Angels / Guardian Angels
by Robert Sickler, Ph.D.
 

Clearly, the Old Testament scriptures portray angels as God’s ministers who at times were given special commissions to intercede on behalf of men and to perform certain missions on behalf of God. Psalm 91:9-11 says:

           If you make the Lord your refuge,
           if you make the Most High your shelter,

           no evil will conquer you;
           no plague will come near your home.
           For he will order his angels
           to protect you wherever you go.
 

Although there is little indication in the Old Testament regarding the exact nature of the relationship and interaction between angels and mankind, scriptures like Psalm 91 do confirm a common belief that angels, under instruction from God, do intercede in the lives of humans.

The concept of ministering angels is more fully developed in the New Testament, which portrays angels as intermediaries between God and mankind.

One of the most often quoted ministering angel scriptures is Matthew 18:10: “Beware that you don’t look down on any of these little ones. For I tell you that in heaven their angels are always in the presence of my heavenly Father.” Many people view this as indicating that only children have guardian angels, but the context of the scripture makes it just as probable that the scripture is talking about all those who are Christians. This is especially true if you take into account verse 11: “For the Son of man came to save that which was lost,” a passage which is not present in many of the oldest manuscripts.

There is also a scripture where the author of Hebrews explains that Jesus is greater than the angels and makes the statement: “Therefore, angels are only servants—spirits sent to care for people who will inherit salvation.” (Hebrews 1:14)

Based on these and other scriptures we can safely say that the New Testament gives us assurance that angels, under instruction from God, do intercede in the lives of humans.

As a side note, angels interceding on behalf of man does not necessarily equate to each of us having our own personal guardian angel. The bulk of belief regarding personal guardian angels originated from early Catholic writers such as St. Thomas, St. Basil, St. Chrysostom, the medieval liturgical writer William Durandus, and the Franciscan John Duns Scotus. These men went beyond scripture, and in so doing built the foundation upon which so many ideas about guardian angels rest. This is not to say that they are necessarily in error. It is simply to point out that these teachers took scripture, and then through their own inductions and deductions constructed the concept of each Christian as having their own personal guardian angel.

Can we say with absolute certainty that every single born-again Christian has a guardian angel? No! Can we say with absolute certainty that every single born-again Christian does not have a guardian angel? No!

We can say with absolute certainty, however, that angels do have a mission to aid and care for people who have been born again. It really doesn’t matter if there is one individual angel that has been assigned to each of us, or if all angels are collectively responsible for carrying out God’s instructions to aid and assist us.

There are also a lot of unresolved and tantalizing questions as to exactly what form this aid and assistance takes. The most important thing for us to realize is that God loves us, and that as we face the difficulties of life in this world, we are not alone.