JehovahsWitness wrote: ↑Thu Mar 07, 2024 2:28 pm
IS JESUS ONE OF THE ANGELS?
No, Paul clearly indicated Jesus is not just "one of the angels". The angels are all the spirit creatures used by God (and / or Jesus) as messengers. They are "messenger spirits" if you like (The word angel in the original language of the bible simply means "messenger") Jesus is
not one of those he is,
the Archangel meaning chief or head of the angels. The Leader of the angels.
Your view of an Archangel differs from that of the JW site which correctly states, ¨
God’s Word refers to Michael “the archangel.” (Jude 9) This term means “chief angel.”¨.
Now, if you break the word "arch-angel" into its compound words you will notice that both are
singular words, "Chief" & "angel". The very title of archangel identifies Michael/Christ as
THE chief angel. Why is this important? Because Christ is not only chief angel of the angelic beings but also of the earthly angels (the people of God). You see, the Bible uses the word "angel" interchangeable with the word "messenger". So much so that many often get confused whenever they read whichever word the translators decided to use everytime this Hebrew or Greek word appeared in the Bible. You see, the translators used "angel" and "messenger" depending on the context in order to "help" the reader as thought best. So, according to the Bible, an angel/messenger applies to Christ, angelic beings, and true believers. This is what makes Christ is the chief angel/messenger.
Malachi 3:1 (KJV 1900)
Behold, I will send my messenger (angel - malak), and he shall prepare the way before me:
And the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple,
Even the messenger (angel - malak) of the covenant, whom ye delight in:
Behold, he shall come, saith the LORD of hosts.
So,
Jesus is most certainly called an angel/messenger because
he is the chief angel/messenger.
Now, this brings up the question of the OP regarding how this fact harmonizes with Hebrews 2:7&9.
Hebrews 2:9 (KJV 1900)
But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.
Now, this passage is being quoted from Psalms 8:5, and when we study it, we uncover a great mystery which helps us understand Hebrews 2:7&9.
Psalm 8:5 (KJV 1900)
For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels,
And hast crowned him with glory and honour.
On the surface the phrase, "a little lower than the angels" seems like a word for word quote, but we dig deeper and discover that the word "angels" translated in Psalms 8:5 is not at all the word "angels", as a matter of fact, this Hebrew word appears over 2,600 times in the OT and this is the one and only time that the translators took it upon themselves to translate it as "angels". Perhaps because they came across Hebrews 2:7&9 and saw that the actual Greek word for "angels" (angelos) was being used and figured they'd go back and make Psalm 8:5 read the same way. But that's not the word God used in Psalm 8:5, instead, God, in his wisdom used the word "ELOHIM".
So, let's go ahead and read it the way it should have been translated:
Psalm 8:5 (KJV 1900)
For thou hast made him a little lower than ELOHIM,
And hast crowned him with glory and honour.
Christ was made a little lower than GOD for the suffering of death. Also, notice the similarities between the word ELOHIM and ANGELOS, being that BOTH are plural words. And since ELOHIM being plural is describing a single entity (GOD) this means that ANGELOS is doing the same thing because Hebrews 2:7 is a direct quote from Psalm 8:5, with the only difference being that God decided to change the word ELOHIM with ANGELOS. So, we have to ask the question, does JEHOVAH GOD describe himself as an angel?
ABSOLUTELY HE DOES.
All we have to do is to study every instance "the angel of the LORD (JEHOVAH)" appeared in the OT and we can only conclude that they are none other than GOD himself. Here is one example:
Genesis 22:11–12 (KJV 1900)
And the angel of the LORD called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I. 12 And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son FROM ME.
At first it seems like the angel of the Lord is speaking in God's stead when he says, "for now I know that
thou fearest God", but then, just when we would expect this angel to continue to follow through as a mediator speaker and refer to God as a separate entity, he says, "thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son
FROM ME.[/color]". We know that Abraham did not withhold his son from an angel, but from JEHOVAH himself.
And so many more examples could be given that assure us of the fact that the word "ANGELOS" in Hebrews 2:7&9 is not a reference to angelic beings at all but to GOD himself. What throws people off is the fact that
Hebrews 2:5 does refer to angelic beings, so they naturally (and incorrectly) carry that idea over to the rest of the text without giving it a second thought. And the use of plurality in both the New and Old Testamnent word for "Elohim/angels" also teaches us that while God is one God, he manifests himself in 3 persons.
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