St Michael and his sword

[Paul_theApostle]

In pictures/icons St Michael has a sword

Why doesnt he use the sword to put it through the devil or demons and kill them?

What does he do with that sword,whats the point of having a sword if you cant kill with it?

 

[midori]

One useful thing that I read in City of God talks about how the angelic battles were fought with the will, rather than weapons. That really helps with visualization— since don’t we fight our own spiritual battles with our wills, rather than with swords or spears?

Perhaps the sword is symbolic. For example, the Word of God is likened to a sword in a famous passage in Hebrews:

For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

Or it might be a reference to Joshua:

Once when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing before him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua went to him and said to him, ‘Are you one of us, or one of our adversaries?’ He replied, ‘Neither; but as commander of the army of the Lord I have now come.’ And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped, and he said to him, ‘What do you command your servant, my lord?’ The commander of the army of the Lord said to Joshua, ‘Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place where you stand is holy.’ And Joshua did so.

where some speculate that the “commander of the army of the Lord” was a reference to St. Michael.

Or perhaps the sword is just an ordinary artistic convention to represent authority or power, just like a palm branch might be used to signify martyrdom, etc.

 

[BigFellaMick]

angels don’t even look like humans do they? aren’t they described very differently? I think statues of st michael as a man just make it easier for people to associate with than if it was something alien to our understanding. Like the seraphim/nephilim etc

 

[Paul_theApostle]

angels don’t even look like humans do they? aren’t they described very differently? I think statues of st michael as a man just make it easier for people to associate with than if it was something alien to our understanding. Like the seraphim/nephilim etc

But angels and archangels like St Michael have been seen many times in visions or appeared to people and theyve looked like the pictures or statues

of course the higher angels like seraphim etc may look different

i dont know anyway

 

[David89]

My understanding is that the Church teaches angels are pure spirit and hence they dont have a solid/material form. But they may assume a form in order to communicate with us. For example when the archangel Michael came to a nun Antonia d’Astonac and gave her the Chaplet of Saint Michael which was approved by Pope Pius IX.

Makes me wonder if the battle of angels and their depictions are just ways we show something visually for an event that occurred beyond our understanding (spiritual). But because angels can take on a material form, then I guess there is nothing to suggest that the battle couldn’t have been in a physical sense, and Michael may have been indeed slicing and dicing so to speak.

 

[thistle]

But angels and archangels like St Michael have been seen many times in visions or appeared to people and theyve looked like the pictures or statues

of course the higher angels like seraphim etc may look different

i dont know anyway

Angels are spirit.