Hebrews 1:4
Hebrews 1:44So He became as far superior to the angels as the name He has inherited is excellent beyond theirs.
"Become better than the angels" is treated as Watchtower evidence that Jesus occupies a tiered rank among created beings. He was Michael the Archangel before the incarnation; he was exalted after the resurrection; "becoming better" marks his post-exaltation status within a fundamentally angelic category. The inherited "name more excellent than theirs" is read as the acquired title "Son."
The "becoming" in 1:4 is the post-resurrection exaltation, not an ontological upgrade. supplies the matching clause: Jesus was "made a little lower than the angels" in the incarnation (the voluntary kenosis of ) and then crowned with glory and honour. The motion is down-then-up, not creature-to-exalted- creature. Jesus did not become divine by promotion; he resumed the glory he already had "before the world existed" (). And the "name more excellent than theirs" is named in the very next verse — Son. Verse 5 rhetorically rules out any angel ever bearing it. If Jesus is Michael, Hebrews 1 self-destructs at verse 5.