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Are angels the same as God?
When Abraham was about to kill Isaac as instructed by God, an angel appears and says:
“Don’t lay a hand on the boy!” the angel said. “Do not hurt him in any way, for now I know that you truly fear God. You have not withheld from me even your son, your only son.”
I was thinking that technically Abraham should have obeyed God, not the Angel and continued the sacrifice. Then I noticed how the statement starts as if it were an Angel talking but then switches to saying "withheld from me" as if it were God speaking. In other parts of the Bible it seems clear Angels are not God, there are even bad Angels. But here the Angel seems identical to God so Abraham obeys him. I've looked at the New International, King James and ESV translations and they are identical on the "withheld from me" part. What do you make of this?
6 Answers
- Anonymous1 decade agoFavorite Answer
Well - there is an angel that appears throughout the Old Testament, but especially in Genesis, called "the angel of the Lord" (or, more precisely, "the angel of Yahweh"). This angel is *repeatedly* addressed by humans in the Bible **as if the angel were God himself**. There are several hypotheses explaining this:
* the "angel of the Lord" is a physical manifestation of God himself - sort of a sock puppet; not something that is God but a human form through whom God speaks *directly*.
* the "angel of the Lord" is an *ambassador* of God. It is common in some cultures to address an ambassador as if he were the leader whom he represents, and to consider the words that he speaks to be the words of his leader (not so common since the advent of telephones). It is also common in such cultures for the ambassador to claim to speak the words of his leader - even when they are entirely the ambassador's words and the issue was never addressed by the ambassador's leader. The ambassador literally stands in for the leader in question, and is treated in all ways as would be that leader if he were present.
* the "angel of the Lord" is Jesus "pre-incarnate" - that is, it is God, but in human form - Jesus. This doctrine relies on the fact that "angel" is the Hebrew word meaning "messenger" - so (the thinking goes), a messenger who is God but not what we think of as an angel and who has a human form could only be Jesus.
Personally, I prefer the "ambassador" explanation.
For other examples, look at: Moses and the burning bush (Exodus chapter 3) and Judges 2.
- no1home2dayLv 71 decade ago
It's a silly question. Angels were created by God. Angels speak for God, and they are messengers of God; but that is like asking if a United States ambassador in a foreign country is the same as the president of the United States.
- LeoLv 51 decade ago
The word Angel means messenger. They brought the messages or performed the action for God.
It is thought that Jesus was the one the always spoke for God in these times as John 1:1 says he was "the Word"
With the angel speaking as God you will get "withheld from me" 1st party conversation
- Whoa DLv 41 decade ago
Before Christ was revealed, I believe that many instances where the bible said " The angel of the Lord " it was referring to Christ. You have to study up on it, me and you together. I think the same can be said about Moses and the burning bush.
Exodus 3:2
There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush.
4 When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called him from within the bush.
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- FrizbyLv 71 decade ago
I think Angels are Gods messengers and they act on Gods instructions but they are not the same as God..
