Hebrews 1: What the Passage Says

The Chapter in a Sentence

The letter opens by contrasting how God spoke in the past, through the prophets, with how he has now spoken through his Son, who is heir of all things and through whom the world was made. It then argues from a chain of quotations from the Hebrew scriptures that the Son ranks far above the angels, holding a name, a throne, and a place at God's right hand that no angel is given. The chapter ends by describing angels as spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation.

Claim by Claim

1. 1:1
   • God spoke to the fathers in times past.
   • God spoke to the fathers through the prophets.
   • God's speaking to the fathers came in many parts or at many times.
   • God's speaking to the fathers came in many different ways.
2. 1:2
   • In these last days God has spoken to us by a Son.
   • God appointed the Son heir of all things.
   • God made the worlds, or ages, through the Son.
3. 1:3
   • The Son is the radiance of God's glory.
   • The Son is the exact imprint of God's substance.
   • The Son upholds all things by the word of his power.
   • The Son made purification of sins.
   • The Son purged those sins by himself.
   • The sins purged were ours.
   • After making that purification the Son sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.
4. 1:4
   • The Son became better than the angels.
   • The Son has obtained a name by inheritance.
   • The name he inherited is more excellent than the angels' name.
   • The measure by which he is better than the angels matches the measure by which his inherited name is more excellent than theirs.
5. 1:5
   • God never said to any angel, 'You are my Son; today I have begotten you.'
   • God never said of any angel, 'I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son.'
   • God did say to the Son, 'You are my Son; today I have begotten you.'
   • God did say of the Son, 'I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son.'
6. 1:6
   • God brings the firstbegotten into the inhabited world.
   • It is unclear whether 'again' means God brings him in a second time or introduces another quotation.
   • When God brings the firstbegotten into the world, God says, 'And let all the angels of God worship him.'
7. 1:7
   • Concerning the angels God says something.
   • God makes his angels spirits, or winds; the word carries both senses.
   • God makes his ministers a flame of fire.
8. 1:8
   • Concerning the Son God says something different from what he says of the angels.
   • The Son is addressed as God, though the words could also be read as saying that God is his throne.
   • The Son's throne lasts forever and ever.
   • The sceptre of the Son's kingdom is a sceptre of righteousness, or uprightness.
9. 1:9
   • The Son loved righteousness.
   • The Son hated lawlessness.
   • Because the Son loved righteousness and hated lawlessness, God anointed him.
   • The one who anointed him is God, his God.
   • The Son was anointed with the oil of gladness.
   • The Son was anointed above his companions.
10. 1:10
    • The one addressed is called Lord.
    • The Lord laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning.
    • The heavens are the works of the Lord's hands.
11. 1:11
    • The heavens and the earth will perish.
    • The one addressed remains.
    • They will all wear out like a garment.
12. 1:12
    • The one addressed will fold them up like a cloak.
    • They will be changed.
    • The one addressed is the same.
    • The years of the one addressed will not come to an end.
13. 1:13
    • God never said to any angel, 'Sit on my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.'
    • God did say to the Son, 'Sit on my right hand.'
    • God will make the Son's enemies a footstool for his feet.
    • The Son is to sit at God's right hand until that is done.
14. 1:14
    • All the angels are ministering spirits.
    • The angels are sent forth for service.
    • The angels are sent for the sake of those who are about to inherit salvation.
    • There are those who will inherit salvation.

Words Worth Explaining

Every language note in this chapter, gathered. These explain what a word meant, never what it means for the reader.

1:1

"Sundry times and in divers manners" is 1611 English for "on many occasions and in many different ways." "The fathers" means the ancestors of Israel, the earlier generations the prophets were sent to.

1:2

"These last days" is a phrase taken over from the Hebrew prophets for the closing stretch of history, the period in which God brings his dealings with the world to their conclusion; the writer is saying that period has now begun. Where the King James says "the worlds," the Greek word is literally "the ages," which covers time as well as space: the whole created order from start to finish.

1:3

"Express image" translates a Greek word meaning the mark left by an engraved die, like the stamp on a coin: exact because it is struck from the original itself. "Purged our sins" uses the language of the temple, where cleansing removed what made a person unfit to come near God. The place at a ruler's right hand was the position of highest honor, and sitting down, rather than standing to wait on him, signals work that is finished. "The Majesty on high" is a respectful way of saying God without using the name, common in Jewish writing of this period.

1:4

"Name" here carries the sense of rank and standing, what a person is known as and entitled to, not simply what he is called.

1:5

Two quotations from the Hebrew scriptures. The first is Psalm 2:7, words used at the crowning of a king of Israel; "this day have I begotten thee" marked the day the king was installed and publicly declared God's son. The second is 2 Samuel 7:14, God's promise to David about his descendant.

1:6

"Firstbegotten" is the older form of "firstborn." In that culture the eldest son held a rank the other children did not, including a double share of the inheritance, so the word is about standing at least as much as birth order. The quotation follows the ancient Greek translation of the Hebrew scriptures, which this writer uses throughout; the surviving Hebrew of the passage (Deuteronomy 32:43) reads differently.

1:7

A quotation of Psalm 104:4. The Greek word behind the King James "spirits" also means "winds," and the same double sense exists in the Hebrew, so the line can be read either as God making his angels into winds and flames or as God making winds and flames his messengers. "Ministers" here means servants or attendants, not preachers.

1:8

A quotation of Psalm 45:6, originally a song for a royal wedding. A "sceptre" was the ornamented rod a ruler held, the visible sign of his right to govern, so a scepter of righteousness means government that is just. The Greek of the first line is genuinely ambiguous and can be read either as addressing the Son as God ("Your throne, O God") or as saying "God is your throne"; ancient and modern readers have taken it both ways.

1:9

Anointing meant pouring olive oil over the head, the ceremony that installed a king in office. Oil and scented ointment also marked a celebration or a feast, which is why it is called the oil of gladness. "Fellows" is 1611 English for companions, the others in the same company.

1:10

A quotation of Psalm 102:25, where the words are addressed to God; the writer applies them to the Son.

1:11

"Wax old" uses "wax" in its older sense of grow or become, as in a waxing moon.

1:12

A "vesture" is an outer garment, a cloak of the kind worn over other clothes and folded away when not in use.

1:13

A quotation of Psalm 110:1. A throne had a footstool in front of it, and ancient carvings show kings resting their feet on the necks of defeated enemies, so putting enemies under the feet was a standard picture of complete victory.

1:14

"Ministering" again means serving, so the line describes angels as servants sent out on errands. "Heirs of salvation" continues the inheritance language from verse 2: people who will receive salvation the way an heir receives an estate.