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our humiliation, for a body like unto the Lord's body of glory. "It is sown a natural body,
it is raised a spiritual body" (I Cor. 15: 44). At this, the Apostle paused, realizing
apparently the need for explanation, so he adds `there is a natural body and there is a
spiritual body'.
"A creature without any bodily form is wholly inconceivable, since that which is
created can only work and subsist within the limits of time and space, and since
corporeality alone confines the creature to time and space. God alone is infinite, an
absolute Spirit. He alone exists above and beyond time and space." (Kurtz).
"Only combining itself with matter can mind bring itself into alliance with the various
properties of the external world; only thus can it find and be found, be known or
employed, be detained or set at large . . . . . an unembodied spirit, or sheer mind of
NOWHERE." (Fleming).
"We might as well say of a pure spirit, that it is hard, heavy, or red, or that it is a cubic
foot in dimensions, as say, that it is here and there, and that it has come and it is gone."
(Taylor).
Among the `Fathers' who ascribed corporeality to angels, are Origen, Caesarius,
Clement of Alexandria, and Tertullian.
Now if it is possible for those whose bodies are at present flesh and blood to be
translated to a place `like unto the angels', as they will be at resurrection, then it is
equally possible for angels to descend into the lower plane and possess bodies like unto
men. When we read of the visit of the angels in Gen. 18:, they are described as `men'
whose `feet' could be washed, and who could partake of a meal composed of `butter,
milk, cakes made on the hearth, and a young calf' (Gen. 18: 1-8). Two of these `men'
turned their faces towards Sodom, and are then called `two angels' in Gen. 19:
Abraham, according to Heb. 13:, entertained angels unaware.
There is no indication of unreality about this record, and this and other appearances of
angels in both the Old and the New Testament confirm the fact that they have bodies, but
bodies which in their native sphere are invisible to the eye of man, but which can become
visible when occasion so demands. We have therefore arrived at the following
conclusion.
Angels have sinned. The sin of the angels associated with Noah and with the cities of
Sodom and Gomorrha is partly to do with the forsaking of their own proper sphere, and
of leaving the body natural to their state, and of descending to the human plane with
bodies to all appearance at least like those of mankind. The fact that Peter connects the
sin of these angels with the Flood, that God `spared not' the angels, and `spared not' the
old world, establishes one link with Gen. 6: The sons of God who saw the daughters of
men could have been angels.
Demon possession reveals the fact that fallen spirits can possess and use human
bodies. We are not called upon to explain that which is outside of our province, but refer
to this acknowledged fact as one possible answer to the difficulty that the angelic
possession of human bodies creates.