Hebrews 1:7Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Here is the greatest difference between them: they are created, but He is not created. The expression “Thou makest” means bringing from nonbeing into being.

He has superiority not only over the angels, but also over all ministering powers. He did not say, “Thou didst make,” but “Thou makest,” that is, preserving them by the Word through whom they were made.

There is a similar expression in the Gospel: “My Father worketh until now” (Jn 5:17), that is, He sustains all that has already been created and completed, and preserves it in order to bring it to perfection.

For the angels are not uncreated. Rather, it says, “He makes His angels spirits, and His ministers a flame of fire.”

This passage from the Apostle’s Epistle to the Hebrews, like the First Epistle of Clement to the Romans, does not allow the saying of the Psalm to be referred to winds and lightning.

Rather, it points precisely to the firmness of the nature of the angels (Ps 103:4). According to the Synodal Russian translation: “Thou makest Thy angels spirits, Thy ministers a flaming fire” (Ps 103:4).

Of the angels it is said: “Thou makest Thy angels spirits, and Thy ministers a flaming fire.”

The phrase “to the angels” is used instead of “concerning the angels.” And the Father said this to the Son, for “all things,” it says, “were made through Him” (Jn 1:3).

Among all things, of course, were also the angels, that is, all the heavenly powers. David said this, proclaiming Him as Creator of the invisible creation.

He called them both spirits and fire, indicating the swiftness of their movements and their energy in works. Or he was characterizing their very nature: spirits, that is, rational beings, and fire, immaterial fire.

"Who maketh His angels spirits and His ministers a burning fire." The passage cited by the Apostle reads in the Hebrew original thus: "Thou makest the winds Thy messengers, and a flame of fire Thy servant" (Ps 103:4).

It expresses the thought that everything can serve God as a messenger and envoy, even elemental phenomena. Therefore the angels too are nothing more than ministering powers.

But the Greek translation of this verse according to the Septuagint, as the Apostle cites it here, reads literally: "Who makes His angels spirits," or winds, "and His ministers a flame of fire."

Here the thought of the angels' ministerial significance is expressed still more strongly. They, so to speak, descend into nature and are turned into simple powers of nature.

Further, the superiority of the Son over the angels is also witnessed by the way the Word of God speaks of the former and the latter.

On the one hand, Psalm 103:4 speaks of the angels as beings who are embodied, so to speak, in various phenomena of nature, such as fire and wind. In this way they serve as instruments in God's hands for protecting or punishing men.

In citing this text, the Apostle probably had in view certain passages of the Old Testament where angels appear as executors of divine commands toward man, for example Gen ch. 18; 28:12; 22:2; Ps 90:11-12; 102:20.

From these latter passages it is clearly evident that man is not under the influence of simple, elemental forces of nature. Rather, he is under the action of spirits sent by God.

These spirits govern the forces of nature and in this way remove every accident from our life, not allowing even a hair of our head to fall without the will of God.