Hebrews 1
Text
God = Theos, Elohim
God spoke to us by His son
of old spoken
In many parts, and many ways,
to the fathers
by the prophets:,
in these last days did speak
to us
by a Son
whom ...the Son
God appointed the Son heir of all things and through the Son made the universe.
He ... God
appointed
heirs
of all things,
through whom ...the Son
also
He ... The son
did make
the ages; {long life; old age}
Universe = for ever, an unbroken age, perpetuity of time, eternity; he worlds, universe; period of time, age
The Son is the brightness of God’s glory, the exact representation of God’s substance, Cleansed sins, sat down at God’s right hand.
who ... The son
being
the brightness
of the glory,
and
the impress exact representation
of His subsistence,
bearing up carrying, sustaining
also the all things
by the saying
of his might --
through himself
having made
a cleansing
of our sins,
sat down
at the right hand
of the greatness
in the highest,
The Son inherited a more excellent name
as he ... The Son
- having become so much better than the [Messenger]
- did inherit a more excellent name than they messengers.
For to which of the messengers said He ever, ... *God
My Son thou art I to-day have begotten thee?' and again,I will be to him for a father, and he shall be to Me for a son?- and when again He ... God may bring in the first-born to the world,
He saith,
- `And let them bow before him all messengers of God;' and unto the messengers
- indeed, He saith, ... God `Who is making His messengers spirits, and His ministers a flame of fire;' NOTE: Makes winds his spirits and flames of fire his servants.
The Son loves righteousness, hates lawlessness, is above companions, created the earth and heavens,
and unto the Son says
- `Thy thrones, O God, [is] to the age of the age; a scepter of righteousness [is] the scepter to thy reign;
- thou didst love righteousness, and didst hate lawlessness;
- because of this did He anoints thee God, thy God --with oil of gladness above thy partners;' and,
- `Thou, at the beginning, Lord, the earth didst found, and a work of thy hands are the heavens; these shall perish, and NOTE: Created the earth and the heavens
- Thou dost remain, and all, as a garment, shall become old, and as a mantle Thou shall roll them together, and they shall be changed, and
- Thou art the same, and Thy years shall not fail.'
And unto which of the messengers said He ever,
- `Sit at My right hand, till I may make thine enemies thy footstool?'
- are they not all spirits of service for ministration being sent forth because of those about to inherit salvation?
NOTES
Heiser, Michael S.. The Unseen Realm: Recovering the Supernatural Worldview of the Bible (p. 359). Lexham Press. Kindle Edition.
No other passage in the New Testament is as powerful in its divine council theology as Hebrews 1–2.
Jesus is superior to the angels since he was “begotten” as the son of God.
It is best to understand the term as “brought forth” in the sense of revealed in a unique way—in this instance, the full incarnation of Yahweh.
Because of the failure of Israel in the course of God’s attempts to revive his Edenic rule and plan, we saw that he adopted a new strategy that would not fail. The Old Testament knows this as the new covenant (Jer 31:31–33), a covenant wherein the Spirit would instill God’s rule in the hearts of believers. God could depend only on himself.
Did you catch the distinctions? Jesus inherits rulership and dominion, angels do not. Angels are “ministering spirits” who serve the human believers who inherit salvation and are adopted into Yahweh’s family. Cast against what we learned in the last chapter, this is a bombshell. We are the ones united to Christ, not angels. We are the ones given the morning star, the credential for rule, by Jesus himself. We are the ones who will be put over the nations.
Hebrews 1:4–5; 2:7–9. In the second of these passages, the word angelos is used when the writer quotes Psalm 8:4–6, so that Hebrews 2:7 describes humankind as being “a little lower than the angels,” whereas the Hebrew text of Psalm 8:5 has humanity being “a little lower than elohim.” While the original Hebrew text could mean that humankind was created “a little lower than God [elohim],” the Greek translation that the writer of Hebrews is using (the Septuagint) interpreted elohim as plural, and translated the word with angeloi (“angels”). This shows us that angelos had become a word deemed appropriate to generally describe a member of the supernatural realm, just as elohim is used in the Old Testament.4
In classical Greek literature, which preceded the time of the New Testament, the term daimōn describes any divine being without regard to its nature (good or evil). A daimōn can be a god or goddesss, some lesser divine power, or the spirit of the departed human dead.5 As such, it is akin to Hebrew elohim in its generic meaning.