Hebrews 1:1 – 2:12
The Paradox of Christ
Introduction
In many pubs, politics and religion are banned subjects for conversation. Probably with good cause, because these are subjects that people take very seriously. However, if by chance you should stray from the rule, you will often hear a number of well-worn arguments. And as far as religion goes, one of the well-worn arguments is that Christianity is bunkum because the Bible is full of contradictions. Of course the difficulty with that is that it often the person presenting the argument cannot present any examples of such contradictions.
And so, if you are ever involving such a discussion, you may wish to refer those involved to our reading from the book of Hebrews today. For here we have an apparent contradiction. For in chapter one, we are told that Jesus is superior to the angels. But in chapter two, we read that Jesus is made lower than the angels. So there we have it. The example you need for your pub argument. The Bible is clearly full of contradictions.
Contradiction or Paradox
Or is it? You see, there is an alternative possibility, which may be a little bit too complicated for a discussion in the pub, especially after one drink too many! For the alternative possibility is that this is not a contradiction, but a paradox. A paradox is where we have two apparently contradictory statements, which may in fact both be true. And that is I believe what we have here. Here we have two apparently contradictory statements, which both express some fundamental truths about Jesus Christ. For in chapter one, we are told that Jesus is superior to the angels. And in chapter two, we read that Jesus is made lower than the angels.
So let’s try to get to grips with what the writer to the Hebrews is saying. Now, it is widely thought that this letter was written by St. Paul, to various groups of Jews who had converted to Christianity. So he is writing from a background of Jewish thought. And it is a book that focuses on the person of Jesus Christ.
Jesus is superior to the angels
This focus on Jesus Christ coupled with a background of Jewish thought is clear right from the beginning of the book. There is no preamble, but the writer pitches straight in by saying that God has spoken to the Jewish people through the prophets in the past. The Jewish people held their prophets in very high regard. The prophets were the greatest men of the Old Testament era. They had visions of God and served him with great works of power. But the writer then reminds his readers that much more recently, God has spoken to his people in a different way, through Jesus Christ his Son. Jesus Christ is different from what has gone before. He is not just another prophet. Great though the prophets were, of them could compare with Jesus Christ. He is not just a spiritual being like an angel. Jesus is different. Jesus is superior to the prophets (ch 3). Jesus is superior to the angels (v4).
So just how is Jesus superior? St Paul makes an astounding statement of the superiority of Jesus.
· He is the son of God
· He is the heir of all things
· He is the creator of the universe
· He is the radiance of God’s glory
· He is the exact representation of God being
· He sustains all things by his powerful word
· He has provided purification for sins
· He sits at the right hand of God
And the build up of St Paul’s argument is such that it makes it clear that Jesus is not just better than the angels, but he is the best. He’s not superior but supreme. He’s not just a spiritual being, but he is divine. Jesus shares fully in the divine nature. Let us just take one example. In verse three, we read that ‘The Son is the radiance of God’s glory’. Radiance is light that streams forth from a source of light. As no one can separate the sun’s light from the sun itself, so also no one can separate the nature of Christ from that of his Father. Whether the radiance is seen as reflected brightness or inherent brightness, the thought is clear: in Jesus we see the essence of God. He is, therefore, the exact representation of his [God’s] being. So Jesus could say to Philip, "Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father" (John 14:9). You cannot get it any clearer than that. Jesus is divine. Any attempt to place Jesus as simply the highest product of creation will fail because the evidence is decisive for the contrary. Many sects try to teach that Jesus is only human, but they have no scriptural basis to do so.
So the first part of our apparent paradox here is that Jesus is superior to the angels, because he is divine. You will remember that Thomas declared to Jesus ’ my Lord and my God!’ John 20:28. St Paul talks about ‘Christ who is God over all’ Romans 9:5. And St Peter talks about ‘ our God and Saviour Jesus Christ’. 2 Peter 1:1. Jesus is superior to the angels, because he is divine.
Jesus is lower than the angels.
It doesn’t stop there however, for we need to look at the second part of the apparent contradiction, the second part of the paradox. And this is the statement that Jesus is lower than the angels.
At the beginning of chapter one, in verse 3, we read that one of the reasons that Jesus is superior to the angels is that he provided purification for sin. But how did he do that? Well, that is explained in chapter two. In verse 9, we read that Jesus was made a little lower than the angels. He became man. He became human.
Though I don’t think we would find any disagreement between ourselves when I say that mankind is sinful. We see it all around us day by day, and if you’re anything like me, you are no doubt very conscious of your own inadequacies and weaknesses! And the Bible makes it clear that the consequence of our sinfulness is separation from God, and ultimately death. The only way that separation can be dealt with is by dealing with the sin. Jesus came to be the perfect sacrifice for sin, which he did once and for all when he died on the cross.
Now as God cannot die, Jesus became human, took on our humanity. So the end of chapter two v17 we read’ Jesus had to be made like his brothers (that is us) in every way… that he might make atonement for the sins of the people’. Jesus became human for our salvation. He became for a little while lower than the angels, for our salvation
And in becoming human he identified with us, he identified with humanity. Jesus came to live among us as one of us. There is nothing about the human condition that he has not personally experienced. In Hebrews 4, the Bible says, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are — yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need”
He was God who had come to live among us, as a vulnerable human being. He did become lower than the angels.
But also in identifying with us we get a sense of the value that God himself places upon us. We matter to God so much that he became one of us. We matter so much to God that we are declared to be of the same family. Just look at what it says in V11. ‘ Both the one who makes men holy (i.e. Jesus) and those who are made holy (that is us) of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers (and sisters I am sure). In becoming human, Jesus gave us great value and dignity. He made us part of his family.
For it is because of the great value that God places upon us, that he became human in Jesus and died to deliver us. It is because of the great value God places upon us as members of the same family that he became human in Jesus and died for our atonement v17. It is because of the great value that he places upon us that he suffered (v9 and 10) death for our salvation.
It is because of the great value that God places upon us that he took on our humanity in Jesus Christ, and in so doing he enabled us to enter into the fullness of our humanity as God designed.
So God in Jesus did become lower than the angels. God in Jesus took on our humanity that we might become truly God’s children, that we might become truly God’s family.
So I’m sorry to say that there is no contradiction in this part of the Bible. There is no contradiction between Jesus who is superior to the angels, and Jesus who for a while became lower than the angels. It is not a contradiction. It is a paradox. For these two apparently contradictory statements contained fundamental truth about the nature of Jesus.
Jesus Christ was completely divine. He was also completely human. In a sense, this is a mystery. We cannot completely understand it. But it is nevertheless true. In Colossian 2.9 we read that ‘ in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form’. God took on human nature. And he did it with one purpose. It was that Heb2: 9ff “he might suffer death so that by the grace of God he might taste every death for everyone and make men holy”. He did it that we might become his family.
So the fundamental truth about the nature of Jesus is that he was fully divine and fully human. There is no contradiction between Jesus who is superior to the angels, and Jesus who for a while became lower than the angels. And we need to understand this because failure to do so can lead to serious problems. You may not have the conversation in the pub, but you may well have the conversation on the front doorstep when the Jehovah’s Witnesses call. They would say that Jesus is a created being along the lines of an angel. Or another commonly held view is that Jesus was just another prophet. If I understand it correctly, that is what the Muslims believe.
But the message of our reading this evening is that Jesus is better than the prophets, Jesus is better than the angels, because Jesus is fully God. And Jesus did what the angels and the prophets could not do. Because as he took on our humanity, totally and completely, he was able to be the perfect sacrifice for our sins. In so doing, he demonstrated the value that God places upon us. In so doing he demonstrated the lengths that God was prepared to go to restore us to a right relationship with him. And in so doing, he brings us to glory and enables us to enter the fullness of our humanity as God intended. Jesus is the best!
