In chapter 2: angels are associated with the giving of the law and we are told that the

age to come has not been put in subjection to angels. By the testimony of the prophetic

eighth Psalm Adam, and Christ, are seen "for a little" lower than the angels, and, at the

incarnation, Christ "took not on Him the nature of angels" (2: 2, 5, 7, 9, 16). In 12: 22

the heavenly Jerusalem is associated with "an innumerable company of angels" and in

13: 2 the believer is reminded that, in O.T. times, the ministry of angels was no

uncommon experience. When writing to the Romans, Paul mentioned angels, together

with "principalities" (Rom. 8: 38) and asked the Corinthians, "Know ye not that we

shall judge angels?" (I Cor. 6: 3), but neither angelic ministry among men, nor the

presence of angels at the exaltation of Christ, is mentioned in Ephesians. There, we read

that when Christ was raised from the dead He was set at the right hand of God "in the

heavenly places far above all principality and power, and might and dominion, and every

name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come" (Eph. 1: 20,

21). These "principalities" are mentioned again in Eph. 3: 10 and 6: 12, each time in

connection with "heavenly places", but the Epistle to the Hebrews knows nothing of

them. In Scripture angels have special reference to the people of Israel, and they are not

mentioned in the O.T. until after the call of Abraham and the birth of Ishmael

(Gen. 16: 7).

Angelic ministry is associated with the destruction of Sodom, the

deliverance of Lot, the birth of Isaac, the quest for a wife for Isaac, and the blessing of

Jacob in the book of Genesis. In the book of Exodus the angel of the Lord is intimately

associated with the deliverance of Israel from Egypt and with their guidance through the

wilderness, and so, throughout the Law, the Prophets and the Psalms, the whole course of

Israel's history is accompanied by angelic ministry. Nor does it cease with Malachi; it is

prominent in the Gospels, being associated with the birth, the sufferings, the resurrection

and the second coming of Christ. It is prominent in the Acts from Acts 1: to 12:, but,

after the ministry of Paul, which commences with Acts 13:, there is but one reference in

the Acts to angelic ministry, namely at Acts 27: 23.  This must be considered in

contrast with the seventeen references that fill Acts 1:-12: In the prison ministry of Paul,

that is in the five "prison" epistles, angels are mentioned but to be set aside, i.e., "the

worshipping of angels" (Col. 2: 18).  In I Tim. 3: 16 angels are mentioned in

connection with the mystery of godliness, namely "God manifest in the flesh", and also in

the charge of I Tim. 5: 21, where "elect angels" are mentioned.

We have already drawn attention to the fact that the word "angel" occurs thirteen

times in the epistle to the Hebrews. It is of interest to note that, taking Paul's epistles

together, (with the exception of Hebrews), the word "angel" occurs thirteen times, or, if

we include the passage where it is translated "messenger", fourteen times. It will be seen

that where the word "angel" is used at the rate of one reference to an epistle in Paul's

epistles (other than Hebrews), in Hebrews it is used at the rate of one reference to a

chapter. Then, if we include the number of times the word occurs in the epistle of Peter,

Jude and the book of Revelation, we must add eighty-one more occurrences to the

number, making in all, from Matthew to Acts 12: and Hebrews to the end of the N.T.,

164 occurrences, as over against ten in Paul's pre-prison epistles, two in I Timothy and

none in the "prison" epistles. While we readily admit that doctrine cannot be proved by

the mere number of occurrences of any particular word, yet the presence and the absence

of such related terms as "angels" and "principalities" cannot easily be accounted for apart