Guardian Angels

   Belief in guardian angels has a long history. The Persians called them the fravashis, the Romans called them the genius (a spiritual entity that would follow each man from the hour of his birth until the day he died), and the Greeks called them daimon. The idea that each individual has a guardian angel became widespread for the first time in rabbinic Judaism. The Roman Catholic Church took over this tradition and affirmed the existence of guardian angels in its Cathechism 336: “From its beginning until death, human life is surrounded by their [angels’] watchful care and intercession. ‘Beside each believer stands an angel as protector and shepherd leading him to life.’” The Reformation leaders, for the most part, rejected belief in a personal guardian angel.

So what does the NT say about guardian angels? In Matthew 18.10, Christ says, “Take heed that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that in heaven their angels always see the face of My Father who is in heaven” Beyond this, Christ gives no specifics, but the NT clearly teaches that believers are the object of angelic attention (Acts 12.15, Heb. 1.14, etc.). One of the most striking passages on this is Psalm 91, the very passage Satan quoted in Matthew 4.6 when he urged Jesus to demonstrate His trust in God by jumping off the Temple. In vv 5– 13 we’re told that one of the ways God gives us peace is by giving us protection. Just as certain people are so important that they are protected by armed guards, so Scripture says that Christians are so important that God assigns angels as their security detail. But what sort of protection do angels provide? Take a look at Luke 21.16,18. In v 16, Christ warns that believers may be betrayed by family members and then put to death; but in v 18, He says that “not a hair of your head shall be lost”— put to death . . . but not a hair of your head lost! That seems contradictory, but it’s not; it’s paradoxical.

Angelic protection doesn’t mean Christians are shielded from adversity, heartbreak, or pain, in this life. And though God may providentially care for our temporal nature, His primary protection is for our eternal nature! Christ was betrayed by Judas and put to death, but He had the unshakeable conviction that He would come through it all unscathed. And He did! Satan may kill the body, but he cannot touch our soul, for it is lovingly protected by God. There is  no doubt that the Bible teaches about the existence and nature of angels, but modern doctrines of angelology and guardian angels are highly speculative and outrun the Biblical evidence. “Nowhere in Scripture or Jewish tradition of the NT period,” writes D. A. Carson, “is there any suggestion that there is one angel for one person” (401). If anything, it seems that we have more than a single angel watching over us. For doesn’t Scripture say that when he died, Lazarus was “carried by angels [plural] to Abraham’s bosom”?

Kenny Chumbley