Hebrews 1:8 God addressing Jesus as God

In order to comprehend the point in a better perspective a reading of Mtt 22: 41-46 would help:

Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them this question: “What do you think of the Messiah? Whose son is he?” They said to him, “The son of David.” He said to them, “How is it then that David by the Spirit calls him Lord, saying,

‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet”’?

If David thus calls him Lord, how can he be his son?” No one was able to give him an answer, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions

Now, Hebrew 1:8 (NRSVCE) goes :

"But of the Son he says,

“Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, and the righteous scepter is the scepter of your kingdom.

Mind that Hebrew 1:8 is in fact, an excerpt from Psalms 45:4-6:

In your majesty ride forth victoriously in the cause of truth, humility and justice; let your right hand achieve awesome deeds. Let your sharp arrows pierce the hearts of the king’s enemies; let the nations fall beneath your feet. Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever; a scepter of justice will be the scepter of your kingdom.

The writer of Hebrews has borrowed the words of David and attributed them to God the Father. Hence the confusion.

The (Biblical) Unitarian understanding is that this verse on its own can be ambiguous and open to interpretations not intended by the author.

We must read the verse in context and if there is not support for one view over another immediately close by, then a wider search must be made.

In this case, support for Jesus NOT being 'the one true God' is evident from the surrounding verses. The next verse is especially useful,

You have loved righteousness and have hated wickedness; because of this, God, Your God, has anointed You with the oil of exultation above Your companions." Heb 1:9

Clearly there are either two Gods, or the translators have confused matters with their choice of capitalization - which is a matter for careful exegesis and not blindly following a well-formed tradition.

Verse 9 informs us of several things;

1. One God is superior to the other.
2. Only the superior God can anoint the other. Making Jesus the lessor G/god by default.
3. One has companions - which as a man Jesus has all of humanity. As we know, he is the firstborn of many brethren. Col 1:15,18 (nothing to do with being firstborn of humanity, but of the dead - which is all humanity)
4. Jesus being sinless and victorious is rightly exalted above all other humans.
5. One God has been exalted. The 'one true God' Jesus spoke about (as the apostles often did) cannot be exalted higher than he is. If Jesus is God, he is always God and not able to diminish his Godliness in any way that makes him somehow less God.
6. We know Jesus' will differed from the Father. This makes sense of the 'loved righteousness' bit. Jesus chose to do right, to accord with the Father's will even though his varied and wanted to oppose. God doesn't make these choices - He is right and good and love and his will to be holy is unquestioned.

All that from the next verse, which adds the depth to v8 that is often overlooked in favour of the traditional interpretation of one verse alone.

Further, we see in v6

And again, when He brings the Firstborn into the world, He says: “And let all God’s angels worship Him".

Dispensing with the idea that Jesus must be God because he is worshipped. God is the one calling for worship of His holy, victorious son - and rightly so. God makes the rules - God can change them too! Having His son share His throne is evident of the magnificent exaltation Jesus has received.

Hebrews 1:3a says “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His being, sustaining all things by His powerful word.” Similarly, Colossians 2:9 says “For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form.”

Hebrews 1:4 calls Jesus superior to the angels. Jesus created the angels and is above them. No created angel can ever be called the Son of God – only Christ Jesus commands that title.

Christ’s superiority to angels is documented by seven Old Testament quotations between verses 5 and 14. The section proves that God’s Son is worshipped by angels. It also shows that the Son is distinguished from the Father.

You are my Son; today I have become your Father (Hebrews 1:5).

This is taken from Psalm 2:7 and is quoted in Acts 13:33-34 as proof that this prophecy was fulfilled by Christ Jesus upon his resurrection:

The fact that God raised him from the dead, never to decay, is stated in these words:

“I will give you the holy and sure blessings promised to David.”

Jews acknowledged the words “I will be his Father, and he will be my Son” (from 2 Samuel 7:14) as a Messianic prophecy.

Hebrews 1:8 is a passage that points to the deity of the Messianic and Davidic King – the Son of God. This view is upheld by Trinitarian Protestants.