Texts in Conversation
Romans 8 says that angels and other cosmic powers cannot prevent the future of the faithful, using language similar to 1 Enoch, where no angel or force can stop God’s judgment. Both reflect a common Jewish tradition that imagined a hierarchy of divine beings with limited authority.
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1 Enoch 41:9
Pseudepigrapha
8 For the sun often changes for a blessing or a curse, and the path of the moon brings light to the righteous and darkness to the sinners in the name of the Lord, who separated the light from the darkness, divided the spirits of people, and strengthened the spirits of the righteous in the name of His righteousness. 9 No angel can hinder nor any power obstruct; for He appoints a judge for them all and He judges them all before Him.
Date: 200-50 B.C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
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Romans 8:38
New Testament
36 As it is written, “For your sake we encounter death all day long; we were considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” 37 No, in all these things we have complete victory through him who loved us! 38 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor heavenly rulers, nor things that are present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Date: 55-58 C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... it appears to have been a time of flourishing for speculation about angelology and demonology in Second Temple Judaism. Books which were produced in this period, such as those contained in 1 Enoch, greatly influenced the thinking of early Christians on heavenly powers (including some of the authors of the New Testament). Furthermore, many of the Jewish eschatological traditions which influenced Pauline thought were born in the late Hellenistic period. Even later works which postdate Paul (both Jewish and Christian) may use vocabulary and concepts with which he was familiar ..."
Wright, Frederick Christian
Astral And Angelic Powers In Romans 8:38-39
(pp. 4-5) Harding School of Theology, 2020
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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