Hebrews Chapter One, Superiority To Angels

 

Hebrews 1:4a having become so much better than the angels,

 

A certain line of logical connection leads us to this juncture. The KJV renders the beginning of the verse, “Being made,” whereas the NASB, HCSB, or NIV closely follow the NKJV in saying, “Having become.” In either case this verse does not argue for the Son as a created being, made superior to angels. Rather, we trace this thought from verse 2. God spoke in His Son, through whom He made the universe. The word “being” in, “Being the brightness of God’s glory,” is a present tense verb, implying a continuous state. Jesus is perpetually the effulgence of the Father’s brilliance, and the express image or exact representation of His character or nature. The author speaks boldly about the identicalness of Father and Son. Not only that but Christ upholds all things (the universe and all life) by the word of His power. By Himself He purged our sins, and as testimony of His accomplished, one time action, He sat down to demonstrate no more sacrifice for sin was necessary or acceptable.

This leads us to verse 4. Jesus “had become,” or had, “been made” a little lower than the angels in a positional, durative sense. Hebrews 2:9 clarifies this passage when we read: “But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor.” We’ll treat this verse in its proper place later, but for now focus on the phrase, “made a little lower.” The NASB renders it, “made for a little while lower,” while the HCSB translates it, “made lower than the angels for a short time.” “Made” in these instance does not deal with an act of creation, but rather an act of positioning. In terms of Jesus’ glory and honor He was, for a little while “made” lower than the angels, or placed there. In verse 4 Jesus, due to His crowning achievements of justification and glorification of the human race has become so much better than the angelic majesties, though He is still a Man. As the Word of God He outstripped the angels because He created them. But even as an incarnated human being, Jesus our Lord is greater than the angelic hosts that are His to command.

 

In John 1:3 we find: “All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.” Extrapolating Hebrews 1:2, John edges out innocent misunderstandings in regard to the creative activity of our Lord. First in the positive we read that all things were made through Jesus. This compasses creation in every respect. If it was not God, then it was made through the Word of God. Second, without Jesus, no created thing was made. The HCSB says of this verse, “apart from Him not one thing was created that has been created.” What am I getting at? Christ was begotten of God, not created by God. If He too was a created being then this verse, inspired by the Holy Spirit, stands in error to that revelation. Christ is firstborn over all creation not because he is the summit of created entities, but by the preeminence due Him to His suffering of death crowned with glory. Adam’s sin was purged in Christ, Hebrews 1:3. It was this act of purging that leads to the author’s unabashed exaltation of the Son over the angelic hosts.

 

Hebrews 1:4b having become so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.

 

Psalm 2:7 informs us that Yahweh issued a decree that a day would come, appointed by providence, that He would beget Messiah and acknowledge Him as His Son via the incarnation. Verse 8 continues, where the Father tells the Son that He needs but ask, and God will grant Him the nations as His inheritance, the ends of the earth as His possession to rule over and to break them with a rod of iron. Adam was given the enormous responsibility of rulership over the created order, demonstrated when God brought the animals before him so he might name them, Genesis 2:20. When you name something you are claiming ownership or dominion over it. Adam was exercising his right of rule, demonstrating that God had given him stewardship of the earth and all that walked upon it. Christ, by virtue of His redemptive act, received what Adam forfeit. The only begotten Son of God, the last Man and Second Adam received the inheritance of rule over all created life and existence. Verse 12 indicates that we are to worship the Son the same as the Father, and blessed, says the Psalmist, are those who take refuge in Him. Jesus, says Paul, is the firstborn over all creation, Colossians 1:15. The right of the firstborn is the inheritance of that lineage. As the legitimate Son of God, and the Son of Man, Jesus stands as the successor or inheritor of all things. By asking the Father for the nations and the farthest reaches of the earth as written in Psalm 2:8, He is merely exercising the right of the firstborn.