“And of the angels he saith, Who maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire.”
King James Version (KJV)
1:7 Who maketh his angels - This implies, they are only creatures, whereas the Son is eternal, #Heb 1:8|; and the Creator himself, #Heb 1:10|. Spirits and a flame of fire - Which intimates not only their office, but also their nature; which is excellent indeed, the metaphor being taken from the most swift, subtle, and efficacious things on earth; but nevertheless infinitely below the majesty of the Son. #Psa 104:4|.
Heb 1:7 And of the angels he saith. The quotations made show how God speaks to and of the Son, but quite different are the words used of the angels. Who maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire. In the Revised Version we have "winds" instead of "spirits". The Greek word is "Pneumata", a word which uniformly in the New Testament means "spirit", and "spirits" in the plural, and I believe that "spirits" is the better rendering. The passage is quoted from Ps 104:4, and means that he maketh spirits his messengers, or angels, and flaming ones (the burning seraphs) his ministers. It is incongruous with the thought to introduce into the passage winds and lightnings, natural phenomena, when the theme is the status of angel intelligences.