Angelic Bodies

Angelic Bodies

Of what composition does an angel’s body consists?  Angels possess a different body than man.[1]  Mankind possesses a physical body, consisting of flesh, blood and bone,[2] whereas angels possess an immortal,[3] spiritual body.[4]  The bodies of angels remain distinct from our glorified bodies of the future because the body of an angel consists of spirit and not flesh and blood or flesh and bone.[5]  God created the angels genderless because they neither marry nor are given in marriage.[6]  As a result of them containing no gender, they cannot procreate.  God created the angels incapable of procreation.  He created them neither male nor female.[7]  In heaven, the purpose of procreation will be obsolete.  No babies will be produced in the glorified bodies.  Therefore, angels cannot partake in sex.  And since angels cannot reproduce, the theory that angels came down and impregnated women in Genesis chapter six becomes an incorrect hypothesis and becomes discarded.  If angels cannot procreate, then what can they do?

With their bodies consisting of spirit, angels possess the ability to reside in a location unaware, whether in an invisible state or in a visible state in the form of a human.[8]  Angels possess the ability to pass through walls and other physical objects with ease, yet angels can physically make their presence known by moving physical objects or even through known speech.[9]  They retain the ability to speak with these spirit bodies because they possess their own language[10] or they can speak the many languages of man.[11]  However, their bodies do not all contain wings.

Not all angels have wings.  With the exception of the Cherubim and Seraphim, angels possess no wings because the Bible never depicted them with wings.  Even in the Biblical depictions of Gabriel and Michael, there remains silence on the issue of whether or not they possess wings.  Sometimes, silence is the Bible’s strongest voice.  Some commentators stated concerning Michael and Gabriel in Daniel chapters nine through ten that Gabriel’s body contains more wings than Michael’s because Gabriel delivered the message to Daniel and then travelled back to aid Michael in the fight against the Prince of Persia.  This idea remains one of false depictions of the two archangels based on human thinking and rational or art history.  Art history played a major role in the current ideas of the appearance of angels.

            Man’s notion that angels possess halos floating above their heads contains no foundation in Scripture but, rather, in art history.[12]  Likewise, man’s depiction of angels possessing wings, with the exception of Cherubim and Seraphim, possesses roots in art history and not the Bible.  When Daniel, Matthew, Luke, and Jude wrote concerning Gabriel or Michael, they never depicted them as possessing wings or halos.  Mankind receives their understanding of the physical appearance of an angel from art history as portrayed through humanistic artists.

            The modern understanding of the physical depictions of an angel stems from art.   In the Medieval Period, artists rendered some angels as female in appearance, but they also painted angels as male.  These artists placed wings and a halo upon the angels to illustrate that these beings were heavenly in origin.   By the Renaissance period, artists painted/drew angels as female unless they were cherubs, in which case they portrayed them as nude baby boys with wings.[13]  Why portray some angels with female bodies and others with the bodies of nude baby boys?  The answer is simple.  The Renaissance was a return to the beliefs of the Ancients (the Greeks).  They admired and loved the human body, especially the nude human body.  The use of the female body could be used in art as an object of lust,[14] while, the use of baby boys as cherubim were copied from the Greek god cupid, who was a lustful, seducer of women.

Angels possess the ability to morph their bodies, but they can only morph into what God allows them and when He allows them.  When God visited Abraham, angels morphed their bodies into the appearance of average men and also when they appeared to Lot prior to the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.[15]  However, as previously mentioned, God must approve of the timing and appearance of the transforming of the bodies of the angels, whether it be a fallen angel or a heavenly angel.  The devil and the fallen angels use images that we possess in our minds to scare us and attempt to oppress and possess us.  They can take the image and make it appear real to us.  These fallen angels or the devil than will proceed to oppress us using that image until the point that oppression or possession occurs.  In today’s society, the devil and his minions uses images such as ghosts and extraterrestrials to take a male or a female to that point of oppression or possession.  That is why God instructs us to “cast down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ (II Corinthians 10:5).”

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[1]Hebrews 2:16 “For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham.”

I Corinthians 15:39-40 “All flesh is not the same flesh: but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds.  40 There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another.”

[2]Ephesians 6:12 “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”

[3]Luke 20:36 “Neither can they die any more: for they are equal unto the angels; and are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection.”

[4]Hebrews 1:13-14 “But to which of the angels said he at any time, Sit on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool?  14 Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?”  Note:  Our glorified bodies will consist of flesh and bone.  Therefore, our glorified bodies will be different from that of an angel’s body.

[5]Luke 24:39 “Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have.”

[6]Matthew 22:30 “For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven.”  Note:  The Holy Ghost reiterated this fact in Mark 12:25.

[7]Matthew 22:30 “For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven.”

Mark 12:25 “For when they shall rise from the dead, they neither marry, nor are given in marriage; but are as the angels which are in heaven.”

[8]Hebrews 13:2 “Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.”

[9]Note:  Secular society refers to these physical manifestations of angels as “ghosts.”  The church world refers to these physical manifestations as demonic manifestations.  The Catholic Church refers to these manifestations of demons as the second of four stages that lead to demon possession.  They refer to this stage as Obsession.

[10]I Corinthians 13:1 “Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.”

[11]Genesis 18:9-10 “And they said unto him, Where is Sarah thy wife? And he said, Behold, in the tent.  10 And he said, I will certainly return unto thee according to the time of life; and, lo, Sarah thy wife shall have a son. And Sarah heard it in the tent door, which was behind him.”

Genesis 19:12 “And the men [the two angels] said unto Lot, Hast thou here any besides? son in law, and thy sons, and thy daughters, and whatsoever thou hast in the city, bring them out of this place:”

[12] Note:  The believer’s glorified body contains no halo.  Rather, believers will receive crowns (I Corinthians 9:22; II Timothy 4:8; James 1:12; I Peter 5:4; Revelation 2:10; and Revelation 3:11).

[14]Note:  During the Rococo period of art, the painting of a nude woman was done purposefully as “soft porn.”

[15]Genesis 19:1  “And there came two angels to Sodom at even; and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom: and Lot seeing them rose up to meet them; and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground;”

Genesis 19:5 “And they called unto Lot, and said unto him, Where are the men which came in to thee this night? bring them out unto us, that we may know them.”