Neither is the comparison between the human nature of Christ and the nature of angels; for that absolutely considered and in
VER. 4. | EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 123
itself is inferior to the angelical; whence, in regard of his participa~ tion of it, he is said to be made “ lower than the angels,” chap. ii.
The apostle, then, treats of the person of Christ, God and man, who was appointed and designed of God the Father to be the re- vealer of the gospel and mediator of the new testament. As such, he is the subject of the ensuing general proposition; as such, he was spoken of in the words immediately foregoing; and concerning him as such are the ensuing testimonies to be interpreted, even those which testify to his divine nature, being produced to demon- strate the excellency of his person, as vested with the offices of the king, priest, and prophet of his church, the great revealer of the will of God in the last days.
Ver. 4.—Tosobrw xpeirrav yeviuevs rav dyyshuv, bow diaopirepov Tap wdrods nexAnpovdunnev bvowc
Toootre xpsizrayv yevouevos. Syr. 37 DD S71, “Et ipse tantum prestantior fuit,” Boderian.;—“ And he was so much more excellent.” “ At tanto potior factus est,’ Tremel.;—“ And he is made so much more better.” “ At ipse toto excellit;” or, as De Dieu, “ At hoc totum excellit; ”—“ And he wholly excelleth;” or, “in all things he excelleth.” WVulg. “Tanto melior factus angelis.” The translation of xpeirrwv by “melior” is blamed by Erasmus, Beza, Vatablus, and is generally deserted by the expositors of the Roman church; and it is hard, if not impossible, to find “ melior ” in any good author used in the sense that xpeir- cay is here and elsewhere constantly applied unto. Ours render the word “better,” “made better;” to avoid, I believe, a coincidence with that which they express O:eQopdrepov by, “more excellent.” Kpeirrwy is properly “ nobilior,” * potentior,” “ prestantior,” “ excellentior,’—“ more powerful,” “ able,” “ excel- lent,” as to love, honour, or state and condition; as in that of Homer, Il. A. 80,—
Kpsiocwy yep Bacireds ore oaceras cevdp) acpi.
That is, roancy apeiov, saith Hustathius, “ multo potentior,’—%“ more powerful,” “able to prevail,” or “more excellent.” Tevegevos, “factus,” “ effectus,’—“ made,” “was,” “became.” ArseQoparepoy, “ difterentius,’—* different ;” which is some- times put absolutely for the best things, or things far better than other things that differ: “make to differ,” to prefer, make better, 1 Cor. iv. 7, Syr. 721, “excellentius,’—“ more excellent.” AsePéow is both to differ and excel; but the % differentius” of the Vulgar yields no good sense in this place. Kexanpovounxe, “ hereditavit,” “sortitus est,” “jure hereditario obtinuit ;” of the importance of which word before.*
Ver. 4.—Being in so much preferred [ewalted, made emi- nent| above angels, as he [obtained] inherited a more excellent name than they.
There are five things considerable in and for the exposition of
} Exposirion.—The comparison of the Son with angels divides itself into two sections;—the Son is superior to the angels already, in virtue of his eternal ewist- ence as the Son of God, chap. i. 4-14; in the Son, man also has been exalted above the angels, chap. ii. 5-18.—Hbrard. Vevd. points out that this exaltation is true not only of the Logos in abstracto, but of the whole divine-human subject. —Tholuck. The aorist, “having been made” or “become,” is antithetic to the pre-
124 "AN EXPOSITION OF THE [CHAP. I.
these words:—1. What it is that the apostle asserts in them as his general proposition, namely, that the Son, as the great priest and prophet of the church, was preferred above, and made more glori- ous and powerful than the angels; and how this was done, and wherein it doth consist. 2. When he was so preferred above them; which belongs unto the explication and right understanding of the former. 3. The degree of this preference of him above the angels, intimated in the comparison, “ Being by so much made more excel- lent, as he hath,” etc. 4. The proof of the assertion, both abso- lutely and as to the degree intimated; and this is taken from his name. 5. The way whereby he came to have this name; he ob- tained it as his lot and portion, or he inherited it.
1. He is made “more excellent” than the angels, preferred above them,—that is, say some, declared so to be. “Tum res dicitur fieri, cum incipit patefieri.” Frequently in the Scripture a thing is then said to be made, or to be, when it is manifested so to be. And in this sense the word yivectas is sometimes used: Rom. ii. 4, Pwéobw 6 Osis dAndys, was OF &vpwrog Yevorns,— Let God be true, and every man a liar;’ that is, manifested and acknowledged so to be. So, Jamesi.12, Adximos yev6.ev0¢,—he that is approved in trial, and thereby manifested to be sincere and sound. In this sense the apostle tells us, Rom. i. 4, that the Lord Christ was “declared to be the Son of God by the resurrection from the dead.” The resurrection from the dead did not make him to be the Son of God, but evidently mani- fested and declared him so to be. According to this interpretation of the words, that which the Holy Ghost intimateth is, that whereas the Lord Christ ministered in an outwardly low condition in this world, whilst he purged our sins, yet by his sitting down at the right hand of God he was revealed, manifested, declared to be more excel- lent than all the angels in heaven. ,