Hebrews 1 - Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible

Bible Comments

  • Hebrews 1:5-14 open_in_new

    The Superiority of the Son to the Angels (Hebrews 1:5 to Hebrews 2:14)

    He Is Now Contrasted With The Angels, the Heavenly Beings and Intermediaries between God and the world (Hebrews 1:5-14).

    Having revealed the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ as ‘the Son', the writer now goes on to contrast Him with all heavenly beings, although already having revealed Him as superior to the angels in His being stated by God to be ‘My Son'. He does this by means of seven quotations from the Scriptures.

    There is a certain pattern to them. The first quotation affirms His crowning as God's king and, in its context in the Psalm, also presents Him as God's ‘Anointed', and this leads on in the second quotation into a reign where God is His Father, and He is His Son. These two tie in with his opening statement in Hebrews 1:2 that He has spoken through One Who is a Son.

    In parallel to this the fifth quotation emphasises His possession of His everlasting, durable throne and His further ‘anointing' as Supreme Ruler over His ‘fellows', and leads on in the sixth into His supremacy over creation from its beginning to its end (as in Hebrews 1:3) and His complete everlastingness and durability in all things.

    The third affirms the homage of angels at His coming because He is God's chosen and His heir (firstborn), and the seventh the submission of all His enemies at His coming. The fourth and central one defines the comparative status of the angels, as sandwiched on each side by three declarations of His authority and power (three being ever the number of completeness).

    Thus we may picture this as follows:

    1) He is God's anointed, ‘begotten' Son 5) He is God's anointed Supreme Ruler 2) He is the Father's appointed Son 6) As ‘Lord' He is everlastingly supreme over creation 3) He receives homage from angels as God's ‘firstborn' 7) All His enemies are subjected to Him. Note how the first three relate to His appointment resulting in due honour, the second three to the manifestation of this in rulership and triumph. And these two ideas surround the description of angels as being closely connected with created things.