Why Angels Make Me Nervous
I have been enjoying our study of angels on Wednesday nights. I’ve never taught the subject, and it has given me a new appreciation for a number of texts I haven’t explored very deeply in the past. However, I must admit that teaching classes on angels makes me nervous. The reason is that when we know so little about a subject so fascinating, it’s easy to lose focus.
As Paul began his first letter to Timothy, he issued a warning to the young minister:
As I urged you when I was going to Macedonia, remain at Ephesus so that you may charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine, nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies, which promote speculations rather than the stewardship from God that is by faith. The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. Certain persons, by swerving from these, have wandered away into vain discussion, desiring to be teachers of the law, without understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make confident assertions. (1 Tim. 1:3-7)
Among other things, Paul told Timothy to charge the church leaders in Ephesus “not to devote themselves to “myths and endless genealogies.” Fascination with these sorts of things “promote speculations rather than the stewardship from God that is by faith.” Timothy needed to keep the Ephesians on track, focusing on “love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.” If he failed to do so, the Christians there could swerve and wander away from the faith.
The apostle warned Timothy to watch himself because even he could be susceptible to the allure of strange tales: “Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness” (1 Tim. 4:7).
In his letter to Titus, Paul urges Titus to rebuke elders who devote themselves to “Jewish myths” (Titus 1:14). Again, the first century preachers had to spend a lot of time warning church leaders not to get sidetracked by exciting discussions that distract people from the gospel.
What “Jewish myths” was Paul concerned about? There was an abundance of Jewish fantasies that attempted to fill in the gaps left by divine revelation.
The Book of Jubilees, for example, is an extensive retelling of Genesis and Exodus found among the Dead Sea Scrolls. The book claims that God revealed more to Moses on Mount Sinai than what is recorded in the Bible. It is exciting reading. An account of the angels’ creation is given, along with four classifications: angels of the presence, angels of sanctification, guardian angels, and angels over nature. Events in the book follow a solar calendar, and dates and numbers are emphatic. The entire history of creation and Israel is given in divisions of forty-nine years each, or “jubilees.” The elapsed time from the Creation to Mount Sinai is calculated as fifty jubilees, hence the name of the book.
Many other apocryphal texts testify to the Jews’ fascination with speculations about angels and other subjects on which the Bible leaves us mystified. If we could read them as fiction and leave them where they belong, in a separate category from gospel truth, they would be harmless. But Paul had experienced firsthand the human tendency toward distraction.
Distraction is one of the reasons he wrote the letter to the Colossians. He warned, “See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ” (Col. 2:8). One possible interpretation of “elemental spirits of the world” is fallen supernatural beings. Later, Paul writes that on the cross, Jesus “disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him” (v. 15). “Rulers and authorities” were terms Paul often used for created, invisible beings (Col. 1:16). He continued in Colossians 2, saying, “Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind” (v. 18). Apparently, the Colossians were distracted by their fascination with angels to the point of forgetting the spiritual being who died for them—Jesus Christ.
Any person who is overly interested in the “gaps” in God’s Word or the mysteries of the faith is dangerous, especially if he is in the position of teacher. Don’t mistake someone who knows a lot of trivia and fantasies for a good Bible teacher. He may lead you astray. There are many questions about the Bible that we will never be able to answer, simply because they are not a part of what God needs us to know for his grand purpose, which is to bring glory to his name (Isaiah 43:7). Moses said, “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law” (Deuteronomy 29:29).
Equally dangerous is the teacher who has only an academic interest in the Bible. The Bible is meant to be lived and not just learned. Just because someone knows a lot of Bible trivia, that does not mean he should be leading a congregation of God’s people. This is exactly the type of person Paul was warning Timothy about. Those who are strictly “academics,” “intellectuals,” or “storytellers” cause churches to lose their focus.
So I get a little nervous when I’m teaching about subjects like angels. There’s no need to worry, however, as long as we keep the focus on Christ. The angels themselves are intensely interested in our salvation and the price Jesus paid to redeem us from sin (1 Pet. 1:12). As long as we can keep our eyes fixed where theirs are, we won’t lose our focus.
Drew Kizer