Angels and Son

The contrast between the angels and the Son in Hebrews 1-2 is primarily a contrast of the law “delivered through angels” (cf. 2:2) and the word now spoken in the Son.

But these chapters also touch on another aspect of angelic ministry. Twice the author mentions the oikoumene , once saying that the “firstborn” has been brought there (1:6) and once to speak of the coming oikoumene , which is subjected not to angels but to the Son (2:5).

This is particularly interesting if we follow James Jordan’s suggestion that the oikoumene is not generic but specific, not “inhabited earth” but the imperial system erected after the exile (cf. Daniel 2, 7). That imperial order was subjected to angels, as Daniel occasionally hints; but the new imperial arrangement, the fifth monarchy, is the monarchy of the Son.