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| + | #REDIRECT[[Events after the First Vision]] |
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| − | ==Question: Is there anything wrong with early Church leaders using the term "angel" to refer to Jesus Christ?==
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| − | ===The word translated "messenger" is the Hebrew mal'ak which can also be translated as "an angel"===
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| − | What about the term "angel"? Is there anything wrong with Brigham Young or others using that term to refer to Jesus Christ? Malachi spoke of the Lord as the "messenger of the covenant whom ye delight in." (Mal.3:1) The word translated "messenger" is the Hebrew mal'ak which can also be translated as "an angel."<ref>James Strong, ''A Concise Dictionary of the Words In The Hebrew Bible With Their Renderings In the Authorized English Version'' (Nashville: Abingdon, 1890), 66.</ref> The Septugint of Isaiah 9:6, traditionally thought by Christians to refer to Christ speaks of the "messenger of great counsel." This term for Jesus was frequently used by early Christians. Eusebius stated that Christ "was the first and only begotten of God; the commander-in-chief of the spiritual and immortal host of heaven; the angel of mighty counsel; the agent of the ineffable purpose of the Father." <ref>The History of the Church Book I:2 (3), in ''Eusebius: The History of the Church From Christ to Constantine'', G.A. Williamson Translator (Penguine Books, 1986), 33-4.</ref> The Martyrdom and Ascension of Isaiah (an apocryphal work, thought to have been written before the fourth century states that when Christ descended to earth he "made himself like the angels of the air, that he was like one of them." <ref>Martyrdom And Ascension of Isaiah 10:30-31, in James H. Charlesworth, ''The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha'' 2 Vols. (Garden City, New York: Doubleday & Company, 1985), 2:174.</ref> The Epistula Apostolorum (another important early Christian work, thought to have been written by 2nd Century Christians quotes the resurrected Jesus as saying,"I became like an angel to the angels...I myself was a servant for myself, and in the form of the image of an angel; so will I do after I have gone to my Father." <ref>Epistula Apostulorum 14, in Edgar Hennecke and Wilhelm Schneemelcher, ''New Testament Apocrypha'' 2 Vols. (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1963), 1:199.</ref> At least the use of the term "angel" in Christianity does not seem unknown.
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| − | ===Joseph Smith said that after his resurrection, Jesus Christ "appeared as an angel to His disciples."===
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| − | How did Joseph Smith understand the term "angel"? One revelation calls Jesus Christ "the messenger of salvation" ({{s||D&C|93|8}}) Another states,"For in the Beginning was the Word, even the Son, who is made flesh, and sent unto us by the will of the Father." (JST John 1:16). The Father sends Jesus because he is the angel of salvation. Joseph Smith himself taught that angels of God are resurrected beings who have bodies of flesh and bone. <ref>''Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith'' 162. "An angel has flesh and bones; we see not their glory." If Jesus comes as an angel he "will adapt himself to the language and capacity" of the individual. </ref> "Jesus Christ became a ministering spirit (while his body was lying in the supulchre) to the spirits in prison...After His resurrection He appeared as an angel to His disciples." <ref>''Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith'' 191. See also D&C 129.</ref> In Mormon theology the term "angel" has a unique doctrinal significance.
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| − | Since Joseph Smith frequently taught this doctrine, is it any wonder that those who knew him best (Brigham Young, Orson Pratt, Heber C. Kimball, George A. Smith, etc.), would frequently refer to the Lord's visit to Joseph Smith as the visit of an angel (i.e. a resurrected personage of flesh and bone)?
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