User:MarcoCidsss/Angelología

Christian angelology is the part of systematic theology that studies what Christianity considers to be the characteristics, offices, and scope of angels. According to Christianity, angels are spiritual beings created by God and the difference is established between good angels and evil angels or demons, servants of Satan, because they decided to follow Lucifer in his fall after rebelling.

Even though the Bible repeatedly repeats the same activity from angles and demons, but it doesnt explain what they are. Only its existence and activity is assumed.

In the Middle Ages, angelology began to consolidate with the works of Pseudo Dionysius the Areopagite and Gregory the Great.

History
Angels were worshiped in various cultures. It began to be believed that they are messengers between God and men since they lived in caves. Then the Assyrian and Greek peoples, parallel to the angels, added wings to gods like Hermes or Eros, the god of passionate love. The Romans invented Cupid, god of erotic love.

Platon spoke of guardian angels who protected us (Horton, 1994). In the Tanakh only two angels are named: Archangel Gabriel, who is believed to have enlightened Daniel's understanding (Daniel 9:21-27), and Archangel Michael, considered the protector of Israel (Daniel 12:1). In the deuterocanonical Book of Tobias the Archangel Raphael appears. Outside of canon, in the book of Enoch angels are said to have attended the giving of the Mosaic law. In the New Testament the Pharisees believed that angels communicated God's will to man (Acts 23:9), while the Sadducees believed neither in angels nor in spirits (Acts 23:8). Irenaeus (130-195 AD) showed hierarchies among angels, Origen (182-250 AD) believed that if an angel can be fallen, a demon can become. Jerome (347-420 AD) believed that at birth, each person was given a guardian angel. Dionysus in 500 AD. C. said that an angel is the image of God. Gregory the Great (540-600 AD) said that angels had power over heavenly bodies, while Peter the Lombard (1100-1160 AD) thought that one angel could take care of many people.

Angelology according to Catholic Christianity
According to Catholic systematic theology, angels are incorporeal, they do not have a body like the human being. They are said to be spirits, with moral judgment and high intelligence "He who makes the winds (spirits, angels) his messengers and the flames of fire his ministers". Psalms 104:4 says: Are not all ministering spirits, sent forth to serve those who shall inherit salvation? The Bible also says in Luke 24:37-39 that Jesus said, "For a spirit has neither flesh nor bone, as you see I have." On the Christian view, this does not mean that they are not truly individual creatures, both finite and spatial. However, according to this religion, they are in a small but freer relationship with time and space than man. It is believed that many can be present at the same time in a limited space. Likewise, Christianity maintains that although they are not omnipresent, each one is in one place at the same time as the Bible mentions "And Jesus asked him saying: What is your name? And he said that Legion, because many demons have entered him (Luke 8:30)." The angels are a company and not a race, created by God all at the same time and there is no propagation between them; they do not die therefore there is no increase or decrease in their number. Catholicism considers and exhorts its devotees that although angels are allowed to be venerated, only the archangels Archangel Michael Gabriel and Raphael should be venerated.

First hierarchy
Other specific types of heavenly beings are mentioned in the Bible. Whether one takes the view that they are special types of "angels" (in a broad sense of the term), or whether the view is that they are heavenly beings other than angels, both beliefs agree that they are created as spirit beings. who serve and worship God.

Seraphim
The seraphim are a group of celestial beings, they are mentioned only in Isaiah 6:2-7, where it is stated that they continually worship the Lord and cry out to each other: «Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory” (Isaiah 6:3). They are represented with three pairs of wings: with two they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet and with two they flew. They cover themselves, according to what is maintained, to protect themselves from the intense radiance that God emits.Seraphims are mentioned in Isaiah 6:1–7: "1 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and exalted, and his skirts filled the temple. 2 And above him were seraphim: each had six wings; with two they covered their faces, and with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. 3 And they cried out to one another, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Yahweh of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory. 4 And the doorposts shook at the voice of him who cried, and the house filled with smoke. 5 Then I said: Woe is me! that I am dead; that being a man of unclean lips, and dwelling in the midst of a people that has unclean lips, my eyes have seen the King, Yahweh of hosts. 6 And one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal, taken from the altar with tongs: 7 And touching with it on my mouth, he said: Behold, this touched your lips, and your guilt is taken away, and your sin is cleansed."

Cherubim
Cherubim were given the task of guarding the entrance to the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3:24), and God Himself is often said to have His throne between cherubim, or to ride on cherubim (Psalm 18:10; Ezekiel 10). : 1-22). Genesis also mentions that on the ark of the covenant in the Old Testament there were two golden figures of cherubim with outstretched wings on the ark, and it is believed there that God promised to go and dwell among his people: "I will meet you there in the midst of the two cherubim that are on the ark of the covenant. From the upper part of the mercy seat I will give you all the instructions that you will have to communicate to the Israelites” (Exodus 25: 22; vv. 18-21)

Cherubim are mentioned in Genesis 3:24 and Ezekiel 10:17–21.

The book of Genesis mentions that God expelled Adam and Eve and placed cherubim in the east of the Garden of Eden, and a flaming sword that turned every which way, to guard the way to the tree of life (Genesis 3:24).

"When they stood, they stood, and when they rose, they rose with them; because the spirit of the living creatures was in them.

Then the glory of God rose from above the threshold of the house, and stood above the cherubim.

And the cherubim lifting their wings, they rose from the earth before my eyes; when they went out, also the wheels rose beside them; and they stood at the entrance to the eastern gate of the house of God, and the glory of the God of Israel was above them.

These were the same living creatures that I saw under the God of Israel by the river Chebar; and I knew that they were cherubs.

Each had four faces and each had four wings, and figures of men's hands under their wings."

Thrones
Ezekiel and Apocalipsis mention another class of heavenly beings known as "Thrones" around the throne of God (Ez 1:5-14; Rev 4:6-8). They are often portrayed in the guise of a lion, ox, man, and eagle, believed to be the most powerful representatives of God's various creatures (wild beasts, domesticated animals, humans, and birds), and according to the Bible and theology systematically, they continually adore God: “and day and night they repeated without ceasing: Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and who is and who is to come” (Rev. 4:8).

Dominations
Dominations rank fourth among the nine angelic choirs. Saint Paul refers to them in his letters, as when he says that in God all things were created, including "thrones, dominions, principalities, powers (...)" (Col. 1: 16).

Virtues
The virtues are those angels whom God created to be bearers of divine grace and courage, devoting themselves to bringing human beings closer to God to be in communion with Him. They are mentioned in a verse from Ephesians, where it is stated that Christ it is "above all Principality, Power, Virtue, Domination and everything that has a name not only in this world but also in the world to come." (Ephesians 1:21).

Powers
The powers have the function of maintaining the cosmic balance and physical laws, as well as monitoring the margins of the spiritual world with the physical world. They are referred to in several biblical texts, such as in 1 Peter where in a passage it is declared that "the Angels, the Dominations and the Powers are subject to Christ" (I Peter 3, 22).

Principles
The principalities are in charge of being the guardians of the nations, supervising those events that affect them. They manifest God's dominion over nature. They are mentioned in the Letter to the Ephesians where it is spoken of "so that the manifold wisdom of God may now be made manifest to the Principalities and Powers in heaven through the Church," (Ephesians 3:10).

Archangels
Archangels usually receive a task of importance to humanity. For this reason, according to this religion, there are no physical differences in angels and archangels; the difference lies in the role assigned by God.

In the Bible it is said that there are seven archangels (Tob. 12:15; Rev. 1:4), although only three are mentioned by name: Archangel Michael (in the book of Daniel, Jude and in Revelation), Archangel Raphael (in the book of Tobias) and Archangel Gabriel (in the book of Daniel and the Gospel according to Saint Luke).

Angels
The angels occupy the lowest place among the angelic choirs. Their mission is to give praise and adoration: The main ministry that the good angels have is that of praising and offering incessant adoration to God, because, according to the Bible, He is Worthy (Is. 6:3); other functions that the Church sustains include bringing God's law to his people (Acts 7:53), executing God's judgments on his enemies (Acts 12:23), gathering the elect at the second coming (Mt 24:30-31) and assist in what the Church affirms will be the day of the Final Judgment (Mt. 13:49-50).

A particular variant within this group is the so-called Guardian Angel, each one of them is assigned by God to each person to protect, guard and guide them during their life on earth to facilitate their ascent to Heaven.

Evil angels
Fallen angels

Christianity holds that a fallen angel is one who has been expelled from heaven for disobeying or rebelling against God; some people believe that their wings are also torn off. This religion states that some of the most important are Lucifer (Bible), Semyazza, Remiel or Azazel, (they are mentioned in the Book of Enoch) although the list is much longer. They all fell, according to systematic theology, by defying God and committing sins, according to the book of Enoch, of lust. The main source in which there is a story about fallen angels is the book of Enoch, an ancient Jewish religious work, traditionally attributed to Enoch, great-grandfather of Noah, which contains unique material on the origin of demons and giants. . The book is part of the canon of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, although it is not recognized as such by the other Christian churches. Some studies have estimated that the oldest sections of the Book of Enoch, mainly the "Book of Watchers", date from around 300 BC. C., and the last part, the “Book of Parables”, from the 1st century BC. c.

Origin of the Fallen Angels
It is believed that the angels belonged to the heavenly group created specifically by God to watch over man, also granting them understanding and freedom. In the book of Enoch and in the Bible it is said that God expelled them from heaven and that some were thrown into hell, while others went free to influence the world.

Reason for the fall of some Angels

Through some reading and interpretation of passages from Isaiah 14:12-15 and Ezekiel 28:12-19, there are those who understand the reason and why Lucifer fell. On the other hand, as already mentioned, in the book of Enoch is the reason why a group of them did it. The Grigori or Grigori watchmen are believed to be known as sons of Elohim, a group associated with a different type of wisdom, mentioned in some Jewish apocryphal texts. These, according to some Christian denominations, also fell in love with the daughters of men and after making a pact with them they also married and fathered children with them. Systematic theology maintains that some angels fell for lust to mingle with the daughters of men, while others, according to this theology, fell for teaching men the art of war and the creation of weapons, to show another series of knowledge that created imbalance and violence among men.

Demons
Catolic Definition

Demons are angels who sinned against God, who continually do evil in the world, they are evil angels.

Origin of demons

According to Christianity, when God created the world, “he looked at everything he had made, and considered it very good” (Genesis 1:31). This means that the angelic world that God had created is believed to have no evil angels or demons at that time. But already in Genesis 3, it is found that Satan, in the form of a serpent, was tempting Eve to sin (Genesis 3:1-5). Therefore, according to the Bible, sometime between the events of Genesis 1: 31 and Genesis 3: 1, there had to be a rebellion in the angelic world that led many angels to turn against God and become evil. . The New Testament speaks of this in two places. 2 Peter mentions that “God did not spare the angels when they sinned, but cast them into the abyss, putting them into dark caverns and reserving themselves for judgment” (2 Peter 2:4). Jude also says that "the angels who did not maintain their position of authority, but forsook their own abode, he has perpetually imprisoned in darkness for the judgment of the great Day" (Jude 6). Again, the fact that, according to the Catholic Church, they are far from the glory of God's presence and that their activity is restricted (metaphorically, "perpetually imprisoned") is emphasized, but the text does not imply for nothing that their influence has been removed from the world or that some demons are in some place of punishment apart from the world, while others have the possibility of influencing it. Rather, both 2 Peter and Jude mention that some angels rebelled against God and became hostile opponents of his will. Making an interpretation of the passage of 2 Peter 2: 4 simply means that the wicked angels have been removed from the presence of God and that they are under some form of restriction of influence until the end of the judgment, but it can be inferred that this does not deprive them while so much to continue carrying out its activities in the world. It can be implied that their sin was that of pride, that of refusing to accept their assigned place, because they "kept not their position of authority, but forsook their own dwelling" (Jude 6).

Satan
The fallen angels or demons have a "leader"; for this religion it is Satan. The idea of ​​Satan with horns and hooves is not biblical, this representation dates back to ancient non-Christian mythologies and medieval art where he was represented as a monster with bat wings and a terrible appearance. Also Dante, in The Divine Comedy, represents Satan as a giant monster with wings and three faces, imprisoned in the ninth circle of hell. But the Bible identifies Satan as an angel created by God. Therefore it can be understood that he was created good since Genesis 1:31 says that God saw his work was very good. But, in Genesis 3:1-5 we read of Satan tempting Eve through a serpent. Reflecting on the biblical text, it can be inferred that at some point between Genesis 1:31 and 3:1-5, Satan became perverted and rebelled against God.

The scriptures do not explicitly indicate when or why Satan rebels, but there is a passage in Isaiah 14 in which the prophet describes the fall of the king of Babylon and that is often interpreted as a parallelism of the moment and the reason why Satan rebels. This passage says the following:

“How did you fall from heaven, oh Lucero, son of the morning! You were cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations. You who said in your heart: I will ascend to heaven; on high, by the stars of God, I will raise my throne, and on the mount of testimony I will sit, on the sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, and I will be like the Most High. But you are cast down to Sheol, to the sides of the abyss.”  -Isaiah 14:12-15 (KJV 1960) 

Even when this passage is related to the king of Babylon, Grudem (2007) argues that the description that Isaiah makes is so tremendous that it is unlikely that he is referring to a mortal human being and sees in these verses a clear reference to the fall of Satan. It is common in the writing of the Hebrew prophets that they go from descriptions of human events to descriptions of heavenly events that are parallel to them and that human events represent them in a limited way. Because of this, Satan's sin is being described as one of pride and trying to be equal to God in position and authority.

There are certain aspects that systematic theology attributes to Satan, based on the names and titles he receives, these are:

Satan: is a transliteration of the Hebrew word satán שָׂטָ֣ן (Numbers 22:22 WTT) which means “the adversary”, who, according to this theology, is mainly opposed to God and his purposes, rather than to men. (Numbers 22:22,32; 1 Samuel 29:4; 2 Samuel 19:22).

The Devil: This name is used only in the New Testament and comes from the Greek diabolos διάβολος (Revelation 20:2 BYZ) which means slanderer (Matthew 4:1; 25:41; Revelation 12:9; 20:2, among others).

The Serpent: this name is used since, according to Genesis, in the Garden of Eden Satan used the serpent to deceive Eve (Genesis 3:1; 2 Cor. 11:3; Revelation 12:9).

Beelzebub: another New Testament name for Satan; this name is a variation of the Hebrew Baal-zebub who was a Philistine deity that translates as "lord of the flies" (Matthew 10:25; 12:24,27; Luke 11:15).

The prince of this world: This title appears in the Gospel of John (John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11). John does not mean that the whole world is ruled by Satan, but he refers to the sinful system that dominates in the world.

Prince of the power of the air, ὁ ἄρχων τοῦ κόσμου (John 12:31 BGT): This expression is used only in Ephesians 2:2 and refers to the lifestyle of sins that reigned at that time that the Ephesians had to avoid. The apostle Paul believed that the air was full of demons.

The evil one, the one who does evil. Matthew 13:19; 1 John 2:13

Belial: this term comes from the Hebrew and means “useless”, “unworthy” or “ungodly”; it is used as a derogatory term (Deuteronomy 13:13). In the book of Nahum it is translated as “the wicked one”, perhaps referring to some spirit. In the New Testament Paul writes of the mutual enmity between Christ and Belial, which apparently refers to Satan.

Destiny
Making a biblical interpretation it can be inferred that Satan is the father of evil. There are two passages that teach about his destiny: Revelation 12 and 20. In Revelation 12, despite having been expelled from heaven, it is seen that he has not lost access to it. In a future time it is indicated that Satan will definitely lose access to heaven. Instead, Revelation 20 references a time when Satan will no longer be able to deceive the nations and will be bound. “Well, you are children of your father, the devil, and you love to do the evil things that he does. Satan has been a murderer from the beginning and has always hated the truth, because there is no truth in him. It is claimed that when he lies, he acts according to his nature because as the Bible puts it, "he is a liar and the father of lies." (John 8:44). During the millennium, Revelation 20:1-3 mentions that the activity of Satan and the demons will be restricted, it can be seen that their performance will be more restricted than what we see today. He is described as completely deprived of any ability to influence the land. According to Catholic eschatology, at the end of the millennium, in the final judgment, he will be definitively defeated, completing the punishment for him and his demons (Revelation 20:10).