (430) saw the
daughters of men that they were fair; and they took
them wives of all which they chose. 3 And the LORD said,
My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also
is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.
4 There were giants (5303) in the earth in those days;
and also after that, when the sons (1121) of God (430) came
in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them,
the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.
Many church scholars today contend that this passage in Genesis
is not a record of angels coming down from heaven and having
children with women. To understand this passage and what exactly
it is describing we must understand the terminology that is
employed in it. In doing so we will find that we must reject
the position held by some in the modern church and instead
conclude that some angels did, in fact, come to earth and
have children with women before the flood.
The first thing we need to understand about Bible terminology
is that the Hebrew word for angel ("malak," Strong's No. 4397)
is not used in the scripture until Genesis 16 where we are
told of the angel of the Lord's interaction with Abraham.
The first time that this word is used to describe beings other
than the angel of the Lord is in Genesis 19:1 where two angels
along with the angel of the Lord are involved in the events
surrounding the destruction of Sodom.
The second thing we need to note about terminology is that
malak is not the only way that angels were referred to in
the Old Testament. The term "sons of God" which appears in
Genesis 6:2 and 4 is the Hebrew phrase "bnai (1121) Elohim
(430)," which means sons of God, just as it is translated
here in Genesis. However, this distinct phrase occurs a total
of five times in the Old Testament. Besides the two occurrences
here in Genesis 6:2 and 4, the other three occurrences are
all in the Book of Job.
The Book of Job is very old. Many scholars believe it to be
the oldest book in the Bible. However, some believe that the
first five books of the Bible, which were penned by Moses
are actually older. Either way the Book of Job is very old,
originating before or around the time of Moses. In each of
the three instances where Job uses the phrase "bnai Elohim"
it is clearly referring to angels.
Job 1:6 Now there was a day when the sons [01121]
of God [0430] came to present themselves before the LORD,
and Satan [07854] came also among them.
Job 2:1 Again there was a day when the sons [01121]
of God [0430] came to present themselves before the LORD,
and Satan [07854] came also among [08432] them to present
himself before the LORD [03068].
These passages in Job clearly refer to the angels presenting
themselves to God. They confirm this fact by telling us that
satan, who we know also to be an angel was among them. But
Job 38:7 is also compelling.
Job 38:7 When the morning [01242] stars [03556] sang
together, and all the sons [01121] of God [0430] shouted
for joy?
In God's rebuke of Job, God asks Job a series of questions
in order to point out how limited Job's perspective and understanding
is in questioning him. Here is the above quote in context
with the verses that surround it.
Job 38:4 Where wast thou when I laid the foundations
of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding. 5 Who
hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath
stretched the line upon it? 6 Whereupon are the foundations
thereof fastened? or who laid the corner stone thereof;
7 When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons
of God shouted for joy? 8 Or who shut up the sea with
doors, when it brake forth, as if it had issued out of
the womb? 9 When I made the cloud the garment thereof, and
thick darkness a swaddlingband for it, 10 And brake up for
it my decreed place, and set bars and doors, 11 And said,
Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further: and here shall thy
proud waves be stayed?
What is so conclusive about Job 38:7 is that God speaks of
the sons of God shouting for joy in the same timeframe as
He refers to His creative activity on the third day of creation,
recorded in Genesis 1:9-10, 13.
Genesis 1:9 And God said, Let the waters under the
heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry
land appear: and it was so. 10 And God called the dry
land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called
he Seas: and God saw that it was good...13 And the
evening and the morning were the third day.
Since God is speaking of the existence of the "bnai Elohim"
before the creation of man on the sixth day, then the "bnai
Elohim" could not be a reference to human beings. Therefore,
we must conclude that the use of this phrase in the oldest
Biblical writings was, indeed, a reference to angelic beings.
(Additional argumentation can be made on this subject to further
solidify this conclusion, for more on this topic please see
our study on Bible Cosmology in our In Depth Studies.)
So, we must understand that Genesis 6:1-4 is recording that
angels came to earth and had children with women. These children
of angels and women are referred to in Genesis giants, which
is the Hebrew word "Nephilim" (5303). This word "nephilim"
is derived from the Hebrew root word "naphal" (5307), which
means to fall, to be cast down, or to throw down.
This connects quite well to two passages in the New Testament,
which confirm that some angels did, in fact, leave their heavenly
abode and come down to earth to have children with women.
Jude 1:4 For there are certain men crept in unawares,
who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly
men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness,
and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.
5 I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once
knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out
of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed
not. 6 And the angels which kept not their first estate,
but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting
chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.
7 Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about
them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication,
and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example,
suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. 8 Likewise also
these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion,
and speak evil of dignities.
2 Peter 2:4 For if God spared not the angels that
sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into
chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment;
Notice how the passage from Jude is discussing sexual fornication
and that there were angels that left heaven to have children
with women just as Genesis 6:1-4 describes. We will continue
to prove this conclusion as we proceed with this study. For
now we note that 1) the offspring of angels and women (humans)
is described in Genesis 6:1-4 and 2) these beings were called
Nephilim. Having angels as fathers and human mothers the Nephilim
were not humans nor angels, but a hybrid, a distinctly different
class of spiritual being.
Admittedly, the Bible has very little to say about these events
and does not make direct statements about angels and demons
in relation to one another. This is where historical perspective
becomes key. All theories about angels and demons, whether
they hold them to be the same type of being or different (as
we do), draw upon extra-Biblical conceptions. That is, because
the Bible itself does not provide explicit detail on this
subject we are forced to draw upon non-biblical sources in
order to fill in some of the blanks as we develop our understanding
of angelology and demonology. As we said earlier, many modern
Christians fill in these blanks with popular, contemporary
fiction books. What we will do instead is to examine ancient
orthodox, non-canonical writing to fill in the blanks about
angels and demons.
Before we continue let us lay out the path that we will take
as we continue this study. First, we will gain an understanding
of the ancient, historic, orthodox Judeo-Christian view of
these things. We will accomplish this by first discussing
the Book of Enoch. In taking a look at the Book of Enoch we
will first establish its reliability and orthodoxy, by showing
how it relates to the Bible and then by quoting the early
church writers' views of the book. Second, we will then look
at how the Book of Enoch and the early church writers understood
the ontology of angels and demons. Third, we will take a look
at the Biblical usage of terms for angels and demons and compare
it to our results from the Book of Enoch and the early church
writers to see if the Bible upholds the distinctions made
in these ancient, orthodox, non-canonical works.
The Book of Enoch
The first place to start when studying ancient Judeo-Christian
understanding on these matters is the Book of Enoch. The Book
of Enoch that is available today is not part of the canon
of scripture. However, the copies that we have available today
were penned sometime in the second century BC (approximately
150 BC). This means that they predate the New Testament writings
by around two centuries. And as we will see the book was available,
read, and understood by Jews and Christians alike in the first
century AD.
The copies we have of the Book of Enoch are from Ethiopia
and the Dead Sea Scrolls. The Ethiopian copies were made from
a Greek manuscript, which is believed to be a copy of an earlier
Semitic, possibly Aramaic version. As a whole, there are two
remarkable things about the work. First, is contains astoundingly
clear prophecies of the Messiah. And second, the book has
a distinctly non-Jewish point of view. The words Israel, Jew,
Jewish, and Hebrew(s) DO NOT appear in the book at all. And
this is exactly what we would expect if the book was, in fact,
written before the flood. While some scholars may debate the
authenticity of the work and doubt that it was authored by
the Biblical Enoch, who was a seventh generation descendant
of Adam, what cannot be questioned, as we shall see is the
reliability of the book as an orthodox reflection of ancient
Judeo-Christian beliefs.
In terms of its influence on Jewish and early Christian thought
there can be little debate. Many examples of this influence
could be cited, but we will only mention the main ones here.
First and foremost, the Book of Enoch is quoted throughout
the canon of scripture and the concepts and terminology it
contains are borrowed and understood by those who authored
the inspired books of the Bible.
Our first example of the Book of Enoch's usage in the scripture
comes by way of the Book of Daniel. Daniel 4:13, 17, and 23
all use the term "watchers" to refer to angels. This term
is without precedent in the Bible occurring nowhere else in
the scriptures. Yet the Book of Enoch uses the term "watchers"
to describe angels at least 14 times. (Since Daniel lived
in the sixth century BC this may, in fact, be evidence that
the Book of Enoch existed in some form well before the second
century BC.)
Second, the Bible speaks in various places of two specific
angels by the names, Gabriel and Michael. In the scripture
Gabriel is mentioned by name 4 times, and Michael is mentioned
by name 5 times. In the Book of Enoch, these two angels are
mentioned quite a few more times, with Gabriel being referred
to by name 8 times and Michael 18 times.
Third, moving to the New Testament, in verse 14 of his epistle,
Jude actually quotes a prophecy from the Book of Enoch and
attributes it to the actual person of Enoch, the seventh generation
descendant of Adam. Below is Jude's quote followed by the
portion of the Book of Enoch that Jude was quoting from.
Jude 1:14 And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam,
prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with
ten thousands of his saints, 15 To execute judgment
upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them
of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed, and
of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken
against him.
Enoch 1:9 And behold! He cometh with ten thousands
of His holy ones To execute judgement upon all, And to destroy
all the ungodly: And to convict all flesh Of all the works
of their ungodliness which they have committed, And of all
the hard things which ungodly sinners have spoken against
Him.
While we cannot necessarily conclude from this that Jude believed
the Book of Enoch to be inspired, we do have strong evidence
that he believed the book contained portions that were penned
by the real Enoch mentioned in Genesis. And that he considered
these portions to be inspired in that he refers to them as
prophecy. This means that Jude, a first century Jewish Christian
and disciple of Jesus, considered the Book of Enoch to be
a reliable and orthodox source of information and that he
believed some of the book was, in fact, penned by the Biblical
Enoch.
Fourth, there are a whole host of places where New Testament
teaching echoes teaching found in the Book of Enoch. The quotes
below are not exhaustive, in fact Enoch may be quoted over
60 times in the New Testament, however, we have only included
the most remarkable examples here. Again, we must remind our
readers that the earliest copy of the Book of Enoch that we
know of is almost two centuries older than the books of the
New Testament.
1) Enoch 5:7 The elect shall possess light, joy, and
peace, and they shall inherit the earth.
Matthew 5:5 Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit
the earth.
2) Enoch 19:1-2 So that they sacrifice to devils as
to Gods.
1 Corinthians 10:20 The things which the Gentiles sacrifice,
they sacrifice to devils, and not to God.
3) Enoch 22:8-13 [Raphael, the angel, informs Enoch
about the place of the dead] Here their souls are separated
... by a chasm.
Luke 16:26 [Abraham speaks to the rich man in the
place of the dead] Between us and you there is a great
gulf fixed.
4) Enoch 9:3-6 Then they said to the Lord, the King:
Thou art Lord of lords, God of gods, King of kings. The throne
of thy glory is for ever and ever, and for ever and ever is
thy name sanctified and glorified. Thou art blessed and glorified.
Thou hast made all things; thou possessest power over all
things: and all things are open and manifest before thee.
Thou beholdest all things, and nothing can be concealed from
thee.
Revelations 17:14; 19:16 King of kings, and Lord of
lords.
Revelations 4:11 Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive
glory, and honor, and power; for thou hast created all things,
and for thy pleasure they are, and were created.
Hebrews 4:13 Neither is there any creature that is
not manifest in his sight; but all things are naked and opened
unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.
5) Matthew 24:7,21,22,29,30 And except those days should
be shortened, there should no flesh be saved. ... Immediately
after the tribulation of those days, the sun shall be darkened,
and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall
fall from heaven. ... Then shall the tribes of the earth mourn;
and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of
heaven, with power and great glory.
Enoch 80:1-7 In the days of sinners the years shall
be shortened... heaven shall stand still. The moon shall change
its laws, and not be seen at its proper period; ... and all
the classes of the stars shall be shut up against sinners.
Enoch 62:4-6 And trouble shall seize them when they
shall behold the Son of Man sitting upon the throne of his
glory.
6) Enoch 47:3 He sat upon the throne of his glory,
while the book of the living was opened in his presence, and
while all the powers which were above the heavens stood around
and before him.
Revelations 20:11-13,15 I saw a great white throne,
and him that sat on it, ... and I saw the dead, small and
great, standing before the throne; and the books were opened,
which is the book of life, and the dead were judged out of
those things that were written in the books, according to
their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it,
and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them.
... And whosoever was not found written in the book of life
was cast into the lake of fire.
7) Enoch 91:16 The former part of heaven shall depart
and pass away, a new heaven shall appear.
Revelations 22:1 I saw a new heaven and a new earth,
for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away.
8) Enoch 62:2, 4 The word of his mouth shall destroy
all sinners, and all the ungodly shall perish at his presence...Trouble
shall come upon them, as upon a woman in travail.
1 Thessalonians 5:3 Then sudden destruction cometh
upon them as travail upon a woman with child, and they shall
not escape.
2 Thessalonians 2:8 That wicked whom the Lord shall
consume with the Spirit of his mouth.
From all of this we can see that the Book of Enoch was an
important, reliable, and orthodox work to the writers of the
Bible. But we don't need to stop there. The early church writers,
some of whom were disciples of the apostles and New Testament
writers also affirm the reliability and orthodoxy of the Book
of Enoch. Some of them even considered the Book to be scripture.
The Epistle of Barnabus, an orthodox work from about 100 AD
quotes Enoch several times. The quote below refers to a large
section from Enoch chapter 89:56-77.
Barnabus: For the Scripture says, "And it will
come to pass in the last days, that the Lord will deliver
up the sheep of His pasture, their sheepfold, and their tower
to destruction"
Like the Epistle of Barnabus, Tertullian also held the Book
of Enoch to be scripture even using Jude's quote of the book
as evidence for this claim.
Tertullian: Since in the same scripture, Enoch has
preached similarly concerning the Lord, nothing at all
must be rejected by us that pertains to us. We read that every
Scripture suitable for edification is divinely inspired. So
it may now seem to have been rejected by the Jews for that
very reason - just like nearly all the other portions that
speak of Christ…To these considerations is added the fact
that Enoch possesses a corroboration in the apostle Jude.
Besides these two writers we also know that many other early
Christian writers approved and supported the Book of Enoch,
including: Barnabus (100), Tatian (110-172); Irenaeus,
Bishop of Lyons (120-202); Clement of Alexandria (150-220);
Tertullian (160-230); Origen (186-255); Lactantius
(260-330); Methodius of Philippi, Minucius Felix, Commodianus,
and Ambrose of Milan also.
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