Question:
Does the Bible represent angels as masculine and feminine, either or both?
Answer:
The Bible always represents angels as masculine. Sometimes they appear as men, never as women. The main thought which seems to underlie all these revelations concerning the angels is that they are God’s messengers, those who do His will, those who comfort and strengthen His people. Therefore the general character represented by them is that of obedience, loyalty, glory, strength. They are never portrayed as weak or effeminate. The artists’ work has seemed to combine the old idea of fairies with that of angels of God; in consequence, they have utterly perverted the Bible idea of God’s great messengers. That is not a dignifying particularly of the masculine in the human, nor the belittling of the feminine; it simply indicates the character of God’s messengers. To represent them as weak, silly girls, as is many times done, is utterly unbiblical. When an angel appeared to the Roman guard at Christ’s tomb, they fell as dead men (Matthew 28:2-4). Even so, did Daniel fall before the exceeding glory of one who appeared to him (Daniel 10), and John, who had known much of the glory of God, fell to worship the one who appeared to him on the Isle of Patmos (Revelation 19:10; 22:8, 9). There is nothing in the term “cherubim” or “seraphim” which indicates masculinity or femininity. The words are sometimes used to show large bodies of angels.
