Is the 'angel of the Lord' in the Old Testament the pre-incarnate Christ?
A viewer cites Dr. Matthew Minerd's claim that the consensus of the Church Fathers is that the angel of the Lord in the Old Testament is Jesus Christ, and asks whether Sungenis holds the same position.
Answer
No, I don't, and there is no consensus, because Augustine and Aquinas did not believe the angel of the Lord was Jesus, so it is a matter of opinion; Scripture does not let you be definitive. The reason I reject it is the incarnation: Jesus came as a man from the womb of Mary, taking her DNA, and he has only one identity under that DNA. The man who wrestled with Jacob thousands of years before Bethlehem could not have Mary's DNA, which did not yet exist, so he cannot be Jesus. Jesus' job was to come as the God-man and be our Savior, not to appear beforehand; that appearing is precisely the job God made the angels for. So it is a confusion of roles that Scripture will not support.