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Christianity fostered an inclination to worship the angels. Such worship was formally
condemned by a council which convened at Laodicea in the fourth century.
During the Middle Ages there were still a few who were inclined to assume that the angels have
ethereal bodies, but the prevailing opinion was that they were incorporeal. The angelic
appearances were explained by assuming that in such cases angels adopted temporal bodily
forms for revelational purposes. Several points were in debate among the Scholastics. As to the
time of the creation of the angels the prevailing opinion was that they were created at the
same time as the material universe. While some held that the angels were created in the state
of grace, the more common opinion was that they were created in a state of natural perfection
only. There was little difference of opinion respecting the question, whether angels can be said
to be in a place. The common answer to this question was affirmative, though it was pointed
out that their presence in space is not circumscriptive but definitive, since only bodies can be in
space circumscriptively. While all the Scholastics agreed that the knowledge of the angels is
limited, the Thomists and Scotists differed considerably respecting the nature of this
knowledge. It was admitted by all that the angels received infused knowledge at the time of
their creation, but Thomas Aquinas denied, while Duns Scotus affirmed, that they could acquire
new knowledge through their own intellectual activity. The former held that the knowledge of
the angels is purely intuitive, but the latter asserted that it may also be discursive. The idea of
guardian angels found considerable favor during the Middle Ages.
The period of the Reformation brought nothing new respecting the doctrine of the angels. Both
Luther and Calvin had a vivid conception of their ministry, and particularly of the presence and
power of Satan. The latter stresses the fact that he is under divine control, and that, while he is
sometimes the instrument of God, he can only work within prescribed limits. Protestant
theologians generally regarded the angels as pure spiritual beings, though Zanchius and Grotius
still speak of them as having ethereal bodies. As to the work of the good angels the general
opinion was that it is their special task to minister to the heirs of salvation. There was no
general agreement, however, respecting the existence of guardian angels. Some favored this
view, others opposed it, and still others refused to commit themselves on this point. Our Belgic
Confession says in Article XII, which deals with creation: “He also created the angels good, to be
His messengers and to serve His elect: some of whom are fallen from that excellency, in which
God created them, into everlasting perdition; and the others have, by the grace of God,
remained steadfast, and continued in their primitive state. The devils and evil spirits are so
depraved that they are enemies of God and every good thing to the utmost of their power, as
murderers watching to ruin the Church and every member thereof, and by their wicked
stratagems to destroy all; and are therefore, by their own wickedness, adjudged to eternal
damnation, daily expecting their horrible torments.”