Hebrews 1:9, commentary and pictures

The Father speaks to the Son as a distinct person from Himself, enthroning Him forever over a righteous kingdom and setting Him above angels and all associates. The One so addressed is Himself God and equal with the Father, whose coming in human flesh plants heaven's kingdom among men. He loved doing what is just and right toward every person in obedience to God's word, and He hated whatever perverts and twists what is right, living without sin by bearing every human test and temptation without yielding in the least. Because of that love of righteousness and hatred of iniquity He was anointed with gladness above all others, marking Him as the only Saviour with divine wisdom and power, whose perfect harmony with the Father's will, victory in the wilderness as the second Adam, and shed blood and patient suffering under abuse pledged His anointing as great High Priest and His exaltation with all power. Those who receive Him are to receive His mind by the Spirit until they love what He loved and hate what He hated, denying self, dwelling on His love and sacrifice, obeying all His commandments, and serving God in self-denying duty rather than living for ease and pleasure, and to them is promised a share in His anointing for their work.

Christ Exalted Above Fellows

The verse reveals the Father and the Son as two separate, distinct individual persons, with the Father speaking to the Son. In appointing, giving, and anointing the Son, the Father sets Him above the angels, declaring His throne as God forever under a righteous scepter. Created things such as trees and flowers are not God, but are object lessons that reveal His power and point to His power to save. Through God's gift of His Son is accomplished a great and grand work that means eternal life to the receiver, calling men and women to turn from pleasure-seeking, frivolity, drunkenness, crime, and wickedness to realize the meaning of the great salvation offered, to worship Him who first loved them and to make Him the center of attraction.

The One addressed is God and equal with the Father, enthroned forever with a scepter of righteousness over a righteous kingdom. Because He loved righteousness and hated iniquity He was anointed with the oil of gladness above His fellows, companions, and associates, exalted above the angels. His coming into the world was His incarnation, through which the Father establishes heaven's kingdom among humanity.

That anointing for loving righteousness and hating iniquity marks Him as the only competent Saviour, possessing divine wisdom, ability, and power to stand before the world as Wonderful Counsellor, mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace. His full gift of the Spirit came through perfect harmony with the Father's will. In the wilderness as the second Adam He would not yield one inch on appetite, pride, or worldly glory, but armed with It is written met and overcame the strongest temptations, righteously maintaining His dignity as the One to whom God committed all power, and by obedience redeemed Adam's failure to overcome in behalf of humanity and place man on vantage ground with God. To roll back the sweeping tide of evil He came fully able for the work laid upon Him, with all power in heaven and in earth given to Him. Even under brutal abuse He remained wholly faithful without murmur or retaliation, and the blood from His wounded temples with His abasement was the pledge of His anointing with the oil of gladness as the great High Priest and the pledge of His exaltation.

Righteousness Loved, Iniquity Hated

Righteousness is loving and doing what is just and right toward every person and every soul, being good and doing good, and loving obedience to God's Word, with increasing love for righteousness as convincing evidence of growth in grace. Iniquity is perverting what is right, whatever is crooked or twisted away from what is right. Christ was exalted above His associates because He loved righteousness and hated iniquity, and loving righteousness and hating iniquity is evidence of the new creation in Christ. His life without sin, doing what was just and right in all things, makes Him the model to imitate through obedience and righteous action and through practicing His virtues and loving sound principles and sound doctrine in daily life.

Crooked practices and selfish plans set up so that self and certain ones are benefited while others are oppressed in order to secure those ends are iniquity. All this is robbery toward God and toward man, forsaking true and sound principles and twisting things out of God's line and out of the straight lines where God designs they should go in order to gratify selfishness. It is fraud, which is transgression of God's commandments, and all who profess to be Christians and do not obey the commandments of God misrepresent the character of Jesus. Those who believe the truth will practice it willingly, even at personal cost, showing sound doctrine by sound practice at any cost.

Jesus loved righteousness and hated iniquity and sin, remaining wholly faithful to His Father's will. His righteousness includes the satisfaction He gave to the divine law in behalf of humanity by bearing the test on every point where the sinner must bear it, being tempted in all points as human beings are tempted with every temptation that could be brought upon Him, yet not yielding in the least degree to the power of the enemy. His calm endurance under brutal abuse without a murmur or retaliation proved His kinship to God and His perfect humanity.

The same love of righteousness and hatred of iniquity judges people who wrongfully acquire or use wealth, neglect their responsibility to relieve suffering, and replace justice and mercy with greed and strife. It judges wealthy people who rob God by withholding help from the poor and oppressed and replacing justice and mercy with avarice and strife.

Sharing His Character and Anointing

His righteous character is set before believers as the pattern they are to follow, and the Holy Spirit gives them the mind of Christ to repress evil and serve faithfully. His divine-human life is to become their own personal experience, until they too love righteousness and hate sin and evil. Those united with Him and one with Him love what He loved and hate what He hated, loving righteousness and hating sin, loving what God loves and hating what God hates. This oneness is evidence of the new creation and belongs to true religion and high attainment in it. The soul kept under the softening, subduing influence of the Spirit of God shares that love and hatred and remains in comparative safety while improvement is still possible, while Christ still presents His blood as advocate before the Father and all unloveliness of character must be put away as not pleasing to God.

Sharing that love and hatred requires the whole moral taste to be changed in His strength. Oneness with Him comes by dwelling with determined purpose on His heavenly attributes, His matchless love and great sacrifice, trusting Him as Redeemer rather than trusting human beings for spiritual help, talking of His love and telling and singing of His mercies, and making Him a personal Saviour. Copying Him, full of love and tenderness and compassion, requires drawing near to Him daily, denying self, obeying all His commandments, doing His words under the control of the precepts of the Bible, and showing sound doctrine by sound practice at any cost. It means working daily at being Christians and developing a Christlike character, making straight paths for the feet so that those who are spiritually unsteady, who halt and are not firmly established in truth, are not led astray or turned out of the way, for believing sound doctrine is not enough without putting it into practice and giving no excuse for deviating from righteousness. It means shunning the skeptic and his satanic words and poisonous atmosphere as deadly poison, and instead seeking godly influence that forms right ideas of the service of God, for delay in this change is dangerous and true conversion to the truth is necessary to save the soul.

The great business of life is to be true servants of God by loving righteousness and hating iniquity rather than pursuing ease and pleasure at the cost of eternal interests. This means refusing ruin through desire for a life of ease and pleasure, and refusing to set the heart on the good things of this life at the expense of future eternal interests. It means accepting self-denial and the trials inseparable from fidelity to God. Present happiness and success are to be received gratefully only when found in the path of duty. It means keeping earnest and persevering zeal to do right, with strength to resist temptation and faith in the principles of truth and duty, since greatest strength is realized when weakness is felt and acknowledged.

The same stance required of Zedekiah would have meant openly declaring love for truth, hatred of sin, and obedience to God through His counsel by Jeremiah, rather than being governed by fear and public opinion. Such courage and justice could have inspired the people to stand for what is right and to remain loyal. That faithful course could have helped spare Judah and Jerusalem from destruction.

Those who accept His invitation to learn from Him learn to live a pure and holy life free from sin, and they are promised the anointing with the oil of gladness. That anointing is poured into prepared hearts from the two anointed ones. Through His divine power and efficiency believers are anointed for their work, but they must give Him all the glory rather than crediting their own goodness or merits or claiming success as their own. His gift of the Son accomplishes the great salvation that means eternal life to the receiver. That gift calls men and women to turn from pleasure-seeking, frivolity, drunkenness, crime, and wickedness and to endeavor to realize the meaning of the great salvation offered through Him, to worship Him who first loved them and to make Him the center of attraction.