On Angels and Grace - By John of Damascus

Angels are immaterial and unseen persons who are part of God’s creation which we confess every week in the divine service - “I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth and of all things visible and invisible.” When they appear in the course of our history, they terrify humans with their power and glory. They appear like lightning (Matt. 28:3) and can break chains like they are nothing (Acts 12:7). Praise God that the Lord has charged them with watching over the children and his church (Matt. 18:10; Ps. 91:11). Though the demons, the fallen angels, contend against them, the Lord’s hosts are victorious. As Christ has conquered sin, death, and the devil, so he gives this salvation to his saints in heaven and on earth.

So what do you think? Are angels immortal and perfect by nature or by God’s grace? It seems that we should say “by nature,” that they couldn’t be otherwise, like rocks are hard “by nature.” But John of Damascus understands God’s favorable, sanctifying will extended to the angels as we know it has been extended to us. Here are a couple of paragraphs.

“[An angel] is immortal, not by nature but by grace. For all that has had beginning comes also to its natural end. But God alone is eternal, or rather, He is above the Eternal: for He, the Creator of times, is not under the dominion of time, but above time.”

“Through the Word, therefore, therefore, all the angels were created, and through the sanctification by the Holy Spirit were they brought to perfection, sharing each in proportion to his worth and rank in brightness and grace.”

“Further, apart from their essence they receive the sanctification from the Spirit: there the divine grace they prophesy: they have no need of marriage for they are immortal.”

“With difficulty they are moved to evil, yet they are not absolutely immovable, not by nature but by grace and by their nearness to the Only Good. They behold God according to their capacity, and this is their food.”

Exposition of the Orthodox Faith, Book II, Chapter III

Thanks be to God for John of Damascus’ faithful witness to how the holy angels share in grace and sanctification as God’s creatures.