An Introduction to Worshipping Angels: Images and Idols
November 12, 2014
G.D.O'Bradovich III
Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels …
Colossians 2:18
Colossians 2:18
Although we believe that above quotation to be good advice, we are confused by the statement. We understand the plain meaning of Saint Paul's statement, but we must inquire: Who is suggesting or causing others to submit to angels?
part the first
The number of times that Saint Paul mentions angels is surprisingly small when compared to "principalities" and "powers". Saint Paul warns the reader that if "we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed" (Gal 1:8). According to the Blue Letter Bible, the word for heaven has the following meanings:
I. the vaulted expanse of the sky with all things visible in it
A. the universe, the world
B. the aerial heavens or sky, the region where the clouds and the tempests gather, and where thunder and lightning are produced
C. the sidereal or starry heavens
We bring to the reader's attention the definition of letter "B", that is, the sky where thunder and lightning are generated and we immediately recall Ephesians 2:2:
"Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air"
We can reasonably conclude that the humility towards angels can either be through "intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind" (Col 2:18) or through "the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience" (Eph 2:2).
I. the vaulted expanse of the sky with all things visible in it
A. the universe, the world
B. the aerial heavens or sky, the region where the clouds and the tempests gather, and where thunder and lightning are produced
C. the sidereal or starry heavens
We bring to the reader's attention the definition of letter "B", that is, the sky where thunder and lightning are generated and we immediately recall Ephesians 2:2:
"Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air"
We can reasonably conclude that the humility towards angels can either be through "intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind" (Col 2:18) or through "the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience" (Eph 2:2).
part the second
Saint Paul writes that the law "was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator" (Gal 3:19). The word "ordained" is from the Greek word "diatasse" which is variously translated as" command", "appoint" or "set in order". The word "mediator" is from the Greek word "mesites" meaning" one who intervenes between two." The sentence can be understood as "the law was commanded by messengers in the hand of one who intervenes between two"
Many elementary students were taught not to define a word by using that word in the definition as this practice can not clarify the meaning of the word and frequently leads to ambiguity or misunderstanding. Saint Paul writes a statement regarding the function of a mediator:
"Now a mediator is not a mediator of one..." Galatians 3:20
We agree with Saint Paul's obvious statement, but then he adds a curious conclusion: "but God is one".
Many elementary students were taught not to define a word by using that word in the definition as this practice can not clarify the meaning of the word and frequently leads to ambiguity or misunderstanding. Saint Paul writes a statement regarding the function of a mediator:
"Now a mediator is not a mediator of one..." Galatians 3:20
We agree with Saint Paul's obvious statement, but then he adds a curious conclusion: "but God is one".
conclusion
We must gather the various threads (spread over Galatians, Ephesians, Corinthians and Colossians) to form a coherent understanding of Saint Paul's warning concerning the worshipping of angels.
Saint Paul clearly teaches that the law was commanded by angels, whereas the "fleshly mind" insists that the law was appointed by God, Jehovah or Elohim. If our understanding of Saint Paul is correct, it would mean that the vast majority of people do not worship God, but the angels that gave the law to Moses. "In whom the god of this world (presumably the Creator of this world) hath blinded the (vain and fleshly) minds of them which believe not" (2 Cor 4:4).
It is through this exegesis that we can understand the rhetorical question from 1 Corinthians:
Saint Paul clearly teaches that the law was commanded by angels, whereas the "fleshly mind" insists that the law was appointed by God, Jehovah or Elohim. If our understanding of Saint Paul is correct, it would mean that the vast majority of people do not worship God, but the angels that gave the law to Moses. "In whom the god of this world (presumably the Creator of this world) hath blinded the (vain and fleshly) minds of them which believe not" (2 Cor 4:4).
It is through this exegesis that we can understand the rhetorical question from 1 Corinthians:
Know ye not that we shall judge angels?
appendix
Idolatry, per the Oxford English Dictionary:
"Etymology: < Old French idol-, ydolatrie (12th cent. in Littré), modern French idolâtrie= Italian idolatria , ... , repr. late Latin (and Common Romanic) īdōlatrīa (Vulgate, Acts xvii. 16), shortened form of ecclesiastical Latin īdōlolatrīa (Tertullian), < Greek (N.T.) εἰδωλολατρεία , < εἴδωλον idol+ λατρεία service, worship..."
Idol, per the Oxford English Dictionary:
"Etymology: Middle English < Old French id(e)le, and idole, < late Latin īdōlum (alsoīdŏlum in Prudentius c400, Sedulius c470), image, form, spectre, apparition, in eccl. use ‘idol’, < Greek εἴδωλον image, phantom, idea, fancy, likeness, in LXX ‘idol’, < εἶδος form, shape. The early Old French idele, idle (11th cent.), represent the Latin ˈīdŏlum, the accentuation following that of the Greek. The current French idole was adapted in 13th cent. from Latin īdōlum."
The order of appearance of the senses in English does not correspond to their original development in Greek, where the sequence was apparently: ‘appearance, phantom, unsubstantial form, image in water or a mirror, mental image, fancy, material image or statue’, and finally, in Jewish and Christian use, ‘image of a false god’. In English this last was, under religious influence, the earliest, and in Middle English the only sense; hence (as also in French) came sense 2. These are the only popular uses of the word. The other uses are 16th c. adoptions of earlier Greek senses, often however coloured by association with sense 1.
Idols, Idolatry and Idolaters, Per Saint Paul
Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters ... shall inherit the kingdom of God.
1 Cor 6: 9-10
Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry.
1Cor 10:14
Ye know that ye were Gentiles, carried away unto these dumb idols, even as ye were led.
1 Cor 12:2
Idolatry... and such like...that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
Gal 5:20-21
For this ye know, that no ... idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.
Eph 5:5
Icon, per the Oxford English Dictionary
"Etymology: < late Latin īcōn (Pliny), < Greek εἰκών, εἰκον- likeness, image, portrait, semblance, similitude, simile, < *εἴκειν to be like""
Icon, per Saint Paul
And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man...
Rom 1: 23
[He] also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son...
Rom 8:29
For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, forasmuch as he is the image and glory of God...
1 Cor 11:7
[We] shall also bear the image of the heavenly.
1 Cor 15:49
But we all... are changed into the same image from glory to glory...
2 Cor 3:18
[Christ] who is the image of God....
2 Cor 4:4
Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:
Col 1:15
And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him: Col 3:10
"Etymology: < Old French idol-, ydolatrie (12th cent. in Littré), modern French idolâtrie= Italian idolatria , ... , repr. late Latin (and Common Romanic) īdōlatrīa (Vulgate, Acts xvii. 16), shortened form of ecclesiastical Latin īdōlolatrīa (Tertullian), < Greek (N.T.) εἰδωλολατρεία , < εἴδωλον idol+ λατρεία service, worship..."
Idol, per the Oxford English Dictionary:
"Etymology: Middle English < Old French id(e)le, and idole, < late Latin īdōlum (alsoīdŏlum in Prudentius c400, Sedulius c470), image, form, spectre, apparition, in eccl. use ‘idol’, < Greek εἴδωλον image, phantom, idea, fancy, likeness, in LXX ‘idol’, < εἶδος form, shape. The early Old French idele, idle (11th cent.), represent the Latin ˈīdŏlum, the accentuation following that of the Greek. The current French idole was adapted in 13th cent. from Latin īdōlum."
The order of appearance of the senses in English does not correspond to their original development in Greek, where the sequence was apparently: ‘appearance, phantom, unsubstantial form, image in water or a mirror, mental image, fancy, material image or statue’, and finally, in Jewish and Christian use, ‘image of a false god’. In English this last was, under religious influence, the earliest, and in Middle English the only sense; hence (as also in French) came sense 2. These are the only popular uses of the word. The other uses are 16th c. adoptions of earlier Greek senses, often however coloured by association with sense 1.
Idols, Idolatry and Idolaters, Per Saint Paul
Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters ... shall inherit the kingdom of God.
1 Cor 6: 9-10
Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry.
1Cor 10:14
Ye know that ye were Gentiles, carried away unto these dumb idols, even as ye were led.
1 Cor 12:2
Idolatry... and such like...that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
Gal 5:20-21
For this ye know, that no ... idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.
Eph 5:5
Icon, per the Oxford English Dictionary
"Etymology: < late Latin īcōn (Pliny), < Greek εἰκών, εἰκον- likeness, image, portrait, semblance, similitude, simile, < *εἴκειν to be like""
Icon, per Saint Paul
And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man...
Rom 1: 23
[He] also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son...
Rom 8:29
For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, forasmuch as he is the image and glory of God...
1 Cor 11:7
[We] shall also bear the image of the heavenly.
1 Cor 15:49
But we all... are changed into the same image from glory to glory...
2 Cor 3:18
[Christ] who is the image of God....
2 Cor 4:4
Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:
Col 1:15
And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him: Col 3:10