Hebrews 1:4

The design of the apostle, as we have now often showed, is to evince the necessity of abiding in the doctrine of the gospel, from the excellency of the person by whom it pleased God to reveal it unto us. This he hath done already in general, in that description which he hath given us of his person, power, works, offices, and glory; whereby he hath made it evident that no creature whom God was pleased at any time to make use of in the revelation of his will, or the institution of his worship, was any way to be compared with him. Having proceeded thus far in general, he descends now to the consideration of particular instances, in all those whom God employed in the ministration of the law and constitution of Mosaical worship; and takes occasion from them all to set forth the dignity and incomparable excellencies of the Lord Christ, whom in all things he exalts.

First, then, he treateth concerning angels, as those who were the most glorious creatures, employed in the giving of the law. The Hebrews owned, yea, pleaded this in their own defense, that besides the mediation of Moses, God used the ministry of angels in the giving of the law, and in other occasional instructions of their forefathers. Some of them contend that the last of the prophets was personally an angel, as the signification of his name imports. Holy Stephen, upbraiding them with their abuse and contempt of their greatest privileges, tells them that they “received the law by the disposition” (“ordering,” or “ministry”) “of angels,” Acts 7:53. And the Targum interprets the chariots of God, with the thousands of angels, Psalms 68:17-18, of the angels by whose ministry God taught Israel the law. This, then, might leave a special prejudice in their minds, that the law being so delivered by angels must needs have therein the advantage above the gospel, and be therefore excellent and immutable.

To remove this prejudice also, and further to declare the excellency and pre-eminence in all things of Him who revealed the gospel, the apostle takes occasion, from what he had newly taught them concerning the exaltation of Jesus Christ at the right hand of God, to prove unto them, out of the scriptures of the Old Testament, that he is exceedingly advanced and glorious above the angels themselves, whose concurrence in the ministration of the law they boasted in; and to this purpose produceth four signal testimonies, one after another. This is the design of the apostle, which he pursues and makes out unto the end of this chapter; and that we may rightly conceive of his intention, and the meaning of the Holy Ghost in the whole, we shall, before we consider his proposition laid down in this fourth verse, or the ensuing confirmations of it, inquire in general what it is in Christ which he compareth with and preferreth above the angels, and wherein it is that he so exalts him.

The comparison entered on between the Lord Christ and angels must be either with respect unto their natures, or unto their dignity, office, power, and glory. If the comparison be of nature with nature, then it must be either in respect of the divine or human nature of Christ. If it should be of the divine nature of Christ with the nature of angels, then it is not a comparison of proportion, as between two natures agreeing in any general kind of being, as do the nature of a man and a worm, but a comparison only manifesting a difference and distance without any proportion. So answereth Athanasius, Orat. 2 adv. Arian. But the truth is, the apostle hath no design to prove by arguments and testimonies the excellencies of the divine nature above the angelical. There was no need so to do, nor do his testimonies prove any such thing. Besides, speaking of angels, the other part of the comparison, he treats not of their nature, but their office, work, and employment, with their honorable and glorious condition therein. Whereas, therefore, the apostle produceth sundry testimonies confirming the deity of the Son, he doth it not absolutely to prove the divine nature to be more excellent than the angelical, but only to manifest thereby the glorious condition of him who is partaker of it, and consequently his pre-eminence above angels, or the equity that it should be so.

Neither is the comparison between the human nature of Christ and the nature of angels; for that absolutely considered and in itself is inferior to the angelical; whence, in regard of his participation of it, he is said to be made “lower than the angels,” chap. 2.

The apostle, then, treats of the person of Christ, God and man, who was appointed and designed of God the Father to be the revealer of the gospel and mediator of the new testament. As such, he is the subject of the ensuing general proposition; as such, he was spoken of in the words immediately foregoing; and concerning him as such are the ensuing testimonies to be interpreted, even those which testify to his divine nature, being produced to demonstrate the excellency of his person, as vested with the offices of the king, priest, and prophet of his church, the great revealer of the will of God in the last days.

Hebrews 1:4. Τοσούτῳ κρείττων γενὸμενος τῶν ἀγγέλων, ὅσῳ διαφορώτερον παρ᾿ αὐτοὺς κεκληρονόμηκεν ὄνομα.

Τοσούτῳ κρείττων γενόμενος Syr. וְהָנָא כֻּלֵהּ יִרֵב “Et ipse tantum praestantior fuit,” Boderian.; “And he was so much more excellent.” “At tanto potior factus est,” Tremel.; “And he is made so much more better.” “At ipse toto excellit;” or, as De Dieu, “At hoc totum excellit;” “And he wholly excelleth;” or, “in all things he excelleth.” Vulg. “Tanto melior factus angelis.” The translation of κρείττων by “melior” is blamed by Erasmus, Beza, Vatablus, and is generally deserted by the expositors of the Roman church; and it is hard, if not impossible, to find “melior” in any good author used in the sense that κρείττων is here and elsewhere constantly applied unto. Ours render the word “better,” “made better;” to avoid, I believe, a coincidence with that which they express διαφορώτερον by, “more excellent.” Κρείττων is properly “nobilior,” “potentior,” “praestantior,” “excellentior,” “more powerful,” “able,” “excellent,” as to love, honor, or state and condition; as in that of Homer, Il. A. 80,

Κρεισσων γὰρ βασιλεὺς ὅτε χώσεται ἀνδρὶ χέρηι. That is, πολλὸν ἀρείων, saith Eustathius, “multo potentior,” “more powerful,” “able to prevail,” or “more excellent.” Γενόμενος, “factus,” “effectus,” “made,” “was,” “became.” Διαφορώτερον, “differentius” “ different;” which is sometimes put absolutely for the best things, orthings far better than other things that differ: “make to differ,” to prefer, make better, 1 Corinthians 4:7. Syr. דַמְיַתַּר “excellentius,” “more excellent.” Διαφέρω is both to differ and excel; but the “differentius” of the Vulgar yields no good sense in this place. Κεκληρονόμηκε, “haereditavit,” “sortitus est,” “jure hereditario obtinuit;” of the importance of which word before. [4]

[4] EXPOSITION. The comparison of the Son with angels divides itself into two sections; the Son is superior to the angels already, in virtue of his eternal existence as the Son of God, Hebrews 1:4-14; in the Son, man also has been exalted above the angels, Hebrews 2:5-18. Ebrard. Γενόμ, points out that this exaltation is true not only of the Logos in abstracto, but of the whole divine-human subject. Tholuck. The aorist, “having been made” or “become,” is antithetic to the present ὤν, “being,” in 1 Corinthians 4:3. Turner.

The name “sons of God” is given to angels. But it is a different thing to apply a common name in the plural to a class, from what it is to apply the same as an individual name in the singular to an individual. When Jehovah, in Psalms 2:2; Psalms 2:7, declares his anointed to be his Son whom he has begotten, this is something different from what is said, when the angels as a class are called sons of the Elohim who has created them. Ebrard.

Κρείτ. refers to superiority in rank or dignity. The term “better” suggests the idea of moral excellence, which is not the thought here. Craik.

TRANSLATIONS. Κρείτ. Exalted above the angels. Stuart.

Greater. Boothroyd, Conybeare, and Howson. Superior to the angels. Craik,

Γενόμ. Being made. Diodati. Διαφορ.

More distinguished, more singular. Ebrard. ED.

Hebrews 1:4. Being in so much preferred [exalted, made eminent] above angels, as he [obtained] inherited a more excellent name than they.

There are five things considerable in and for the exposition of these words:

1. What it is that the apostle asserts in them as his general proposition, namely, that the Son, as the great priest and prophet of the church, was preferred above, and made more glorious and powerful than the angels; and how this was done, and wherein it doth consist.

2. When, he was so preferred above them; which belongs unto the explication and right understanding of the former.

3. The degree of this preference of him above the angels, intimated in the comparison, “Being by so much made more excellent, as he hath,” etc.

4. The proof of the assertion, both absolutely and as to the degree intimated; and this is taken from his name.

5. The way whereby he came to have this name; he obtained it as his lot and portion, or he inherited it.

1. He is made “more excellent” than the angels, preferred above them, that is, say some, declared so to be. “Turn res dicitur fieri, cum incipit patefieri.” Frequently in the Scripture a thing is then said to be made, or to be, when it is manifested so to be. And in this sense the word γίνεσθαι is sometimes used: Romans 3:4, Γινέσθω ὁ Θεὸς ἀληθὴς, πᾶς δὲ ἄνθρωπος ψεύστης, “Let God be true, and every man a liar;” that is, manifested and acknowledged so to be. So, James 1:12, Δόκιμος γενόμενος, he that is approved in trial, and thereby manifested to be sincere and sound. In this sense the apostle tells us, Romans 1:4, that the Lord Christ was “declared to be the Son of God by the resurrection from the dead.” The resurrection from the dead did not make him to be the Son of God, but evidently manifested and declared him so to be. According to this interpretation of the words, that which the Holy Ghost intimateth is, that whereas the Lord Christ ministered in an outwardly low condition in this world, whilst he purged our sins, yet by his sitting down at the right hand of God he was revealed, manifested, declared to be more excellent than all the angels in heaven.

But I see no reason why we should desert the proper and most usual signification of the words, nothing in the context persuading us so to do. Besides, this suits not the apostle's design, who doth not prove from the Scripture that the Lord Christ was manifested to be more excellent than the angels, but that really he was preferred and exalted above them. So, then, κρείττων γενόμενος is as much as “preferred,” “exalted,” actually placed in more power, glory, dignity, than the angels. This John Baptist affirms of him, ᾿Εμπροσθέν μου γέγονεν· ὅτι πρῶτός μου ἧν· “He was preferred before me, because he was before me,” preferred above him, called to another manner of office than that which John ministered in, made before or above him in dignity, because he was before him in nature and existence. And this is the proper sense of the words: the Lord Jesus Christ, the revealer of the will of God in the gospel, is exalted above, preferred before, made more excellent and glorious than the angels themselves, all or any of them, who ministered unto the Lord in the giving of the law on mount Sinai.

Some object unto this interpretation, “That he who is said to be made or set above the angels is supposed to have been lower than they before.” To which I answer, And so he was, not in respect of essence, subsistence, and real dignity, but in respect of the infirmities and sufferings that he was exposed unto in the discharge of his work here on the earth, as the apostle expressly declares, Hebrews 2:9.

2. And this gives us light into our second inquiry on these words, namely, when it was that Christ was thus exalted above the angels.

(1.) Some say that it was in the time of his incarnation; for then the human nature being taken into personal subsistence with the Son of God, it became more excellent than that of the angels. This sense is fixed on by some of the ancients, who are followed by sundry modern expositors. But we have proved before that it is not of either nature of Christ absolutely or abstractedly that the apostle here speaketh nor of his person but as vested with his office, and discharging of it. And, moreover, the incarnation of Christ was part of his humiliation and exinanition, and is not, therefore, especially intended where his exaltation and glory are expressly spoken of.

(2.) Some say that it was at the time of his baptism, when he was anointed with the Spirit for the discharge of his prophetical office, Isaiah 61:1-2. But yet neither can this designation of the time be allowed; and that because the main things wherein he was made lower than the angels, as his temptations, and sufferings, and death itself, did follow his baptism and unction.

(3.) It must therefore be the time of his resurrection, ascension, and exaltation at the right hand of God, which ensued thereon, that is designed as the season wherein he was made more excellent than the angels, as evidently appears from the text and context: for,

[1.] That was the time, as we have showed before, when he was gloriously vested with that all power in heaven and earth which was of old designed unto him and prepared for him.

[2.] The order also of the apostle's discourse leads us to fix on this season: “After he had by himself purged our sins, he sat down,” etc.; “being made so much more excellent;” that is, therein and then he was so made.

[3.] The testimony in the first place produced by the apostle in the confirmation of his assertion is elsewhere, as we shall see, applied by himself unto his resurrection and the glory that ensued, and consequently they are also in this place intended.

[4.] This preference of the Lord Christ above the angels is plainly included in that grant of all power made unto him, Matthew 28:18; expounded Ephesians 1:21-22.

[5.] The testimony used by the apostle in the first place is the word that God spake unto his King, when he set him upon his holy hill of Zion, Psalms 2:6-8; which typically expresseth his glorious installment in his heavenly kingdom.

The Lord Christ, then, who in respect of his divine nature was always infinitely and incomparably himself more excellent than all the angels, after his humiliation in the assumption of the human nature, with the sufferings and temptations that he underwent, upon his resurrection was exalted into a condition of glory, power, authority, excellency, and intrusted with power over them, as our apostle here informs us.

3. In this preference and exaltation of the Lord Christ there is a degree intimated: “Being made so much more,” etc. Now our conceptions hereabout, as to this place, are wholly to be regulated by the name given unto him. ‘Look,'saith the apostle, ‘how much the name given unto the Messiah excels the name given unto angels, so much doth he himself excel them in glory, authority, and power; for these names are severally given them of God to signify their state and condition.'What and how great this difference is we shall afterwards see, in the consideration of the instances given of it by the apostle in the verses ensuing.

4. The proof of this assertion which the apostle first fixeth on is taken from the name of Christ, his name, not given him by man, not assumed by himself, but ascribed unto him by God himself. Neither doth he here by the name of Christ or the name of the angels intend any individual proper names of the one or the other; but such descriptions as are made of them, and titles given unto them by God, as whereby their state and condition may be known. ‘Observe,'saith he, ‘how they are called of God, by what names and titles he owns them, and you may learn the difference between them.'This name he declares in the next verse: God said unto him, “Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee.” It is not absolutely his being the Son of God that is intended, but that, by the testimony of the Holy Ghost, God said these words unto him, “Thou art my Son,” and thereby declared his state and condition to be far above that of the angels, to none of whom he ever said any such thing, but speaks of them in a far distinct manner, as we shall see. But hereof in the next verse.

Some by this “excellent name” understand his power, and dignity, and glory, called “a name above every name,” Philippians 2:9. But then this can no way prove that which the apostle produceth it for, it being directly the same with that which is asserted, in whose confirmation it is produced.

5. The last thing considerable is, how the Lord Christ came by this name, or obtained it. Κεκληρονόμηκε, he obtained it by inheritance, as his peculiar lot and portion for ever. In what sense he is said to be κληρονόμος, “the heir,” was before declared. As he was made the heir of all, so he inherited a more excellent name than the angels. Now he was made heir of all, in that all things being made and formed by him, the Father committed unto him, as mediator, a peculiar power over all things, to be disposed of by him unto all the ends of his mediation. So also being the natural and eternal Son of God, in and upon the discharge of his work, the Father declared and pronounced that to be his name. See Luke 1:35; Isaiah 7:14; Isaiah 9:6. His being the Son of God is the proper foundation of his being called so; and his discharge of his office the occasion of its declaration. So he came unto it by right of inheritance, when he was “declared to be the Son of God with power, by the resurrection from the dead,” Romans 1:4.

This, then, is the sum of the apostle's proposition, and the confirmation of it. A name given by God to that end and purpose doth truly declare the nature, state, and condition of him or them to whom it is given; but unto Christ the mediator there is a name given of God himself, exceedingly more excellent than any that by him is given unto the angels: which undeniably evinceth that he is placed in a state and condition of glory far above them, or preferred before them.

I shall only observe one or two things concerning the Hebrews, to whom the apostle wrote, and so put an end to our exposition of this verse.

First, then, This discourse of the apostle, proving the pre-eminence of the Messiah above the angels, was very necessary unto the Hebrews, although it was very suitable unto their own principles, and in general acknowledged by them. It is to this day a tradition amongst them that the Messiah shall be exalted above Abraham, and Moses, and the ministering angels. Besides, they acknowledged the scriptures of the Old Testament, wherein the apostle shows them that this truth was taught and confirmed. But they were dull and slow in making application of these principles unto the confirmation of their faith in the gospel, as the apostle chargeth them, Hebrews 5:11-12. And they had at that time great speculations about the glory, dignity, and excellency of angels, and were fallen into some kind of worshipping of them. And it may be this curiosity, vanity, and superstition in them was heightened by the heat of the controversy between the Pharisees and Sadducees about them; the one denying their existence and being; the other, whom the body of the people followed, exalting them above measure, and inclining to the worship of them. This the apostle declares, Colossians 2:18. Treating of those Judaizing teachers who then troubled the churches, he chargeth them with fruitless and curious speculations about angels, and the worshipping of them. And of their ministry in the giving of the law they still boasted. It was necessary, therefore, to take them off from this confidence of that privilege, and the superstition that ensued thereon, to instruct them in the pre-eminence of the Lord Christ above them all, that so their thoughts might be directed unto him, and their trust placed in him alone. And this exaltation of the Messiah some of their later doctors assert on Daniel 7:9. חָזֵה הֲוִיִת עד דִּי כָרְסָוָן רְמִיו, “I beheld until the thrones were set,” “placed,” “exalted,” as in the original Chaldee, and as all old translations, Greek, Latin, Syriac, and Arabic, render the words, however ours read, “until the thrones were cast down,” affirming that one of those thrones was for the Messiah, before whom all the angels ministered in obedience.

Secondly, It may not be amiss to remark, that the Jews have always had a tradition of the glorious name of the Messiah, which even since their utter rejection they retain some obscure remembrance of. The name which they principally magnify is מטטרון, “Metatron.” Ben Uzziel, in his Targum on Genesis 5, ascribes this name to Enoch when he was translated: “He ascended into heaven in the word of the Lord, מטטרון ספרא רבא וקרא שמיה,” “and his name was called Metatron the great scribe.”

But this opinion of Enoch being Metatron is rejected and confuted in the Talmud. There they tell us that Metatron is שו העולם, “the prince of the world;” or, as Elias calls him in Thisbi, שר הפנים, “the prince of God's presence.” And in the first mention of this name, which is Talmud. Tract. Sanhed. cap. 4. fol. 38, they plainly intimate that they intend an uncreated angel by this expression. And such, indeed, must he be unto whom may be assigned what they ascribe unto Metatron; for as Reuchlin, from the Cabbalists, informs us, they say, רבי של משה מטטרון, “The teacher of Moses himself was Metatron.” He it is, saith Elias, that is the angel always appearing in the presence of God, of whom it is said, “My name is in him:” and the Talmudists, that he hath power to blot out the sins of Israel, whence they call him the chancellor of heaven. And Bechai, on Exodus 23, affirms that this name signifies both a lord, a messenger, and a keeper; a lord, because he ruleth all; a messenger, because he stands always before God to do his will; and a keeper, because he keepeth Israel. I confess the etymology that he gives of this name to that purpose is weak and foolish; as is also that of Elias, who tells us that Metatron is יון בלשון, in the Greek tongue, “one sent.” But yet it is evident what is intended by all these obscure intimations. The increated Prince of glory, and his exaltation over all, with the excellency of his name, is aimed at. As for the word itself, it is either a mere corruption of the Latin word, “mediator,” such as is usual amongst them; or a gematrical fiction to answer שדי, “the Almighty,” there being a coincidence in their numeral letters.

The doctrine of the preference and pre-eminence of Christ is insisted on by the apostle unto the end of this chapter, and therefore I shall not treat of it until we have gone through all the proofs of it produced; nor then but briefly, having already in part spoken of it, in our consideration of his sovereignty and lordship over all. That which we are peculiarly instructed in by these words is that, All pre-eminence and exaltation of one above others depends on the supreme counsel and will of God.

The instance he gives of him who is exalted over all sufficiently confirms our general rule. He had his “name,” denoting his glory and excellency, by “inheritance,” a heritage designed for him and given unto him in the counsel, will, and good pleasure of God. He gave him that “name above every name,” Philippians 2:9, and that of his own will and pleasure: “It pleased the Father that in him all fullness should dwell,” that so “in all things he might have the pre-eminence,” Colossians 1:16-19. He foreordained him unto it from eternity, 1 Peter 1:20; and actually exalted him according to his eternal counsel in the fullness of time, Acts 2:36; Acts 5:31.

This prelation, then, of Christ above all depends on the counsel and pleasure of God; and he is herein a pattern of all privilege and preeminence in others.

Grace, mercy, and glory, spiritual things and eternal, are those wherein really there is any difference among the sons of men. Now, that any one in these things is preferred before another, it depends merely on the sole good pleasure of God. No man in these things makes himself to differ from another, neither hath he any thing that he hath not received. “God hath mercy on whom he will have mercy.” And this discrimination of all things by the supreme will of God, especially spiritual and eternal, is the spring, fountain, and rule of all that glory which he will manifest and be exalted in unto eternity.