Dictionary of Theology

By Unknown

Archangel

In the Bible, a Greek word found only in the New Testament in two places: 1 Thess. 4:16, "For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first"; and Jude 9, "But Michael the archangel, when he disputed with the devil and argued about the body of Moses, did not dare pronounce against him a railing judgment, but said, 'The Lord rebuke you.'" Archangels seem to of a class of angels of great rank and power. Apparently, there are three archangels named: Michael, Gabriel, and Lucifer.