Hebrews Chapter 1

Hebrews Chapter 1 seems to be a great defense of the deity of Christ. Obviously, the writer here contrasts Christ with the Angles and shows his superiority over them. - Vs 13 "But to what angel has he ever said, Sit at my right hand, till I make your enemies a stool for your feet". The writer also defends Christ's position as God by talking about how Christ was around since the beginning and through whom all things are created (vs. 2) and that he will be there till the end of time reigning in power with God the Father. And, finally, the writer acknowledges Christ as the Word of God (vs 1).

This is a great Chapter to show people who say "Christ is never called God in the Bible" - although you might want to start with his own statements where he calls himself God. They are usually the agnostic crowd who want to make the "Jesus was a good man" argument.

This reminds me of a few Catholic practices and prayers that I want to share with you, because I believe they fit so well with the theme of Hebrews 1:

1) The Glory Be - one of the most common prayers we as Catholics say, during the Liturgy of the Hours and the Rosary as well as in our day to day life. Glory Be to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, as it was in the Beginning, Is Now, and will be forever, Amen. This prayer also reflects the eternal nature of God - and the Trinity of which Christ is a part, making him true God.

2) Words from the Creed -

"through him all things were made"

"eternally begotten of the Father"

"the only Son of God"

"God from God, Light from Light, True God from True God"

"He is seated at the right hand of the Fahter"

3) Our reverance for the Gospel. Anyone who is not Catholic ever notice that we process the book of the Gospels in with the Priest? We do that out of reverance for Christ being the Word of God, especially through the Gospels. We also many times use incense around the Gospel book, bow to it before it is read, the Priest will kiss it after proclaiming the Gospel, and kiss the spot the Gospel book will sit before it is sat on the altar. All these are loving signs of our respect for Christ as the Word of God.

So that chapter was pretty brief, but it did point to a lot of Catholic practices I wanted to mention. I hope to keep going strong on this.