Arminius

The name angel signifies not their nature but their office, which is denoted by the word מלאך and by ἄγγελος; and it is in this sense that we here take the word angel.

Nearly all the names of the angels are drawn either from their essence and nature, or from their power, dignity and might, or from their office and operation. From their essence they are called spirits, in Greek and Latin, and in Hebrew רוחות. From power, dignity and might they are called sons of God, and gods, archangels, and likewise thrones; and Satan is called the god of this world. From office and operation they are called מלאכים, and likewise ministering spirits (λειτουργικὰ πνεύματα).

Angels, then, are spirits subsisting in themselves, finite, rational, and immortal, created to this end, that they should praise him and that he should use their ministry in governing the world — a description which we now unfold part by part.

First we say they are spirits, because they are of a merely spiritual nature, without corporeal matter, and indeed are contained under the same proximate genus as our soul, which is beyond controversy incorporeal and invisible. Compared with God, however, angels are not simple spirits in the full sense: for they are composed of the act by which they are and the potency by which they can be changed, in respect of the infinite power of God, on which their life and being depend.

Secondly we assert that they subsist in themselves, meaning that they are true subsistences (ὑφισταμένας) — which the Sadducees once erroneously denied, and which is repeated today by certain men who contend that angels are nothing other than good or bad motions of the soul. But Holy Scripture contradicts this, and reason plainly cries out against it: for understanding and free will are attributed to angels, and along with these various affections and effects or actions, which belong to individual subjects.

Thirdly, that they were created, at the beginning of all things, together with heaven their dwelling — not from eternity, nor before the beginning of the world. This is gathered from certain places of Scripture on grounds neither obscure nor weak; indeed whatever is besides the Creator is created. The time at which they were created is disputed. It is certain that they already existed when God laid the foundation of the earth, since they are then said to have shouted for joy. It is likely that they were created together with heaven, their dwelling.

The rest were all created equally good, and indeed in the image of God no less than men, though in a more excellent manner; and for that reason they are called sons of God. This image consisted in integrity and holiness. That integrity, however complete, was nevertheless mutable by the very account of creation and of nature. It consisted both in all the faculties of their nature and in their actions, which lies in obedience to the will of God. That obedience consists both in righteousness and in the carrying out of particular duties. Holiness consisted in truthfulness and humility. The companion of integrity and holiness was felicity, answering to the image of God according to which they were made.

Fourthly we call them finite, because to be created is to be determined by the one creating. And because they are finite spirits, we measure them by place, time and number. By place — not that they are in a place by contact or according to dimensive quantity, but substantially (οὐσιωδῶς), that is, they exist in a place without occupying or filling any local space. Moreover, Holy Scripture speaks of the descent, ascent and flight of angels in such a way as plainly to attribute to them motion from place to place across the intervals of places, from which it follows that they are moved locally in themselves. Their motion, however, is not that of a body whether subtle or gross; and it takes place not in an instant but in time, because in the motion of angels there is succession, since they cannot be in many places at once. Therefore they are not moved without time, though the time be scarcely perceptible; and this is why, on account of the swiftness of their motion, they are compared to the winds, and wings are attributed to them in the Scriptures.

They are finite in number — a number otherwise very great, unknown to us but known to God, who holds them all in his reckoning. Further, they were created by God in that number at the first, not multiplied by the generation of some from others; and they are all of one and the same species, differing only in qualities and offices. That there is some order among the angels is plain from the Scriptures — an order arising not so much from the dignity and excellence of the angels' nature as from the diverse offices to be discharged, to which they are put at God's discretion. But as for what the Scholastics discuss, inquisitively and fictitiously, concerning Hierarchies and the grades of hierarchies — since Holy Scripture does not wish us to know these things, we gladly remain ignorant of them.

We affirm further that angels are rational, that is, endowed with mind and reason for knowing God and the things of God. They understand what is their object, and greater things than men do, yet not all things; nor have they universal knowledge, but they have explored the several genera of created beings, and even their several individuals — yet not the several actions of individual men, and much less the thoughts of their minds, unless these are expressed by some outward indication of sense, or motion, or voice, or are revealed to them by God. And as their understanding is simple and spiritual, so also their manner of understanding is simple and spiritual, though it does not exist without discursive reasoning. For they often learn new things, which they did not know before, partly by God's revelation, partly by experience, partly by conjecture.

Upon understanding there follows will, which must be attributed to angels as endowed with understanding and as apprehending the good by understanding; and indeed free choice, by which they freely choose and refuse whatever is set before them to be chosen or refused, whether good or evil.

The common instrument of both understanding and will is power, which is the force of acting outside oneself. In them this is very great indeed, yet finite: whence in Psalm 103 they are called mighty in strength, and in 2 Thessalonians 1:7 the angels of God's power. From this proceed their actions, in which they are most skilful and most expeditious, and which they perform more wisely, more freely and more swiftly than we do.

Finally we declare them immortal, that is, of a life that will endure for ever. Yet if you look to the infinite power of God, they could easily be reduced to nothing, inasmuch as by that same power they were made from nothing; indeed they would of themselves slip back into nothing, should they cease to be upheld by the divine preservation.

The end of the creation of the angels is next appended, which ‹…› regards them in this, that God uses their work in the government of the world. For this reason they are clothed for a time with visible bodies, whenever they are sent by God down to earth, so as to use them in their embassies to men — bodies which, the ministry once performed, they again lay aside. Moreover they assume bodies either in reality or in appearance: in appearance, as generally in visions and dreams, and in bodies which could not discharge the functions committed to them.

In the preceding theses we have treated of the nature of angels in general, which remained always the same after the fall. There follows their division into good and evil. Some of the angels, then, rendered God the obedience due to him; others wickedly and foully revolted from him. Although this division is in no way founded in their creation, it nevertheless rests on those supports of Holy Scripture which teach that certain of them ‹abandoned› their origin and did not stand fast in the truth — from which it is established that they were created good in the beginning.

Those who obeyed God are called ‹…› good angels, whose office is considered in respect of God, of Christ, and of men. Their office in respect of God is that they continually celebrate the name of God — so throughout the Apocalypse angels are brought in celebrating God — and further the carrying out of his commands, for they are ministers.

Their office in respect of men concerns either the good and elect, or the evil. As regards the elect, those places of Scripture teach abundantly ‹…› that the angels are dispensers and administrators of the divine beneficence toward them; and so it records that they keep watch for our salvation, and the like. As regards the ungodly, their office is occupied in punishing, or at least in restraining, the evils that threaten them. But we assert for certain that it cannot be held that ordinarily some particular good angel is assigned by God to each elect person. This indeed is more certain: that they conspire together for the salvation and safety of the elect, and that from time to time a particular one is dispatched to deliver and guard the godly.

From these things is gathered what the power of the good angels is: great indeed, ‹…› since their essence is finite, in natural things ‹…›.

⚠ This thesis is substantially obscured in the copy by contemporary manuscript underlining and ink; only the frame of the argument is legible. It must be recovered from a second witness before publication.

‹…› exceeds the nature and powers of the universe. They hold a different degree of power in regard to the devils ‹…› ours, whom they can affect in various ways. It is also established that the good angels surpass the devils in strength, from the fact that the evil are everywhere said to be overcome and bound by the good angels. Their number is great, yet not infinite.

For the rest, according to the measure of their nature, condition and glory, their own honour is due to them — tempered, however, to the measure of their nature; and if that measure is violated, idolatry arises. They are therefore to be honoured for imitation, not adored out of religion; to be followed with charity, not with servitude. We may wish for their presence and help, but by no means implore it of them.

So much for the good angels; the evil angels follow. If you consider their nature, they possess the same as the good: for they are intelligent and powerful spirits, differing from the good only in qualities. For this reason they are called evil angels, demons, and unclean spirits, because they did not keep their origin. The devil is said to sin from the beginning, because he was himself the first to transgress, and was the author of transgression to man.

The sin by whose commission these angels degenerated into devils was, in general, disobedience; as to its species we affirm nothing — although we judge it to have been pride and the crime of affected divinity, led by the probable argument that it was to this same disobedience that Satan urged and persuaded the first human beings.

The punishment of that sin was twofold. The first was ejection from glory and from the heavenly habitation into these lower parts of the world, or into the abyss. The second was their appointment to eternal torments to follow in their own time, that is, to the eternal fire which is said to be prepared for the devil and his angels.

But since the devil even now does not cease to vaunt himself as God and to affect the divine glory, he strives to procure it for himself chiefly by two works: prophecies and miracles. The devil divines either because, being a keen spirit, he looks far forward into the future with the edge of his mind, as subtly as may be — but with a conjecture at times deceptive and doubtful, of which there are two marks (κριτήρια): the falsity of the oracles, and their ambiguity. And for that reason the answers they give they either wrap in riddles or spread out and darken with double meanings. As for the works which are called miracles by similarity and by concession, they deceive in substance, in form, and in end. In substance, if you attend to it, the demons generally use sleights; as to form, the things the devils accomplish have natural causes, though hidden ones, assembled and fitted together with a dexterity more than human; and in end, since in them their purpose is to deceive.