Hebrews 1:4-14 Being made so much better than the angels, as he has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.… I. THE CHARACTER OF CHRIST. 1. He loved righteousness. He loved it so as to be a perfect model of all righteousness. 2. But not only did Christ love righteousness, He hated iniquity. A man may admire excellency of character, and yet not follow in the steps in which it walks; he has not the moral courage to forsake his evil courses; and there is in the very best of men at seasons not that perfect hatred of sin which is proper. Not so our Emmanuel. He hated iniquity with as much force as He loved righteousness; not only sometimes, but always. II. CHRIST'S CONSEQUENT EXALTATION. 1. The apostle wishes to show the Hebrews the fact of Christ's unequalled superiority to every created being in the universe. He therefore commences by showing Christ's superiority to men, to the greatest of men that have ever lived — such as the patriarchs and prophets of the Old Testament dispensation. They were indeed vastly superior to the men of the age in which they lived -superior in point of gifts and endowments from heaven, superior in respect of the close intercourse they held with God. But they were infinitely inferior to the Son, as Christ is here called by way of pre-eminence, by whom God has spoken to us in these latter days. 2. But not only does Paul her. prove Christ's superiority to men, he proves the superiority of Christ to angels also. What does the term "angel" mean? It signifies messenger. The Son is greater than a messenger. III. CHRIST'S RELATIONSHIP TO US. We are Christ's "fellows." This singular expression is supposed by some to refer to the angels; but at once that supposition is rebutted by the fact that Christ took not on Him the nature of angels; He assumed the nature of man, and assuming the same torture seems to be the meaning of the expression. Man has a fellowship of nature with Christ; all men have this fellowship; but the redeemed — namely, all those that are sanctified by Christ's Spirit — are Christ's fellows in the highest and closest sense. (R. Jones, B. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: Being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. |
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