Do Angels have free will?

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dcolyar
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It has always been my understanding that Angels are faithfully about Gods will, so what made Lucifer and 1/3 of the Angels fall if it wasn't a willful decision to go against Gods prefect plan?

zoia churilov
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On angels

Angels were created by God and granted free will.  When Lucifer was puffed up with pride and began saying 'I' for five consecutive times, the last time being when he said "I will be like the Most High God",  immediately God plunged him from his position. Lucifer became Satan and drew 1/3 of the angels down with him. They are now demonic spirits, though they believe in God, they don't obey His commandments. Their fall was due to PRIDE.

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Zoia Churilov

Nick
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Angels' Rebellion

Hey Dave! Good to see you on this post. That's a good question about angels. Angels were created with free will just like humanity was. We see this biblically from the fact that there are good angels and bad angels (demons), yet God created all things good. (Gen. 1 and 2) So the only way to account for bad angels (demons) is that they were formerly good angels that free chose to reject God and His plan. ANGEL'S GONE WILD! So I think your right they willfully choose to reject God. It seems that the source of it all was pride, but not necessarily in the angels, but more so in a particular angel, Lucifer or Satan. Satan, filled with pride, deceived and led 1/3 of the other angels astray. They could of just as easily chose God over Satan, but they didn't. They chose the deception.
But why? Why would God allow this to happen in heaven, which obviously spilt onto the earth and affected humanity and everything else as well? I see somewhat similar events taking place in heaven and on earth as it pertains to the free agents that God had created, namely angels and humans. First, in heaven God allowed a sort of test for the angels to pass concerning their desire to freely love God. (Not hippie free love!) This came in the form of Satan being filled with pride and "drawing away" a third of the angels to follow him. That 1/3 failed the test permanently without recourse. ( NO DO OVERS!) To test how free agents will choose, it seems that at least two real options have to be presented to them. I this case 2/3 freely chose God and 1/3 freely rejected God.
 
On earth, with the creation of humanity we see a similar test. Up until the temptation, Adam and Eve, being free agents, had not yet been tested with at least two options to choose from. That is what  Satan provided and God allowed to happen in order to test that Adam and Eve would freely choose God and not under compulsion. They failed. And sin entered the world insuring that all humanity had to make a choice to freely accept God and His plan or freely reject it. (This is actually an ingenious plan by God, though some don't see it that way)
 
Last question that comes to mind. If humanity gets a "do over" to freely accept the gift of salvation through Jesus Christ, why don't the angels who freely rejected God get an opportunity to make a better choice.
 
A couple of reasons:   1.) I think for the most part it has to do with a knowledge issue and a knowing (relationally) issue. Consider Jesus words in Luke 12.42-49. This a parable about wicked rejection and judgment. The turning point of this parable is verse 48: "To whom much is given; much is required." Angels by nature were made to dwell in the heavenly presence of the Creator. They had a different access to God and knowledge about God than did humanity on earth. so when the 1/3 angels rejected God, they did so with more knowledge and within a proximity closer to God than humanity. So if the "to whom much is given much is required" rule applies, it would seem that at least for the angels "I didn't know any better" was not a viable excuse. They knew better than all of the rest of creation when they made their choice. So in summary, when they rejected God, they did so with a full knowledge of who He is (or at least a fuller knowledge of who He is). Therefore, they had sealed their fate with their rejection for eternity.
 
Not so with humanity. Acts 17.27 pictures humanity with their hands outstreched groping around for God as if in the dark! 1 Cor. 13.12 pictures us Christians as looking into a mirror dimly as it concerns spiritual matters, and only knowing in part. So because humanity had less of an understanding of God and his plan they were given a third option: accept God's free gift of salvation through Jesus Christ.
 
Interestingly, when Jesus came on the scene in the flesh, He fully disclosed who God is to humanity. (John1.14,18) Jesus says if you have seen me, you have seen God (The Father). (John 14.9) And Paul makes the radical statement that the fullness of the Godhead dwells in Jesus Christ bodily. (Col. 1.15, 2.9) So now humanity has no excuse before God. God has given the free gift of a new life, forgiveness of sins, and eternal life. Once this is rejected there is nothing left for that person but judgment. (Heb. 10.26-31)
 
2.)Jesus came clothed in humanity:fully God and fully human. He did not come as a God/angel. If it were possible to redeem angels, I believe God would. I just don't think it is possible given the evidence in point one. God is simply just in giving humanity an option through Jesus and not angels.
 
Thanks Dave, I hope this helps. Keep those good questions coming! 

edprislac
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fallen angels

2Peter2:4 states God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to kept until the judgement.Jude1:6  also says the same.  My question is what makes their or should I say some of the angels to be locked up and not all  of  them, especially satan.  What makes them so?  I would think  his sin would be greater than theirs. We are no doubt tempted by demonic forces, so did  the one third angelic host that rebelled did they all get chained, or does scripture imply that there was something worse they did to be held in chains until the great judgement?