a current of air · noun — accusative plural neuter
and
καὶkai
G2532
and · conjunction
his
αὐτοῦautou
G846
the reflexive pronoun self · personal pronoun — genitive singular masculine
ministers
λειτουργοὺςleitourgous
G3011
a public servant · noun — accusative plural masculine
flame
φλόγα·phloga
G5395
a blaze · noun — accusative singular feminine
fire
πυρὸςpuros
G4442
"fire" (literally or figuratively · noun — genitive singular neuter
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Psalms 104:4 Who maketh his angels spirits; his ministers a flaming fire:
Hebrews 1:14 Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?
2 Kings 6:17 And Elisha prayed, and said, LORD, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the LORD opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: a…
2 Kings 2:11 And it came to pass, as they still went on, and talked, that, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them…
Ezekiel 1:13-14 As for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was like burning coals of fire, and like the appearance of lamps: it went up a…
Zechariah 6:5 And the angel answered and said unto me, These are the four spirits of the heavens, which go forth from standing before the Lord of all the…
Daniel 7:10 A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him: thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood befo…
Isaiah 6:2 Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Hebrews 1:4–end
The apostle, having proved the pre-eminence of the gospel above the law from the pre-eminence of the Lord Jesus Christ above the prophets, now proceeds to show that he is much superior not only to the prophets, but to the angels themselves. In this he obviates an objection that the Jewish zealots would be ready to make, that the law was not only delivered by men, but ordained by angels (Gal 3:19), who attended at the giving forth of the law, the hosts of heaven being drawn forth to attend the Lord Jehovah on that awful occasion. Now the angels are very glorious beings, far more glorious and excellent than men; the scripture always represents them as the most excellent of all creatures, and w…
of--The Greek is rather, "In reference TO the angels."
spirits--or "winds": Who employeth His angels as the winds, His ministers as the lightnings; or, He maketh His angelic ministers the directing powers of winds and flames, when these latter are required to perform His will. "Commissions them to assume the agency or form of flames for His purposes" [ALFORD]. English Version, "maketh His angels spirits," means, He maketh them of a subtle, incorporeal nature, swift as the wind. So Psa 18:10, "a cherub . . . the wings of the wind." Heb 1:14, "ministering spirits," favors English Version here. As "spirits" implies the wind-like velocity and subtle nature of the cherubim, so "flame of fire" e…
Who maketh his angels spirits - They are so far from being superior to Christ, that they are not called God's sons in any peculiar sense, but his servants, as tempests and lightnings are. In many respects they may have been made inferior even to man as he came out of the hands of his Maker, for he was made in the image and likeness of God; but of the angels, even the highest order of them, this is never spoken. It is very likely that the apostle refers here to the opinions of the Jews relative to the angels. In Pirkey R. Elieser, c. 4, it is said: "The angels which were created the second day, when they minister before God, נעשין של אש become fire." In Shemoth Rabba, s. 25, fol. 123, it is s…
The Church Fathers
"Who makes His angels spirits." For they are created beings, therefore he says, "Who makes." Behold the greatest difference: that some are created, while the One is uncreated; for the act of creating denotes the production from non-being into being. It is not only to angels that the exceptional pertains, but also to every functional power. He did not say, "Having created," but "Creating," that is, sustaining by the Word, according to which they came into being.
For just as in the matter of "radiance" and "exact image of his nature" he imitated John, calling him "the Word" and saying that he was God, so also here he imitated John. Just as John said, "This one was in the beginning, all things were created through him," so also does Paul, although he says, "these things were not" instead of saying, "This one was." "To the angels is said, 'who makes them'; but to the Son, 'your throne.' " This proves the point: That which was made was not in existence previously, but he who has an eternal throne always was with his Father.
The mention of the angels' "service" (wind) shows their quickness, while the mention of "ministry" (flames) shows their power. When he says that the angels have been made these things, he presents how they also have the ability to be these things. And he distinguishes them from the "Creator" and "God" and "throne" and "scepter of the kingdom," all of which are symbols of his highest honor and worthiness. For also the phrase God reveals his highest nature, and throne and scepter set forth the certainty of this apart from human honors and worthiness. Then also the phrase "forever and ever" proves this, for the word Creator shows those things that have come into existence have their beginning in time, but this passage demonstrates the eternity of his kingdom.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Angels · Are ministering Spirits — Are ministering Spirits
Fire · Illustrative of: Zeal of angels — Illustrative of: Zeal of angels
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
Or "to the angels", as in the following verse, "to the Son", which stands opposed to this; and the words said to them, or of them, are found in Psalm 104:4
who maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire: this cannot be understood of the wind and lightning, and of God's making these his messengers and ministers to do his will; for such a sense is not suitable to the scope of the psalm, from whence they are taken, nor to the order of the words in which they stand; for it is not said he makes spirits, or winds, his angels, and flaming fire his ministers, but the reverse; and is contrary to the design of the apostle in citing them, which is to show the superiority of Christ to…
Hebrews 1:7-9
7. And of the angels he saith, Who maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire.
7. Et ad angelos quidem dicit, Qui facit angelos suos spiritus et ministros suos flamman ignis.
8. But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of thy kingdom.
8. Ad Filium vero, Thronus tuus, O Deus, in seculum seculi; virga directionis, virga regni tui:
9. Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.
9. Dilexisti justitiam et odisti iniquitatem; propterea unxit te Deus tuus oleo laetitiae prae consortibus tuis.
7.…
This verse quotes Ps 104:4 to show that the angels are messengers or servants and, therefore, of a lesser rank than the Son, whom they serve. • In the Old Testament, angels are sometimes associated with winds and fire (see Exod 3:2; Judg 6:21; 13:16, 20; 2 Sam 22:11; Pss 18:10; 35:5), which is why angels are mentioned in connection with God’s lordship over nature.
