WLC 16

Q16. How did God create angels?

God created all the angels spirits, immortal, holy, excelling in knowledge, mighty in power, to execute his commandments, and to praise his name, yet subject to change.

Proof texts

• Col. 1:16 — [16] For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities — all things were created through him and for him.
• Ps. 104:4 — [4] he makes his messengers winds, his ministers a flaming fire.
• Matt. 22:30 — [30] For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.
• Matt. 25:31 — [31] “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne.
• 2 Sam. 14:17 — [17] And your servant thought, ‘The word of my lord the king will set me at rest,’ for my lord the king is like the angel of God to discern good and evil. The LORD your God be with you!”
• Matt. 24:36 — [36] “But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.
• 2 Thess. 1:7 — [7] and to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels
• Ps. 103:20-21 — [20] Bless the LORD, O you his angels, you mighty ones who do his word, obeying the voice of his word! [21] Bless the LORD, all his hosts, his ministers, who do his will!
• 2 Pet. 2:4 — [4] For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment;

For discussion

1. The Assembly cited Col. 1:16 in support of this answer. Read it in context — how does it bear on what is claimed here?
2. 9 passages are cited here. Which does the most work, and is anything claimed that the proofs do not obviously carry?
3. WSC Q10 treats the same ground. What does it add, and why might it put things differently?
4. HC Q26 treats the same ground. What does it add, and why might it put things differently?

Read alongside

WSC Q10 · HC Q26 · HC Q27 · HC Q28 · BC 3.1 · BC 3.2