Whether honor is properly due to those who are above us?
Objections
❌ Objection 1 : It seems that honor is not properly due to those who are above us. For an angel is above any human wayfarer, according to Mt. 11:11, "He that is lesser in the kingdom of heaven is greater than John the Baptist." Yet an angel forbade John when the latter wished to honor him (Apoc. 22:10). Therefore honor is not due to those who are above us.
❌ Objection 2 : Further, honor is due to a person in acknowledgment of his virtue, as stated above (Article [1]; Question [63], Article [3]). But sometimes those who are above us are not virtuous. Therefore honor is not due to them, as neither is it due to the demons, who nevertheless are above us in the order of nature.
❌ Objection 3 : Further, the Apostle says (Rm. 12:10): "With honor preventing one another," and we read (1 Pt. 2:17): "Honor all men." But this would not be so if honor were due to those alone who are above us. Therefore honor is not due properly to those who are above us.
❌ Objection 4 : Further, it is written (Tob. 1:16) that Tobias "had ten talents of silver of that which he had been honored by the king": and we read (Esther 6:11) that Assuerus honored Mardochaeus, and ordered it to be proclaimed in his presence: "This honor is he worthy of whom the king hath a mind to honor." Therefore honor is paid to those also who are beneath us, and it seems, in consequence, that honor is not due properly to those who are above us.