Angels and Demons: What Do They Have to Do with Us?

Nauvoo Inter-Faith Symposium - March 31, 2011
Rev. Gayle M. Pope, Christ Lutheran Church

Do Lutherans believe in angels, demons and the devil? Of course we do. After all, the Bible bears witness to their existence. And Lutherans believe that the Bible is “the inspired Word of God and the authoritative source and norm of our proclamation, faith, and life.”

A quick word search of the King James version of the Bible shows the words “angel” or “angels” occur 297 times in 286 verses.

References to the devil and demons are a little harder to quantify because of differences in translations and meanings, but they are plentiful. The Greek word for Satan appears 36 times in the New Testament and the Hebrew word 19 times in the Old, although the Old Testament references are not necessarily the same type of being as we encounter in the New. References to demons or the devil are rare in the Old Testament, but in the New Testament, the Greek word “diamonion” appears 59 times and the word “diabolos” 35 times.

So, with such Biblical prevalence, Lutherans certainly would not deny the existence of angels and demons or the devil. But such beings are not a central focus of our faith practices, and we might differ on exactly how we see these spiritual beings at work in the world and in our lives. There is more to be said about the devil in Lutheran life than about angels, so I will deal with angels first.

In the Bible, angels relate to humans most often messengers from God -- like the angels we hear about speaking to Mary, Joseph and the shepherds in the Christmas story. Sometimes angels appear in dreams; other times in visible form. There are also references to angels guarding or protecting us, worshipping and serving God and fighting evil.

In the Lutheran calendar of special observances, September 29 is designated as "St. Michael and All Angels" day. The prayer written for that day acknowledges that God has “wonderfully established the ministries of angels” and asks that “as Michael and the angels contend against the cosmic forces of evil, so by your direction they may help and defend us here on earth.” It ends with reference to the Triune God “whom we worship and praise with angels and archangels and all the company of heaven.”

Lutherans don’t teach that each individual has a personal guardian angel, because that is not really found in Scripture. But that doesn’t mean it’s not so. I wouldn’t tell someone they SHOULDN’T believe in guardian angels. But I WOULD caution against putting devotion or trust in angels in place of trust in Christ.

In the Nicene Creed, we confess our belief in God as creator of “all that is -- seen and unseen.” The ELCA has stated on its website that “angels are among ‘the seen and unseen’ in God’s creation. We simply accept that they are in the Bible and may well be part of the realities of heaven that we will not fully understand in this life.”

So … what about Satan, the devil and demons in Lutheran beliefs and practice?

In general, Lutherans today may differ on whether they think of the devil as a specific being or more as an evil presence. But there can be no doubt from reading of the Scriptures that spiritual warfare involving demonic forces is happening around us and within us.

As it says in Ephesians 6:11-12, “Put on the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.”

Martin Luther, the German monk and reformer who initiated the Protestant Reformation in 1517, had much to say about contending with the devil. He wrote the famous hymn, A Mighty Fortress Is Our God, in which he lifts up the power of God’s Word against the devil. Based on his reading of Scripture, Luther gives the devil his due, saying, “On earth he has no equal” and that “no strength of ours can match his might.”

Indeed, the Bible reveals how Satan works continuously in opposition to God to obstruct the mission of Jesus Christ. He is a liar and deceiver who can work in obviously evil ways, but can also masquerade as a wolf in sheep’s clothing, appealing to our sense of pride and self-righteousness to separate us from God and from others. He is a formidable foe.

But Jesus, by his death and resurrection, has defeated sin, death and the devil” so believers have nothing to fear. “A champion comes to fight, whom God himself elected.” Luther wrote, “He holds the field victorious.” The third verse of the song proclaims:

Though hordes of devils fill the land, all threat’ning to devour us,
we tremble not, unmoved we stand; they cannot overpow’r us.
This world’s prince may rage, in fierce war engage.
He is doomed to fail; God’s judgment must prevail! One little word subdues him.

Luther was a brilliant and highly educated man, but he was also very practical and wrote and spoke in a way that drew on his own peasant roots and could resonate with the “man on the street.” Here are a few quotes regarding his thoughts on the devil:

The devil has often raised a racket in the house and has tried to scare me, but I appealed to my calling and said, "I know that God has placed me into this house to be lord here. Now if you have a call that is stronger than mine and are lord here, then stay where you are. But I well know that you are not lord here and that you belong in a different place - down in hell." And so I fell asleep again and let him be angry, for I well knew that he could do nothing to me.

All the cunning of the devil is exercised in trying to tear us away from the Word. If in the external preaching he does not succeed in making people unwilling to hear the Word, yet he succeeds in the heart by persuading them not to cling to it.

When God's holy Word arises, it is always its lot that Satan opposes it with all his might. At first, he rages against it with force and wicked power. If that promises no success, he attacks it with false tongues and erring spirits and teachers. What he is unable to crush by force he seeks to suppress by cunning and lies. This was his strategy at the beginning. When the Gospel first came into the world, he launched a mighty attack against it through Jews and Gentiles, shed much blood, and filled Christendom with martyrs. When this did not succeed, he raised false prophets and erring spirits and filled the world with heretics …

One does not gain much ground against the devil with a lengthy disputation but with brief words and replies, such as, "I am a Christian, of the same flesh and blood as is my Lord Christ, the Son of God. Settle your account with him." Then the devil does not stay long.

In an article entitled “Satan the Enemy” in the theological journal “Word & World” Dr. Walter Sundburg noted that, “the battle with Satan begins as soon as we enter the world” and that the ancient rite of Baptism begins with an exorcism, which Luther preserved in the baptismal orders he established.

Sundburg wrote, “Recognizing that the devil is prince of the world who owns us at our birth, the order begins by calling on the devil to vacate his property: ‘Depart thou unclean spirit and give room to the Holy Spirit.’ After prayer, the exorcism follows: ‘I adjure thee, thou unclean spirit, by the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, that thou come out of and depart from this servant of God …”

This turn away from the devil is still part of today’s Baptismal rite, as the candidate is asked, “to profess your faith in Christ Jesus, reject sin, and confess the faith of the church.” Three questions are put to the candidate or to the parents and sponsors: “Do you renounce the devil and all the forces that defy God? Do you renounce the powers of this world that rebel against God? Do you renounce the ways of sin that draw you from God?” And to each one the candidate is to answer, “I renounce them.”

So, as you can see, even though Lutherans believe the devil is after us to work us woe, the Good News is that we don’t have to fear him as long as we cling to Christ in faith and depend on God’s Holy Word.