The Pre-Eminence of Christ

Far Above All Principality

Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come.—Ephesians 1:20,21

A verse by verse study in Hebrews 1

Pre-eminence is the theme of the book of Hebrews. Nelson’s Bible Dictionary emphasizes this theme in its outline of the book, an abbreviated portion of which is reproduced here:

The contrast between Jesus’ life on earth and his station in heaven after his ascension could not be more complete. Paul describes it in nearly poetic language:

“Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death, even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”—Philippians 2:6-11, NIV.

It is just a portion of this superlative position, then, that we see the apostle contemplating in the first chapter of Hebrews.

Superiority Over the Prophets
—-Verses 1-3

“God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high.”

All of the epistles of the New Testament, with the exception of the three by John and this epistle to the Hebrews, begin with the author’s name. Here the writer sees fit to attribute the authorship to God. If the writer, as we believe, was the apostle Paul, the reason seems evident. As a “minister to the Gentiles” (Romans 15:16), and the outspoken opponent of the Judaizing elements in the early church, his words might be suspected of bias by some of his readers. The attribution of the epistle to God invokes a higher authority. He is saying, in effect, the doctrine that I am about to inscribe is not mine but that of God himself. Jesus uses a similar attribution in John 14:10.

Periodically, God raised up prophets to correct his wayward people of Israel in “divers manners”—sometimes in direct words, sometimes through dreams and visions, sometimes through enacted dramas. Whatever the manner, they always spoke as they were “moved by the holy spirit” (2 Peter 1:21). Frequently the prophetic writers did not themselves comprehend the import of their message (1 Peter 1:10-12).

But now, Paul asserts, there was a new spokesman—one who did not merely narrate what he saw or what he was told, but one who had first-hand knowledge of all things. This spokesman, the son of God, possessed seven pre-eminent characteristics which Paul enumerates:

1. He was God’s appointed “heir of all things.”

2. He was Jehovah’s agency in the creation of the worlds.

3. He is the reflected brightness of the character attributes of God.

4. Raised to the divine nature, he is composed of the same “substance” as his Father, namely, divinity.

5. He is given direction over all things and charged with their “upholding.”

6. He possessed the qualifications for this by purging sin from the human race through the sacrifice of his life, culminating at Calvary.

7. He was now seated on the second highest seat of the universe, “at the right hand of the Majesty,” “waiting for his enemies to be made his footstool” (Hebrews 10:13, NIV).

First Contrast with the Angels
—Verses 4 and 5

“Being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee? And again, I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son?”

The first demonstration of the superiority of Christ is in the unique glory of his name. Two Old Testament quotations are adduced in support of this argument. The first is from Psalm 2:7.

While it is true that Jesus, as the Logos, was created higher than all other angelic beings, it is not to this that our text refers. Rather, it is to his resurrection. Paul, speaking in the synagogue in Antioch of Pisidia, makes this plain: “God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that he hath raised up Jesus again; as it is also written in the second psalm, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee” (Acts 13:33). It was through the faithfulness of his life and his obedience to God even unto death that he obtained his highly exalted position (Philippians 2:6-11).

The second supporting Scripture is cited from 2 Samuel 7:14 and is a promise given to David concerning his son Solomon. David had desired to build a temple for God, and in this passage the prophet Nathan informs him that this desire will not be granted but that the temple would be built by his son. He promised to be a wise father to Solomon, one who would chasten and correct him for any iniquities he would commit. Despite the chastenings, however, he pledged, “But my mercy shall not depart away from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away before thee. And thine house and thy kingdom shall be established for ever before thee: thy throne shall be established for ever” (2 Samuel 7:15,16).

Paul’s use of this quotation is an obvious reference to the “greater than Solomon” (Matthew 12:42). The text however refers to more than the glory of Solomon. His honor comes as a result of his father David. A verse with similar import, applicable to David, is found in Psalm 89:26-28, “He shall cry unto me, Thou art my father, my God, and the rock of my salvation. Also I will make him my firstborn, higher than the kings of the earth. My mercy will I keep for him for evermore, and my covenant shall stand fast with him.” It is such passages as these that made the Jews of the first advent look for their Messiah as “the son of David.”

Second Contrast with the Angels
—Verses 6-9

“And again, when he bringeth in the first-begotten into the world, he saith, And let all the angels of God worship him. And of the angels he saith, Who maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire. But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of thy kingdom. Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.”

Paul’s second contrast is to demonstrate the inherent subservience of the angels to Christ. Three references are cited by Paul to support this relationship.

Verse 6 supplies many problems in translation. Authorities disagree whether the phrase “and again” means merely the introduction of another citation or whether it properly belongs later in the sentence, making it read “When he again bringeth [or introduces] his first-begotten [first-born] into the world.” The latter may well indicate his second advent, which fits well with the citation being used. The reference is probably to Psalm 97:7.The attribution of this quote to the Septuagint of Deuteronomy 32:43 is unlikely for the following reasons: 1) the words there—”let all the angels of God worship him”—are not in the Hebrew and it is questionable whether Paul would have used a non-Hebrew text in an epistle specifically to the “Hebrews”; and 2) it seems stretched to apply the context in Deuteronomy to the Messiah. “Confounded be all they that serve graven images, that boast themselves of idols: worship him, all ye gods.” The context of this psalm, which even two noted Jewish rabbis—Rashi and Kimchi—acknowledge to be a Messianic psalm, is apparently to the second advent and not to the first.

However, we suggest the passage probably refers to the time of his resurrection. In the epistle to the Colossians the same apostle notes that the term “firstborn” refers in two separate ways to Christ, both as the “firstborn of every creature” and also as the “firstborn from the dead” (Colossians 1:15,18).

The last two citations are set in contrast. <%-1>Psalm 104:4 places the angelic host in a ministerial or servant possession, while Psalm 45:6, 7 pictures the Messiah as a reigning king, ascribing this regal position to his proven love of righteousness and abhorrence of wickedness. These are the two qualifications to make him eligible for his anointing as king with the “oil of gladness, above his fellows.”

Third Contrast with the Angels
—Verses 10-12

“And, Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands: They shall perish; but thou remainest; and they all shall wax old as doth a garment; And as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed: but thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail.”

Here the apostle quotes Psalm 102:25-27. This is an acknowledged Messianic psalm which many attribute to forming the prophetic words of Jesus’ prayer in Gethsemane.

While not a direct contrast with the angelic host, the argument for the pre-eminence of Jesus is not only that he was in existence before all things, but he established the very foundation<%2> of the earth and the heavens. By “foundation<%0>“ we are not to understand the literal sub-strata of the earth and heaven, but of the order of things which are set in contrast to “the new heavens and new earth.” We suggest that the reference is to the foundation principles by which society is founded—the earth being those which establish man’s relationship with his fellow, and the heaven being those which establish his relationship with God.

When Adam and Eve sinned and were driven from the garden of Eden, they perished. Perishing does not mean annihilation just as it did not so mean in the case of Noah when “the world, being overflowed with water, perished” (2 Peter 3:6). Just as a garment is folded for later use, they remain set aside for future use. So, that same perfect society which could have been in Eden, will be restored in Christ’s kingdom.

But even as the patterns of this world change from age to age and from dispensation to ­dispensation, so Christ remains unchangeable: “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever” (Hebrews 13:8).

Fourth Contrast with the Angels
—Verses 13 and 14

“But to which of the angels said he at any time, Sit on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool? Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?”

In this final passage of Hebrews chapter 1 the writer asserts that God’s promise of rulership over earth was uniquely given to Jesus. Never, he argues, was such a promise made to angels. The citation is from Psalm 110:1 and is applied by Paul to Christ in describing the kingdom: “For he hath put all things under his feet. But when he saith, all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted, which did put all things under him. And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all” (1 Corinthians 15:27,28).

In contrast to this role of royal conqueror, he again refers to Psalm 104:4, a text he had referenced earlier in verse 7. Not only are the angels to be subject to Jesus, but they are to be subject to his faithful followers as well, to “them who shall be heirs of salvation.” This promise is explicitly stated in Psalm 34:7, “The angel of the LORD encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them.”

The discussion concerning the relative roles of Jesus and the angels is continued in the second chapter of Hebrews, where Paul focuses on the role the angels played in the ministering of the law at Sinai, contrasting it with that of Jesus in his role over the entire subject race of mankind.

Thus, step by step we see the writer of this epistle to his natural kin of the Hebrew nation establishing a firm foundation for the supremacy of Christ in all things. Well can we join with the angelic host in singing the rhapsody of praise recorded in Revelation 5:11,12, “And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the beasts and the elders: and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands; Saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing.”