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The Sin of the Fallen Angels
The Sin
A rational creature (that is, a creature with intellect and will) can sin.
If it be unable to sin, this is a gift of grace, not a condition of nature.
While angels were yet unbeatified they could sin. And some of them did sin.
The sinning
angels (or demons) are guilty of all sins in so far as they lead man to
commit every kind of sin. But in the bad angels themselves there could be no
tendency to fleshly sins, but only to such sins as can be committed by a
purely spiritual being, and these sins are two only: pride and envy.
 Lucifer who latter
was confused with his follower Satan, leader of the fallen angels, wished to
be as God. This prideful desire was not a wish to be equal to God, for Satan
knew by his natural knowledge that equality of creature with creator is
utterly impossible. Besides, no creature actually desires to destroy itself,
even to become something greater.
On this point man sometimes deceives himself by a trick of imagination; he
imagines himself to be another and greater being, and yet it is himself that
is somehow this other being. But an angel has no sense-faculty of
imagination to abuse in this fashion.
The angelic intellect, with its clear knowledge, makes such self-deception
impossible. Lucifer knew that to be equal with God, he would have to be God,
and he knew perfectly that this could not be. What he wanted was to be as
God; he wished to be like God in a way not suited to his nature, such as to
create things by his own power, or to achieve final beatitude without God's
help, or to have command over others in a way proper to God alone.
Every nature,
that is every essence as operating, tends to some good. An intellectual
nature tends to good in general, good under its common aspects, good as
such. The fallen angels therefore are not naturally evil.
The devil did not
sin in the very instant of his creation. When a perfect cause makes a
nature, the first operation of that nature must be in line with the
perfection of its cause. Hence the devil was not created in wickedness. He,
like all the angels, was created in the state of sanctifying grace.
 But the
devil, with his companions, sinned immediately after creation. He rejected
the grace in which he was created, and which he was meant to use, as the
good angels used it, to merit beatitude. If, however, the angels were not
created in grace (as some hold) but had grace available as soon as they were
created, then it may be that some interval occurred between the creation and
the sin of Lucifer and his companions.
Lucifer, chief of
the sinning angels, was probably the highest of all the angels. But there
are some who think that Lucifer was highest only among the rebel angels.
The sin of the
highest angel was a bad example which attracted the other rebel angels, and,
to this extent, was the cause of their sin.
The faithful
angels are a greater multitude than the fallen angels. For sin is contrary
to the natural order. Now, what is opposed to the natural order occurs less
frequently, or in fewer instances, than what accords with the natural order.
State of the Fallen Angels
The fallen angels
did not lose their natural knowledge by their sin; nor did they lose their
angelic intellect.
The fallen angels
are obstinate in evil, unrepentant, inflexibly determined in their sin. This
follows from their nature as pure spirits, for the choice of a pure spirit
is necessarily final and unchanging.
 Yet we
must say that there is sorrow in the fallen angels, though not the sorrow of
repentance. They have sorrow in the affliction of knowing that they cannot
attain beatitude; that there are curbs upon their wicked will; that men,
despite their efforts, may get to heaven.
The fallen angels
are engaged in battling against man's salvation and in torturing lost souls
in hell. The fallen angels that beset man on earth, carry with them their
own dark and punishing atmosphere, and wherever they are they endure the
pains of hell.
Orders Among the Fallen
Angels
The angels that
rebelled and became demons did not lose their nature or their connatural
gifts. They cast away, by their sin, the grace in which they were created.
They did not cast away the beatific vision, for they never had it.
Now, if we think of angelic orders as orders of angels in glory, then, of
course, there are no orders of bad angels. But if we consider angelic orders
as order of angelic nature simply, there are orders among the demons.
 Certainly,
there is a precedence among bad angels; there is a subjection of some to
others. Demons of superior nature do not enlighten inferior demons;
enlightenment here could only mean the manifestation of truth with reference
to God, and the fallen angels have perversely and permanently turned away
from God.
But demons can speak to one another, that is, they can make known their
thoughts to one another, for this ability belongs to the angelic nature
which the demons retain.
The nearer
creatures are to God the greater is their rule over other creatures.
Therefore, the good angels rule and control the demons.
Assaults of Bad Angels on Man
To tempt means
one of two things:
(a) to make a test or trial; thus "God tempted Abraham" (Gen. 22:1);
(b) to invite, incite, or allure someone to sin. It is in the second sense
of the word that the fallen angels tempt human beings.
God permits this assault of the demons upon men, and turns it into a human
opportunity and benefit; God gives to men all requisite aid to repulse the
assaults of demons, and to advance in grace and merit by resisting
temptation.
 To the
devil (who is the fallen Lucifer, now Satan) belong exclusively the plan and
campaign of the demons' assaults upon mankind.
In one way the
devil is the cause of every human sin; he tempted Adam and thus contributed
to the fall which renders men prone to sin. But, in a strict sense,
diabolical influence does not enter into every sin of man. Some sins come of
the weakness of human nature and from inordinateness of appetites which the
sinner freely allows to prevail.
Angels cannot
perform miracles; therefore demons cannot. But demons can do astonishing
things, and can occasion real havoc.
When the assault
of demons is repulsed, the devil is not rendered incapable of further
attack. But it seems that he cannot return immediately to the assault, but
only after the lapse of a definite time. God's mercy as well as the
shrewdness of the tempter, seems to promise so much.
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