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Are cherubs and angels the same?

Q: I have people in my church who think cherubs and angels are the same and I’m not so sure about this topic. Can you shed a little light on this for me?A: The options are:

Angels are cherubs – that is, angels and cherubs are the same creature.
Cherubs are a subset of angels.
Cherubs and angels are completely different creatures.
From my reading of Scripture, I would think the third option is the Biblical one, but most people, like Billy Graham in his book Angels, see the cherubim and seraphim as subsets of angels. In fact, Medieval theologians divided angelic beings into various grades (anywhere from 7 or more orders of angels) with cherubs as one of the highest ranks in the hierarchy of angels. By the mid-1200s, Thomas Aquinas thought angelic hierarchies were important enough and confusing enough to be straightened out and so he included the subject in his Summa Theologica. He taught that there were nine grades of angels (which has become the official Catholic position ever since):
Seraphim
Cherubim
Thrones
Dominations (sometimes translated as dominions)
Virtues
Powers
Principalities
Archangels
Angels
In general, Protestants don’t pay much attention to the specific grades of angels. While we acknowledge the existence of archangels (that is, chief angels), we generally don’t go beyond this, because the Scriptures themselves are silent on the issue. John Calvin (1509-1564) called writings about the angelic hierarchy “the vain babblings of idle men” and deplored such speculations as fruitless and unprofitable.

So what about cherubs and angels? Well, I’m unable to find a place in the Bible where cherubs are called angels (or angels called cherubs). Cherubim and seraphim show up in the garden (Gen 3:24), on the ark of the covenant (Exodus 25:18; Psalm 80:1), in Isaiah’s vision (Isaiah 6:1-6), in Ezekiel’s vision (Ezekiel 1:5-14; 9:3; 10:1), and in the book of Revelation (Rev 4:7), but I can’t find any place that they are called “angels.” Correct me, if I’m wrong. But if my study is correct, this would lead me to believe that cherubs and angels are completely different creatures – the cherubs (and seraphim) with wings limited to the place around the throne of God and the angels coming and going as messengers and ministering spirits, which look similar in appearance to male human beings.

Now it won’t rock my world if I’m wrong and it turns out that cherubs are a specific order of angels, but someone will have to show me where angels and cherubs are equated in the Bible.
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