Floyd Parker, «The Terms "Angel" and "Spirit" in Acts 23,8», Vol. 84 (2003) 344-365
In any discussion of the Sadducees, there will always remain a certain amount of doubt due to the paucity of sources about them. Based on what data has survived, the older theory that the Sadducees rejected the extravagant beliefs about angels and spirits provides the most convincing solution to the problem of Acts 23,8. The Sadducees’ reasons for rejecting these views were twofold: 1) angels were integrated into the apocalyptic world view that they rejected; and 2) angels often served as God’s servants to administer predestination or providence. Thus, when Paul claimed that a heavenly being had appeared to him in a manner and with a message that appeared to be predestinarian in nature, the Sadducees were unwilling to entertain the idea that an angel or spirit had appeared to him. Certainly new theories will arise in an attempt to grapple with this issue, but to re-appropriate the words of Jesus in Luke 5,39, "the old is good enough".
describe this state28. The majority of the passages that he cites that depict the righteous dead being like angels are in reality concerned with the resurrection instead of the interim29. The only passage he lists that unambiguously associates angels with the righteous dead in the intermediate state is Hen(aeth) 39,5. Yet, the passage does not indicate these terms are synonyms: dwelling "with the holy angels" is not tantamount to being holy angels.
Daube’s second line of argument is to list several texts that say the righteous dead are "like" the angels. He correctly notes that the words w(j and k@; can have a broad range of meaning, such as "resembling", "equal to", or even "having the nature of"30. However, other details within the context of a passage sometimes shed further light on an author’s intended meaning of "like" the angels, as the following examples cited by Daube illustrate: 1) according to Hen(aeth) 104,4, the resurrected righteous will "be making a great rejoicing like the angels of heaven" (cf. 25,6). The comparison here seems to be to how the angels rejoice (Hen[aeth] 35,12; 40,3), not to being transformed into their likeness; 2) in ApcBar(syr) 51,12, the righteous will be changed "into the splendor of the angels" (51,5) and will also be "like" them in some other respects (51,10), but the righteous will also be "greater than the angels" in excellence (51,12). Thus, absolute identity between the righteous dead and angels cannot be maintained; and, 3) Luke 20,36 and Matt 22,30 indicate the raised will be "like" or "equal to" the angels in specific ways: they too will be immortal and will not marry with a view towards procreation. So, it is fair to conclude from these texts that the resurrected righteous will have some of the attributes of angels, but not that they will be changed into angels31. Thus, the word "angel" is not a synonym of human "spirit", whether one is speaking of the interim or the resurrection of the dead.