Having been in the gospel ministry for the past 25 years as a pastor and minister of the Lord Jesus Christ, I have had the opportunity to preach and participate in many funerals. Whenever there is a grieving family, I often hear phrases like, God got another angel, or they finally got their wings.  

Phrase like these are usually well meaning, but they are not biblical. I respect a person's sorrow and grief and their desire to honor and remember their loved one, but we do not become angels when we die and go to Heaven.

Before we dive into the discussion on angels, we need to have a clear understanding of how a person get's to Heaven in the first place. Many people believe that their good works are going to get them to Heaven.  

In fact, I had a man share with me one time about how he envisioned entrance into Heaven. He shared that there would be a scale and if our good outweighs our bad, then we would be granted entrance into Heaven. That is in direct opposition to what the scripture declares.  

Ephesians 2:8-9 tell us "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast."

In Romans 11:6 God tells us (and I am paraphrasing) that salvation is by grace and not works, if it is by works, then God's grace is not really a free gift. 

Paul tells us in Galatians 3 that all who rely on getting to Heaven by works are under a curse. Why? Because God's standard is not goodness. God's standard has always been perfection and none of us are perfect after the flesh. We have all sinned and fallen short of God's glory. This is the reason Christ Jesus had to be born of a virgin, come in the flesh, live a sinless life, so he could be the perfect substitute for you and me. Now when we place faith in Him and His work on the cross, our faith is counted as righteousness and we can be granted entrance into Heaven. It has nothing to do with our good works.

There is a false gospel being preached that everyone goes to Heaven when they die, but the Bible tells us that not all who say unto me Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of Heaven, but he that does the will of my Father which is in Heaven. Jesus told us that the work and will of God is to believe on Him who He sent....that is Jesus Christ. Faith in Christ is the only pathway to entrance into Heaven.

With that nailed down now, do we become angels when we die and go to Heaven? Simply put, NO! 

Those who believe that humans become angels when they die have a distorted idea about the nature of humanity and angels. Humans are physical beings with a spiritual soul, made in the image of God (Genesis 1:26). Angels are spiritual beings (Hebrews 1:14) who can only become physical if God ordains that their work requires it. Humans are born with a sin nature and sin throughout their lives. Because of this, God arranged a plan of redemption that angels can't even understand (1 Peter 1:12).

Angels are similar to humans in some ways. They were created by God (Colossians 1:15-17). They have intelligence (2 Corinthians 11:3), emotion (Revelation 12:17), and will (Jude 6). They are meant to praise God (Luke 2:13), serve God (Revelation 22:9), and work for His kingdom (Acts 8:26). When they need a physical representation, they often appear human (Daniel 8:15), although not always (Ezekiel 1:5-11). And they know the Scriptures (James 2:19; Revelation 12:12).

At no point does the Bible indicate that humans become angels after death. At death, the body and soul of a human are separated. The soul of the believer goes to be with Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:6-8), and the soul of the unbeliever goes to a place of torment (Luke 16:22-23). At the end times, believers (1 Thessalonians 4:13-17) will receive new, glorified bodies and spend eternity in paradise (Revelation 21:1). Unbelievers (Revelation 20:11-15) will be judged and cast into the lake of fire. No work as an angel is mentioned.

You see, these bodies we live in now are under a curse. It is the reason that there is disease, sickness, and even death. All of us are dying from the moment of our birth. If you don't believe that, look at your high school yearbook photo! One day, these bodies will give out because we are under the curse of sin. But one day, the scripture declares that when Christ returns we will be given eternal bodies, ones that are not susceptible to disease or sickness where we will ever praise and worship God. It makes no mention of us floating around on clouds or getting wings or anything like that. 

The Bible also says that in heaven we will be higher than the angels–and the reason is because we will be like Christ. The Bible says, “Do you not know that we will judge angels?” (1 Corinthians 6:3). While this verse may be referring to the rebellious angels who chose to follow Satan, it still implies that our status after death will be above that of the angels.

God created humans and angels as different beings for different purposes. Occasionally, our paths cross as we work together for the kingdom of God. In heaven, we will glorify God with the angels, but we will never become them.