Exercitation on Hebrews, Biblical exegesis · Chapter 1 · Exposition of verse 8 – Exposition of verse 9
Verse IV.
THE design of the Apostle, as we have now often shewed, 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 imploied 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 imployed in the giving of the Law. The Hebrews owned, yea pleaded this in their own defence, That besides the Mediation of Moses, God used the Ministery 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 priviledges, tells them that they received the Law by the disposition, ordering, or ministery of Angels, Acts 7. v. 53. And the Targum interprets the Chariots of God with the thousands of Angels, Psal. 68.18, 19. of the Angels, by whose ministery 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 Preheminence 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, enquire 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 entred 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 Humane 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. and Arian. But the truth is, the Apostle hath no design to prove by Arguments and Testimonies the Excellency 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 honourable 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 that the Angelica…, but only to manifest thereby the glorious condition of him, who is partaker of it, and consequently his Preheminence above Angels, or the Equity that it should be so.
Neither is the comparison between the Humane Nature of Christ and the Nature of Angels: For that absolutely considered and in it self, is inferiour 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 fore-going; and concerning him as such, are the ensuing testimonies to be interpreted; even those which testifie 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.
foreign.
foreign: Syr. foreign, & ipse tantum praestantior suit. Bodesian. 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 facius angelis; the translation of foreign 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 foreign is here, and else-where constantly applied unto. Ours render the word Better, made better; to avoid, I believe, a coincidence with that which they express foreign by,foreign. more excellent: foreign is properly nobilior, potentior, praestantior, excellentior; more Powerful, Able, Excellent; as to Love, Honour; or State and Condition; as in that of Homer,
foreign.
That is, foreign, saith Eustathius, multo potentior, more powerful, able to prevail, or more excellent.foreign. foreign, factus, effectus; made, was became. foreign, differentius, different, which is sometimes put absolutely for the best things, or things far better than other things that differ, the best things. Make to differ, to prefer, make better, 1 Cor. foreign.4.7. Syr. foreign, excellentius, more excellent. foreign is both to differ and excel; but the differentius of the Vulgar yields no good sense in this place. foreign, haereditavit, sortitus est, jure hereditario obtinuit; of the importance of which word, before.
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.
First, 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.
Secondly, When he was so preferred above them; which belongs unto the Explication and right understanding of the former.
Thirdly, The Degree of this preference of him above the Angels, intimated in the comparison; being by so much made more excellent, as he hath, &c.
Fourthly. The Proof of the Assertion, both absolutely, and as to the Degree intimated; and this is taken from his Name.
Fifthly, The way whereby he came to have this Name; he obtained it as his lot and portion, or he inherited it.
First, He is made more excellent than the Angels, preferred above them; that is, say some, declared so to be. Tum res dicitur fieri, cum incipit patesieri. Frequently in tho 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 foreign is sometimes used. Rom. 3.4. foreign; Let God be true, and every man a liar; that is, manifested and acknowledged so to be. So, James 1.12. foreign, he that is approved in trial, and thereby manifested to be sincere and sound. In this sense the Apostle tells us, Rom. 1.3. 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 ministred 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 word, nothing in the Context perswading us so to do. Besides, this suits not the Apostles 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, foreign is as much as preferred, exalted, actually placed,foreign. in more Power, Glory, Dignity, than the Angels. This John Baptist affirms of him, foreign, He was preferred before me, because he was before me. Preferred above him, called to another manner of Office than that which John ministred 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 ministred 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 word here on the earth; as the Apostle expresly declares, chap. 2.9.
2. And this gives us light into our second enquiry 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 Humane 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 Antients, 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 is expresly 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, Isa. 60.1, 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 it self, 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 shewed 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 Apostles discourse leads us to fix on this season. After he had by himself purged our sins, he sat down, &c. 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, Matth. 28.18. expounded Ephes. 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 Sion, Psal. 2.6, 7, 8. which typically expresseth his glorious Enstalment 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 Humane Nature, with the sufferings and temptations that he underwent, upon his Resurrection was exalted into a condition of Glory, Power, Authority, and Excellency, and entrusted 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, &c. 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 excell them in Glory, Authority and Power; for these Names are severally given them of God, to signifie 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 his name above every name, Phil. 2.8. 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.foreign. The last thing considerable is, How the Lord Christ came by this Name, or obtained it; foreign; he obtained it by Inheritance, as his peculiar lot and portion for ever. In what sense he is said to be foreign, 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. Isa. 7.14. chap. 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, Rom. 1.3.
This then is the sum of the Apostles 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 Preheminence of the Messiah above the Angels, was very necessary unto the Hebrews, although it were 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 ministring Angels. Besides, they acknowledged the Scriptures of the Old Testament, wherein the Apostle shews them that this Truth was taught and confirmed. But they were dull and flow in making Application of these Principles unto the confirmation of their faith in the Gospel, as the Apostle chargeth them, Chap. 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 heightned by the heat of the Controversie between the Pharisees and Sadduces about them; the one denying their Existence and being, the other whom the body of the People followed, ex…lting them above measure, and inclining to the Worship of them. This the Apostle declares, Col. 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 Priviledge, and the superstition that ensued thereon, to instruct them in the Preheminence 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 latter Doctors assert on Dan. 7.9. foreign, I behold until the Thrones were set, placed, exalted, as in the Original Chaldee; and as all old Translations, Greek, Latin, Syriack and Arabick render the words (however Ours read, untill the Thrones were cast down) affirming that one of those Thrones was f…r the Messiah, before whom all the Angels ministred in obedience.
Secondly, It may not be amiss to remark that the Jews have alwayes 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 magnifie is foreign, Metatron. Ben Vzziel in his Targum on Gen. 5. ascrib…s this name to Enoch when he was translated, he ascended into Heaven in the word of the Lord, foreign, and his name was called Mitatron the gre…t Scribe. But this opinion of Enoch being Metatron is rejected and confuted in the Talmud. There they tell us that Metatron is foreign, the Prince of the world: or as Elias calls him in Thisbi foreign, the Prince of Gods Presence. And in the first mention of this Name which is Talmud. Tract. Saned. cap. 4. fol. 38. they plainly intimate that they intended 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, foreign; The Teacher of Moses himself was Metatron. He it is, saith Elias, that is the Angel alwayes 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 Chancellour of Heaven. And Bechai on Exod. 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 alwayes before God to do his Will; and a Keeper, because he keepeth Israel. I confess the Etymologie 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 foreign, 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. For the word it self, it is either a meer corruption of the Latin word Mediator, such as is usual amongst them, or a Gematrical Fiction to answer foreign, the Almighty, there being a coincidence in their numeral letters.
The Doctrine of the Preference and Preheminence of Christ is insisted on by the Apostle unto the End of this Chapter; and therefore I shall not treat of it, untill we have gone through all the Proof's of it produced; and then but briefly neither, having already in part spoken of it, in our Consideration of his Soveraignty and Lordship over all.
That which we are peculiarly instructed in by these words is, that,
All Preheminence and Exaltation of one above others, depends on the supream 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; an 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, Phil. 2.9. And that of his own Will and pleasure; It pleased the Father, that in him all fulness should dwell. That so in all things he might have the Preheminence, Col. 1.16, 17. He fore-ordained him unto it from Eternity, 1 Pet. 1.20. and actually exalted him according to his Eternal Counsel in the fulness of time, Acts 2.36. Chap. 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 Priviledge and Preheminence 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 meerly 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 Supream 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.
Verse V.
THe Apostle proceedeth to the confirmation of his Proposition concerning the Preheminence of the Lord Christ above the Angels, and of his proof of it from the Excellency of the Name given unto him; And this he doth by sundry Testimonies produced out of the Old Testament; two whereof are conjoyned in this Verse, as the Verses are divided in our Bibles.
foreign.
foreign.foreign; Vulg. dixit aliquando, said he sometimes; for, at any time. Syr foreign, from at any time said God. Eloah, God is supplyed; needlesly; though better than those who would render, foreign, impersonally; was it said at any time. For it is express in the Psalm from whence the words are taken, foreign, the Lord said. The Lord said unto me, foreign, thou my Son, this day have I begotten thee. The Elipsis of the Verb substantive in the Original which is perpetual, is supplyed by the Apostle, with foreign, Thou art my Son. Further difficulty in the Grammatical sense of the words there is not. And h…re we sh…ll close this Verse, or at least consider this Testimony by its self.