If Jesus was lower than angels Hebrews 2v9 and Paul is greater than angels Galatians 1v8 then is Paul greater than Jesus?

Answer 1

Yep! If Jesus were indeed lower than the angels and Paul were indeed greater than angels, then the conclusion must be true. The problem is, that's not what The Bible says in context. Hebrews 2:9 does indeed say that Jesus was "made" a little lower than the angels. Verses 6-8 quote Psalm 8, which says that man was made a little lower than the angels. The question becomes, what definition of "made" should we use? One definition would indicate that both were created in that state. If that's the definition to use, then we must also conclude that Jesus was a created being. The problem there is that He cannot be God "in the flesh" if He were created. See the related question "Is Jesus God" and "Is Jesus the Son of God" to the right for more information. Now let's look at Galatians. In the first part of the letter Paul is addressing a problem that the church at Galatia is having: that of abandoning Christ for "a different gospel" (v. 6). Galatians 1:8, in the NIV, reads: "But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned!" This isn't saying that Paul is more important than an angel, but rather that the Gospel that the Galatians have been taught by Paul and others (presumably other apostles) is more important than any other variation they may hear, no matter from whom it comes, even it's from an alleged "angel." Thus, Paul is not saying he's greater than any given angel, though one could infer that he's more important than any angel who preaches a lie as the truth (which would include the various angels that fell with Lucifer, also called Satan). The phrasing, however, doesn't really support this directly, either, and it especially doesn't compare to Hebrews 2.