I THESSALONIANS 4:16: IS JESUS THE ARCHANGEL MICHAEL?

“The Archangel Michael is the Same as the Pre-existent and Resurrected Christ”

                                                                                              (Jehovah Witnesses Official Web Site)

The reasoning behind that rather bold statement is given as follows:

 1. There are good Biblical precedents for an individual to be known by more than one name (i.e., Jacob = Israel; Peter = Simon) 

    (a) Actually there are very few such examples in the Bible. 

    (b) When it happens, it is for two reasons: a name changed by God/Jesus for spiritual reasons and spelled out specifically when it happens, or Jews living in the Roman world who had both Jewish and Gentile names. 

    (c) Just because it can happen, doesn't mean it did.

2. There is only one archangel and his name is Michael.

    a. In Jude 9, Michael is called the archangel. Basic grammar shows this does not at all prove their case. It is the same as saying John the Evangelist. It indicates which John is being referred to, but doesn't limit the number of Johns or the number of evangelists at all.

    b. Arch = chief, indicating that there is only one. “Arch” can also mean superior or excellent. As one NT example, the designation “chief priest” (archiereus) appears in the plural numerous times in the gospels.

    c. Archangel never appears in the plural in the Bible, only in the singular. 

      (1) This argument from silence doesn't count for much since the word only appears twice in the whole Bible. 

      (2) The intertestamental belief was that there were six or seven archangels. This shows that the Jews at that time obviously had no problem with the term referring to more than one. There are seven special angels mentioned in Revelation 8:2 who stand before God, and these may all be archangels. In Daniel 10:13, Michael who helps the angel Gabriel is called “one of the chief princes.”

 

3. In I Thessalonians 4:16, Jesus is said to have the voice of an archangel. First, note that it says the voice of an archangel, not the archangel. That clearly proves that there is more than one archangel. Next, there are three parallel clauses stating that Christ was accompanied by a shout of command, an archangel's voice, and the blowing of a trumpet.

But doesn't state who is doing all these things. Even if Christ did have the voice of an archangel, it does not mean that he was one. Poor logic: Tigers have fur. Mice have fur. Therefore tigers are mice. This is the type of argument that Jehovah Witnesses reject when applied to Jesus' divinity.

4. Revelation 12:7 states that Michael battled the dragon with his army of angels while Revelation 

19:14-16 says that Jesus commands his army of angels. Nowhere in the Bible are two armies of angels 

mentioned. This is strictly an argument from silence. Just because two armies were not mentioned is no 

reason to state that they don't exist. Also, why can't you deduce from these verses that there are two 

armies? Another more likely explanation is that this sort of language is used for an army with different 

layers of command with, for example, Jesus as commander-in-chief and Michael as general. Fourthly, 

in the Old Testament, God the Father is said to be the Lord of Hosts, meaning the head of an army of 

angels. Using the same reasoning as the Jehovah Witnesses, Jesus and God the Father are therefore one 

and the same.