Hebrews 1:6 (NIV) says:
when God brings his firstborn into the world, he says, “Let all God’s angels worship him.”
My question is for Trinitarians, Modalists and Binitarians:
Why was it necessary for God to give the command to his already perfectly loyal Angels to worship the second person or mode of the Godhead, whom (one would assume) they already always included in their worship?
Quotes from Creeds or scholars of the different views, making sense out of this, are welcome.
When angels appear worshiping God at certain moments in time or in visions etc. it does not mean they are not always worshipping during other periods it just means certain events are highlighted to us in order for us to understand specific truths. Of course angels always worship the Son of God. What Hebrews is getting at is the ‘authority over all creation’ that the ‘man’ Jesus, who was also God in his office of the Messiah, acted with a ‘first-born right’ over all of heaven and earth in the role of that office for us. That this is a much greater glory than the Old Covenant is evidenced in the worshiping of the angels of Christ and not Moses. The worship is in particular respect to the first-born right he obtained by his birth, life, death and resurrection, carrying out that office in glorious victory, on our behalf. The same worship of Jesus appears many times in Revelation. (Rev 5:11, 7:11 etc)
God made David like is first-born in a prefigure of the Messiah’s future office in due time:
Psalm 89:27 (ESV): 27
And I will make him the firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth.
Some of the early church fathers chose different parts of his office, either birth, resurrection, second coming etc to understand the Psalm but there is no need to debate or spit hairs when it is obvious the whole office as representing a New Covenant as compared to the Old that Hebrews is arguing. Christ is greater than Moses because the Angels worship Him.
A good a thorough explanation can be found in old but famous commentary on Hebrews ‘An Exposition of the Epistle to the Hebrews, Volume 3’ by Owen, John
This, then, is the sum of these words of the apostle: ‘Again, in another place, where the Holy Ghost foretells the bringing forth into the world and amongst men him that is the Lord and Heir of all, to undertake his work, and to enter into his kingdom and glory, the Lord speaks to this purpose, Let all the angels of God worship him.’
An intimation of the pleasure of God unto the angels. Not that divine worship was absolutely due unto the Son of God, which they knew from the first instant of their creation, but that all honour and glory were due unto him on the account of his work and office as mediator and king of his church.
Let's look at the context starting at Hebrews 1:5 where the writer is quoting Psalm 2:7. Although the angels as a group are called the "sons of God' in the Old Testament (Genesis 6:2; Job 1:6; 2:1; 38:7), no angel ever is called "Son." The Father, however, calls Jesus "Son" at His baptism and at the Transfiguration.
God promised David a son who would establish David's house, throne, and kingdom forever (2 Samuel 7:13, 14). And David knew about it and looked for a greater Son than even Solomon, (Psalm 89.) The last part of vs5, "I will be a Father to Him, And He shall be a Son to Me?" This is a rhetorical question that is not meant to be answered.
In vs6 the Son is called "first-begotten" (prototokon). Paul said Christ was the first begotten or "first born from the dead" (Colossians 1:18). The Apostle John wrote the same at (Revelation 1:50. Here "firstborn" is an expression meaning Christ's resurrection from the dead, in a permanent way.
Prototokon refers to either superiority in rank or first in time. Hebrews 1:5 spoke of Christ as the "begotten" in a quote from Psalm 2:7. The Father said to the Son, "This day have I begotten thee," but the statement refers NOT to literal birth. Rather, it points to a position of rank.
God later declared of the Messiah, "Also I will make him my firstborn, HIGHER than the kings of the earth" (Psalm 89:27). Here, "firstborn" suggests being "supreme in rank" rather than "first in time." In other words, God would make His Son as the Messiah higher than all other kinds of the earth. Hebrews had a similar message as to His being superior to angels. This also eliminates Michael the arc angel from being Jesus Christ as you JW's teach.
So, the short answer to your question which is, "Why does God command his perfect and loyal Angels to worship his firstborn (Hebrews 1:6)?" Because Jesus Christ is God who became flesh. (John 1:14). Plus the fact that His own Father calls Him God.
Hebrews 1:8, "But of the Son He says, "Thy throne O God, is forever and ever, And the righteous scepter is the scepter of His Kingdom." Also notice Hebrews 1:10, "And Thou, Lord, in the beginning didst lay the foundation of the earth, And the heavens are the works of Thy hands." This is perfectly consistent with Isaiah 44:24, John 1:3, Colossians 1:16 and Revelation 3:14.
Lastly, I find it interesting that the founder of the Jehovah's Witnesses Charles Taze Russell said the following in the 1879 Watchtower (pg 49) that Jesus should be worshipped by the angels and that includes Michael. It's in the middle of the page.
This is when he says "Let all the angels worship Him": "when he bringeth in the firstbegotten into the world". It is a specific command at a specific time for a specific reason.
Why was it necessary to issue such a command if the 'Him' is the second person of the Godhead whom the angels had always already been worshiping?
This Son of God had done something that the angels do not fully understand. 1 Peter talks about the salvation that was preached through the prophets, who did not fully understand what they were prophesying, as well as the angels desiring to look into these things that have to do with the salvation of man:
Of which salvation the prophets have enquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you: Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow. Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into. - 1 Peter 1:10-12
He who was God in the beginning (John 1:1) and for whom equality with God was no misappropriation (Philippians 2:6) emptied Himself, made Himself of no reputation by taking on the form of a servant, humbled Himself and obeyed unto death, and was raised again for our justification.
He was made a little lower than the angels (Hebrews 2:5-11) in order to raise men to a position of judging the angels (1 Corinthians 6:3). He went from creator of angels to lower than angels when He took on flesh. He became son of man and yet did not cease being Son of God. The angels neither expected nor fully understood such a thing (perhaps they do not fully understand still) since this plan was wrought in the council of the Almighty from before the foundation of the world, from before they were created.
The angels needed instruction that this son of man, this Word tabernacled in flesh, this Jesus, was to be worshiped as always even during His sojourn of humility because they were/are longing to look into these things that they otherwise did not fully comprehend.
At the point of the virgin Mary giving birth, one particular angel was given a direct commission by God to announce the birth to shepherds that particular night. Then a particular host of angels appeared in the sky, having been given a direct command by God to so appear in conjunction with the first angel, to give worshipful acclaim at this awesome event.
Luke records all this in his gospel account, chapter 2. This particular multitude of angels were being obedient to the command detailed in Hebrews 1 verse 6. And, simple logic agrees that if all those angels were to worship openly on Earth, so were all the rest of God's angels. It is unthinkable that the untold legions of angels remaining unseen in heaven the night Jesus was born would be silent and unresponsive to the fulfillment of all the connected Old Testament prophecies about the entrance into the world of the Saviour of the world.
The command God gave is straightforward, reasonable and perfectly understandable. Angelic loyalty to the Word who became flesh had been going on from creation - apart from one angelic group who rebelled. So, with the advent of the Christ who would defeat that rebel group by his death and resurrection, it's no wonder that God would require an extraordinary outpouring of praise from his angelic ones. Loyalty is one thing, but worship is another. Not all loyalty results in worship, but in Hebrews 1:6 God makes it unarguably clear that when his Son comes into the world, he requires nothing short of worship to be given to him. And the angels thrill to respond obediently, for they know from God himself that this man-child has not stopped being God (John 1:1) because they are to continue to worship him.
God, being God, cannot be questioned when he gives commands. He is not under any obligation to make that command in Hebrews 1:6. He chooses so to do. He is commanding his creatures (the angels) to do something particular at a particular time. We humans on Earth have been given the Holy Spirit's insight into what God commanded on that unique occasion, so that we, too, who love the Saviour, will do as the angels do. If angels are to worship at the incarnation, how much more-so should we who are to benefit from the advent of Christ into the world! That's a trinitarian answer based purely on what the Bible states.
