There is a category of created beings that pre-existed the creation of the universe which are generally known as angels. In the Bible angels sometimes take on human form. When they do, obviously, they don’t have wings (or they wouldn’t be in human form). So angels in wingless human form proves nothing about whether angels in their created/natural form have wings. When they are in their angelic realm, the same passages that don’t describe them as “winged” also do not describe them as “wingless.” Hence, nothing can be proven from those passages. They may or may not have wings.

In this culture, angels are portrayed as babies and females, both with no biblical grounds. They are also portrayed as having wings, with some biblical grounds; Daniel records the words of the angel Gabriel: “While I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the first, came to me in swift flight at the time of the evening sacrifice” (Daniel 9:21, emphasis added). And the Apostle John “saw another angel flying directly overhead” (Revelation 14:6). It’s possible that these references to flight mean angels have wings.

There are types of beings in the Bible that are said to have wings: Cherubim (Exodus 25:20; 37:9; I Kings 6:24, 27; 8:6-7; 1 Chron. 28:18; 2 Chron. 3:11; 5:7-8; Ezekiel 10), Seraphim (Isaiah 6), and the Living Creatures in Revelation 4:6-8 (which may or may not be the same as the Cherubim). However, the typical word for “angel” is not used for these beings. In fact, as I develop in my book Heaven, the Greek word translated as “living creatures” is zoon. Throughout most of the New Testament, zoon is translated “animal.” In virtually every case inside and outside of Scripture, this word means not a person, not an angel, but an animal. The common English translation has caused us to fail to grasp that the “living creatures” who cry out “Holy, holy, holy” are animals—living, breathing, intelligent and articulate animals who dwell in God’s presence, worshiping and praising Him.