Hebrews 1:14

Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation? MINISTERING SPIRITS - Hebrews 1:7, "spirits, and his ministers" Incorporeal spirits, as God, but ministering to Him as inferiors. SENT FORTH, [ apostellomena (G649)] - 'being sent forth' continually, as their regular service in all ages. TO MINISTER, [ eis (G1519) diakonian (G1248)] - 'unto (i:e., for) ministry.' FOR THEM, [ dia (G1223) tous ...

14._Are they not all, etc. _That the comparison might appear more clearly, he now mentions what the condition of angels is. For calling them _spirits, _he denotes their eminence; for in this respect they are superior to corporal creatures. But the office ( λειτουργία) which he immediately mentions reduces them to their own rank, as it is that which is the reverse of dominion; and this he still more distinctly states, when he says, that they are sent to _minister. _The first word means the same, as though ale had said, that they were officials; but to _minister _imports what is more humble and abject. (27) The service which God allots to angels is indeed honorable; but the very fact that they serve, shows that they are far inferior to Christ, who is the Lord of all. If any one objects and says, that Christ is also called in many places both a servant and a

4-14 Many Jews had a superstitious or idolatrous respect for angels, because they had received the law and other tidings of the Divine will by their ministry. They looked upon them as mediators between God and men, and some went so far as to pay them a kind of religious homage or worship. Thus it was necessary that the apostle should insist, not only on Christ's being the Creator of all things, and therefore of angels themselves, but as being the risen and exalted Messiah in human nature, to whom angels, authorities, and powers are made subject. To prove this, several passages are brought from the Old Testament. On comparing what God there says of the angels, with what he says to Christ, the inferiority of the angels to Christ plainly appears. Here is the office of the angels; they are God's ministers or servants, to do his pleasure. But, how much greater things are said of Christ by th...

Verse 14. _ARE THEY NOT ALL MINISTERING SPIRITS_] That is, _They_ _are all_ ministering spirits; for the Hebrews often express the strongest _affirmative_ by an interrogation. All the angels, even those of the highest order, are employed by their Creator to serve those who believe in Christ Jesus. What these services are, and how performed, it would be impossible to state. Much has been written on the subject, partly founded on Scripture, and partly on conjecture. They are, no doubt, constantly employed in _averting evil_ and _procuring good_. If God help _man_ by _man_, we need not wonder that he helps man by _angels_. We know that he needs none of those helps, for he can do all things himself; yet it seems agreeable to his infinite wisdom and goodness to use them. This is part of the economy of God in the government of the world and of the Church; and a part, no doubt, essential to t...

ARE THEY NOT ALL - There is not one of them that is elevated to the high rank of the Redeemer. Even the most exalted angel is employed in the comparatively humble office of a ministering spirit appointed to aid the heirs of salvation. “Ministering spirits.” A “ministering” spirit is one that is employed to execute the will of God. The proper meaning of the word here - λειτουργικὰ leitourgika - (whence our word “liturgy”) is, “pertaining to public service,” or “the service of the people” (λαός laos}; and is applied particularly to those who were engaged in the public service of the temple. They were those who rendered aid to others; who were helpers, or servants. Such is the meaning as used here. They are employed to render “aid” or “assistance” to others - to wit, to Christians. “Sent forth.” Appointed by God for this. They are “sent;”

EXPOSITION HEBREWS 1:1 EXORDIUM intimating in a succession of choice and pregnant phrases, the drift of the Epistle; a condensed summary of the coming argument. It briefly anticipates the views to be set forth in the sequel, of the revelation of God in Christ excelling far, and being destined to supersede, all that had preceded it, as being the ultimate Divine manifestation in the SON, according to the full meaning of the term involved in ancient prophecy;—of the eternal Divinity of him who was thus revealed in time as SON—of his accomplishing, as such, the reality signified by the ancient priesthood; and of his exaltation, as such, to his predestined glory and dominion on high. We find in the introduction to some of St. Paul's Epistles somewhat similar adumbrations of his subject, but none so finished

ARE THEY NOT ALL MINISTERING SPIRITS,.... Servants to God, to Christ, and to his people, and therefore must be inferior to the Son of God. The phrase is Rabbinical; frequent mention is made in Jewish writings a of מלאכי השרת, "the angels of ministry", or "the ministering angels"; this is their common appellation with the Jews; and the apostle writing to such, uses a like phrase, well known to them, and appeals to them, if the angels were not such spirits. SENT FORTH TO MINISTER FOR THEM WHO SHALL BE THE HEIRS OF SALVATION? the persons they minister to, and for, are those, who shall be the heirs of salvation; that is, of eternal glory, which will be possessed by the saints, as an inheritance: hence it belongs to children, being bequeathed to them by their Father, and comes to them through the death of Christ, of which the Spirit is the earnest; and this shows that it is not of works, and...

Hebrews 1:1. In this chapter our Saviour's glorious person is very plainly set before us, and it is made the ground of our faith, and a reason why we should give the more earnest heed to his words, lest at any time we should let them slip. Hebrews 1:1. _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,_ The best last is ever God's rule. «Thou hast kept the best wine until now.» Prophets are a very blessed means of communication, but how much more sure, how much more condescending is it for God to speak to us by his Son! Hebrews 1:2. Whom he hath appointed heir of all thing, by whom also he m

SALVATION (_ See Scofield) - (Romans 1:16). _...

ANALYSIS AND ANNOTATIONS I. CHRIST, THE SON OF GOD AND His GLORY CHAPTER 1-2:4 _ 1. The Son in whom God hath spoken (Hebrews 1:1)_ 2. So much better than the angels (Hebrews 1:5) 3. Admonition and warning (Hebrews 2:1) Hebrews 1:1 Sublime is the beginning of this precious document. God who in many measures and in many ways spake of old to the fathers in the prophets, at the end of these days hath spoken to us in a Son, whom He constituted heir of all things, by whom also He made the worlds; who being the effulgence of His glory and the expression of His substance, and upholding all things by the wor