Are all angels awaiting judgment fallen? 1 Corinthians 6:3

Question

In light of this verse

“Do you not know that we are to judge angels? How much more, then, matters pertaining to this life!” ‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭6:3‬ ‭

And taking into account that aggelos is a messenger, therefore a vocation description rather than a description of their being and attributes. Directing attention to their being

“Are they not all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation?” ‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭1:14‬ ‭

Is it therefore possible that not all heavenly hosts that have erred and await judgment are fallen? Is the passage in Corinthians an indication that they are not fallen? Or though fallen they are still angels? But at a minimum, either or, are under God’s jurisdiction?

For what shall we say of this example

“Then a spirit came forward and stood before the Lord, saying, 'I will entice him.' And the Lord said to him, 'By what means?' And he said, 'I will go out, and will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.' And he said, 'You are to entice him, and you shall succeed; go out and do so.'” ‭‭1 Kings‬ ‭22:21-22

Was this an “angel” or a fallen one?

We know satan has been judged and possibly all the rebelling sons of God as per Deu 32:8DDS and Psa82

“The Lord has broken the staff of the wicked, the scepter of rulers, that struck the peoples in wrath with unceasing blows, that ruled the nations in anger with unrelenting persecution.” ‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭14:5-6‬ ‭

This is judgment. And we can confirm that satan has been judged

“concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world IS judged.” ‭‭John‬ ‭16:11‬ ‭

Therefore unless they await further judgment they are excluded from the Corinthians passage.

Are therefore some angels that await judgment not also fallen? Or are they one and the same, namely, fallen but still angels?

Answer 1

The unfallen angels, if judged at all, must be judged for their misdeeds, and since we have and can have 0 knowledge about angelic peccadilloes, then we’d rather relegate this judgment completely to Christ who created those angels and breathe free with no care about this matter.

Still, it is unfathomably weird to imagine how the Archangel Michael gets drunk and forgets to fulfill Christ’s command, and then comes to Him with a sheepish guilty smile for asking a forgiveness, or how a cherub gets in a heated altercation against a seraph on the issue of who is greater Ronaldo or Mes… oh, sorry, St Patrick or St Benedict, and they punch each other and have few of their six wings broken, their feathers scattered all around the Heaven, for which they get a temporary suspension from their heavenly duties. Such stories would embellish Mt Olympus but hardly the Christian Heavens.

Answer 2

Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unjust, and not before the saints?
-- 1 Corinthians 6:1 (KJV)

Paul's concern is about the Corinthians' lack of willingness to "resolve disputes" in-house. The judgment he is referring to has nothing to do with condemnation and "eternal judgment".

And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
-- Matthew 19:28 (KJV)

It seems there will still be a need for "dispute resolution" in the regeneration. The difference, however, between that world and this is that the judges will be moved by no motive other than serving the LORD, so their judgments will be without partiality and trustworthy.

Such a system the church should be emulating in this world. You know:

Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
-- Matthew 6:10 (KJV)

Additional comments

³⁴And Jesus answering said unto them, The children of this world marry, and are given in marriage: ³⁵But they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage: ³⁶Neither can they die any more: for they are equal unto the angels; and are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection.
-- Luke 20:34-36 (KJV)

According to Jesus, the citizens of the next world will be equal to the angels, so these are they for whom judges and judgment will be necessary in order to "resolve disputes" in that world.

Answer 3

Revelation described a scene in chapter 12, a war between the elect angels and fallen angels;

7 Then war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back.

8 But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven.

9 The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.

So there are elect angels and fallen angels, the fallen angels were hurled to the earth. So when one was bewildered by fallen angel, both of them will be judged;

And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever. (Revelation 20:10)

In 1 King 22, at the request of King of Judah Jehoshaphat, King Ahab sent an official to prophet Micaiah, to inquire a prophesy from the Lord. Ahab did not like Micaiah for Micaiah always prophesied the opposite to his favorite. The official warned Micaiah to give good words. Micaiah faked to comply, but immediately rebuked by King Ahab, who knew he faked. Then Micaiah told the story of the plot of a deceiving spirit, in 1 King 22:19-23.

Question is, Micaiah faked once, did he faked this story too? As he knew Ahab already made up his mind, it didn't matter whatever he said, so why not made up a sarcastic story to tease him?

Angels were created beings, like us the human, we all judged according to our deeds in the final judgement. There was a throne in heaven (Rev 4:2), surround the throne were twenty-four other thrones and seated on them were twenty-four elders (Rev 4:4). They were dressed in white and had crowns of gold on their heads, symbolised the victorious human.

So we know, the victorious one will present on the judgement day, to witness the judgement. The "we" in 1 Cor 6:3 referred to the victorious Christian, as Jesus said;

5 The one who is victorious will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out the name of that person from the book of life, but will acknowledge that name before my Father and his angels. (Revelation 3:5 NIV)

21 To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I was victorious and sat down with my Father on his throne. (Revelation 3:21 NIV)

Answer 4

The questions is based upon a false premise that there are fallen heavenly messengers / angels. The false belief of "fallen angles" came about during the intertestamental period under pressure brought by the Selucid and Greek rulers that wanted Jerusalem and Judea to conform to pagan Greek social and religious practices.

There are no heavenly messengers / angels that have sinned, or fallen out of heaven. That is to presume that God's heavenly messengers were subject to the Law of Moses handed down at Sinai. It is also to presume that the heavenly messengers do not know and understand the power of our heavenly Father whom they see, and face every day! The heavenly messengers do the will of our Father in heaven (Psa. 103:20).

(See "Testing The Spirits Part IVa - Slandering Angels here and Part IVb here as well as the posts by Stan Lindsey cited therein.)

Further, the question also presumes, as is commonly taught, that the "prince of this world" (John 16:11), or the "god of this world" (2 Cor. 4:4) referred to the "devil" or "Satan". That false belief also comes from pagan theology of the Persian Zoroastrian belief in a two-god religion.

First audience perspective will reveal that there was a "god" of their world - the Roman empire, the 4th beast kingdom of Daniel - that ruled over their world - the Caesar who called himself a son of "god". That particular Caesar who ruled the Roman empire during the time that both the gospel of John and 2. Corinthians were written was Nero.

The phrase "the god of this world" never referred to the devil, or Satan, as our Father in heaven has never abdicated His rule and authority over this earth (Ex. 19:5; 1 Chron. 29:12; Psa. 47:2; 103:19; Psa. 22:27-28; etc.) See the post "The God of This Age..." ShreddingTheVeil.)

And further, the question assumes that the pronoun "we" in 1 Cor. 6:3 includes the audience. Who does "we" refer to but the apostles of whom Paul is one of the ministrants to the assemblies of Christ, the ecclesia.

The context of 1 Cor. 6 was of the brethren suing each other before unjust courts of unbelievers. Paul was telling them that they have discernment to judge within the assembly, and that the ultimate authority over them were the apostles to whom Christ had given the authority as ministrants to the assemblies. The Apostles would be judging "messengers / angels" of the gospel of Christ, those messengers who might be trying to alter or change the gospel message (1 Gal. 1:7-10).

(See also the post at my blog "The First Audience Perspective of Romans 13" here.)

Therefor, as there are no fallen angels, there are no heavenly messengers / angels awaiting judgment. And, as the "god of this world" was Caesar Nero who had already been judged by our heavenly Father, it does not apply to 1 Cor. 6. And, the judgment of the things of this life does not refer to judgment of things in heaven, the next life.

The promise of reigning with Christ in heaven does not imply that we will take on His role of judgment in heaven. All judgment is left to Christ (John 5:22, 27; 8:16; Rom. 2:16; 2 Tim. 4:1). No where do the scriptures say that we will judge in place of Him or for Him.

The answer to the question is that there are no heavenly messengers waiting for judgment. All messengers subject to judgment are earthly men who are unbelievers, or who have fallen away from the gospel of Christ.