The Bible infers that there are angels in the world. Hebrews 13:2 says, “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.” This passage is based on Genesis 19:2 in which Lot, a nephew of Abraham who lived in Sodom before its destruction, is visited by two angels. Lot, a righteous person, is hospitable to the angels who later warn him to get his family out of Sodom, a city of sin, because God will destroy it. So Lot and his family leave. These were angels of God.
There is another angel, Satan, who is an angel of evil. He told Eve in Genesis to eat of the forbidden fruit, and Eve offers it to Adam, despite God telling them not to eat it.
In both instances, there is no reason for Lot, Adam and Eve to believe the angels and Satan were evil, so they trusted them. Adam and Eve didn’t know any better, and Lot was fortunate enough that the angels who visited him were not angels of Satan or false angels, telling him to, for example, stay put instead of leaving Sodom.
How would a person who trusts in God distinguish between an angel of God and one of Satan and Satan himself, perhaps? A person who trusts in God, hangs out with people having a similar trust, and consults the Bible, would know the difference. When Satan approached Jesus in Matthew 4, Jesus in verse 10 tells him to “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’”
As 2 Timothy 3:16 says, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,” we can be on guard to, as it says in Ephesians 6: 11, “Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.”
So, what would a God-loving person do when approached by someone who may, or may not, claim to be an angel? A God-loving person abides by the second commandment of Jesus which says to love your neighbor as you love yourself. Jesus’ Parable of the Good Samaritan implies that your neighbor is someone who can help you. You. a person striving for righteousness, would accept their help if it will help you achieve things which are acceptable to God. If a person who seems to be an angel, does you a good favor but then asks you to, do something that would result in in harm or loss to someone, that person is obviously not an angel, though they may at first pretend to be your neighbor. You would know they’re not an angel if you knew the Ten Commandments, or even if you didn’t know the Ten Commandments, the person asks to help them do something that would result in harm or loss to a neighbor.
At some point, if you know the Bible or you hear from people you trust that speak of things in the Bible, you would know if you’re being had. Since things like the Bible wasn’t around at the time of Adam and Eve, they didn’t have much to realize that the serpent represented evil.
Paul in 2 Corinthians 11 helps us discern the difference, partially by example, when he says the following:
“I wish you would bear with me in a little foolishness. Do bear with me! For I feel a divine jealousy for you, since I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ. But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough. Indeed, I consider that I am not in the least inferior to these super-apostles. Even if I am unskilled in speaking, I am not so in knowledge; indeed, in every way we have made this plain to you in all things.
“Or did I commit a sin in humbling myself so that you might be exalted, because I preached God's gospel to you free of charge? I robbed other churches by accepting support from them in order to serve you. AND WHEN I WAS WITH YOU AND WAS IN NEED, I DID NOT BURDEN ANYONE. So I refrained and will refrain from burdening you in any way. As the truth of Christ is in me, this boasting of mine will not be silenced…And why? Because I do not love you? God knows I do!
“And what I am doing I will continue to do, in order to undermine the claim of those who would like to claim that in their boasted mission they work on the same terms as we do. For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds.”
If Paul was around at the time of Adam and Eve and gave them this message before they ate the forbidden fruit, would they have done what Satan told them to do? Maybe, maybe not. If God told them not to eat of the forbidden fruit and they did so anyway, who would think they would listen to Paul? But many years later, after Adam and Eve’s offspring inherited from them the knowledge of good and evil, and after the Bible was read through and through by many, so that those who knew its contents could teach those who didn’t, we have this lesson from Paul.
So, a person of God would be mindful enough to know that not all angels in our midst are good, just as not all people are good.
There is another angel, Satan, who is an angel of evil. He told Eve in Genesis to eat of the forbidden fruit, and Eve offers it to Adam, despite God telling them not to eat it.
In both instances, there is no reason for Lot, Adam and Eve to believe the angels and Satan were evil, so they trusted them. Adam and Eve didn’t know any better, and Lot was fortunate enough that the angels who visited him were not angels of Satan or false angels, telling him to, for example, stay put instead of leaving Sodom.
How would a person who trusts in God distinguish between an angel of God and one of Satan and Satan himself, perhaps? A person who trusts in God, hangs out with people having a similar trust, and consults the Bible, would know the difference. When Satan approached Jesus in Matthew 4, Jesus in verse 10 tells him to “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’”
As 2 Timothy 3:16 says, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,” we can be on guard to, as it says in Ephesians 6: 11, “Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.”
So, what would a God-loving person do when approached by someone who may, or may not, claim to be an angel? A God-loving person abides by the second commandment of Jesus which says to love your neighbor as you love yourself. Jesus’ Parable of the Good Samaritan implies that your neighbor is someone who can help you. You. a person striving for righteousness, would accept their help if it will help you achieve things which are acceptable to God. If a person who seems to be an angel, does you a good favor but then asks you to, do something that would result in in harm or loss to someone, that person is obviously not an angel, though they may at first pretend to be your neighbor. You would know they’re not an angel if you knew the Ten Commandments, or even if you didn’t know the Ten Commandments, the person asks to help them do something that would result in harm or loss to a neighbor.
At some point, if you know the Bible or you hear from people you trust that speak of things in the Bible, you would know if you’re being had. Since things like the Bible wasn’t around at the time of Adam and Eve, they didn’t have much to realize that the serpent represented evil.
Paul in 2 Corinthians 11 helps us discern the difference, partially by example, when he says the following:
“I wish you would bear with me in a little foolishness. Do bear with me! For I feel a divine jealousy for you, since I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ. But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough. Indeed, I consider that I am not in the least inferior to these super-apostles. Even if I am unskilled in speaking, I am not so in knowledge; indeed, in every way we have made this plain to you in all things.
“Or did I commit a sin in humbling myself so that you might be exalted, because I preached God's gospel to you free of charge? I robbed other churches by accepting support from them in order to serve you. AND WHEN I WAS WITH YOU AND WAS IN NEED, I DID NOT BURDEN ANYONE. So I refrained and will refrain from burdening you in any way. As the truth of Christ is in me, this boasting of mine will not be silenced…And why? Because I do not love you? God knows I do!
“And what I am doing I will continue to do, in order to undermine the claim of those who would like to claim that in their boasted mission they work on the same terms as we do. For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds.”
If Paul was around at the time of Adam and Eve and gave them this message before they ate the forbidden fruit, would they have done what Satan told them to do? Maybe, maybe not. If God told them not to eat of the forbidden fruit and they did so anyway, who would think they would listen to Paul? But many years later, after Adam and Eve’s offspring inherited from them the knowledge of good and evil, and after the Bible was read through and through by many, so that those who knew its contents could teach those who didn’t, we have this lesson from Paul.
So, a person of God would be mindful enough to know that not all angels in our midst are good, just as not all people are good.
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