Who was first, men or angels?
Upvote:1
If in Genesis 1:26,God was talking to the angels when he said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness," then God was acknowledging the angels as his equal, a concept that has no biblical or scholarly support. On the other hand, Mark S. Smith says, in The Early History of God, page 64, that on the available evidence, Israelite religion in its earliest form was polytheistic and the number of deities was relatively typical for the region. It is therefore more meaningful for these words to reflect an earlier belief, with God (YHWH) talking to his fellow gods about creation.
Cherubim, such as those who guarded the entrance to the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3:24), existed in many ancient Near Eastern cultures and were mythical creatures with the head of a bull, the wings of an eagle, the feet of a lion, and the tail of a serpent, so therefore not angels as we would understand them. We can not say from their sudden appearance in Genesis 3:24 whether they were created before man or newly created to guard the entrance to the Garden. Angels ('messengers'), as we know them, were not mentioned in any scripture written before the Babylonian Exile.
Upvote:13
Job 38:4-7 “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? ... When the morning stars sang together, And all the sons of God shouted for joy?"
"Morning stars" and "sons of God" appear to be references to angels. (One could debate this, of course.) If they sang and shouted when the Earth was created, and according to Genesis 1 the Earth was created before humans, then the angels must have been created before humans.
Satan tempted Adam and Eve in Genesis 3, and as you mention there's the reference to an angel standing guard at Eden. So if angels were created after humans, it was not long after. Not more than one generation, anyway.
Christians generally interpret the "let us ..." statements of Genesis 1 as the persons of the Godhead speaking to each other, i.e. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit conversing among themselves. There's no indication of angels participating in creation or of humans being created in the image of angels, but both Father and Son are described as creating, so this generally makes more sense than supposing that the "we" means God and angels. (I'm not sure how Jews interpret this.)
More post
- 📝 Where is the dust of the earth?
- 📝 How can Christians be assured they are truly saved and that Jesus won't say "Depart from me I never knew you." on judgement day?
- 📝 How do Trinitarians understand what Jesus said in the garden of Gethsemane?
- 📝 What rules does the Catholic Church have for venerating crosses/crucifixes on Good Friday?
- 📝 Almond branch or watcher?
- 📝 Did early church fathers understand the doctrine of trinity?
- 📝 Are relics only considered first class if they were collected from a Saint's dead body?
- 📝 Can a Catholic be denied communion for the way they want to receive Communion?
- 📝 What is "Christ Consciousness", and which branches teach it?
- 📝 Why did Jesus commit Mary into the care of the beloved disciple, not James, who is known as his brother?
- 📝 What is the Rule of Prayer?
- 📝 Is there really a Catholic "blessing for bacon?"
- 📝 Which groups believe that Jesus is a Created Being?
- 📝 The statements of the early Church Fathers regarding the doctrine of the Trinity (pre-Nicea)
- 📝 Is this about 'sehnsucht'; in which case, can God be Pleasure manifest or is he a being who is full of pleasure?
- 📝 How do non-Trinitarians who do not believe Jesus is God Almighty explain how Jesus can effect atonement for all of humanity?
- 📝 Is there a standard Christian ontology?
- 📝 What is "Apologetics", exactly, and how is it used to defend the Christian faith?
- 📝 Does the New Testament mention Christians worshipping the Holy Spirit?
- 📝 Is it possible for a married Catholic to be invincibly ignorant that adultery is gravely wrong?
- 📝 Does Catholicism teach that the Pope is God?
- 📝 Doesn't the Trinitarian reading of Genesis 1:26 violate hermeneutical principles?
- 📝 How we do we know that Joseph wasn't Hyksos?
- 📝 Is there a biblical basis for God's omnipotence or have we mistaken 'symbolism'?
- 📝 Acts 11:26 regarding the word Christian?
- 📝 If God is unable to change, why did he (after the Flood)?
- 📝 Does the Catholic Church Promulgate Anything Specific Regarding Priests and Firearms?
- 📝 Are all who are saved, saved equally?
- 📝 According to the doctrine of Trinity, was Jesus always co-equal to the Father?
- 📝 Do any church fathers interpret Luke 18:17 as teaching the necessity of infant baptism?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 According to LDS (Mormon) teaching, who was the first God who began the eternal progression?
- 📝 Who was the first Church Father to argue for executing heretics?
- 📝 Who was the first to reject the historicity of Adam?
- 📝 Who was the first Devil's Advocate?
- 📝 Who was first, men or angels?
- 📝 Who was the first to describe Methodists as the "People of the Extreme Center"?
- 📝 What was the first Spiritual Gifts Inventory book published or who was the first to use the method?
- 📝 Who was the first person ordered executed by a Roman Catholic pope?
- 📝 Who was the first major Christian figure to popularize a figurative interpretation of Genesis?
- 📝 Based on post-2000 scholarly research, how do Christians defend that it was Jesus himself who prophesied the first Jewish-Roman war?
- 📝 Was the matter of whether the Christians who had renounced their faith under torture should be accepted back considered in the First Council?
- 📝 When and who was the first disciple to truly believe Jesus' claims
- 📝 In the New Testament who was the first person to recognize Jesus as the Messiah?
- 📝 Who was the first person on record who was killed by a Christian or group of Christians for religious disagreements?
- 📝 Was salvation available to Lucifer and those angels who rebelled with him?
- 📝 Who was the first person condemned to death by a Christian bishop?
- 📝 Who was Pharaoh when Moses lived in Egypt?
- 📝 Who was Melchizedek?
- 📝 When in the development of trinitarian doctrine was the word "persons" first applied to God?
- 📝 When was “pistis christou” first understood as a statement about Christ’s faith?
- 📝 Who was St. Joseph's Father? The New Testament seems to give two answers
- 📝 Who first distinguished between the inerrancy of the Bible and the inerrancy of the original autographs?
- 📝 Who was Thomas's twin?
- 📝 Who are David and Sibyls in the first stanza of Dies Iræ?
- 📝 Who was Theophilus?
- 📝 What happened to the wives of priests when celibacy was first instituted in the Catholic church?
- 📝 In Jerusalem around 600BC, who was Laban?
- 📝 When was the word "trinity" first applied to God in Christianity?
- 📝 What is the basis for Lombard's view that the basis of justification for OT men was different than for OT women?
- 📝 What is the oldest surviving photograph of someone who was later canonized as a saint?