THE ELECT ANGELS

I charge you, in the sight of God and Christ Jesus and the elect angels, to keep these instructions without partiality, and to do nothing out of favouritism.

1 Tim. 5: 21 (NIV-UK)

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Q Who are ‘the elect angels’?

A This is an obscure reference.

In Scripture, the term ‘elect’ (chosen) usually means the Church the ‘Little Flock’ of Luke 12: 32, those selected from out of the world to become the ‘kings and priests’ who will reign with Christ over the earth in the Millennium (Rev. 5: 9, 10). But apparently not so here.

In this epistle to Timothy, the Apostle Paul adjures his protegé to discharge his solemn duties as a pastor with integrity, without fear or favour, as though in the immediate presence of the most exalted heavenly witnesses. Compare, 1 Thes. 5: 27; 1 Tim 6: 13, 14; Heb. 12: 1 (‘cloud of witnesses’).

The angels may be those particular ones chosen to exercise providential care over the Church. See, for example, Acts 12: 5-7.

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