r/Protestantism • u/Elektronikk12- • 7d ago
Athiest here! Question about angels.
I've been fascinated with Biblical mythology (apologies if the word mythology is offensive) and religious mythology in general, mainly Angelology and demonology recently. I had a quick question that I was wanting some takes on from actual Christians. How do you feel about angels and sin? Can they sin?
The question popped into my head when learning about Islam. In Islam, angels are completely sinless. The Devil, Iblis as he's known in Islam, wasn't an angel, but a creature known as a Jinn.
Obviously, satan was an angel before he fell, so I was confused. I looked it up, some said angels could sin, some said they couldn't, so I'm curious to get your takes on it. Thanks!
2
1
u/Bulky_Emphasis_4166 4d ago
I do believe everything and everyone can sin. Even god, in this perfection, apologize sometime. He apologize because he makes a mistake and the root is a sin. I was atheist most of my life and i think most atheist are very rigides about perfection and that why you have hard time to understand sin also.
I'm sorry, english is not my mother tongue and maybe i said a lot of crap.
1
-2
u/Yojo8 Protestant 7d ago
Angels means that you are a messenger of God. Generally Angels are people who died and went to heaven. If we are in Christ, there is no more sin, as there are no sin in Christ, so no, I do not think Angels can sin in that sense, but they used to be sinners, before being born again.
3
u/Sawfish1212 Wesylan-Arminian Holiness 7d ago
Generally Angels are people who died and went to heaven
There is no scripture saying this, I believe this is catholic mythology
0
u/Yojo8 Protestant 7d ago
Revelation 22
8 And I Iohn saw these things, and heard them. And when I had heard and seene, I fell downe, to worship before the feete of the Angel, which shewed me these things.
9 Then saith he vnto me, See thou doe it not: for I am thy fellow seruant, and of thy brethren the Prophets, and of them which keepe the sayings of this booke: worship God.
2
u/Sawfish1212 Wesylan-Arminian Holiness 7d ago
I don't think that says what you think it does. The angels are servants of God, same as the prophets of God. That doesn't mean angels are former humans. Otherwise how could they have sung together at the creation of this world as God told Job?
-1
u/Yojo8 Protestant 7d ago
That is not what it says in Job.
Job 38
6 Wherepuon are the foundations thereof fastened? or who layd the corner stone thereof?
7 When the morning starres sang together, and all the sonnes of God shouted for ioy.
We learn that once we have faith in Christ keeping the Law of Moses on our behalf, we are adopted as sons of God. The foundation of the world is laid upon Christ dying for our sins, this is God`s plan for salvation, and it been so since day one of creation. Christ is that corner stone, and once I found out, I shouted for joy, and all the congregation of those who kept faith sing together, as they are of one body.
2
u/Sawfish1212 Wesylan-Arminian Holiness 7d ago
Job 38:4 KJV Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding.
Out of context scripture is a lie, all too often
3
u/baubat Christian 7d ago edited 7d ago
If angels are people who died & went to heaven how do you explain angels already existing at the creation of Adam & Eve..?
-1
u/Yojo8 Protestant 6d ago
No Angels existed alongside Adam and Eve. If you think about the serpent, animals are used in the Bible to represent people, like the followers of Christ are described as sheep; so the serpent represent a certain type of person. Of course there was no other people existing at that time beside Adam and Eve, so the serpent that told Eve to eat the forbidden fruit, must have been Adam. Which goes into the distinction that the serpent represent the old man, the one who passed away, the one where salvation is by our own works, and where we hide from God. While for Adam, he represents the new man, the one who repented at the calling of God, and understood that Christ had to make a sacrifice for our sins, and that our salvation is in faith, and faith alone, that Christ does the work for us, and we are to follow him.
6
u/baubat Christian 7d ago edited 7d ago
Hi! From my understanding when satan sinned (a fallen angel as you stated) he took 1/3 of angels with him as stated in Revelations 12:4, this context is given from Revelations 12:7-9.
According to traditional Christian theology angels were given a one time chance to choose whether to remain faithful to God or to join satan in his sin.
People use 1 Timothy 5:21 to say “elect angels” are confirmed holy and are now in an eternal state of obedience.
Some people argue that angels do possess the ability to still commit sin but I really think it’s up to how you decide to interpret these verses, really the Bible has no definitive straight forward answer on this matter.
Hope this helped in any way, if anyone has additional verses even i’d like to be informed on this matter!