Men and Angels

How many times have you had your theology-lovin’ mind blown as you’ve come across passing references to angels in the New Testament? Apparently, we’re going to judge angels—and this should be common knowledge for Christians (1 Cor. 6:3). Women should have long hair or head-coverings because the angels will be scandalized if they don’t (1 Cor. 11:10). The gospel that we have preached to us is something into which angels long to look (1 Peter 1:12) and is something revealed to them through the Church (Eph. 3:10). Angels are “ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation” (Heb. 1:14). Yet they are heavenly rulers and authorities that appear to have command over nations and cities (Dan. 10:13). Whenever they appear, men are terrified and fall down to worship them. And, while worshipping angels and demons is a grave sin, so is blaspheming them (Jude 8).

What are we to make of such passages of Scripture?

Not a Clubhouse Covenant

When we think of the superiority of the New Covenant we almost exclusively tend to think of New Covenant blessings. And it is most certainly true that the blessings of the New Covenant are far sweeter than the blessings of the old. The New Covenant, after all, was “enacted on better promises.” But blessings are only one aspect of a covenant. There are others—curses, for instance.

What we want to do is catch a flight to the Evangelical Twighlight Zone and pretend that the New Covenant actually abolished the nature of a covenant. As if what makes the New Covenant so vastly superior is that it’s not really a covenant. Goodbye curses, hello grace. But good luck getting that plane off the ground…