Is Jesus merely an angel? Part 1
The evidence from Jude!
The epistle of Jude is a letter of exhortation written to Christian assemblies somewhere in the Hellenistic east, written principally to warn against certain intruders who are characterized by debauchery, the interpretation of dreams, a denial of Jesus Christ, and a denunciation of angelic authorities (Jude 4-16).[1]
Whereas much of the polemic against the intruders trades in stereotypical tropes to describe their godlessness, nonetheless, the allegation of rejecting lords and blaspheming glorious ones in vv. 8, 10 has a degree of specificity which is not stereotypical. This explains why the letter includes an unusual focus on angels compared to other NT writings. The intruders disparage angelic beings perhaps on account of a skepticism towards the invisible, because of visionary experiences of the heavens with no angels, to denigrate the angels who gave the Torah, because of a prejudicial view of heavenly powers compared to Christ, to curse angels as wicked beings, or to manipulate angels through magical spells.
Against the intruders Jude retorts:
(1) “Jesus” himself was the angel of the exodus, thus, to disparage angels is to disparage the pre-existent Jesus (Jude 5 alluding to Exod 23.20-23 and Num 14.26-38) – Note, check the marginal notes of your NT translation, some manuscripts read “Lord” and others read “Jesus.” Today, most critical editions of the Greek New Testament prefer to read “Jesus” in v. 5.
(2) Angels are part and parcel of cosmic reality and redemptive history as evil entered the world with evil angels and evil will finally be defeated at the judgment of the wicked angels, thus, the intruders have abandoned the Jewish view of how evil entered the world (Jude 6 alluding to 1 Enoch 10.4-5, 11-15);
(3) Those who denigrate angels will suffer the same fate as Sodom and Gomorrah who tried to violate angels (Jude 7-8);[2]
(4) Even the archangel Michael did not slander the Devil, the epitome of rebellious angels, but left judgment to God (Jude 9 alluding to Zech 3.2); and
(5) These debauched dreamers and angel-deniers will ironically be judged when the Lord comes with his angels (Jude 14-15 quoting 1 Enoch 1.9).
Jude urges respect for angelic mediators as, dare I say, “guardians of the galaxy,” the heavenly curators of the cosmic order, and supernatural servants of the people of God. Jude, much like Justin, believes, “This God we do venerate and worship, and also the Son who came from him and taught us these things, and the company of other good angels who follow him and are like him, and also the prophetic spirit” (1 Apol. 6.2).
Jarl E. Fossum believes that Jude identifies the pre-incarnate Jesus with the angel of the Lord in the Old Testament. Fossum concludes: “Jude 5 implies that the Son is modelled on an intermediary figure whose basic constituent is the Angel of the Lord.”[3]
Does this mean that Jude thought Jesus was an angel?
In the next installment we’ll see why not!
[1] Cf. Bird & Wright, New Testament in its World, 736-40. [2] Cf. T. Asher 7.1: “Sodom which knew not the angels of the Lord, and perished forever.” [3] Fossum, “Kyrios Jesus,” 237.
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