Why Can’t Fallen Angels Repent?

            The notion that fallen angels cannot repent is, arguably, a common position held by many Christians. Since the Bible does not offer an explicit teaching on this theme, some Christians believe that fallen angels can repent. Since this is not an essential theme to uphold Historic Christianity, there is adequate scope for contradictory opinions.

            Understanding this theme will enable us to understand God’s expectation of man and the most appropriate response of man towards God.

Fallen Angels Cannot Repent

            Gotquestions.org states that fallen angels cannot repent:¹

First, Satan (Lucifer) was one of the highest angels, perhaps the highest (Ezekiel 28:14). Lucifer—and all the angels—were continually in God’s presence and had knowledge of the glory of God. Therefore, they had no excuse for rebelling against God and turning away from Him. They were not tempted. Lucifer and the other angels rebelling against God despite what they knew was the utmost evil…Second, God did not provide a plan of redemption for the angels as He did for mankind…Finally, the Bible gives us no reason to believe that angels would repent even if God gave them the chance (1 Peter 5:8). The fallen angels seem completely devoted to opposing God and attacking God's people. The Bible says that the severity of God’s judgment varies according to how much knowledge a person possesses (Luke 12:48). The fallen angels, then, with the great knowledge they possessed, are greatly deserving of God’s wrath.

            Although the reasons cited are highly persuasive, the question still remains as to why the fallen angels cannot repent.

The Intriguing Inability to Repent (The Freewill Conundrum)

            Angels were created by God as good beings. Hence the angels that rebelled against God should have had the freedom or freewill that caused them to rebel. This is affirmed by Gotquestions.org, “Satan was an angel who was cast out of heaven along with many other angels who decided to follow him and chose to sin (2 Peter 2:4). In terms of free will, the Bible reveals this was an exercise of their ability to choose (Jude 1:6).”²

            Hence, it is reasonable to believe that the angels had freewill. They would not have rebelled against God, in the first place, had they not possessed freewill. Moreover, God could not have created them as evil beings, since evil does not proceed from God.

            Since these fallen angels possess freewill, shouldn’t they be able to repent (they know God since the time of their creation, hence they have the opportunity to observe HIS goodness.)? If they cannot repent, does it mean that they have lost their freedom entirely or just the freewill to repent?

            If we believe that fallen angels cannot repent, then we need to resolve the freewill mystery. If fallen angels cannot repent, then it is quite plausible that they were deprived of their freewill after their fall. On the other hand, if their freewill is intact, why are they unable to exercise their freewill to repent?

            There could be another perspective to resolving this conundrum.

            When a pastor was exorcising a demon from a young girl, the demon apparently told him that they are under the tight control of Satan. Here’s an excerpt from the conversation between that pastor and the demon:³

Demon: I hate you. You get to go to heaven. I just hate you people. I believed Satan. He told us that we were gonna be greater. Ohh its so late…

Pastor: What happened when you were cast out of heaven?

Demon: Mmmmm….Jesus…HE just…I don’t know…I don’t know…

Pastor: You want to go back to heaven, don’t you?

Demon: Yes, if only I had a chance…if only I had a chance I’ll go back…

Pastor: God might have mercy on you. If you stop doing the things you are doing and making people sin.

Demon: I can’t do that. I can’t do that. Satan won’t let me. I can’t stop people from doing bad things; that’s what I am supposed to do. He makes me do it.

            From this conversation, an inference that the demons cannot repent since they are under Satan’s control is quite plausible. But to formulate a doctrine from a fallible source cannot be bulletproof, for the conversation between the pastor and the demon may have been fictitious.

            Gotquestions.org states that the direct knowledge of God may be the cause for the inability of the fallen angels to repent (by virtue of being in God’s presence), “Lucifer—and all the angels—were continually in God’s presence and had knowledge of the glory of God. Therefore, they had no excuse for rebelling against God and turning away from Him. They were not tempted. Lucifer and the other angels rebelling against God despite what they knew was the utmost evil.”⁴

            So the key to the demons’ inability to repent, it seems, is their direct knowledge of God. This is a conjecture, if not explicitly validated by the Bible. 

             If the Bible teaches about man’s inability to repent (a man who was a believer), then as an extension of that teaching, the inability of the demons to repent can be comprehended or justified.

            The Bible teaches that a man who has truly experienced God cannot be brought back to repentance if he/she rejects God, “For it is impossible to restore again to repentance those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, if they then commit apostasy, since they crucify the Son of God on their own account and hold him up to contempt.” (Hebrews 6:4-6, RSV, Emphasis Mine). Such a person, after his rejection of God, still possesses freewill. Although this freewill precludes the ability to repent.

            Since the Bible teaches that a man, who has truly experienced God, cannot repent if he rejects HIM, fallen angels who have rejected God cannot repent, for they rejected HIM while they were in HIS presence.

            The inability of the fallen angels to repent need not necessarily be construed as an unforgivable sin committed by the fallen angels. The doctrine of the unforgivable sin presupposes the ability to repent, for the process of forgiveness cannot be initiated without repentance.

            Therefore, the teaching that repentance is impossible for those who reject God after having truly experienced HIM provides clarity to the inability of the fallen angels to repent even while possessing freewill. (The metaphysics of this freewill that precludes the ability to repent would be an intriguing theme to discuss, but that’s for another day.)

God’s Expectation & Man’s Most Appropriate Response

            What does this theme (the inability of fallen angels to repent) teach us?

            God expects HIS people to love HIM and love HIM more. God has done everything for us to love HIM and not reject HIM. Our love for God would be strengthened if we [strive to] remain in HIS presence always.

            The world and its ruler – Satan, will do everything possible to distract us from loving God. If we consciously or unconsciously allow that distraction to gain strength in our Christian life, then our relationship with God would be on shaky ground.

            Therefore, our most appropriate response is to remain with God; love, obey and trust HIM at all times – be it in moments of joy or pain, “Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you believe in him, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” (Romans 15:13, NET).

Endnotes:

¹https://www.gotquestions.org/angels-repent.html (last accessed on 10^th August 2017)

²https://www.gotquestions.org/angels-free-will.html (last accessed on 10^th August 2017)

³http://www.deonvsearth.com/i-wish-i-could-go-back-to-heaven-demon-speaks-through-16yr-old-girl-video/ (last accessed on 10^th August 2017)

⁴https://www.gotquestions.org/angels-repent.html (last accessed on 10^th August 2017)

Photo credit: Guillaume DELEBARRE (off for a while) via Foter.com / CC BY-NC-ND

Recognizing Satan In Our Relationships

            Satan attacks unexpectedly to destroy our relationship with God. He attacks when we are most vulnerable. His most potent assaults are through our close associates.

            Unless we recognize the satanic attack, we cannot defeat Satan. But how do we recognize Satan in our lives, especially in our relationships?

            Satan’s invisibility challenges our recognition of him. His destructive work through people around us - those whom we love and cherish - intensifies the problem to an unimaginable extent. Therefore, recognizing Satan is imperative insofar as the damage needs to be controlled and our relationship promptly and effectively restored with the Lord and those employed by Satan to attack us.

            A Christian’s life involves two births; the physical birth and the spiritual rebirth (the born-again experience). The physical birth sans the spiritual rebirth is not of eternal worth. A Christian is a new creation when he or she is born again.

            The spiritual rebirth in a Christian’s life entails a swift and/or a gradual shift in the character of a Christian so to progressively resemble the Lord Jesus in both the public and the private spheres of life. The born-again Christian strives spiritually insofar as to shed his/her former way of life. As years pass by, the born-again Christian gradually departs from the sins that plagued him before he was born-again. (A Christian cannot be perfect a.k.a. sinless in this time and age.)

            Transition from the former way of life would be quite arduous for some Christians. Much effort would be invested into this spiritual transition. Every moral victory earned is an outcome of God’s grace and the effort of this spiritually tenacious Christian.

            This is precisely where Satan enters to crucify the Christian’s spirituality.

            One method of satanic assault upon the spiritually tenacious Christians is by motivating the gullible people around them - parents, spouse, siblings, pastor, church leaders and friends - to shamefully recall their former ways of life, which is the life that they so arduously struggled to discard. This assault usually occurs during controversial situations.

            Consider these assaults:

            “You were a liar, how could I believe you?”

            “You were a drunkard, how do I know that you did not drink today?”

            “You had fudged accounts earlier, so I am sure you have misappropriated finances now.”

            In this satanic mode of attack, the Christian’s past would constantly be recollected to shame him. It is important to note that the Christian, after accepting Christ as HIS Savior, has effectively discarded (or is in the process of discarding by overcoming his temptations) the sinful habits from his life. But people around him, in their own moments of spiritual weakness, could be a pawn in the hands of Satan to destroy this Christian’s spirituality with these lethal verbal assaults.

            Sincere Christians would reel under this assault, even if it were a one-time occurrence. Relentless assaults of this nature could spiritually incapacitate sincere Christians, so much so that they could doubt and reject God’s presence. Such is Satan’s lethal activity in a Christian life.

            Think about this.

            You strived so hard to eliminate that sin (or those sins) from your life. You have experienced God’s power. You are thankful to God for your spiritual achievement. You are so happy to live a clean life. You love your new life in Christ Jesus. You have testified to Christ’s power in your life. People appreciate you and they thank and praise God for HIS work in your life.

            Everything is going good.

            This is when your life crumbles around you. Satan attacks you through verbal assaults from those whom you love so dearly. You strive to forgive and forget. But these attacks become a regular part of your life. You are accused of doing that which you have discarded. Being unappreciated is hard enough to fathom, but to be accused of doing that which you are not doing anymore is a poison you have to drink constantly. To die a thousand painful deaths every single day is not fun.

            That’s not it.

            Your life becomes a living nightmare when those accusing you spread rumors about you. Your family and friends believe these rumors and consider you a hypocrite. Those whom you had considered good friends are not your friends anymore. Your life sinks into despair.

            You wonder why this is happening in your life.

            The answer is not straightforward. But the answer is found in the Bible. Read these verses (Emphasis Mine):

            “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.” (Isaiah 43:18-19, NIV)

            “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation…” (2 Corinthians 5:17-18, NIV)

            “Jesus replied, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.”” (Luke 9:62, NIV)

            “Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 3:13-14, NIV)

            “For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” (Colossians 1:13-14, NIV).

            “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!” (Galatians 2:20-21, NIV)

            These verses teach us one simple truth. God does not remind us of our sinful past. An entailment of this truth is that God’s people also do not remind us of our sinful past.

            What about those who constantly endeavor to shame us by reminding us of our sinful past? These people may be Christians, but their relentless attack indicates that they are not acting under God’s guidance.

            If they are not under God’s guidance, it is quite possible that they are buying into Satan’s schemes because Satan works against God’s people. Satan will strive to spiritually derail a sincere Christian.

            When people assault you with your sinful past - that very past which you have discarded from your life – be aware that it is the work of Satan. Do not fall prey to the evil schemes of the devil.

            You know who you are in the Lord. You are right in God’s sight because you are not guilty of the sin that you are being accused of. When you live right in God’s sight, do not allow these assaults to impact you.

            Keep moving forward by increasing your proximity with the Lord. Indulge more into the Word of God and prayer. When you are in pain, God will offer you HIS peace and protection. HE will bring good friends into your midst. You will be safe. In due course of time, you would be saved from these assaults and you would be exonerated from these false accusations. Trust and obey!

When we walk with the Lord in the light of His Word,

What a glory He sheds on our way!

While we do His good will, He abides with us still,

And with all who will trust and obey.

Refrain:

Trust and obey, for there’s no other way

To be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.

Not a shadow can rise, not a cloud in the skies,

But His smile quickly drives it away;

Not a doubt or a fear, not a sigh or a tear,

Can abide while we trust and obey.

Not a burden we bear, not a sorrow we share,

But our toil He doth richly repay;

Not a grief or a loss, not a frown or a cross,

But is blessed if we trust and obey.