-
Introduction: God Has Spoken Fully and Finally in His Son
After God spoke long ago in various portions and in various ways to our ancestors through the prophets,
-
in these last days he has spoken to us in a son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he created the world.
-
The Son is the radiance of his glory and the representation of his essence, and he sustains all things by his powerful word, and so when he had accomplished cleansing for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.
-
Thus he became so far better than the angels as he has inherited a name superior to theirs.
-
The Son Is Superior to Angels
For to which of the angels did God ever say, “You are my son! Today I have fathered you”? And in another place he says, “I will be his father and he will be my son.”
-
But when he again brings his firstborn into the world, he says, “Let all the angels of God worship him!”
-
And he says of the angels, “He makes his angels winds and his ministers a flame of fire,”
-
but of the Son he says, “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, and a righteous scepter is the scepter of your kingdom.
-
You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness. So God, your God, has anointed you over your companions with the oil of rejoicing.”
-
And, “You founded the earth in the beginning, Lord, and the heavens are the works of your hands.
-
They will perish, but you continue. And they will all grow old like a garment,
-
and like a robe you will fold them up and like a garment they will be changed, but you are the same and your years will never run out.”
-
But to which of the angels has he ever said, “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet”?
-
Are they not all ministering spirits, sent out to serve those who will inherit salvation?
-
Warning Against Drifting Away
Therefore we must pay closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away.
-
For if the message spoken through angels proved to be so firm that every violation or disobedience received its just penalty,
-
how will we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was first communicated through the Lord and was confirmed to us by those who heard him,
-
while God confirmed their witness with signs and wonders and various miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.
-
Exposition of Psalm 8: Jesus and the Destiny of Humanity
For he did not put the world to come, about which we are speaking, under the control of angels.
-
Instead someone testified somewhere: “What is man that you think of him or the son of man that you care for him?
-
You made him lower than the angels for a little while. You crowned him with glory and honor.
-
You put all things under his control.” For when he put all things under his control, he left nothing outside of his control. At present we do not yet see all things under his control,
-
but we see Jesus, who was made lower than the angels for a little while, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by God’s grace he would experience death on behalf of everyone.
-
For it was fitting for him, for whom and through whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through sufferings.
-
For indeed he who makes holy and those being made holy all have the same origin, and so he is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters,