Sarah Kanary wrote:

>
> Jesus *became* superior to the angels.  Surely, Almighty God is
superior to
> His creation(angels) already?  Why would this have to be mentioned at
all if
> Jesus was Almighty God?
>
What's the context, Sarah?  What is the point of the writer of Hebrews
stating that Christ is greater than angels?  ie in what aspect is He
greater?  Heb 2:2.  In 1:1 & 2 it is stated that His testimony is
greater than that of the prophets because He is not a mediator of the
truth, He is The Truth.

And, look at the first four verse of chapter one and you will see that
there is linguistic scheme.  I was just teaching this last night to my
Gospel of John bible study group.

A-1.  God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in
many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in
His Son,

B-1.  whom He appointed heir of all things,

C-1.  through whom also He made the world.

D.  And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of
His nature,

C-2.  upholds all things by the word of His power.

B-2.  When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right
hand of the Majesty on high;

A-2.  having become as much better than the angels, as He has inherited
a more excellent name than they.

A-1 corresponds with A-2, B-2 with B-2, etc.  This is an elegant
writing style which is often found in the Hebrew scriptures.  Obviously
who ever wrote the epistle of Hebrews knew of the linguistic nuances of
the Jewish scriptures.

In that A-2 reflects of off A-1, the point of the Son's superiority is
concerning the distinction between prophets and angels being merely
messengers while the Son is the actual source.

So there is the answer to your supposed dilemma.
>
> So the translation is obviously a matter of translator preference,
which
> isn't wrong, of course, but a favorite rendering cannot be used as
> conclusive proof of a doctrine.
>
It is a cultural idiom.  "Sit on my right hand" denotes equality.  This
is even the common understanding as found in the Chinese dynasties.  In
Rev 4 & 5 we see that Christ "sitting on the right hand" is granted the
very same worship as the "ancient of days", i.e. the Father.  Neither
in the Hebrew scriptures where Christ reveals Himself prior to His
incarnation and in the NT, after incarnation, He never, unlike the
angels, refrains any worship given to Him.

> > loved righteousness and hated wickedness;
> >      therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions
> >      by anointing you with the oil of joy."[f]
>
> "God, *your* God"....Almighty God has a God?  Who is higher than
Almighty?
> And who are the "companions" of Almighty God that He has
been "set
above"?
> Why would Almighty God need to be 'set above' anyone?
>
Phil 2.  You have repeated been given the answers to you question for
nearly 3 years now.

"not a thing to be grasped"  Why?  Because there was no way He could
lose His Deity.  Contrary to the greatest of all the angels, Lucifer /
Satan and his groping "I will's", Jesus declares His "I AM's."
>
> ""in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed
heir of
> all things, **through** whom also He made the world."
>
> So God's Son is an *heir*.  God, his Father, created 'through' him.
>
And you would have us believe you really know Greek?  The word is "dia"
in the Greek.  It is a preposition which sometimes denotes secondary
agency, but sometimes it is used of God's direct agency as well.  The
writer is here illustrating, indeed, that Jesus is the mediate agency
of creation, but the mediate agency of the Godhead.  This ties directly
to what John writes in the opening verses of his gospel.  Also in Col
1:16 Paul uses "en" and "dia" to denote Christ's
creative activity.

Jesus is the Divine Agent, not only in regards to the origin of the
physical cosmos, but also in the operation of and management of
throughout all time.  "Aionas" includes the ideas of both the Plan of
God for the ages and its unfolding.  Again this ties in with the
opening verses of John's gospel in that "All things came into being by
Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into
being."  If one remains consistent to what you have proposed above,
then you would have the Logos creating Himself.  Obviously that is
absurd.  Therefore, is He created everything that has come into exists,
then He Himself always existed.  Only God has always existed.  This is
the whole point of John's opening verses, to counter the gnositic
teaching.  Later he teaches that He was also truly a man in verse 14.

> Yes, clearly, Hebrews chapter 1 repeatedly explains in various ways
that
> God(Jehovah) speaks no longer through earthly prophets, but through
His own
> Son,

No, that is not what either Hebrews nor Jn 1:1-18 teaches.  It teaches
that the Logos spoke through the prophets and the angels prior to His
incarnation, but now He speaks to us all, face to face.

John 1:17 For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were
realized through Jesus Christ.

John's point is that the Logos revealed the Law through the prophetic
agency of Moses, and that was wonderful, but as Moses himself
prophecied, The Prophetic source was to come (cp 1:21 with Deut 18:18
and Jn 5:46)  and the Source of all Divine revelation is realized
through Christ.  This is the whole point of John's usage of "Logos."
The Trinity has chosen that this member of the Godhead be the one who
identifies with creation anthropomorphically.  John's prologue teaches
us that the Pillar of Ex 33 & 34 was the Logos.

Also, in Jn 12:41, John identifies the vision of Isa 6 as being Christ!
 Face it Sarah, Jesus is YHVH of the OT.  "But in these later days," He
speaks not through mediatorial agents (prophets) but speaks directly to
through His incarnation.

> who has been exalted above his partners(angels).  Of course, Almighty

> God would need no exalting above anyone, since He is already supreme.
 This
> would need no explanation.  But "God has highly exalted him" (Ph 2:9)
so the
> Lord Jesus Christ is in a higher position than he was before.
>
Kenosis, dear.  We've been down this road a 1000 times.

> Jesus Christ is now reigning in heaven as the Prince of Peace, and is

> gathering people of all nations, tribes, languages etc. in a
worldwide
> brotherhood of peace, that no squabble of men can break.  No one of
flesh
> has or could accomplish this, all glory and credit goes to 'the God
who
> gives peace' through His Christ.  (Rom. 16:20)
>
Rom 11:32-36 is Paul's hymn to Christ, whom he acknowledges as "God."

In Rev 1:17 Christ declares "I AM the first and the last."  In 1:8 the
very same is said,

I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, "who is and who was
and who is to come, the Almighty."  This is John's Logos, through whom
everything which was created came into being which demands that the
Logos be prior to creation of all things, therefore, as Paul speaks of
His ultimacy in R 11:36, here Jn reveals Him as He "who is, who was,
and who is to come."

In Heb 13:8, Jesus is said to be immutable even as Malachi 3:6
declares.

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