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Fallen Angel

This document discusses fallen angels in Christian theology. It begins by defining fallen angels as angels who have been exiled or banished from Heaven, often as punishment for disobeying or rebelling against God. It notes that the best known fallen angel is Lucifer, a name sometimes used for Satan. Later writings, especially Paradise Lost, refer to Satan as Lucifer because he was brighter than the morning star before his fall. The document also discusses the origins of the term "fallen" stemming from angels described as "giants" in the Hebrew Bible who descended from heaven to mate with human women.

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Vlad Marie Sandulescu
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183 views2 pages

Fallen Angel

This document discusses fallen angels in Christian theology. It begins by defining fallen angels as angels who have been exiled or banished from Heaven, often as punishment for disobeying or rebelling against God. It notes that the best known fallen angel is Lucifer, a name sometimes used for Satan. Later writings, especially Paradise Lost, refer to Satan as Lucifer because he was brighter than the morning star before his fall. The document also discusses the origins of the term "fallen" stemming from angels described as "giants" in the Hebrew Bible who descended from heaven to mate with human women.

Uploaded by

Vlad Marie Sandulescu
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© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

Fallen Angel

Statue of the Fallen Angel, Retiro Park (Madrid, Spain).

A fallen angel, in Christian theology, is an angel who has been exiled or banished from Heaven. Often
such banishment is a punishment for disobeying or rebelling against God (see War in Heaven).

The best-known fallen angel is Lucifer, a name frequently attributed to Satan in Christian belief. This
usage stems from a particular interpretation of Isaiah 14:3-20 that speaks of someone who is given the
name of "Day Star" or "Morning Star" (in Latin, Lucifer) as fallen from heaven. The word Lucifer, however,
does not refer to Satan anywhere in the Bible. Some see the passage as using this name to describe the
king of Babylon, who had exalted himself as being deity himself, after which God would cast him down.
The same terminology is used in Ezekiel to describe the king of Tyre. The Greek etymological synonym of
Lucifer, Eωσφόρος (Eosphoros, "dawn-bearer")[1][2] is used of the morning star in2 Peter 1:19 and
elsewhere with no reference to Satan.

Still, Satan is called Lucifer in many later writings, notably Milton's Paradise Lost (7.131-134, among
others), because, according to Milton, Satan was "brighter once amidst the host of Angels, than that star
the stars among."[3]

Matières
 [cacher]

1 Prospects for
salvation
2 Origin of the term
3 References
4 Source
5 Bibliography
6 External links
[changer]Prospects for salvation

According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, angels were all created as good beings but some
decided to become evil.[4] Angels do not need faith as they already have the knowledge of celestial things,
which means their action constitutes unforgivable sin.[5] Matthew 12:32 clarifies unforgivable sin as
meaning that the sinner is not forgiven in "this age or the age to come." However, some Christians do not
interpret this to mean that those who have committed this sin may be redeemed after the passage of two
ages,[6]A tradition, still believed by some, stretches back as far as Gregory of Nyssa and Origen and
teaches that the Devil and fallen angels will eventually be saved. [7][8]

[changer]Origin of the term

The origin of the term lies in the Hebrew word for "giant". The Hebrew word translated as "giants" here
is nephilim, a plural, which itself derives from the root word Naphal, which means to fall.[improper synthesis?] The
apocryphal Book of Enoch explains that a group of rebellious angels "left their first estate" (heaven, or the
sky) and came down (fell) to Earth to marry human women and have children with them. Jude makes
mention of these angels in the New Testament:

“ Jude 1:6 And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved
in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day. ”

Due to the disastrous results of this forbidden intermingling, many have come to view the word "fallen" as
denoting a fall from grace[citation needed], though it seems that the original meaning was simply to descend
from the heavens.

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