John Calvin Commentary Hebrews 1:14

"Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to do service for the sake of them that shall inherit salvation?" — Hebrews 1:14 (ASV)

Are they not all, etc. So that the comparison may appear more clearly, he now mentions what the condition of angels is. For by calling them spirits, he denotes their eminence, because in this respect they are superior to physical creatures. But the office (λειτουργία) which he immediately mentions reduces them to their own rank, since it is the opposite of dominion; and this he states even more distinctly when he says that they are sent to minister. The first word means the same as if he had said that they were officials; but to minister implies what is more humble and abject. The service which God allots to angels is indeed honorable, but the very fact that they serve shows that they are far inferior to Christ, who is the Lord of all.

If anyone objects and says that Christ is also called in many places both a servant and a minister, not only to God but also to men, the reply can be readily given: His being a servant was not due to His nature but to a voluntary humility, as Paul testifies (Philippians 2:7); and at the same time, His sovereignty remained in His nature. Angels, on the other hand, were created for this purpose—that they should serve, and ministering belongs to their condition. The difference, then, is great, for what is natural to them is, as it were, adventitious or accidental to Christ, because He took on our flesh; and what necessarily belongs to them, He undertook of His own accord. Besides, Christ is a minister in such a way that, though He is in our flesh, nothing is diminished from the majesty of His dominion.

From this passage, the faithful receive no small consolation, for they hear that celestial hosts are assigned to them as ministers to secure their salvation. It is indeed no common pledge of God’s love toward us that they are continually engaged on our behalf. From this also comes a remarkable confirmation for our faith: that our salvation, being defended by such guardians, is beyond the reach of danger. How well, then, God has provided for our weaknesses by giving us such assistants to oppose Satan and to exert their power in every way to defend us!

But this benefit He grants especially to His chosen people; therefore, for angels to minister to us, we must be members of Christ. Yet some testimonies of Scripture may, on the other hand, be cited to show that angels are sometimes sent out for the sake of the reprobate, for Daniel mentions the angels of the Persians and the Greeks (Daniel 10:20). To this I answer that they were assisted by angels in such a way that the Lord might thereby promote the salvation of His own people, for their success and their victories were always related to the benefit of the Church. It is certain that since we have been banished by sin from God’s kingdom, we can have no communion with angels except through the reconciliation made by Christ; and this we can see in the ladder shown in a vision to the patriarch Jacob.