Medieval theologians are sometimes ridiculed for an obsession with obscure or unknowable questions like, “How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?” It’s easy to scoff at the absurdity of a question like this, but it misses the point. The question is asking about what angels are. It is asking what they are made of, that is, what is their substance or essence. This is a very good question and one that is difficult to answer. The Bible gives us some information, but there is no exhaustive exposition on angelic beings and their nature. Let’s take a look at what the Bible does say.
First, the Scriptures teach that angels are creatures. The Bible begins by drawing an absolute distinction between God and his creation: “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth” (Gen. 1:1). God was there before the universe; this is taken as a given. God is there and, out of nothing, by the power of his creative Word, he called everything in heaven and earth into existence. This, of course, includes angels. Though angels are sometimes called “gods” or “Sons of God,” they are not divine. The Bible is clear that there is one eternal God (Deut. 6:4). He is the maker of heaven, earth, and everything in each realm. As the Psalmist writes, “Praise him, all his angels; praise him all his hosts…. Let them praise the name of the LORD! For he commanded and they were created” (Psalm 148:2, 5). Angels were made, like humans, to worship God alone, and it would be wrong for them to accept the worship that rightly belongs to the creator (Rev. 19:10, 22:9).
The second thing the Bible reveals about angels is that they are a different kind of creature than humans. Wayne Grudem describes angels as “spiritual beings with moral judgment and high intelligence, but without physical bodies.” There are some ways in which the angels are similar to humans, but there are key differences. Angels are “spiritual” beings. The Bible uses the term “spirit” to differentiate angels from the physical and material (Luke 24:39; Heb. 1:14). This is why we can’t see angels apart from God miraculously opening our eyes (see2 Kings 6:8-17). This also, incidentally, is why the question of how many angels can dance on the head of a pin isn’t totally foolish. The question is asking whether or not angels, as spirits, take up any space. So, angels are a different kind of being from corporeal humans; they are “without physical bodies.” There are many questions we might want to ask about angelic bodies, but the Bible simply doesn’t answer them. We simply know that angelic bodies are different from the physical bodies we have now (see question nine). It is important to note that angels are not omnipresent or ubiquitous like God. They are spirit, but they still exist in one place at a time (Dan. 9:21-23; 10:10-14; Lk. 1:26).
Despite these differences, angels do have a key similarity to humans: they are personal beings. Angels have intelligence and a sense of morality, both marks of personhood. Angels have knowledge and can grow in knowledge (1 Peter 1:12). The Bible also indicates that angels have emotions (Lk. 15:10). Angels have wills of their own (2 Peter 2:4; Jude 6). They can choose between worship and obedience to God and rebellion (see questions five through seven). Some theologians infer from these characteristics that angels are made in the image of God; however, the Bible never explicitly makes that assertion. In sum, angels are beings in some ways quite similar to humans and in other ways radically different.
Footnotes
Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine, 397
