What is an earth angel?
People often call someone an "earth angel" when their kindness arrives like something sent from heaven. The Bible does use the word "angel" of people as well as of heavenly beings — so it is worth asking what the word actually means, what angels are, and what Scripture will not let us say about them.
The Word Itself Means "Messenger"
The term describes a job, not a species. Commentators point out that Scripture uses it both for spirit beings and for ordinary people carrying a message:
Walter ScottThe word "angel" in itself does not denote nature, but office; it signifies a messenger. The context and the special use of the word alone can decide whether it applies to persons or to spiritual beings. In Luke 7:24; 9:52; 2 Corinthians 12:7; James 2:25 the term "angel," or its plural, is used of those sent on messages of various kinds. Service is the great characteristic of the race of spiritual beings spoken of as "angels" (Ps. 103:20-21; Heb. 1:13-14).
Their Real Work Is Hidden
Hebrews describes angels as "ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation." One writer draws out how much of that service goes unnoticed, and why:
Leslie M. GrantTheirs is the place of servants simply, their place infinitely lower than His, just as in person they are as much lower. But it is nevertheless a blessed place they occupy, in being delegated to minister in temporal protection, comfort, sustenance, to those destined to eternal glory. Doubtless we owe to angelic ministry far more than we discern in matters of physical strength and wellbeing, yet as spirit beings their ministry is completely veiled, and they are content to remain unknown to us, that glory for this may be given only to God.
Angels Have Looked Like Ordinary Strangers
Hebrews 13:2 says, "Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares." The reference is to Abraham, who welcomed three travellers at his tent door:
William KellyHe was one of those who, like Lot in the next chapter, had an ungrudging hospitality, which had its reward in this: ready as they were to receive those who looked like nothing more than strangers, they were really entertaining "angels unawares." More than that — this occasion was the most remarkable entertainment ever enjoyed by anyone on the earth until Jesus came.
So the practical instruction is not to go looking for angels. It is to treat the stranger at your door well.
People Do Not Become Angels
The popular picture of a departed loved one watching over us is directly addressed by the commentators, from Jesus' words about the resurrection:
Hamilton SmithWe shall not rise as husbands and wives, parents and children, masters and servants, but in this respect shall be as the angels. We shall not be angels, as people vainly imagine, but like them in being free from earthly relationships. The believer will enjoy privileges, and heavenly relationships far above angels.
Why Scripture Keeps Angels In The Background
Commentators differ on whether every believer has a personal guardian angel; some are cautious about the idea. One answer puts the restraint down to a danger:
H. B. CoderWe would say, then, that Scripture does not warrant the thought of special guardian angels. They are all ministering spirits, engaged, unseen by human eye, in errands of providential care and mercy for the heirs of salvation. They are not prominently brought forward in the New Testament, doubtless for the simple reason that Scripture, foreseeing the misuse by men of this ministry, putting it in the place of Christ and the Holy Spirit, has kept them in the background.
There is a second danger. Not everything that shines is holy:
Raymond K. CampbellThe apostle Paul informs us of another way in which Satan carries out his work. Speaking of false apostles, deceitful workers, who disguise themselves as apostles of Christ, he writes, "even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light" (2 Cor. 11:13-14). Satan often works in this character, through his workers — as an angel of light, pretending to have the light of God, quoting the Scriptures, but corrupting the Word of God and handling it deceitfully.
The Messengers God Sends Now
If you want the closest thing to an "earth angel" in the Bible's own sense — a messenger from God walking around in a human body — Scripture points somewhere unexpected:
H J VineVarious kinds of messengers have been used by God. Angels have brought His messages to men. But it is His way today to use sinners saved by grace. He enables them by His Holy Spirit to tell of forgiveness and salvation through His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.
Summary
- Messenger — "Angel" names a job, not a nature; Scripture applies it to heavenly spirits and to human messengers alike.
- Servant — Angels are servants whose care is real but veiled, so that God alone gets the credit for it.
- Stranger — Abraham's guests looked like ordinary travellers; the lesson is hospitality to strangers, not angel-spotting.
- Not angels — Believers rise like the angels in being free of earthly ties, never as angels; their place is higher.
- Worship God — Angels are kept in the background lest they crowd out Christ and the Spirit, and because Satan can disguise himself as an angel of light. Today God's chosen messengers on earth are sinners saved by grace.