Jehovah's Witnesses teach that St. Michael the Archangel is "evidently a name given to Jesus before and after his life on earth" (jw.org). If they're right, Jesus is the greatest of the angels. If they're wrong, He is far more than that.
Short answer: No. Scripture puts Jesus in a different category from every angel. Hebrews 1 asks "to which of the angels" God ever spoke as He speaks to His Son, and it commands all the angels to worship Him. St. Michael is "one of the chief princes." Jesus is the one through whom the angels were created.
Key verses on Jesus and the angels
- "For to which of the angels did God ever say: 'You are my son; this day I have begotten you'?" (Hebrews 1:5)
- "Let all the angels of God worship him." (Hebrews 1:6)
- "But to which of the angels has he ever said: 'Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool'?" (Hebrews 1:13)
- "Michael, one of the chief princes" (Daniel 10:13)
- "Don't! I am a fellow servant of yours ... Worship God." (Revelation 22:9)
Scripture quotations are from the New American Bible, Revised Edition (NABRE), © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Washington, D.C. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
What Catholics Actually Teach
Jesus is the eternal Son of God, true God, who became man. Angels are "personal and immortal creatures, surpassing in perfection all visible creatures" (CCC 330).
The Church places Christ above the angels, not among them. "Christ is the centre of the angelic world. They are his angels." And "They belong to him because they were created through and for him" (CCC 331). His earthly life "is surrounded by the adoration and service of angels" (CCC 333).
What Catholics do not teach:
- That St. Michael is unimportant. We honor him as "the great prince, guardian of your people" (Daniel 12:1).
- That Jesus stopped being God when He became man. He was made "lower than the angels" only "for a little while" (Hebrews 2:9).
- That Witnesses are insincere. They draw this view from the Bible. We disagree with the reading, not with their love for Scripture.
The Biblical Case
1. Hebrews: no angel is the Son
Hebrews sets the Son "as far superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs" (Hebrews 1:4). Then it asks: "For to which of the angels did God ever say: 'You are my son; this day I have begotten you'?" (Hebrews 1:5).
The expected answer is "None of them." If Jesus were St. Michael, the honest answer would be "One of them: the archangel." The whole argument would collapse.
2. All the angels worship the Son
"Let all the angels of God worship him" (Hebrews 1:6). All the angels includes St. Michael. If Jesus were St. Michael, God would be commanding the archangel to worship himself.
Angels refuse worship. When St. John fell at an angel's feet, the angel said, "Don't! I am a fellow servant of yours ... Worship God" (Revelation 22:8–9). Jesus Himself said, "The Lord, your God, shall you worship and him alone shall you serve" (Matthew 4:10).
Yet Jesus receives worship. "When they saw him, they worshiped" (Matthew 28:17). In heaven every creature cries out, "To the one who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor, glory and might, forever and ever" (Revelation 5:13).
3. The angels were made through Him
Hebrews contrasts them directly. Of the angels, God says He makes them "winds"; "but of the Son: 'Your throne, O God, stands forever and ever'" (Hebrews 1:7–8). It even applies to the Son a psalm about the LORD as Creator: "At the beginning, O Lord, you established the earth" (Hebrews 1:10; Psalm 102:26).
St. Paul agrees: "For in him were created all things in heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers" (Colossians 1:16). Those are angelic ranks. If the angels were created through Him, He is not one of them. (See also Does John 1:1 Say "a God"?)
4. St. Michael won't rebuke the devil. Jesus does.
"Yet the archangel Michael, when he argued with the devil in a dispute over the body of Moses, did not venture to pronounce a reviling judgment upon him but said, 'May the Lord rebuke you!'" (Jude 9). St. Michael appeals to a higher authority.
Jesus never does. He commands Satan directly: "Get away, Satan!" (Matthew 4:10). He "rebuked Peter and said, 'Get behind me, Satan'" (Mark 8:33). He "rebuked" a demon: "Quiet! Come out of him!" (Mark 1:25). St. Michael says, "May the Lord rebuke you!" Jesus speaks as the Lord.
5. St. Michael is "one of" the chief princes
Daniel calls St. Michael "one of the chief princes" (Daniel 10:13) and Israel's prince (Daniel 10:21). He belongs to a group. The Son has no peers among the angels. He is "the very imprint of his being" (Hebrews 1:3).
Objections Answered
(a) "1 Thessalonians 4:16 says Jesus comes with an archangel's voice."
At its strongest: Witnesses point out that the title "archangel" appears in only two Bible verses, both singular, and Jude 9 calls St. Michael "the archangel." St. Paul says the Lord "will come down from heaven" "with the voice of an archangel" (1 Thessalonians 4:16). So "Jesus has 'an archangel's voice' because he is the archangel, Michael" (jw.org).
Answer: Read the whole line: "with a word of command, with the voice of an archangel and with the trumpet of God." If the archangel's voice makes Jesus an archangel, "the trumpet of God" would make Him God. St. Paul lists the sounds of the Lord's coming. Jesus comes "with his mighty angels" (2 Thessalonians 1:7), the archangel among them.
(b) "St. Michael and Jesus both lead armies of angels. There can't be two commanders."
At its strongest: "Michael and his angels battled against the dragon" (Revelation 12:7). But "The Son of Man will send his angels" (Matthew 13:41). Witnesses argue it "would not make sense" for God to set up "rival commanders," so the two must be one person.
Answer: They aren't rivals; they hold different ranks. A king owns the army; a general leads troops within it. The angels belong to Christ because they were created "through him and for him" (Colossians 1:16; CCC 331). When Christ returns, "all the angels" come with Him (Matthew 25:31), St. Michael included.
(c) "Hebrews 1:6 means 'obeisance,' not worship."
At its strongest: The Greek verb in Hebrews 1:6, proskyneō, can mean bowing to honor a human. Cornelius fell at St. Peter's feet and "paid him homage" (Acts 10:25). The Witnesses' New World Translation reads "do obeisance to him" (jw.org).
Answer: The word's range is real, so context decides. St. Peter refused it: "Get up. I myself am also a human being" (Acts 10:26). The angel in Revelation refused it. Jesus used the same verb when He said God alone is to be worshiped (Matthew 4:10). Hebrews 1:6 commands angels, who refuse this act for themselves, to give it to the Son.
(d) "Daniel 12:1 shows Michael rising as King, and his name means 'Who Is Like God?'"
At its strongest: Daniel foretells that "there shall arise Michael, the great prince, guardian of your people" in a time of unequaled distress (Daniel 12:1). jw.org argues that "In the book of Daniel, the expression 'stand up' is often used to refer to a king who rises up to take special action," and that St. Michael lives up to the meaning of his name, "Who Is Like God?" Who but Christ the King could that be?
Answer: Let Daniel define his own terms. In Daniel's book St. Michael is "one of the chief princes" (10:13) and "your prince" (10:21), the guardian of one nation. The King of Daniel's book is someone else: "One like a son of man" who comes "with the clouds of heaven" and "received dominion, splendor, and kingship; all nations, peoples and tongues will serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion" (Daniel 7:13–14). Jesus claimed that title under oath before the high priest: "you will see 'the Son of Man seated at the right hand of the Power' and 'coming on the clouds of heaven'" (Matthew 26:63–64). And Hebrews says flatly that to no angel did God ever say, "Sit at my right hand" (Hebrews 1:13). A prince who arises for one people is not the Son of Man whom all nations serve.
The name points the same way. "Who is like God?" is a question that expects the answer "No one." It is a creature's cry of praise. Jesus speaks the other way around: "Whoever has seen me has seen the Father" (John 14:9). The Fathers saw the line clearly. Archangels, St. Irenaeus taught, were created through the Word, and "the things established are distinct from Him who has established them" (Against Heresies 3.8.3). St. Michael is among the things established. The Word is the One through whom he was made.
The Early Church Agrees
- St. Ignatius of Antioch (Letter to the Ephesians, early second century): "For our God, Jesus Christ, was, according to the appointment of God, conceived in the womb by Mary" (ch. 18).
- St. Irenaeus (Against Heresies 3.8.3, c. AD 180): "For that all things, whether Angels, or Archangels, or Thrones, or Dominions, were both established and created by Him who is God over all, through His Word, John has thus pointed out." (newadvent.org)
- St. Athanasius of Alexandria (Discourse I Against the Arians, fourth century) on Hebrews 1:4: "'better' is his word, by way of marking the difference of the Son's nature from things originated" (§55). On worshiping a creature: "Who told them, 'Abandon the worship of the creation, and then draw near and worship a creature and a work?'" (§8). And on Hebrews 1:6: "Accordingly the Angels ministered unto Him, as being one beyond themselves; and they worship Him, not as being greater in glory, but as being some one beyond all the creatures" (Discourse II §23).
Conclusion
St. Michael is a mighty servant of God. Jesus is the Son whom the angels serve and worship. Hebrews sets the Son above every angel and calls Him "God" in the same breath.
If you're a Jehovah's Witness, read Hebrews 1 slowly and answer its question: to which angel did God ever speak this way? Then say with St. Thomas, "My Lord and my God!" (John 20:28).
Come home. The Son whom all the angels serve and worship, St. Michael among them, is adored as Lord and God in the Catholic Church. Christ promised, "upon this rock I will build my church" (Matthew 16:18), and His Church never fell away or disappeared. It is the Catholic Church, governed by the successor of St. Peter and the bishops in communion with him. "It is through Christ's Catholic Church alone, which is the universal help toward salvation, that the fullness of the means of salvation can be obtained" (CCC 816). We invite you to come and see the Church Christ founded, and to enter her.
Your next step: Come to Mass this Sunday at your local Catholic church. You can find one near you at MassTimes.org. Everyone is welcome; if you're not yet Catholic, pray with us but don't receive Communion yet. When you're ready to become Catholic, call the parish office and ask about OCIA, the Order of Christian Initiation of Adults. They will walk you through every step. Read our guide: How Do I Become Catholic? Not ready yet? Get our free pocket guide below and keep learning.
FAQ
Who is St. Michael the Archangel? A great created angel, "the great prince, guardian of your people" (Daniel 12:1). Catholics honor him and ask his help.
Do Jehovah's Witnesses believe Jesus is a creature? Yes. Their study book calls St. Michael a "spirit creature" and identifies him with Jesus (jw.org). Scripture calls the Son the one through whom "all things were created" (Colossians 1:16).
Why does this matter? Because worship belongs to God alone. We are to honor the Son "just as they honor the Father" (John 5:23).
Sources
Scripture (NABRE, bible.usccb.org): Psalm 102:26; Daniel 7:13–14; Daniel 10:13, 21; Daniel 12:1; Matthew 4:10; Matthew 13:41; Matthew 16:18; Matthew 25:31; Matthew 26:63–64; Matthew 28:17; Mark 1:25; Mark 8:33; John 5:23; John 14:9; John 20:28; Acts 10:25–26; Colossians 1:16; 1 Thessalonians 4:16; 2 Thessalonians 1:7; Hebrews 1:3–13; Hebrews 2:9; Jude 9; Revelation 5:13; Revelation 12:7; Revelation 22:8–9.
Catechism of the Catholic Church (vatican.va): 330, 331, 333; 816.
Church Fathers (newadvent.org): St. Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Ephesians 18 (ANF vol. 1); St. Athanasius, Discourse I Against the Arians 8 and 55 (sacred-texts.com) and Discourse II 23 (NPNF2 vol. 4); St. Irenaeus, Against Heresies 3.8.3 (ANF vol. 1).
Jehovah's Witness sources (jw.org): "The Archangel Michael—Who Is He?"; "Who Is Michael the Archangel?" (appendix); New World Translation, Hebrews 1.