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.
but as to the Son, Thy throne, O God, [is] to the age of the age, and a sceptre of uprightness [is] the sceptre of thy kingdom.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
Thou hast loved righteousness and hast hated lawlessness; therefore God, thy God, has anointed thee with oil of gladness above thy companions.
God's address to the Son continues, but the tone changes: the One just called God is now said to have a God, and to have companions. Two questions follow: why the anointing comes with a "therefore", and who these companions are.
Commentators are careful not to blur verse 8 into verse 9.
Do not confuse the language of verse 8 with that of verse 9. Verse 8 states the Lord's Divinity outright. It gives the sceptre of righteousness to the Son as something that belongs to Him from the first, as the Judge of all the world. In the other verse we see Him as the Perfect One. Jehovah bears witness to Him, and gives Him the rewards of righteousness as the Man of God's pure approval and delight.
The two are not in tension. They belong to one Person.
The past too is not forgotten, nor ever can be by God. "You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness." Such was Jesus as man here below; for in truth He is both in one person, neither more truly God than man, nor man than God.
The quotes below read "iniquity" or "lawlessness" where the ESV has "wickedness". Loving the one and hating the other is a single attitude, not two.
To love righteousness is to hate its opposite, iniquity. The more intense the love of righteousness, the more intense the hatred of iniquity.
This was not a preference held at no cost. One writer sets the price beside the statement:
"He loved righteousness, and hated lawlessness," though it cost Him His blood, and being forsaken and bruised by God.
The anointing follows what He was as Man on earth:
God addresses Him as God, since He is a divine Person. Yet He is still seen here as the perfect Man on earth, the One of whom it can be said, "Your God has anointed You." Because of His moral perfection — His love of righteousness and hatred of iniquity — God has raised Him above all those He associates with Himself in grace.
One writer explains how the One called God can also have a God:
Because of this His God — remember, here He is Man, and so the expression "His God" is fitting — has anointed Him with the oil of gladness above His fellows, or companions. Kings of old were anointed with oil, but the Lord was anointed with the Holy Spirit. These words also show that in His kingship He has companions.
The oil does not stop with Him:
Though the measure is greater, the character of the gladness is the same. It is the same excellent oil which anoints Him in glory that flows down to us here. The same Spirit that rests on Him has come to all those who belong to Him. We share in the same gladness with Him.
Commentators differ here. Some identify them with Israel's faithful few:
These companions are the believing remnant of Israel. By grace He has made them His fellows. Yet He stands above them all, for by His love of righteousness — and that, at all costs — He was perfectly pleasing to God.
Another writer marks off who cannot be His fellows, and who can:
A new and surprising comparison now comes in. It is not a contrast, as with the angels, but a difference of degree only. He is anointed with the oil of gladness above His fellows. Angels are no fellows to the Son. They stand in complete contrast with Him, as we have seen. His fellows are none other than those for whom God has appointed this glory, by the exceeding riches of His grace: to be conformed to the image of His Son; for He is, and is to be, the Firstborn among many brothers.
The height of this verse does not shut others out.
How beautiful to see the largeness of grace and truth. After this lofty owning of Messiah as God by God comes the fullest acknowledgment of others. He Himself is no more ashamed to own us His companions or fellows than God is to own Him God.
- Cause. A life of loving righteousness and hating wickedness stands behind the "therefore". The anointing is God's answer to His moral perfection.
- Cost. That love was not cheap. It cost Him His blood, and being forsaken by God.
- Gift. The oil is the anointing of the Spirit, and the same oil that rests on Him flows down to those who belong to Him.
- Reach. Angels are never called His fellows; only those He associates with Himself are. Commentators differ on whether these are Israel's believing remnant or all who will be conformed to the image of God's Son.
- Result. He owns us as companions as freely as God owns Him as God — yet He is anointed above us all.