In this lecture His Holiness Pope Shenouda III answers the belief of Jehovah’s Witnesses that Christ is the angel Michael, explaining the origins of this claim and refuting it biblically and theologically.

Sources of the belief and who supports it

His Holiness mentions that Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Seventh-day Adventists share this idea and that they rely on interpretations of passages from Revelation and Daniel and some commentaries in missionary books.

The main theological argument against it

He affirms that the Epistle to the Hebrews shows that Christ is above the angels and that he has divine attributes not found in any angel: the fullness of glory, the creative Word of God, and that angels must worship him.

Christ is Creator not creature

He cites verses in Colossians and Philippians and explanations from Scripture to highlight that Christ created all things, and since angels are creatures it is impossible for Christ to be one of them.

Objection to the interpretation of appearances of the “angel of the Lord”

He explains that appearances of God in the Old Testament in the form of an angel do not mean that the one who appeared was a limited angel, but they are divine appearances that sometimes take the form of an angel without implying incarnation or literal equivalence to an angel.

On birth, sonship and the declaration at baptism

Pope Shenouda denies the idea that Christ became “the Son of God” at baptism, pointing out that sonship is eternal and that the Father’s declaration at baptism differs from the beginning of sonship.

His resurrection in a real body and refutation of ideas about the body’s disappearance

He answers the claim that Christ’s body perished or did not rise bodily, affirming that resurrection means the rising of the body and that Gospel passages showing the disciples touching his body after the resurrection support his bodily resurrection.

Concluding warning and teaching

He concludes by stressing that true salvation and correct theology require precise understanding of the texts, and that mixing concepts between the creature and the Creator or distorting meanings of biblical terms leads to heresy, urging a return to reading reliable theological books to answer such propositions.

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