In what ways are angels and humans different?

We must mark the difference between the physical creation and the moral order of life placed therein. The first gives the sphere in which God's eternal counsels are worked out and the latter those whom those counsels concern. The higher intelligences — angels — are purely spirit beings, but man is complex in his being, partaking of both spirit and matter. Immortal in his spirit and mortal as to his body, he joins in himself both the moral and the physical parts of creation. Man is unique in the creation of God. As a spirit being he is the lowest in the scale of the moral order, the higher intelligences being much greater in power and glory. As to his physical being he is above the whole range of the animal creation.

Man differs from other created beings in that he is made up of "spirit, and soul, and body" (1 Thess. 5:23). Angels are spirits only (Heb. 1:7); animals, etc., consist of soul and body (Gen. 1:20, see margin). The spirit is the seat of the will and of the intelligence — the mental and moral faculties (1 Cor. 2:11); the soul is the seat of the affections and desires (1 Sam. 18:1; Luke 2:35); the body is the vessel by means of which these express themselves. The word "mortal" is only applied in Scripture to the body; never to either soul or spirit. It is sometimes objected that the term "immortal soul" is not found in Scripture. This is admitted; but what is the force of the objection if that which the orthodox mean by the expression is found there? Moreover, it should be remembered that "immortal" is a negative term; and could only properly be applied to that in man which at some time was "mortal." Since the soul never was mortal; there was no need for the Spirit of God to specifically describe it as immortal.

We have two things here: First, the formation of the body; then the impartation of life by the inbreathing of God. Man has, in consequence of this, a character of life within him that is not possessed by the lower creatures of God's hand. He holds a very special place in God's universe. Angels are spirits; beasts, etc., have soul and body; man is distinguished from them all by the possession of spirit, and soul, and body (Ps. 104:4; Gen. 1:20-21, 24; 1 Thess. 5:23).

Manhood is thus seen to be a lower class of being than that of angels. Angels are spirits (Heb.1:14), who "excel in strength" (Ps.103:20), while man is "spirit and soul and body," (1 Thess.5:23), and is characterised by weakness, at least so long as connected with the first creation. This is seen also in the Lord Jesus, - Him Who is without sin - as John 4 teaches us: "Jesus therefore being wearied with His journey, sat thus on the well" (v.6).

Thus man's littleness is seen as compared with the infinitude of God's creation above him. Passing now to the heavenly beings, compare him with angels: "Thou madest him a little lower than the angels." They are pure spirit, whose abode is in the heavens, and who excel in strength. They are not cumbered by the body of clay which would link them with the earth. Man carries about with him the witness of his weakness, his link with the animal life, yea, with the very earth below him, as well as his link with God.

But David speaks of "man" and "the son of man." it was man (Adam) who was first "made a little lower than the angels." Angels are spirits, but man was given the limitation of a human body — indeed a body amazing in the details of its composition, but still of a lower order than that of angels.

Still, why is man called a living soul, a title which is his in common with all the animate creation, rather than a "living spirit," which would distinguish him from them? The answer would seem to be that the point of contrast is not with the lower animals, but with the class of God's creatures to which as a moral being man belongs. The angels are spirits, never souls. The distinction between them and man, "made a little lower than the angels," is thus that man is a soul. That which links him with the inferior creatures, is that which distinguishes him from pure "spirits," such as angels are.*

No creature, be he ever so great, can "know the Almighty to perfection." Yet angels have an access into the presence of God which it would be impossible for man, as at present constituted, to enjoy. Apart from the fact that sin has severed him from God morally, man, as formed of the dust (although endowed with an immortal spirit), is "a little lower than the angels." His natural dwelling-place is the earth, not heaven, and his intercourse with God would naturally be modified and limited by that fact. The heavenly scene before us represents angelic access to God, as contrasted with human approach to Him.

The heavenly beings are called "the sons of God," for He is "the Father of spirits." While this is true of men as well — "for we also are His offspring" — it is because they also have spirits, and so far are like the angels. But in man all is linked with the body, and intercourse is had through that medium. It is only in resurrection that men will be "equal unto the angels; and are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection" (Luke 20:36).

But if it be necessary for the understanding of God's ways to view the place of our Lord in connection with the house of Israel as distinct from the rest of mankind, it is also incumbent upon us to distinguish between His relation to man and the earth as distinct from the hosts of other and higher intelligences. Different from these in his constitution, and coming upon the scene probably much later, there is yet much that man shares with these ranges of creation, both as to moral obligation and duration of existence. Spirit beings under moral obligation and capable of being affected both by good and evil may be said of each, both taking intelligent account of the working out of the plans of God in His creation. In rank, however, man is much less than the other class and stands in the moral scale at the bottom.

Little is revealed concerning these wonderful hosts of the heavens, whether as to the magnitude of their numbers or the character and conditions of their life. The will of God being of necessity the law of life, wherever moral beings are found, we know they are kept, for every creature of whatever rank must be dependent. Servants of great and dignified rank they are, as seen both in Gabriel and Michael, and with different degrees both of authority and responsibility, classified and numbered for their respective services, they are spoken of as "mighty," "holy," and "elect." Far beyond man in strength, equally beyond him in power of transit, because not confined to a material body, and with interest and attention upon events in distant parts of the creation, they may be said to far excel the frail being who is confined to this planet (see Dan. 4:17; Luke 9:26; 2 Thess. 1:7; and 1 Tim. 5:21).

Man is the most richly endowed creature in the universe, so far as Scripture speaks. While the possession of soul and body allies him to the brute creation, his higher faculty — the spirit — assimilates him to the angels. Yet man's position is more wonderful than even that of the heavenly host, in that he is the divinely constituted head and centre of a system. For everything in this world is dependent upon, and revolves around, man.