An Angelic Dilemma

Recently, I was asked to give my two cents on a theological debate regarding angels and God's mercy.

The question was as follows:

Hypothetically, if two angels were to have a debate/argument about whether or not humans deserve mercy, would the argument against the case of humans be disqualified as one that still follows God? Also, depending on the answer, would that make angels dependent on God's mercy? Would it be God's mercy that allows the angel to stay in His presence or not?

While the answers to these questions could very well be pulled out of a hat, I wanted to make sure every end of the question was covered to provide clarity and avoid too many counter-arguments. This resulted in much research and reflection on my part.

Here is what I had to say...

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In order to answer this question, we have to understand what exactly angels are and what their purpose is. Angels are created beings that are entirely separate from humans. They are intelligent (Matt. 8:29, 2 Cor. 11:3, 1 Peter 1:12), they are emotional (Luke 2:13, James 2:19, Revelation 12:17), and each has an individual personality and will (Luke 8:28-31, 2 Timothy 2:26, Jude 6). Demons are technically angels as well, as they are angels that followed the first fallen angel (Lucifer) in the rebellion against God. 

Both angels and demons are limited in knowledge; however, both understand God’s Word and the world that He created. Angels believe in the prophecies of God (James 2:19, Revelation 12:12), and they understand humanity and its history very well, as they have experienced the entirety of humanity’s existence. 

Something else that’s interesting is that angels do not reproduce; therefore, there is a limited number of angels already in existence, and that number is fixed. The angels created at the beginning of time are still with God, and the demons that fell at the beginning are still fallen.

Angels were created with two primary purposes in mind:

1. To know and love God.

2. To know and love humanity and draw them closer to God.

Therefore, God’s will for the angels is to have them serve humans.

That brings up the question: do angels have free will? Satan was an angel, after all, and he, in his pride, wanted to be exalted higher than God. It is from this story alone that we can see that angels, in fact, do have free will. The fallen angels chose to follow Satan, while the holy angels chose to follow God. The holy angels have a choice to sin, just as Jesus did while on Earth, but like Him, they do not, since they do not have a sinful nature like humans have.

Now, hypothetically, what if more angels choose to sin? 1 Timothy 5:21 mentions “elect angels”. No matter how a person views the specifics of election, it is clear that God is somehow involved in choosing who will be saved (as demonstrated time and time again in Scripture). In the same vein of logic, God also has elected certain angels who would not sin. Going back to the fall of Satan, it seems as though the angels were given a one-time, final choice on whom they would serve. Those who followed Satan cannot repent and turn to God. Those who did not follow Satan have remained loyal to God and are secure in that decision. The Bible gives us no reason to believe that more angels could sin.

To sum it all up, based on Scripture and using the logic of how and why God created the angels, the angels that remain in heaven are finite and cannot sin. Therefore, with God’s will being for them to serve humanity, the angels willingly do so and are joyful in aiding humanity in growing their relationship with God. Since the angels understand humanity on a deeper level than humans, it can be assumed that they understand that everything God puts in place is there for a reason. It’s like a great film: a good director does not put one prop in a shot with no intention behind it. Everything has its place, and everything is there for a reason.

In this way, it can be assumed that realistically, angels realize that even though, yes, humans do some pretty messed up things, humans are sinful by nature due to the Fall. There is nothing that can reverse that. However, with the evil in the world also comes the good side of humanity brought into play by God’s love towards His most treasured creation: us! We are His vessels created to both worship Him and further His kingdom. God’s will for the angels is to serve and aid humans because they are His most treasured creation, and in the end, the saints will be placed higher than the angels.

Now, in the hypothetical situation, I believe that the angel that did not want to follow God’s will and serve humans would, by default, be released from service, since they would be going against the very thing that they were created to do. That being said, when God’s mercy comes into play, what would become of the angel? I believe that, given that the angels had the opportunity to make their final choice, God would send the angel down along with Lucifer, since in defying humanity, it is defying God. God is omniscient, and therefore He would have taken into account this angel defying its purpose. He would take no pleasure in sending the angel from His sight, but anything that defies God is not suitable for Heaven. 

This brings up another interesting question: what would the angel do if it WEREN’T serving humanity and loving God? If God DID decide to let the angel stay in Heaven, what would it even do? What good would it do to the Kingdom, and what role would it fulfill? Its sole purpose is gone, and it would only wander, searching for some semblance of meaning, which it would not find other than being in and with God. The angel must be aware of this, as they are intelligent and curious beings, and therefore it would be a major moral dilemma for an angel to go back on its already-made decision to serve God.

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-JDH