Jesus vs. Angels - Hebrews 1

Like we discussed yesterday, this epistle is a lot different than what I’m used to from Paul. At the beginning of Hebrews, he just launches right into it, and I can think of a couple of different reasons for that. First, maybe this wasn’t meant as a letter as much as it was a sermon that he wrote that he wanted one of his missionary companions to read out loud to the people. Another reason might be that there was an introductory section and it was somehow lost to time so we don’t have it. Or it’s possible that this is just how Paul wrote it because he thought that it would be the most powerful that way. One of the differences between preaching the gospel to the Jews vs. preaching the gospel to the gentiles is that the gentiles have to be convinced of the incorrectness of their pagan beliefs and the truthfulness of Jesus Christ. This seems like a pretty straight forward task, “you’re wrong and this is what’s right,” sure it seems like it’s just a matter of becoming educated. And I don’t necessarily think that it would be that hard to convince the gentiles that their pagan religions are wrong because they are completely powerless. The pagans don’t have a history of miracles from God that saves them or frees them from bondage. There is no miraculous parting of the Red Sea so that they could pass through on dry ground. Their pagan gods didn’t care about them that much and they recognized that there were gods out there that they didn’t know yet, so really the gentiles approached the gospel from the standpoint of “yeah sure we don’t know everything and we’re open to that.” The hard part is going to come when Paul tries to convince the Jews that their previous beliefs were right but that this “new” gospel is also right. The Jews had thousands of years of “remembering” and tons of rituals to always keep God’s mercy to the Jewish people in the forefront of their minds. This was right, this was the correct God, and no deviation was acceptable at all and the consequence of turning away even a little bit was death, so really the stakes were pretty high when it came to anything new or different. The fortunate part is that Paul has been training his whole life for this part and he spends his time in this letter to the Hebrews teaching them why their religion was correct previously and why the gospel of Jesus Christ is correct now. And he does it all with scripture which is important to root the gospel in ancient Hebrew doctrine. 1:1-4 - God has spoken “at sundry times and in divers manners… in times past unto the fathers by the prophets.” I like the word “sundry” used here, I don’t know why, but it makes it feel like an upbeat and happy statement. That word is also cross-referenced with the definition “in many locations and various ways.” This is significant because Paul needs to establish to the Jewish Christians that, yes, God has spoken to Abraham and various Jewish prophets since, but that he has also presented the gospel to other peoples in other places at other times. He wants to take the perceived limitations off of God’s ability to interact with people in different ways. It’s like saying to the Jewish Christians, “yes, God spoke to you, but he also spoke to other people in other ways, so he can do it again too.” One thing that the book on Paul that I’m listening to talked about was pedigrees, or accolades that give someone’s opinion or teaching more weight. This was a big deal back in ancient Rome and might have looked like this for men who came to an area hoping to exert some type of power or influence. They might say, “I’m blahblahblah son of (someone important) and I’ve been awarded these various military ranks and recognitions before I held this important position in the Roman government.” This all implies that the people should give weight to what this guy is saying and Paul does something similar to that here with Jesus’ status. Paul doesn’t name him directly just yet, but the man he’s talking about is God’s “Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds.” He’s saying that the person who spoke God’s message was not only God’s Son, but also second in command and the creator of the worlds. We’ve heard in parables many times about the “master” or the “householder” being the main guy, the big cheese. But we also hear in those same parables that the “heir” is second only to his father and holds as much authority as his father gives him including being completely in charge. So for Paul to name Jesus as not only the Son of God, but also His “heir” is significant, more so then we see today. Keeping with the “heir” concept, Paul explains that God’s Son is “the express image of his person.” I have a funny story about this, well I thought it was funny at least. I was a chorister in the primary and we were singing about Joseph Smith’s first vision and we had the picture of Joseph and Jesus and Heavenly Father and I looked at it and said to the kids, “Jesus sure looks like his daddy huh?” Anyway, I always assumed that this meant that Jesus looked like his dad, but some other thing that I read compared this statement to a seal embosser, meaning that Heavenly Father is the hard designed instrument and Jesus is what the wax looks like after it has been pressed. This means that God is power and righteousness and love and Jesus is the reflection of that. I thought that it was an interesting take and it fits with everything that Jesus says about to see him is to see the father, etc. It’s like I read somewhere, someone said basically, “Jesus didn’t come to better represent the people to God, he came to better represent God to the people.” It’s almost like Paul is trying to give us a walkthrough of events of Jesus spiritual progression. He is the Son of God, he is the “heir”, he created everything, he came to earth reflecting and obeying the will of His Father, he sacrificed himself for our sins and then he “sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high.” 1:5-14 - With Jesus having done all that Paul asks “for unto which of the angels said he at any time?” Did God ever declare at any time any angel to be His Son and heir? Do the angels sing the praises of one of their own ever or do they sing the praises of this separate person? God testifies that Jesus is His Son and praised him for his righteousness. Has he ever had anyone besides Jesus sit at his right hand? And don’t the angels “minister” or “serve” “them who shall be heirs of salvation? Jesus does that too but he also had other missions, such as performing the atonement for the salvation of all mankind. Jesus can do the job of angels but angels cannot do the job of Jesus and this alone makes him superior to them. And this back and forth is where chapter one ends kind of abruptly.