APPENDIX E

Chapter 1:14. Are they not all ministering spirits, etc. It is said of Christ also, that he was a minister or a servant; but while he was a servant, he was at the same time the Lord of all, which cannot be said of angels. Yet as a servant he was superior to them; for he became so in a work which they were not capable of doing. So that as a servant a superiority belongs to him. But his office as a servant is not contemplated here. Indeed all the names given to him, in common either with men on earth or with angels in heaven, mean very different things when applied to him; such as son, servant, priest, king, Savior, etc.

It ought to be born in mind that throughout this chapter Christ is spoken of in his character of a Mediator, and not as to his divine nature simply considered, and that the reference is made, as to his superiority over angels, to the testimonies in the Old Testament. He is in this chapter represented as superior to angels, --

1. Because he is called in a peculiar respect a Son.

2. Because angels were commanded to worship him.

3. Because he is addressed as having an eternal throne, and being honored more than all his associates as a king.

4. Because he is the Creator of the world.

5. And lastly, because there is a promise made to him that all his enemies shall be finally subdued, while angels are only employed in ministering to his people.

Who, after duly considering all these things, can possibly come to any other conclusion than that the Messiah is a divine person as well as human? Angels are commanded to worship him, his throne is eternal, he created this world, and all his enemies shall finally be made his footstool. That he is sometimes spoken of as having a delegated power, as in verse 2, "by whom he (God) made the world," and sometimes as acting independently, as in verse 10, "Thou, Lord, hast founded the earth;" all this only proves, that as he is inferior to the Father in his mediatorial office, so he is one with the Father as his only­begotten Son. Creation is what God claims as peculiarly his own work; and were not the Son one in essence with the Father, creation could not have been ascribed to him.