15. They said to her, “You’re
crazy!” But she insisted that it was so, and they kept saying, “It must be his
angel.” Many of those present are incredulous and react by invoking a
spirit to explain what Rhoda has heard. By “his angel” is meant Peter’s
guardian angel. The expression preserves the ancient popular belief in guardian
angels, considered as the double of the person guarded (cf. Ps 91:11; Matt
18:10; Heb 1:14; EDNT, 1.14; Str-B,
2.707–8). Compare Herm. Vis. 5.7. See
J. H. Moulton, “ ‘It Is His Angel,’ ” JTS 3 (1901–2): 514–27. (Joseph A. Fitzmyer, The Acts of the
Apostles: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary [AYB 31; New
Haven: Yale University Press, 2008], 489)
12:15–16 This response reflects the Jewish belief
that each person has a guardian angel as his or her spiritual counterpart. It
was believed that one’s angel often appeared immediately after the person’s
death, and that idea may lurk behind the response to Rhoda. “You’ve seen his
ghost,” we would say. Such a reply is remarkable coming from a group that had
been totally occupied in prayer for Peter’s deliverance. They found it easier
to believe that Peter had died and gone to heaven than that their prayers had been
answered. In any event, who could trust a hysterical servant girl? “You’re
crazy,” they said. Some things are just too good to be true (cf. Luke 24:11).
But it was true, and Peter’s persistent knocking finally got a response (v.
16). (John B. Polhill, Acts [The New American Commentary 26;
Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1992], 282)
Rhoda’s strong affirmation brought the response that if anything had
given her the impression that Peter was there it must have been his angel. ‘Ita
colligebant ex similitudine vocis’ (Bengel); she had not seen him but only
recognized his voice (v. 14). Judaism believed in protecting and guiding
angels, and these were sometimes thought to resemble the human beings they
protected. See StrB 1:781–783; 2:707; Bousset, (RJ 324); also Gen. 48:16; Tobit 5:4–6, 21; Mt. 18:10; Hermas, Vision 5:7 (with Dibelius’s long note in
HNT Ergänzungsband 494–496). The
neatest illustration, though it is not early, is in GenR 78 (50a): R. Ḥama ben Ḥanina
said, It was Esau’s angelic prince with whom Jacob struggled: to this Gen.
33:10 refers, I have seen thy face as the appearance of the face of the angel;
as the angel’s face was, so is thy face. According to D, the opinion was
expressed less confidently; for … ἔλεγον· ὁ ἄγγελος …, D syp have … ἔλεγον πρὸς αὐτήν, τυχὸν ὁ ἄγγελος … On guardian angels, see Barth (CD 3:3:518). (C. K. Barrett, A
Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles [International
Critical Commentary; Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 2004], 585)
Shepherd of Hermas,
Vision 5:7:
If you hear and keep them, and walk in them, and fulfill them in a
pure heart, you will receive from the Lord what He promised you. But if you
hear them and do not repent, or even add to your sins, you will receive the
contrary from the Lord. All this the shepherd, the angel of repentance,
commanded me to write as follows. (The Apostolic Fathers
[trans. . Francis X. Glimm, Joseph M.-F. Marique, and Gerald G. Walsh;
The Fathers of the Church 1; Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America
Press, 1947], 260)
P. 101 of
Hermeneia commentary:
The final sentence identifies the shepherd as the “angel of
conversion,” that is, the one in charge of the primary import of that message,
and establishes further links with what is to follow. (Carolyn Osiek, The
Shepherd of Hermas [Hermeneia—a Critical and Historical Commentary on the
Bible; Minneapolis, Minn.: Fortress Press, 1999], 101)
Roman Catholic
apologist Robert Sungenis has a useful florilegium on “guardian angels”:
Patristics and Medievals:
Clement of Rome:
“For every nation has an angel, to whom God has committed the government of
that nation; and when one of these appears, although he be thought and called
God by those over whom he presides, yet, being asked, he does not give such
testimony to himself. For the Most High God, who alone holds the power of all
things, has divided all the nations of the earth into seventy two parts, and
over these He hath appointed angels as princes. But to the one among the
archangels who is greatest, was committed the government of those who, before
all others, received the worship and knowledge of the Most High God” (Guardian
Angels, Bk 2, ch 42); Clement of Alexandria: “For regiments of angels
are distributed over nations and cities; and perhaps some even are assigned to
particular individuals” (Stromaties 6, 17, 157, 4); Basil: “All the
angels, having but one appellation, have likewise among themselves the same
nature, even though some of them are set over nations, while others of them are
guardians to each of the faithful” (Against Eunomius, 3, 1); Ambrose:
“We should pray to the angels, who are given to us as guardians” (De Viduis,
9); “The number has increased, where the fruit has increased, for the more holy
each is, the more is he guarded. So Elisha the prophet showed the hosts of
angels who were present to guard him; so Joshua the son of Nun recognized the
Captain of the heavenly host. They, then, who are able also to fight for us are
able to guard the fruit that is in us. And for you, holy virgins, there is a
special guardianship, for you who with unspotted chastity keep the couch of the
Lord holy. And no wonder if the angels fight for you who war with the mode of
life of angels. Virginal chastity merits their guardianship whose life it
attains to” (Concerning Virgins, Bk 1, Ch 9); Gregory of Nyssa: “There
is a certain opinion, having credence from its having been handed down from the
Fathers...a certain angel...was appointed by Him to assist in the life of each
man...” (Hom. on Ecclesiastes, 2); Gregory Thuamaturgos: “...and if I
may seek to discourse of aught beyond this, and, in particular, of any of those
beings who are not seen, but yet are more godlike, and who have a special care
for men, it shall be addressed to that being who, by some momentous decision,
had me allotted to him froth my boyhood to rule, and rear, and train; I mean
that holy angel of God who fed me from my youth, as says the saint dear to God,
meaning thereby his own peculiar one. Though he, indeed, as being himself
illustrious, did in these terms designate some angel exalted enough to befit
his own dignity” (The Oration, Arg. 4); Jerome: “...how great the dignity of
the soul, since each one has from birth an angel commissioned to guard it”
(Commentary on Matthew, 3, 18, 10); “Behold your house is left unto you
desolate. The veil of the temple has been rent; an army has encompassed
Jerusalem, it has been stained by the blood of the Lord. Now, therefore, its
guardian angels have forsaken it and the grace of Christ has been withdrawn.
Josephus, himself a Jewish writer, asserts that at the Lord’s crucifixion there
broke from the temple voices of heavenly powers, saying: ‘Let us depart hence’”
(Letters, 46); “...I call Jesus and his saints, yes and the particular angel
who was the guardian and the companion of this admirable woman...” (Letters,
108); Methodius: “Whence, also, we have received from the inspired
writings, that those who are begotten, even though it be in adultery, are
committed to guardian angels” (The Virgins, Dis. 2, Ch 6); Origen: “For
if we do not take heed, perhaps we also shall receive the bill of divorcement,
and either be bereft of our guardian, or go to another man. But I consider that
it is not of good omen to receive, as it were, the marriage of an angel with
our own soul” (On Matthew, Bk 14, 21); Hilary: “There are, as Raphael
told Tobias, angels assisting before the majesty of God, and carrying to God
the prayers of supplicants” (Psalms 130 (129), 7); Theodotus: “Scripture
says that infants which are exposed are delivered to a guardian angel, and that
by him they are trained and reared” (Prophetic Scriptures, 41); “For instance,
Peter says in the Apocalypse, that abortive infants shall share the better
fate; that these are committed to a guardian angel, so that, on receiving
knowledge, they may obtain the better abode, having had the same experiences
which they would have had had they been in the body” (Ibid, 48); Theodoret:
“...since Christ the Master said that each man has been committed to the charge
of one of the angels” (Questions on Octateuch, Gn 1); “We are taught that each
one of us is entrusted to the care of an individual angel to guard and protect
us, and to deliver us from the snares of evil demons” (Interpretation of Daniel
10:13); Augustine: “What is properly divine worship, which the Greeks
call latria, and for which there is no word in Latin, both in doctrine and in
practice, we give only to God. To this worship belongs the offering of
sacrifices; as we see in the word idolatry, which means the giving of this
worship to idols. Accordingly we never offer, or require any one to offer,
sacrifice to a martyr, or to a holy soul, or to any angel” (Against Faustus,
20, 21); Thomas Aquinas: “...the authority of Jerome quoted above, for
he says that ‘each soul has an angel appointed to guard it.’ I answer that, man
while in this state of life, is, as it were, on a road by which he should
journey towards heaven. On this road man is threatened by many dangers both
from within and from without, according to Psalm 150:4 ‘In this way wherein I
walked, they have hidden a snare for me.’ And therefore as guardians are
appointed for men who have to pass by an unsafe road, so an angel guardian is assigned
to each man as long as he is a wayfarer. When, however, he arrives at the end
of life he no longer has a guardian angel; but in the kingdom he will have an
angel to reign with him, in hell a demon to punish him.” Reply 3: “Just as the
foreknown, the infidels, and even Antichrist, are not deprived of the interior
help of natural reason; so neither are they deprived of that exterior help
granted by God to the whole human race – namely the guardianship of the angels.
And although the help which they receive therefrom does not result in their
deserving eternal life by good works, it does nevertheless conduce to their
being protected from certain evils which would hurt both themselves and others.
For even the demons are held off by the good angels, lest they hurt as much as
they would. In like manner Antichrist will not do as much harm as he would
wish” (Summa Theologica, I, Q. 113, A. 5); “On the contrary, Jerome says that
‘each soul has an angel appointed to guard it from its birth.’ I answer that,
as Origen observes (Matthew, Tractatus 5) there are two opinions on this
matter. For some have held that the angel guardian is appointed at the time of
baptism, others, that he is appointed at the time of birth. The latter opinion
Jerome approves, and with reason. For those benefits which are conferred by God
on man as a Christian, begin with his baptism; such as receiving the Eucharist,
and the like. But those which are conferred by God on man as a rational being,
are bestowed on him at his birth, for then it is that he receives that nature.
Among the latter benefits we must count the guardianship of angels, as we have
said above. Wherefore from the very moment of his birth man has an angel
guardian appointed to him.” Reply 1: “Angels are sent to minister, and that
efficaciously indeed, for those who shall receive the inheritance of salvation,
if we consider the ultimate effect of their guardianship, which is the
realizing of that inheritance. But for all that, the angelic ministrations are
not withdrawn for others although they are not so efficacious as to bring them
to salvation: efficacious, nevertheless, they are, inasmuch as they ward off
many evils.” Reply 2: “Guardianship is ordained to enlightenment by
instruction, as to its ultimate and principal effect. Nevertheless it has many
other effects consistent with childhood; for instance to ward off the demons,
and to prevent both bodily and spiritual harm;” [Regarding the Guardian Angel’s
Influence]: “I answer that, the senses may be changed in a twofold manner; from
without, as when affected by the sensible object: and from within, for we see
that the senses are changed when the spirits and humors are disturbed; as for
example, a sick man’s tongue, charged with choleric humor, tastes everything as
bitter, and the like with the other senses. Now an angel, by his natural power,
can work a change in the senses both ways. For an angel can offer the senses a
sensible object from without, formed by nature or by the angel himself, as when
he assumes a body, as we have said above [Q. 51, A. 2]. Likewise he can move
the spirits and humors from within, as above remarked, whereby the senses are
changed in various ways’ (Ibid., Q 111, A 4); “I answer that, both a good and a
bad angel by their own natural power can move the human imagination. This may
be explained as follows. For it was said above [Q. 110, A. 3], that corporeal
nature obeys the angel as regards local movement, so that whatever can be
caused by the local movement of bodies is subject to the natural power of the
angels” (Ibid., Q. 111, A. 3); “Therefore an angel does not move the will
sufficiently, either as the object or as showing the object. But he inclines
the will as something lovable, and as manifesting some created good ordered to
God’s goodness. And thus he can incline the will to the love of the creature or
of God, by way of persuasion” (Ibid., Q. 106, A. 2); Pseudo-Matthew
(apocryphal): “And when Joachim was turning over in his mind whether he should
go back or not, it happened that he was overpowered by a deep sleep; and,
behold, the angel who had already appeared to him when awake, appeared to him
in his sleep, saying: I am the angel appointed by God as thy guardian”(Gospel,
3); Joseph the Carpenter (apocryphal): “Now therefore, O Lord and my
God, let Thy holy angel be present with his help to my soul and body, until
they shall be dissevered from each other. And let not the face of the angel,
appointed my guardian from the day of my birth, be turned away from me; but may
he be the companion of my journey even until he bring me to Thee” (History,
13).
Popes, Councils and Catechisms:
Clement X:
raised the Feast of the Guardian Angels to the rank of obligatory double for
the whole Church, to be kept on October 2; Leo XIII: April 5, 1883, raised the
Feast of the Guardian Angels to double major; Pius XII: “Some also question
whether angels are personal beings, and whether matter and spirit differ
essentially....These and like errors, it is clear, have crept in among certain
of Our sons who are deceived by imprudent zeal for souls or by false science”
(Humani Generis, 26, 28); Vatican Council I: “God...immediately from the
beginning of time fashioned each creature out of nothing, spiritual and
corporal, namely angelic and mundane; and then the human creation, common as it
were, composed of both spirit and body (Ch 1); Catechism: “Moreover, in
the ‘Cherubic Hymn’ of the Byzantine Liturgy, she celebrates the memory of
certain angels more particularly (St. Michael, St. Gabriel, St. Raphael, and
the guardian angels)” (¶ 335); “‘Beside each believer stands an angel as
protector and shepherd leading him to life.’ Already here on earth the
Christian life shares by faith in the blessed company of angels and men united
in God” (¶ 336). (Robert A. Sungenis, The Gospel According to St. Matthew:
Exegetical Commentary [2d ed.; State Line, Pa.: Catholic Apologetics
International Publishing, Inc., 2019], 275-79)
