Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine

by Wayne Grudem

One angel, Michael, is called an “archangel” in Jude 9, a title that indicates rule or authority over other angels.

Paul tells us that the Lord will return from heaven “with the voice of an archangel” (1 Thess. 4:16).

Only One Place at One Time

Scripture frequently represents angels as traveling from one place to another,

when the Lord returns, we will be raised to a position higher than that of angels (1 Cor. 6:3; see section C.1, below).

Several passages of Scripture, especially in the Old Testament, speak of the angel of the Lord in a way that suggests that he is God himself taking on a human form to appear briefly to various people in the Old Testament.

(Gen. 16:10),

‘You are a God of seeing’ ” (Gen. 16:13).

“Now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me” (Gen. 22:12).

the angels must have been created before the seventh day of creation, for we read, “Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them” (Gen. 2:1, understanding “host” to be the heavenly creatures that inhabit God’s universe).

Angels Remind Us That the Unseen World Is Real

“the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha” (2 Kings 6:17; this was a great angelic army sent to Dothan to protect Elisha from the Syrians).

“Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Matt. 6:10). In heaven God’s will is done by angels, immediately, joyfully, and without question.

Angels Carry Out Some of God’s Plans

They bring God’s messages to people (Luke 1:11–19; Acts 8:26; 10:3–8, 22; 27:23–24). They carry out some of God’s judgments, bringing a plague upon Israel (2 Sam. 24:16–17), smiting the leaders of the Assyrian army (2 Chron. 32:21), striking King Herod dead because he did not give God glory (Acts 12:23), or pouring out bowls of God’s wrath on the earth (Rev. 16:1).

Angels Directly Glorify God

Revelation 5:11–12: Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!”

Satan and Demons How should Christians think of Satan and demons today? How should we understand and practice spiritual warfare?

Like angels, they are also created, spiritual beings with moral judgment and high intelligence but without physical bodies. We may define demons as follows: demons are evil angels who sinned against God and who now continually work evil in the world.

Satan Was the Originator of Sin

Demons Oppose and Try to Destroy Every Work of God

The tactics of Satan and his demons are to use lies (John 8:44), deception (Rev. 12:9), murder (Ps. 106:37; John 8:44), and every other kind of destructive activity to attempt to cause people to turn away from God and destroy themselves.

3. Yet Demons Are Limited by God’s Control and Have Limited Power

they do not have the power they had when they were angels, for sin is a weakening and destructive influence.

we should not think that demons can know the future or that they can read our minds or know our thoughts.

the Lord shows himself to be the true God in distinction from the false (demonic) gods of the nations by the fact that he alone can know the future: “I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done” (Isa. 46:9–10).10

the Bible tells us that Jesus knew people’s thoughts (Matt. 9:4; 12:25; Mark 2:8; Luke 6:8; 11:17) and that God knows people’s thoughts (Gen. 6:5; Ps. 139:2, 4, 23; Isa. 66:18), but there is no indication that angels or demons can know our thoughts.

if demons cannot read people’s minds, how shall we understand contemporary reports of witch doctors, fortune-tellers, or other people evidently under demonic influence who are able to tell people accurate details of their lives which they thought no one knew,

can be explained by realizing that demons can observe

But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. Or how can someone enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? Then indeed he may plunder his house. (Matt. 12:28–29) The “strong man” is Satan, and Jesus had bound him, probably at the time of his triumph over him in the temptation in the wilderness (Matt. 4:1–11).

During the Millennium. During the millennium, the future thousand-year reign of Christ on earth mentioned in Revelation 20,15 the activity of Satan and demons will be further restricted. Using language that suggests a much greater restriction of Satan’s activity than we see today,

(Rev. 20:1–3) Here Satan is described as completely deprived of any ability to influence the earth.

At the Final Judgment. At the end of the millennium, when Satan is loosed and gathers the nations for battle, he will be decisively defeated and “thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur” and “tormented day and night forever and ever” (Rev. 20:10). Then the judgment of Satan and his demons will be complete.

the millennium, when Satan’s influence will be removed from the earth, has not yet come.

Not All Evil Is from Satan and Demons, but Some Is

“what pagans sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God” (1 Cor. 10:20),

“Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil” (Eph. 4:26–27). Wrongful anger apparently can give opportunity for the devil

In all cases the remedy will be the same anyway: rebuke the demon in the name of Jesus and command it to leave

Jesus Gives All Believers Authority to Rebuke Demons and Command Them to Leave

“God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control” (2 Tim. 1:7).

We Should Expect the Gospel to Come in Power to Triumph over the Works of the Devil

James 4:7–8: Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

The Doctrine of Man in the Image of God

The Creation of Man Why did God create us? How did God make us like himself? How can we please him in everyday living?

God Did Not Need to Create Man, Yet He Created Us for His Own Glory

God speaks of his sons and daughters from the ends of the earth as those “whom I created for my glory” (Isa. 43:7; cf. Eph. 1:11–12).

Out of all the creatures God made, only one creature, man, is said to be made “in the image of God.”

means that man is like God and represents God.

Redemption in Christ: A Progressive Recovering of God’s Image

as Christians we have a new nature that is “being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator” (Col. 3:10).