How can an Angel sin?

[C.A.B.L]

I thought Angels were not created with free-will like us. How is it then that Satan could sin? All posts welcome thanks . . .

 

[ps139]

Angels were created with free-will.

Here is my theory on angels/sin/free will/the war in heaven:
This, I believe, has its roots in Aquinas:

God tested the angels by showing them a vision of the Incarnation (Christ). Some angels led by lucifer, refused to worship Christ, their pride got in the way of obedience to and love for God. Thus, they sinned, and were cast out of heaven.
Those angels that remained loyal to God are now incapable of sin, just as we will be incapable of sin in Heaven.

 

[Bizzlebin Imperatoris]

I am not sure if I'd say they're incapable of sin, else they would have lost free will. I'll have to look into that one more. To answer your other question, know one really knows how Satan sinned. Some say pride (which maybe why God refers to it more strongly than other sins) others say he fell into lust, etc. The theories continue. However, Satan did sin, and now opposes God, and thats what matters. We must resist him, and cling to God.

 

[ps139]

I am not sure if I'd say they're incapable of sin, else they would have lost free will. I'll have to look into that one more.

Think of this question:
Have the saints in Heaven lost free will?
There is no sin in Heaven, but I do not think that saints lack free-will.
Saints have free will, and they are entirely sanctified so that their free will decision is to be perfectly in line with the will of God. But the free will still exists.

 

[AngelusSax]

To answer your other question, know one really knows how Satan sinned. Some say pride (which maybe why God refers to it more strongly than other sins) others say he fell into lust, etc. The theories continue. However, Satan did sin, and now opposes God, and thats what matters. We must resist him, and cling to God.

I thought that somewhere, the Bible talked about this and it was something along the lines of "you said you would raise yourself up to be God's equal" or something. Maybe that's just coming more from Milton's Paradise Lost though, I dunno.

 

[Bizzlebin Imperatoris]

If you read some of the pseudo-Apocrypha (I make no vouches for their truthfulness) it might shed some light on it at least. If I were given a list, I think I would choose pride as Satan's sin. Pride is so very common, so hard to notice, and SO hard to get rid of! All kinds of evils stem from pride.

 

[nephilimiyr]

I thought Angels were not created with free-will like us. How is it then that Satan could sin? All posts welcome thanks . . .

Where did you ever get the belief that angels were not created with free will? If that is true than Satan and the angels that followed him were programed to rebel against God and that isn't how the Bible discribes how Satan fell.

Ezekiel 28:15-16, Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee. By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned; therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire.

These verses clearly show God had created this covering cherub as a perfect being but because of sin this cherub fell. One cannot sin without having free will. Psalm 18:30, As for God, his way is perfect: the word of the Lord is tried: he is a buckler to all those that trust in him. How can a God who is perfect create a inperfect thing?

Now in the NT we see that there were angels that sinned. 2 Peter 2:4, For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment
And also in Jude we read Jude 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.


Now it's very possible that God created some angelic beings without free will such as the seraphims and the living creatures but the Bible does make it clear that there are angelic being with free will.

 

[ydouxist]

Now in the NT we see that there were angels that sinned. 2 Peter 2:4, For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment
And also in Jude we read Jude 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.

Notice Peter specificly says,"angels that sinned."
That tells me that they have the ability to without question.

 

[nephilimiyr]

Notice Peter specificly says,"angels that sinned."
That tells me that they have the ability to without question.

Iron sharpens iron...

 

[Empyrean Squire]

Isaiah 14:12-14
12 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! 13 For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: 14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.

Pride does seem to be at the root of all sin.

Genesis 3:5
5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.

 

[shastajade]

Did you know that even when we are in heaven, we ourselves will still have a free will?! God never takes away our free will evev if we do want to be with him and die and go to heaven. The reason being, its just like if you were to go into your kitchen. Now you have knives everywhere, and you could just as well take one of those knives if you wanted and chopped your finger off. But the fact of the matter is, you enjoy your fingers much too much to do something like that. Doesn't mean you cannot if you would like, you just more than likely won't.

 

[Morning Star]

Empyrean Squire pointed out a passage in Isaiah about Lucifer, Son of the Morning, in a demonstration of Satan's fall from grace. The passage actually refers to the king of Babylon. The writer simply uses the term Lucifer, Son of the Morning, to suggest that the Babylonian king's power was a bright as the morning-star (Venus, the Light-Bearer, which by the way is what Lucifer means), and he tried to be as important as God. Of course, he could not succeed. But my point is, equating Lucifer with Satan is erroneous; how the light-bearer, granter of enlightenment, became equated with the Prince of Darkness is anyone's guess. (Another thing that would be erroneous would be trying to associate me with Satan because of my C.F. name, Morning Star. It's just a tribute to enlightenment; supposedly, when Buddha fixed his mind upon the morning star, that was when the moment of enlightenment occured.)