Hebrews 1:13Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

And He Himself says: “But those enemies of Mine, who did not want Me to reign over them, bring them here and slay them before Me” (Lk 19:27).

That these are His words, hear how He says elsewhere: “How often I wanted to gather your children as a bird gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not! Behold, your house is left to you desolate” (Lk 13:34-35).

And again: “The kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation producing its fruits” (Mt 21:43). And again: “Whoever falls on this stone will be broken, but on whomever it falls, it will crush him” (Mt 21:44).

On the other hand, if He will judge His enemies there, then much more will they render account for the insults inflicted on Him here.

Thus the words, “Until I make Your enemies the footstool of Your feet,” were spoken solely for the honor of the Son.

Understand, then, that he also calls the Anointed One Lord as man, especially before His partakers. He said that He founded the earth in the beginning, created the very heavens, and exists without ceasing; cf. Heb 1:10-12; Ps 101:26-28.

For the Word from God the Father is eternal by nature. Those who began to exist through Him do not possess beginninglessness in time according to their essence, for they were called into being by God.

He alone, as it is said, possesses immortality. Apart from Him, everything is corruptible and mortal.

He adds to these words a clear and evident proof of the superiority that belongs to Him by nature: “To which of the angels,” he says, “did He say, ‘Sit at My right hand’? Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation?” Heb 1:13-14.

For if Christ alone sits upon the seats of the Godhead, surrounded with sovereign dignity, though He became the Son of David by taking flesh from the Holy Virgin, while the holy angels stand around Him as around God and King of the universe, then to whom among beings is the difference between Christ and the angels not evident?

The One is Son and God, while the others boast in the measure fitting servants. Obedience to the higher glory is considered proper for them.

But perhaps someone will say: “What reasoning will persuade us to think that He who was born in the last times of the age from the Holy Virgin founded the earth in the beginning and raised up the heavens themselves?”

In turn, he will hear from us that if he wished to understand the meaning of the true union, which is not merely in persons, nor according to will, nor according to good pleasure, he would discover two things.

On the one hand, human properties became God’s own because of the divine economy. On the other, the properties fitting only the Word united to humanity became not alien to that humanity.

And since Emmanuel is one, the sole and true Son, we confess Him as God and man.

The word “until” does not always strictly separate the activity of the past from its continuance in the future. Sometimes it does not deny its continuance afterward, as here.

Gregory the Theologian reasons about this in the same way in his first oration on the Son.

How else would the expression preserve its meaning: “His kingdom is a kingdom which shall not be destroyed unto the ages” (Dan 2:44), and likewise: “Of His kingdom there shall be no end” (Lk 1:33)?

By “footstool of His feet,” he means those who will be subjected under His feet. This subjection is discussed at length in the First Epistle to the Corinthians, where it says: “For He must reign until He has put all enemies under His feet” (1 Cor 15:25).

Or, since the prophet could not otherwise express the Father’s agreement and good pleasure concerning the sitting, he used the expression “sit.” This too is great, and it surpasses not only human nature, but every creature.

Yet this is said to Him according to His humanity. For as God, the Son has an eternal throne. “Your throne, O God,” he says, “is unto ages of ages.”

As God, He was not deemed worthy of this honor after the Cross and Passion. Rather, as man He received what He possessed as God.

He was not exalted because He had been diminished. Rather, being exalted and “being in the form of God, He emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant” (Phil 2:6-7).

Therefore the Evangelist also cries out: “The only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him” (Jn 1:18). And the Lord says: “I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me” (Jn 14:11).

And elsewhere: “Glorify Me, Father, with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was” (Jn 17:5).

Thus, as man, He hears: “Sit at My right hand.” For as God, He has eternal dominion.

“Until I make Your enemies.” Here is proof of the Son’s lawful origin. The Father is angry with the Son’s enemies. He said this not because the Son alone could not place them beneath His feet, but to show the identity of will.

“Until” does not indicate a time after which, once His enemies have been placed beneath His feet, they will intend to rise again. By no means. Rather, it means that He will not be powerless to make all of them His footstool.

For “until” is extended to that time after which they will not rise. Saint Gregory speaks of this in his second oration “On the Son.”

Thus “sit” signifies firm, constant, and unshaken abiding in the Kingdom and glory. “At My right hand” signifies the equal honor of the Son and His perfect communion and participation in all that the Father has.

“Until I make Your enemies the footstool of Your feet” signifies the final and complete victory over the enemies.

Mark also that “until” means not only up to that point, but also afterward, unto ages of ages. This is clear from the words: “The raven did not return until the waters had dried up from the earth” (Gen 8:7).

It is also clear from this: “I am He, and until you grow old, I am He” (Is 46:4). For the raven never returned to the ark, and God did not exist only until the Jews grew old.

Rather, He exists unto the boundless ages of ages, as immortal and infinite.

The enemies mightily conquered by the Lord Jesus are death, principalities, authorities, and the powers of darkness (1 Cor 15:24-25).

But why does the Apostle set forth David’s words by turning them into a question? Evidently there were some among the Hebrews who interpreted “The Lord said to my Lord, ‘Sit at My right hand’” (Ps 109:1) as though God spoke to one of the angels.

Therefore Paul asks such interpreters: Who is this angel to whom the Lord said, “Sit at My right hand,” making him equal in honor and equal in power to Himself?

David does not say, “The Lord said to my angel,” but “The Lord said to my Lord.” An angel is not the Lord, but a servant and minister of God.