Correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe Catholicism (and Christianity in general) states that Satan is a fallen angel (Lucifer) because he rebelled against G-d. If that is so, did Lucifer, the angel, have free will? I’m puzzled because I thought angels were not supposed to have free will. (Judaism’s conception of Satan is totally different: he is still thought to be an angel–not the Devil–who does G-d’s bidding in testing Man’s free will by tempting him.)
Meltzerboy:
Here is some of the text from
The Teachings of the Catholic Church, Vol I, pp. 276 - 279, The MacMillan Co., 1962 printing:
". . . With great wisdom St. Thomas has discarded every sort of motive for the angelic lapse that is not entirely spiritual, that savours more of imagination than of intelligence. He teaches with steady persistence that no spirit in his natural sphere can transgress or err in any way. But if the spirit be taken, so to speak, out of his natural order and placed in another, a higher order – the supernatural order – then there is the possibility of a refusal; the spirit may refuse to accept or to hold something that is above his order; he may, in fact, rebel against the
order of God. This is the only tenable theological explanation of the fall of the angels . . .
“Through the supernatural a spirit is taken out of his sphere into a higher one; but this higher sphere means essentially a community of life with all other spirits thus favoured; it means community with lower spirits; it means community with man himself. The higher grace is indeed the more excellent gift, but it is also the more universal gift. The natural greatness of the angel is a glory which has no equal; it is a singular perfection which is without rival. A spirit may thus choose to enter into communion with the supernatural or to remain entirely in his own sphere, preferring his own natural excellency to the communion of the universal family of God. St Thomas says that some of the spirits chose the second alternative; they preferred their natural glory in its isolation to the community of the supernatural charity; and this is the fall of the angels. . . .”
So, it is
pride because they chose excellency without regard for the more excellent good. It is
rebellion because it was God’s will that they should accept the supernatural. And, it is
envy, because it was an opposition to a holy thing, i.e., the grace of God. Theologians also say that theirs was an opposition to the supernatural of the Incarnation, which was made known to them, and that their unwillingness to adore the God-man was their fall. But this is really saying the same thing, “as the Incarnation is the highest phase of the supernatural.” (
Ibid, pp 278)
This clearly shows that the angels had
free will but that it was converted to the selfish good of the reluctant angels. St. Thomas taught that the angel, who begins existence in a higher state than that of men (as man’s state is a state of
sin) and in this way, the angels did not fall from corruption into corruption, from sin into sin.
God bless,
jd
.