SUMMARY
After the first four verses of chapter one identify the Son as the ultimate messenger of God to humanity, the remaining verses of the chapter use a variety of Old Testament texts to support the claims of Hebrews 1:1-4.
ANALYSIS
The author uses the rhetorical device, “To which of the angels…?” (1:5; 13) as a means of highlighting the higher status of the Son. The angels have privileged status as messengers of God to humanity (1:7), but the Son’s importance exists as so much more than that of the angels. JesusJesus is the Messiah whose life, death, and resurrection are God's saving act for humanity. Christ, who at this point in the letter is yet to be identified, is greater than the angels in these ways:
- He is a son of God, worthy of the angels’ worship.
- His throne, characterized by righteousness, will last forever.
- He is identified with the Creator, and he will continue after earth and heaven perish.
- He will stay constant, even as such apparently constant entities as earth and heaven are changed.
- God has said to him, “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet” (1:13).
Most of these ten verses are direct quotations from the Old Testament, many from the Psalms.
One can recognize here, at the start of the letter, the testimony about Christ that the author will make explicit in 13:8, when he writes, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” The Son, and his place alongside God the Father, are constant and trustworthy, whether the author of Hebrews is contemplating the time of creationCreation, in biblical terms, is the universe as we know or perceive it. Genesis says that in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. In the book of Revelation (which speaks of end times) the author declares that God created all things and..., the current time, or that time to come when all will be reconciled through him to God.
