Special Topic: ANGELS IN PAUL'S WRITINGS

SPECIAL TOPIC: ANGELIC LEVELS IN PAUL'S WRITINGS

The rabbis thought that the angels were jealous of God's love and attention (i.e. the giving of His law on Mt. Sinai, cf. Deut 33:2 [LXX]; Acts 7:53; Gal. 3:19) to fallen mankind and, therefore, were hostile to them. The Gnostic false teachers (see Special Topic: Gnosticism) asserted that salvation was only available by secret passwords through hostile angelic spheres (i.e. pleroma, eons, cf. Colossians and Ephesians), which led up to the high, good god.

George Eldon Ladd has a good summary of the terms used by Paul for angels in his book A Theology of the New Testament:

"Paul refers not only to good and bad angels, to Satan and to demons; he uses another group of words to designate ranks of angelic spirits. The terminology is as follows:

'Rule' [archē], I Cor. 15:24; Eph. 1:21; Col. 2:10

'Rulers' [archai; RSV, "principalities'], Eph. 3:10; 6:12; Col. 1:16; 2:15; Rom. 8:38

'Authority' [exousia], I Cor. 15:24; Eph. 1:21; Col. 2:10

'Authorities' [exousiai; RSV, "authorities"], Eph. 1:21

'Power' [dynamis], I Cor. 15:24; Eph. 1:21

'Powers' [dynameis], Rom. 8:38

'Thrones' [thronoi], Col. 1:16

'Lordship' [kyriotēs; RSV, "dominion"], Eph. 1:21

'Lordships' [kyriotētes], Col. 1:16

'World rulers of this darkness,' Eph. 6:12

'The spiritual (hosts) of evil in the heavenlies,' Eph. 6:12

'The authority of darkness,' Col. 1:13

'Every name that is named,' Eph. 1:21

'Heavenly, earthly, and subterranean beings,' Phil. 2:10 " (p. 401).

Hendrik Berkhof, Christ and the Powers, gives an interesting interpretation of Paul's angelic terms. He thinks they refer to structures in society that allow humans to function apart from God (i.e. government, education, medicine, etc.).

Special Topic: Angels in the Bible

Special Topic: Demons (fallen angels)