Do angels have material bodies?

[GoldenKingGaze]

Do angels have material bodies? Could the angels in Sodom have been raped? Do angels always have a winged form? How do they travel through space?

 

[David Lamb]

Do angels have material bodies? Could the angels in Sodom have been raped? Do angels always have a winged form? How do they travel through space?

I believe that angels are spiritual beings:

“And of the angels He says: "Who makes His angels spirits And His ministers a flame of fire."” (Heb 1:7 NKJV)

I believe that God causes them sometimes to appear in bodily form, like the three appearing to Abraham. Those bodies are not equipped with wings. How would Abraham have "entertained angels unawares" if they had two enormous wings on their backs? And why would the angels in Jacob's dream needed a ladder? The bible does talk of Cherubim and Seraphim having wings, but not angels generally.

 

[IoanC]

Their essence is known only to God who created them. Angels are sometimes called "bodiless powers." Compared to humans and our physical universe they are non-physical/immaterial. When compared to God who alone is purely Immaterial, the angels do have some materiality or substance.

They don't have a gender, nor wings nor anything resembling human beings and the physical universe. If they appear as (larger, fantastical) humans, it is because human beings can relate easier to them. This sort of "human" appearance also shows that angels are similar to humans because both categories are created, God alone being Uncreated.

 

[Servus]

Do angels have material bodies? Could the angels in Sodom have been raped? Do angels always have a winged form? How do they travel through space?

There are several forms of angels. Genesis 32 describes Jacob physically wrestling with an angel as though the angel were a man. Jacob was putting up such a good fight, the angel finally had to dislocate his hip.