Unlike most letters in the NT, the letter to the Hebrews open without the customary greetings. The author, it appears, is so excited about the subject matter of his letter that he dives straight in. Some commentators have suggested that this is because the letter minus the concluding greetings in Chap 13 was originally a sermon. It was then 'mailed' to the readers, and with the greetings attached, became our 'letter.' It is an interesting suggestion but we cannot be certain that it was the case.
The theme of his concern is the superiority of the Son to any other means by which God has revealed Himself in "these last days." This is clearly stated in 1:1-2a. Having done so, he states seven distinctives about the Son (vv2b-3), which together makes the Son superior to everything else. In the rest of the chapter he demonstrates, first, that the Son is far superior to the angels by citing seven relevant OT passages.
Chapter 1 is, of course, only a part of this demonstration of the Son's superiority. The first part of this demostration—that the Son is superior to the angels—continues all the way to 2:18.
Low Chai Hok
©Alberith, 2014