4. Number of angels and differences among them.
The number of angels is very great; Dan. 7:10: "A thousand times thousands served him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him "; Luke 2:13: πλήϑος στρατιάς ουρανίου). That we are not able to give the exact number of angels, the Scripture itself says when it addresses "myriads" of angels (Heb. 12:22) and Dan. 7:10 uses the expression a thousand times a thousand and ten thousand times ten thousand. Keil:1516) "expression for the uncountable multitude of angels that surround God ministering; cf. Deut. 33:2; Ps. 68:18."
That there are orders among the angels is evident from the different names that are attached to them in Scripture. In the Scriptures Cherubim (Gen. 3:24; Ps. 80:2), Seraphim (Ies 6:2), ϑρόνοι, κυριότητες, (Col. 1:16), άρχάγγελος 1 Thess. 4:16) are mentioned. That there is also superordination and subordination among the evil angels is evident from Matt. 25:41: ό διάβολος και οϊ άγγελοι αύτοϋ. Luke 11:15. 18-19: Βεελζεβουλ ό άρχων των δαιμόνιων. But we cannot determine the number of orders and their exact difference, because the indications of Scripture are not sufficient for this purpose. Luther and dogmatists reject the nine
1515) Quenstedt 1, 134: Tribuitur angelis πον seu ubi, in quo angelus est definitive. Sunt enim angeli in certo spatio per designationem seu definitive, h. e., eorum substantialis, non virtualis praesentia aliquo spatio definitur, ut ibi, non in aliis spatiis, nedum ubique sint. [Google] They can also misplace their πον. Baier-Walther II, 117: Angelos non dicimus esse ubique, sed in certo quodam et definito πον, quod vocant, ita ut etiam ab uno ubi ad alterum sese movere possint et res materiales aliorsum movere. Vid. Matt. 8:32, ubi daemones ex homine obsesso, in quo aliquamdiu fuerant, eiecti et in gregem porcorum demigrantes, totum hunc gregem praecipitem egerunt in mare. [Google]
1516) In the commentary on this passage.
610 ><w:t xml:space="preserve"> Angels. [English ed. 504-505]
orders of angels or choirs with their subdivisions (terniones) as uncertain..1517) It is also rightly pointed out that the order of the angels is changed, as can be seen in a comparison of Col. 1:16 and Eph. 1:21.