HEBREWS 1:6

A friend of mine who has been questioning the doctrine of the Trinity asked the following question:

If Jesus was “fully God” and creator, why weren’t the angels obligated to worship Him prior to His coming into the world? Hebrews 1:6 states that God decreed this as part of His glorification.

And when He again brings the first-born into the world, He says,"And let all the angels of God worship Him."

There are at least ten problems in the reasoning behind such a question:

1. There is a great deal of uncertainty concerning which OT passage is being quoted here by the author of Hebrews. Ellingsworth sees a possible reference to Exodus 3:8; Deuteronomy 6:10; Deuteronomy 11:29; or Deuteronomy 31:21. And six additional candidates for the source of the quote are given by him and others in addition to the favorite choice: Deuteronomy 32:43. But Ellingsworth points out that if the author of Hebrews is thinking of this last verse, he is quoting in “in a form not now directly attested” by any existing manuscripts.

2. Assuming that Deuteronomy 32:43 is the text being alluded to, as the majority of scholars believe, there is even more uncertainty as to how the exact wording in that verse reads. For example, compare these two modern translations:

    “Praise, O heavens, his people, worship him all you gods!” (NRSV)

    “Rejoice, you nations, with his people.” (NIV)

The NIV goes with the Hebrew text while NRSV uses the Greek Septuagint and Dead Sea scroll reading.

3. Assuming that Deuteronomy 32:43 is the text being quoted and we can pin down the correct reading, there is uncertainty regarding who the “Him” in the passage originally referred to. Buchanan explains that the Hebrew text probably indicated that the angels were to bow down in adoration before the nation of Israel. By contrast, the Septuagint version understood God to be the object of worship. Since the latter is the most likely version that Hebrews 1:6 is alluding to, that means that the inspired NT author treated Jesus as God Himself. So instead of this verse somehow disproving that contention, it actually can be added to the many other NT passages which prove his full equality with God.

4. Assuming that Deuteronomy 32:43 is the proper text and the author of Hebrews applies it to Christ, it is still not clear when the event being referred to has happened or will happen. The author of our original question assumes that the angels are being told to worship Jesus at his Incarnation. That is not at all obvious from the text. For one thing, several noted commentators point out that the word for “earth” used in Hebrews indicates a spiritual rather than earthly realm. That is why most scholars feel that the more likely time for the angels' worship was or will be at Jesus' exaltation in heaven at his resurrection (Bruce, Guthrie) or on the New Earth at his Second Coming (Stibbs, Hodges). Ellingsworth notes that all three interpretations (if the Incarnation is included) have been proposed by various authors.

5. Perhaps the greatest leap in logic is to assume that angels can only worship the Son when God specifically tells them to. In Revelation 4:8-9 and 5:11-14 we have the angels in heaven as well as other spiritual creatures spontaneously breaking into hymns directed to Christ. And as an analogy, look at any of the twenty or more psalms in which the same sort of command using the word “let” is given as in Hebrews 1:6. In these various psalms it is the people or the nations which are told to praise, give thanks to, sing to, or fear God the Father. Does that imply that any of those people had not done any of those actions at any prior time? Certainly not!

6. Even if all of the above is correct and that it refers to the time of the Incarnation, Hebrews 1:6 says nothing whatsoever regarding the angels' worship of Christ before he came to earth. To make that leap of logic is called arguing from silence. And, in fact, there is evidence to the contrary. If you look at the hymns to the risen Christ in Revelation 4 and 5, their worship consists of ascribing “glory and honor” to him. Turning to John 17:5, Jesus speaks in his prayer of the “glory” that he had in heaven in his pre-incarnate state. From this we can at least get a hint of the way he was received by the heavenly host before coming to earth.

7. Next to consider is the context in its present NT setting. We must look at why the author of Hebrews quoted this particular OT passage and six others found in Hebrews 1:5-13 in the first place. It was strictly to demonstrate Christ's superiority to the angels. To take it out of this context and try to use it to demonstrate the Father's superiority to the Son is completely unacceptable exegesis.

8. Another problem in not considering the immediate context comes from the fact that the four verses directly preceding Hebrews 1:6 are actually there to explain Christ's divine nature. They state, among other things, that he is the heir to all things, the creator and sustainer of the world, the exact imprint of God's glory, etc. So Hebrews 1:1-5 can be added to the list of NT passages that equate Christ with God.

9. Finally is the violation of three other well-accepted principles of interpretation. Firstly, NT passages are to be utilized to fully explain the OT, and there are plenty of NT passages I have quoted elsewhere to adequately establish the fact of Christ's full equality with God the Father. Secondly, it is poor hermeneutics to quote a poetic passage (such as Deuteronomy 32:43) to try to contradict simple prose statements on the same subject. Lastly, you can't establish a doctrinal point such as the angels not worshiping Christ in his pre-incarnate existence by using just one proof text, even if it were an unambiguous one, which Hebrews 1:6 certainly isn't by any means.

10. One final, and overarching, violation of hermeneutics found in the original question is that clear passages are used to interpret obscure ones, not vice versa.