Jesus is the Son of God. This statement is biblical and true and accepted as Christian orthodoxy. At the same time, the exact meaning of this true statement has been a source of great debate; it has been one of the most misunderstood, debated, and confused propositions throughout the history of the church. Errors in understanding the idea of sonship often stem from failure to see the roots of such an idea in Old Testament. It is a great benefit for us, from our vantage point after the cross, to look back into the shadows of the Old Testament and see how a doctrine develops over history. This is what the author of Hebrews does in our text from Hebrews chapter 1 – he roots his doctrine in the Old Testament, so that we might accurately understand exactly who this Son of God, who is greater than the angels, actually is! As we understand how the angels, Adam, Israel, David, and Solomon were all “sons of God” in the Old Testament, we come to a better understanding of what it means that Jesus is the unique Son of God.
In this text of Scripture the author is describing the superiority of Christ to the angels. To demonstrate His superiority, the author strings together seven passages in the Old Testament. These seven quotations are not merely “proof texts” wrenched out of their context to prove a point; rather the very context from which they were taken serve to support the author’s main point – Jesus is the unique Son of God.
The passages are: Psalm 2, 2 Samuel 7:12-16, Psalm 45:4-15, Psalm 102, and Psalm 110.
