Hebrews 1:4

being made Rather, "becoming," or "proving himself to be." The allusion is to the Redemptive Kingdom of Christ, and the word merely qualifies the "better name." Christ, regarded as the Agent or Minister of the scheme of Redemption, becamemediatorially superior to the Angel-ministrants of the Old Dispensation, as He always wassuperior to them in dignity and essence.

so much The familiar classical ὄσῳ … τοσούτῳ (involving the comparison and contrast which runs throughout this Epistle, Hebrews 3:3; Hebrews 7:20; Hebrews 8:6; Hebrews 9:27; Hebrews 10:25) is not found once in St Paul.

better This word, common as it is, is only thrice used by St Paul (and then somewhat differently), but occurs 13 times in this Epistle alone (Hebrews 6:9; Hebrews 7:7; Hebrews 7:19; Hebrews 7:22; Hebrews 8:6; Hebrews 9:23; Hebrews 10:34; Hebrews 11:16; Hebrews 11:35; Hebrews 11:40; Hebrews 12:24).

so much better than the angels The writer's object in entering upon the proof of this fact is not to check the tendency of incipient Gnostics to worshipAngels. Of this there is no trace here, though St Paul in his letter to the Colossians, raised a warning voice against it. Here the object is to shew that the common Jewish boast that "they had received the law by the disposition of Angels" involved no disparagement to the Gospel which had been ministered by One who was "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 1:21). Many Jews held, with Philo, that the Decalogue alone had been uttered by God, and that all the rest of the Law had been spoken by Angels. The extreme development of Jewish Angelology at this period may be seen in the Book of Enoch. They are there called "the stars," "the white ones," "the sleepless ones." St Clement of Rome found it necessary to reproduce this argument in writing to the Corinthians, and the 4th Book of Esdras illustrates the tendency of mind which it was desirable to counteract.

hath by inheritance obtained Rather, "hath inherited." Comp. Luke 1:32; Luke 1:35. "Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him and given Him a name which is above every name" (Philippians 2:9). He does not here seem to be speaking of the eternal generation. Christ inherits His more excellent name, not as the Eternal Son, but as the God-Man. Possibly too the writer uses the word "inherited" with tacit reference to the prophetic promises.

a more excellent name than they Not here the name of "the only-begotten Son of God" (John 3:18), which is in its fulness "a name which no one knoweth save Himself" (Revelation 19:12). The "name" in Scripture often indeed implies the inmost essence of a thing. If, then, with some commentators we suppose the allusion to be to this Eternal and Essential name of Christ we must understand the word "inheritance" as merely phenomenal, the manifestation to our race of a præexistent fact. In that view the glory indicated by the name belonged essentiallyto Christ, and His work on earth only manifestedthe name by which it was known. This is perhaps better than to follow St Chrysostom in explaining "inherited" to mean "always possessed as His own." Comp. Luke 1:32, "He shall be called the Son of the Highest."

more excellent … than This construction (παρὰ after a comparative) is not found once in St Paul's Epistles, but several times in this Epistle (Hebrews 1:4; Hebrews 2:9; Hebrews 3:3; Hebrews 9:23; Hebrews 11:4; Hebrews 12:24). It should be observed, as bearing on the authorship of the Epistle, that in these four verses alone there are no less than six expressions and nine constructions which find no or no exact parallel in St Paul's Epistles.