For to which of the angels said he ever, *Thou* art my Son this day have *I* begotten thee? and again, *I* will be to him for father, and *he* shall be to me for son?
The writer has just claimed that the Son inherits a name far above the angels. Verse 5 proves it from Scriptures the readers already knew. It gives two sentences God spoke, and He never said either of them to an angel.
The comparison is not random. The readers' old religious system was itself tied to angels.
The Jewish system was set up in connection with angels. But Christ has taken a position much higher than that of angels, because the name He inherits as His own — that is, a revelation of what He is — is far more excellent than theirs. So the writer quotes several Old Testament passages about the Messiah, to show what He is compared with the nature and position of angels. What these passages meant to a Jew who believed is plain... it was their own Scriptures that proved the Messiah was to have a position far more excellent and exalted than that of angels.
The angels' own place is settled later in the chapter, and it is a place of service.
In verse 7 we have a quotation which plainly states the nature of angels and the reason why they exist. They are spirits in their nature and they exist as ministers to serve the Divine will.
The force of the question sharpens when you notice that Scripture does call angels "sons of God." The distinction lies elsewhere.
He is clearly addressed as man born into the world, for "this day" belongs to time, not to eternity... This is all the more striking because angels too are called "sons of God," as in Job 1:6 and Job 38:7. The sonship shared by all spiritual beings whom the "Father of spirits" (Heb. 12:9) created is one thing; the real relationship of a "begotten Son" is another... Here, in the condition of a creature, is One who is more than a creature. Men may be "offspring of God," and angels "sons," yet neither of them reach this place or inherit this name.
Commentators differ over which moment "today" points to. One reading takes it of His birth in time.
The first Scripture quoted is from Psalm 2:7. God never spoke such a word to an angel. It applies only to Christ. But how? The apostle John loves to dwell on His eternal Sonship... How is He viewed here? As Son of God born in time. We see Him so in Luke 1:32, and still more clearly in verse 35. Taking flesh did not lower His Sonship at all. He was Son of God from eternity, and He was no less Son of God when born of the virgin Mary, as He is in resurrection and forever in glory.
Others stress that these words rest on a relationship which had no beginning.
Adam was a son of God because God breathed life into him. An angel is a son of God as a created spirit. To either of them God might say, once he had been brought into being, "You are My son." But it seems unbelievable that God should say this to either of them before he came into the sphere of creation. Yet the LORD could and did speak this way to His own Son. The whole force of the quotation from the Psalm depends on its being true of the Son alone, who was the Eternal Son without any begetting — true of Him even before He was begotten in time as man.
The psalm this comes from tells of kings conspiring against God's Anointed. Their rage meets one answer: His title.
Why is it that the King in Zion can stand against all the hatred and opposition of the enemy?... it was because that King in Zion was His Son. "I will declare the decree," says the Son; and then He declares it. "You are My Son," God had said to Him; "today I have begotten You." He is in His kingly place as Son of God, and who can set himself against the Son of God with any success?
These words were first spoken about Solomon, David's son who built the temple.
The apostle strengthens this with a second quotation. It applied first of all to Solomon, but only as a picture of another. Even as Builder of God's house, the true Son of David was not Solomon but a Greater One, whose house and kingdom would both last for ever... But the point here is, "I will be to Him a Father and He shall be to Me a Son." On both sides these relations will be all that they imply.
And no created being could fill that second half.
How could any creature, however blessed, be to God all that the name SON means? He alone stands infinitely above all creatures. He alone could present to God, in manhood, what called out every affection of God's heart, and He alone was an object fully worthy of those affections. He alone could give God a response that matched them.
- Name — The Son's greatness rests on a name He inherits, not on rank lent to Him. The proof comes from the readers' own Scriptures.
- Never — God never called an angel "My Son." Angels are sons of God as created spirits. A begotten Son is something else.
- Today — "This day" is the language of time, not eternity. Commentators differ over which moment it marks. All agree His coming as man never lessened His Sonship.
- Throne — In Psalm 2 kings conspire against God's Anointed. They cannot shake the King in Zion, because He is the Son.
- Mutual — The second quotation gives God's side of the bond. Solomon only pictured it. Only One could be to God all that "Son" means.
and again, when he brings in the firstborn into the habitable world, he says, And let all God's angels worship him.
Hebrews 1 sets the Son above the angels. This verse goes further: God commands the angels to worship Him.
The word marks rank and inheritance, not birth order.
When God introduces the Firstborn into the world, all the angels are called to worship Him. God presents Him to the world; but the highest of created beings must then cast themselves at His feet. The angels of God Himself — the creatures that are nearest to Him — must do homage to the Firstborn. The Firstborn is the Heir, the One in whom the glory and power of God begin to appear. It is in this sense that the word is used. It is said of the Son of David, "I will make him the firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth" (Ps. 89:27). So the Messiah is introduced into the world as holding this place in relation to God Himself. He is the Firstborn — the immediate expression of the rights and the glory of God. He has universal pre-eminence.
Angels know where worship belongs. One of them once told the apostle John so.
The angelic beings around the throne of God could not worship anyone who was less than God. No creature, however blessed by God, or given divine power, could rightly receive such honour. The idea would be sinful in the extreme. Angels know who the Son is, and that He died for man on the cross… They know well to whom worship belongs. John was once overcome by the bright shining of an angel and by the wonderful things made known to him. He "fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed him these things." The angel refused at once. He would not take the homage, but rebuked the mistaken apostle: "You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers the prophets. Worship God!"
If worship belongs to God alone, this command settles what the Son is.
So there is no ground for doubt. "Angels" are meant here, and they are commanded to pay supreme honour to the Son as the risen and glorified Man — yet He is no less a divine person. If He were not, worthiness as man and given dignity could not justify the homage God claims for His Son from the highest creatures of heaven… He may take a place of humiliation, or a place of glorious rule, for the glory of God and the blessing of creation. In personal title and divine nature He is as truly Supreme as the Father or the Holy Spirit. To think otherwise is to disown His true Deity.
Commentators differ over this word. Does it mark another quotation, or a second entry into the world? Many read it as His return in glory, and note that He is brought in, not sent.
Of His first coming, Scripture says that Christ came into the world, that He was sent, that He was born. Here Scripture says He is brought, or introduced, into the world… So the promise that the First-begotten will be brought into the world again points clearly back to His earlier expulsion from it. Man drove Him out in disgrace when, by the grace of God, His beloved Son was crucified in weakness. He will re-enter it in majesty, according to the power of God.
Others hold that the point is not the date at all.
The apostle's aim appears to be this: not to fix the time when God brings the Firstborn into the world, but to prove the universal homage of all God's angels to the glory of the Son. Whenever that moment is, past or future, the homage stands. And Luke 2:13-14 is a beautiful witness to it. There is no ground at all to limit "the firstborn" to resurrection… At the same time, we freely allow that the fulfilment of Deuteronomy 32 or of Psalm 97 as a whole awaits the Lord's second coming.
"The world" here means the habitable earth.
This happens when He brings Him into the world, or "habitable earth" — His kingdom of a thousand years. The psalm describes Him coming into the habitable earth as Judge, to take His place and reign. As He comes, the One who once came as the Babe of Bethlehem comes in the clouds with power and great glory, and the hosts of heaven come with Him… There He is, the Object of angels' worship. This was never said of any angel. Angels are worshippers, not objects of worship.
What God commands of angels, the redeemed give from the heart.
God is jealous for the honour of the Son. If He commands the angels to own and respect the personal rights of the Firstborn, then we may be sure of this: the redeemed must and will gladly yield to Him their unbounded adoration. They will adore Him not only as the Firstborn of all creation, but as the Firstborn from among the dead (Col. 1:15, 18).
- Firstborn. The title marks the Heir. It means rank and universal pre-eminence, not birth order — He is the immediate expression of God's rights and glory.
- Brought in. God does not only send Him. God brings Him into the earth that cast Him out, and He re-enters in majesty what He left in weakness.
- Worshipped. God Himself gives the command. No creature may take such honour, and angels themselves refuse it.
- Above. Angels worship; they are never worshipped. That settles the Son's place above the highest beings God has made.
- Gladly. Commentators differ on the timing. No one doubts the end: heaven's command becomes the redeemed heart's delight.
And as to the angels he says, Who makes his angels spirits and his ministers a flame of fire;
This verse is one of several Old Testament quotations the writer uses to set the Son above every angel. It raises a simple question with a large answer: what are angels made to be, and why does that settle their rank?
The readers of this letter held angels in the highest regard, which is why the argument opens where it does.
The writer sent this letter to Hebrews, and that explains the comparison and contrast between Christ and angels. A Hebrew saw angels as the highest and holiest beings, second only to Jehovah Himself. God also gave the law through angels (Acts 7:53; Gal. 3:19), and angels served in other well-known ways in Israel's history. So these beings held a high place in the Jewish mind. … Angels are only servants. Scripture never says that they occupy a throne, because they cannot reign. But Christ has a throne, and His redeemed will reign with Him.
Everything turns on the verb. God gives angels their nature. To the Son He speaks in a different way.
It has pleased God to give these agents of His power this nature of spirits. But of the Son He says, "Your throne, O God!" By His own will God makes His angels spirits, or flames of fire. But of the Son we never read that God makes anything of Him.
The wording quoted here can be read two ways. Older versions say "spirits"; the ESV says "winds." The choice matters, because it says something about what angels are.
According to the apostle, "He makes His angels spirits" states a fact about the nature of angels. That is a much higher fact than making "the winds His messengers," as some would have it. Either translation is possible, so the language alone cannot settle the meaning. This shows two things. No part of His creation stands separate from Him, and no physical agency is anything but the embodiment of His will. The spirits, who carry a responsibility of their own, represent Him and are subject to Him. They receive their character and their gifts from Him, according to His will.
Angels differ among themselves in rank. Their place before God, though, is the same for all of them.
Angels fall into various orders and ranks. But all of them, from the archangel down to the least, are servants. They have no relationship to God founded on redemption. They are servants, and never rise out of that position, nor do they wish to. Angel life has two great marks: unquestioning obedience and active service (Ps. 103:20; Heb. 1:7, 14).
The two images are not decoration. They show how these servants act in Bible history — sometimes rescuing, sometimes striking.
Of them we read that "God makes His angels spirits (winds) and His ministers a flame of fire." And again, "the chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands of angels." At God's command they get ready to serve, in whatever the saint needs or the occasion under the throne of God calls for. They formed a travelling chariot to carry Elijah to heaven, and to carry Lazarus to Abraham's side. They now form chariots of war when the hostile bands of Syria surround Elisha. They have drawn the sword to strike a guilty city. Or with the strong hand of love they have dragged the unwilling one out of the doomed city. They are either as winds or as fire. They are messengers of mercy, and executors of judgment.
Read this chapter to its end, and the angels' service points in a surprising direction.
This quotation comes from Psalm 104, the psalm of creation. Here God is speaking of His works of creation and providence, and of the messengers He uses. They are angels, beings who excel in strength and delight to do His will. He makes the angels spirits, and they go like the lightning or like the wind, quick and certain in their work. Theirs is a blessed position, a place of exaltation as far as man is concerned — but after all, they are ministers. And as we read in the last verse of this chapter, "Are they not all ministering spirits?" They do not only serve God, going out as the rushing wind or the flame of fire to do His will. Are they not ministering spirits, sent out to serve us?
- Made. The verb rules the verse. God gives angels their nature. Of the Son we never read that God makes anything of Him.
- Spirits. Older versions read "spirits"; the ESV reads "winds." Commentators differ. Read as "spirits," the verse states what angels are by nature.
- Ministers. Wind and fire picture swift, sure service. Angels are messengers of mercy and executors of judgment — seen at Elijah's ascent and around Elisha.
- Servants. From archangel to least, none rises out of that place, and none wishes to. They have no relationship to God founded on redemption.
- Sent. Their service reaches down to us. They are ministering spirits, sent out to serve us.