Angels in the New Testament by Myra Kahn Adams for Town Hall
Thanks for joining us as we conclude our two-part series about angels in the Bible. As a refresher, here is last week’s Old Testament study.
Joining us again is Mike Aquilina, author of “Angels of God,” offering more of his angel insight. He has written numerous books and is Executive Vice President of the St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology.
Mike tells us, “Angels are everywhere in the New Testament as they are in the Old but with an important difference. In the Old Testament, angels act more like our superiors where they often served as guardians, but in the New they are our brothers.” The difference, Mike explains, “is Christ, since Gospel writers are especially careful to show how the angels serve Jesus in the same way they serve God.”
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The angels began their service to Jesus at an event called the Annunciation starring the angel Gabriel. He is an “angel of the Lord” named in the book of Daniel, as discussed last week. Gabriel, whose Hebrew name means “God Is My Strength,” now appears about 600 years later to a young Jewish girl named Miryam, anglicized as Mary. Gabriel famously tells Mary that she has “found favor with God” and shares the glorious news that will forever impact humankind:
‘You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end'”(Luke 1:31-33). (For further study, see Vol. 39.)
Aquilina says, “Gabriel showed respect for Mary as if she were in some way his superior.”
Nonetheless, Mary’s relationship status — betrothed to a man named Joseph, who is not the baby’s father — necessitated Gabriel to go on a holy diplomatic errand to prevent the mother of Jesus from being shamed and sent away. Thus, Gabriel appeared to Joseph and explained Mary’s pregnancy: “.. ‘conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins'” (Matthew 1:18-21).
Gabriel’s role in Jesus’s conception is the most well-known angel intervention.
