The Relationship of Jewish and Gentile Believers to the Law Between A.D. 30 and 70 in the Scripture

14 on in 1, 3a. It is simply a translator's attempt to smooth over the clash of ideas in 1,2- 4_ 11 Second, the meaning of "become better" is sometimes understood in terms of the glorification of Jesus' humanity. Lightfoot expresses this view: The son became superior to the angels when He took His seat at God ' s right hand. Prior to this, while in human form, His position was a little lower than the angels. The Son' s eternal existence and nature are not here in view (as in vv. 2b-3a) .... 18 The problem with this explanation, however , is that the thrust of the argumentation of 1: 5-14 which supports the statement of 1:4 19 does in fact concern the deity of the Son rather than his humanity which is discussed in chapter two . In short, if the reference in 1:4 is to the change in his humanity then the explanation and support of 1:5-14 neither explains or supports the statement. This understanding also strains the argument of chapter two where the author , states that the Son "has been made ... lower 20 than the angels" (2:9). The author' point could hardly be that Jesus , though inherently better than angels in his pre-incarnate deity, yet lower than angels in his incarnation, has once again become better in his exalted humanity . Swetnam points out that chapter two simply does not teach that Jesus is superior in hi per on to angels: 17 J. P. Meier," tructure and Theology in Hebrew 1,1-14," Biblica 66 (19 5) : 1 18 Neil R . Lightfoot, Jesus Chri t Today: A ommentary on the Book of Hebrew ( rand Rapid : Baker, 1976), 56 . 19 The verbal and conceptual tie b tw en 1:4 and 1:5 ar planatory yap at the beginning of 1:5 indicating that 1: ff i 1:4 . It 1 li ly a w ll , th t ' n" (1 :5) i th nam (1 :4) 20 Wh th f th a t m rgum nt 1 r rm n nt . b