Hebrews 1:1-2:4 is another Bible passage where our preconceived ideas have limited our understanding. Hebrews 1 starts by saying, “In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son” (verses 1-2). What the writer of Hebrews was saying is that God’s revelation in Jesus is greater than God’s revelation through the Old Testament prophets, that the New Testament is a fuller revelation than the Old Testament, that Jesus is superior to Moses and the other prophets. This is essentially the message of the entire book of Hebrews.

Then, in Hebrews 1:4-14, the writer used quotations from the Old Testament to demonstrate that Jesus is “much superior to the angels” (Hebrews 1:4). This is obviously true, but why the change in topic? Was worship of angels a big problem in the first century? Not really. The people then may have had less interest in angelic beings than many modern people do.

The answer is that there is not necessarily a change in topic at all. To understand Hebrews 1, we must understand what the Bible means by “angels.” If we think of cherubs with fluffy wings, we miss the point. There are descriptions of winged creatures surrounding God’s throne in the Bible (and the ark of the covenant in the inner temple), but they are called cherubim (keruwb) and seraphim (saraph). The word for “angel” in the Bible is malak in Hebrew and aggelos in Greek. Both words mean “messenger.” These messengers are both human and heavenly beings, the latter often having human form—God spoke“at many times and in various ways” (Hebrews 1:1)—but the point is that they are simply messengers of God, not God Himself. The writer of Hebrews was telling his readers that God spoke in the past through Moses and David and the prophets, and those were true and important messages. However, the writer went on to point to various Old Testament verses that refer to God’s Son, who rules in heaven with God. The writer was telling his Jewish readers that Jesus was not just another prophet in the long line of prophets. Jesus is, in fact, God. God’s Old Testament messengers (Moses, the prophets, heavenly beings) gave the Law and the prophecies (the Old Testament)—and they were “binding” (Hebrews 2:2)—but in the New Testament God is speaking directly to human beings through Jesus.

The natural meaning of Hebrews, then, is that the revelation of Jesus is superior to the revelation delivered by the former messengers, both the Old Testament prophets and heavenly beings. The former message was delivered through an intermediary, but the New Testament message was delivered by God Himself, by Jesus. Furthermore, the “messengers,” both human and heavenly, were just servants. Jesus is God, who created the universe (Hebrews 1:2,10), who brought salvation to humanity (Hebrews 1:3, 2:3), and who now rules in heaven at God’s right hand (Hebrews 1:2-3).