“That every individual soul has a guardian angel has never been defined by the Church, and is, consequently, not an article of faith; but it is the ‘mind of the Church.’

A guardian angel is a celestial being who is assigned to protect and guide a particular person, group, or nation. Belief in guardian beings can be traced throughout ancient times. The idea of angels who guard over people played a significant role in Judaism and in Christianity–the hierarchy of angels was developed in the 5th century. The theology of angels and guardian spirits has undergone many changes since then. 

In the Hebrew Bible
The guardian angel concept is present in the books of the Hebrew Bible. These books described God’s angels as His ministers who carried out His commands, and who were at times given special commissions regarding men and mundane affairs.

In Genesis 18–19, angels not only functioned as the executors of God’s wrath against the cities of the plain, but they delivered Lot from danger. In Exodus 32:34, God said to Moses: “My angel will lead the way before you.” (Cf. Ps. 34:7 and 35:6).

The belief that angels can be guides and intercessors for men can be found in Job 33:23-26. Daniel testified… “But for twenty-one days the spirit prince of the kingdom of Persia blocked my way. Then Michael, one of the archangels, came to help me, and I left him there with the spirit prince of the kingdom of Persia” (10:13).

Christianity
In the New Testament the concept of guardian angels is well noted. Angels are the intermediaries between God and man; and Christ set a seal upon the Old Testament teaching: “Beware that you don’t look down on any of these little ones. For I tell you that in heaven their angels are always in the presence of My heavenly Father” (Matt. 18:10). Guardian angels work both for single persons and for communities of people.  

Denominational Views

Roman Catholic Church
According to Saint Jerome, the concept of guardian angels is in the “mind of the Church.” He stated: “How great the dignity of the soul, since each one has from his birth an angel commissioned to guard it.” The first Christian theologian to outline a specific scheme for guardian angels was Honorius of Autun in the 12th century. He said that every soul was assigned a guardian angel the moment it was put into a body. In the 15th century, the Feast of the Guardian Angels was added to the official calendar of Catholic holidays.

Eastern Orthodox
The Eastern Orthodox Church teaches that: Each man has a guardian angel who stands before the face of the Lord. This guardian angel is not only a friend and a protector, who preserves from evil and who sends good thoughts; the image of God is reflected in the creatures—angels and men—in such a way that angels are celestial prototypes of men. Before the Eastern Orthodox liturgy of the Communion of the Faithful, a prayer asks “For an angel of peace, a faithful guide, a guardian of our souls and bodies, let us entreat the Lord. Amen.”

Lutheran Church
The Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer found in Martin Luther’s Small Catechism include the supplication “Let your holy angel be with me, that the evil foe may have no power over me”. Donald Schneider, a Lutheran priest, states that Martin Luther may have based these prayers on Psalm 91, which includes a verse stating “For He will order His angels to protect you wherever you go. They will hold you up with their hands so you won’t even hurt your foot on a stone” (vv. 11-12). 

Methodist Church
John W. Hanner, a Methodist minister and theologian, wrote on the topic of guardian angels in his Angelic Study, stating that: Perhaps every Christian has a guardian angel. It may be that there is one angel to every Christian, or a score of them; or one may have charge of a score of Christians. Some of the ancient fathers believed that every city had a guardian angel, while others assigned one to every house and every man. None of us knows how much we are indebted to angels for our deliverance from imminent peril, disease, and malicious plots of men and devils. In May and June 1743, Methodists experienced persecution in Wednesbury and Walsall and the founder of the Methodist Church, John Wesley, was threatened with death by a mob who dragged him in the rain; however, “Wesley escaped unharmed” and he “believed that he had been protected by his guardian angel.”

Reformed and Presbyterian Churches
In Reformed Dogmatics, Heinrich Heppe states that some Reformed theologians espoused the view of guardian angels, including Bucan, who taught: That as a rule to each elect person a certain good angel is appointed by God to guard him, may be gathered from Christ’s words in Matthew 18:10, where He says, “their angels are always in the presence of My heavenly Father.” Also, from Acts 12:15 where the believers who had assembled in Mark’s house said of Peter knocking at the door, “It must be his angel.”

Friends, that is the fruit of my investigation concerning guardian angels and I wholeheartedly subscribe to their existence and divine work. What about you? Where do you stand? As for me, I believe that the Sovereign Guardian Shepherd of His sheep assigned an angel to guard over my soul (Jn. 10:27-29… c.f. Isaiah 43:13).

Bill