Hebrews 1 Study Notes

1:5-14 The author teaches his readers about the divine and human natures of the Son of God by establishing his superiority to the angels and to Moses. It would have shocked the typical Jewish reader to hear that a man was higher in rank than angels. Jesus Christ was fully human, but he was fully divine. This makes him superior to the angels.

Drawing on a series of OT quotations attributed to God, the author demonstrated how God the Father had addressed his Son as divine. God the Father addressed him uniquely as my Son (2Sm 7:14; 1Ch 17:13; Ps 2:7), God (Ps 45:6-7), and Lord (Ps 102:22). Moreover, God the Father attributed divine activities to his Son. He is the firstborn and “begotten” Son who was brought into the world so that all the angels must worship him (Dt 32:43; Ps 97:7). He is the Son who made the angels his angels and his servants (Ps 104:4). He is the Son who sits on the divine throne and rules with the divine attribute of righteousness (Ps 45:6-7). He is the Son who created heaven and earth in the beginning, and who will remain the same when creation is consummated, because he shares in the divine attribute of the eternal (Ps 102:25-27). These examples show that God the Father declared Jesus Christ, the promised Messiah, to be the eternally begotten Son of God.