Theologies - Clover

240
Do People Have Guardian Angels?
Scripture clearly tells us that God sends angels for our protection: "He will give his angels charge
of you to guard you in all your ways. On their hands they will bear you up, lest you dash your foot
against a stone" (Ps. 91:11-12). But some people have gone beyond this idea of general protection
and wondered if God gives a specific "guardian angel" for each individual in the world, or at least
for each Christian. Support for this idea has been found in Jesus' words about little children, "in
heaven their angels always behold the face of my Father who is in heaven" (Matt. 18:10). However,
our Lord may simply be saying that angels who are assigned the task of protecting little children
have ready access to God's presence. (To use an athletic analogy, the angels may be playing "zone"
rather than "man-on-man" defense.) When the disciples in Acts 12:15 say that Peter's "angel" must
be knocking at the door, this does not necessarily imply belief in an individual guardian angel.
It could be that an angel was guarding or caring for Peter just at that time. There seems to be,
therefore, no convincing support for the idea of individual "guardian angels" in the text of Scripture.
(Grudem, ST, 399-400)