Today, we have a very specific question, but one that I think draws attention to much

larger questions that we all face with Bible interpretation.

The specific question on the table is this, why does the author of Hebrews belabor Christ's

supremacy over angels to question that comes in from a young man, Pastor John, hello?

Why do you think though, writer of Hebrews spends so much time declaring that Jesus is

greater than the angels?

This is especially the case in those first two chapters.

You would think that identifying Jesus as God and expounding upon the Trinity would be

a better way of declaring the truth of Jesus' greatness that the writer of Hebrews wouldn't

need to compare Jesus to angels.

The emphasis on angels is for a reason I just can't figure out why, Pastor John, what

would you say?

I'm not sure, but it may be that the assumption of this question is that there is some key

to answering the question from outside the book of Hebrews in the first century milieu.

I'm not sure, but that's often the case.

So let me just say a word about that assumption.

I want to say something about the role of information from the first century coming from

outside the Bible and used to interpret the Bible.

And what I want to say is this in, I dare say, 99% of the cases where something from outside

the Bible might inform the meaning of what's in the Bible.

It's the precise details and context of the biblical text itself, which finally determines

whether information from outside the Bible is decisive or not.

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