Hebrews 1:1-4 is the prologue to the letter that has the theme of the latest word from God and the greatness of the Son of God. This passage contrasts the ages of antiquity with the age of the authors, ancestors with that of believers in the day of the author, and the prophets with the Son. He begins by showing that the speaking of God in the past has been diverse in geographical location and method of disclosure, the theme of Chapters 1-12. He refers to the time, which was 1long ago, that God spoke to their ancestors, referring to 11:11-38. The idea of God speaking is a metaphor, but it remains a powerful one. The author stresses that this speaking of God occurred in many and various ways by the prophets. Luther suggested that when God speaks to humanity, God always speaks in baby talk. God speaks like this because God is love. No matter how old or big we become, we are still helpless, dependent, unknowing babes as far as concerns our faith. God bends to our infirmities. God speaks, telling us what we need to know and what we can handle. We cannot stand the full weight of the full truth. The creator knows the needs and limits we have as creatures. Therefore, said Luther, God talks only in baby talk. Adam and Eve did not need to know all that Abraham needed, and Abraham did not need to know all that Moses needed, and Moses did not need to know all the King David needed. Prophets and priests had a different form of communication with the Lord as over against rulers. Our author is hinting at all of this. Further, the notion of revelation involves what God has to say to humanity. A speaker needs someone to listen, such as the prophet. The speaking of God creates a community of faithful listeners. This simple statement of the author sums up quite well the reality and preliminary nature of Old Testament revelation. It addresses its unity and its variety. It hints at the progression of covenant in Noah, Abraham, Israel, and the house of David. It suggests that the covenant is a promise. The covenant exists in expectation of a further covenant. The Old Testament is a revelation as it looks forward with expectation to a new covenant. It points beyond itself. Kings, priests, and prophets could only hint at the reality God would bring to humanity for its redemption in Christ. We can think of the rule of kings hinting at the rule of the Lord, the forgiveness offered in the sacrificial system hinting at the forgiveness God offers, and the prophet who hears from the Lord and speaks what the Lord wants hinting of Jesus Christ as the Word.[1] He presents a brief formula for viewing the Old Testament as promise and prophecy as we think of the multiplicity of the biblical ideas of revelation.[2] Looking at the Old Testament hints that God will speak again in a definitive way. The author refers to time again, 2but this time, yet again, in one more definitive time, in these last days. “In the last days” (Acts 2:17, Joel 2:28-29), “In the fullness of time” (Mark 1:15, Galatians 4:4), contain similar notions of the relationship between the time of the Old Testament and that of the New. God revealed Jesus as the Christ “at the end of the ages” and for the sake of humanity (I Peter 1:20). The rule of God has drawn near in Christ. The turning point of the times, revealed in Christ, is the fulfillment of all the promises of the covenant of grace.[3] The author refers to God speaking again, only this time by a Son, whom the Father appointed heir of all things. In all of this speaking by God, the content and theme of revelation is God, and thus, close to modern notions of the self-revelation of God.[4] Yet, we would be unwise to limit the notion of revelation to this one medium.[5] The Word spoken by Jesus is self-revelation in the sense that Christ is the work of God brought to fulfillment.[6] Therefore, Christ forms a unity in the midst of diverse forms of revelation we find in the history of Israel. God speaks, while the ancestors and we who read them are those to whom God speaks. The fact of God speaking is the center of the diversity. God spoke throughout this time. God did this in many ways and occasions. God spoke with emerging weight and definitiveness. While the speaking of God occurred in a variety of ways, it unites in the singleness and simplicity of the conclusion. The Old Testament looks forward with expectation while the New Testament recollects what God has said in the Son.[7] The Devil refers to Jesus as the Son of God (Matthew 4), while John 1:18 says Jesus is the only Son who has made the Father known. Obviously, the author intentionally magnifies what the Father has said in the Son. The Son was the way through whom the Father created the worlds (age), giving the honor due to the Son. Such language reminds us of the way Wisdom was present with the Father in creation and even delighting in the human race (Proverbs 8:27-31 and Wisdom 9:1-2, 9). In an analogous way, all things exist and find their preservation in the Lord Jesus Christ (I Corinthians 8:6), the Father created through the Son (Colossians 1:16), and God created through the Word (John 1:3). The passage concludes with a brief poem. It forms the background for the wisdom and logos tradition of Alexandria school in early Christian theology. We also find this an emphasis in Proverbs 8 as well. Thus, the Son is the reflection (ἀπαύγασμα, only use of word in NT, radiance) of the glory of God (referring to the presence of the God). The Son is the exact imprint (χαρακτὴρ, character, only occurrence of the word in the NT, an impression, representation, exact reproduction; a graving-tool, expression, stamp, or mark) of the very being (ὑποστάσεως, substance, reality, or even guaranteeing the reality) of God. Statements about Jesus as being the image of God are like statements about the divine likeness of humanity.[8] Such statements are the basis for what the creeds affirm about Jesus, including that the Son is “consubstantial,” of the same substance, as the Father. The Son sustains all things by his powerful word. The Son sustains creation, and therefore created things participate in the filial relation of Jesus Christ to the Father and in fellowship with the Father. Yet, such relation finds its mediation through the self-distinction of the Son from the Father.[9] The Son made purification for sins, the effect of the work of the Son. We have redemption through the blood of Jesus and forgiveness of our sins (Ephesians 1:7-8, Colossians 1:14). God has made the Son a sacrifice of atonement by his blood (Romans 3:25). The Son then sat down (Psalm 110) at the right hand of the Majesty on high, like exalting Jesus to the right hand of God (Acts 2:33), and God highly exalting him, giving him a name above every name (Philippians 2:9-11). Consistent with this passage, John 1:18, Philippians 2:6-11, and Colossians 1:15-20 are the central New Testament affirmations of the deity of Christ. The lordship of the Son is an application of the lordship of the Father. The deity of Jesus shows who the Father is.[10] All of this means the Son, 4having become as much superior to angels, as the name he has inherited is more excellent than that of angels. In the Son is the origin of all that differs from the Father and therefore the independence of creation in relation to the Father. The Son is the mediator of creation in the sense that creation will accomplish its purpose in Christ.[11] For the early Christian witness, this thought is pervasive.[12]
Hebrews 1:5-12 is part of a larger segment that extends to 2:18, having the theme that Christ is superior to the angels. In addition, verses 5-12 is part of a segment that extends to verse 14, in which the author establishes the superiority of Christ to the angels by quoting seven passages from the Old Testament. We may have what Barth says is an affirmation that angels are an annex to Christology. He stresses that God became a human being, not an angel. Such affirmations concern the lordship of Christ over all powers. [13]
First, 5 For to which of the angels did God ever say, as in Psalm 2:7, "You are my Son; today I have begotten you"? Mark 1:9-11, along with Matthew 3:13-17 and Luke 3:21-22, will quote the passage with the baptism of Jesus. Luke will quote it in Acts 13:33. Or again, second, in II Samuel 7:14, "I will be his Father, and he will be my Son"? It also has a similarity to I Chronicles 17:13, “I will be a father to him, and he shall be a son to me. I will not take my steadfast love from him, as I took it from him who was before you.” In Isaiah 42:1, we read, “Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights.” Mark will use it to refer to the baptism of Jesus, while this author uses it to refer to the installation of Jesus as high priest. Third, 6 And again, when he brings the firstborn into the world, he says in Deuteronomy 32:43, "Let all God's angels worship him." The NRSV translates, “Praise, O heavens, his people, worship him, all you gods!” The thought is like that of John 3:16, God “gave his only Son.”
The point in verses 7-9 is that the angels are temporal, while the Son is eternal. Angels are “winds” and “flames of fire” in contrast to the Son, who rules. Thus, fourth, 7 Of the angels he says, in Psalm 104:4, "He makes his angels winds, and his servants flames of fire." In contrast, God has anointed the Son forever. Fifth, 8But of the Son he says in Psalm 45:6-7, "Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, and the righteous scepter is the scepter of your kingdom. 9 You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore, God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions." The point in verses 7-9 is that here the nature of angels is subtle and changeable, and therefore inferior to that of the Son reigning from the eternal throne. At the close of verse 9, the reference is to “rivals” or “companions.” The godhead, attributed in the Psalm to the priest-king by way of hyperbole, this writer attributes to Jesus the Messiah as of pre-eminent right.
In verses 10-12, God is eternal and creator. Sixth,10 And, in Psalm 102:25-27, "In the beginning, Lord, you founded the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands; 11 they will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like clothing. We find a similar thought in Isaiah 34:4, “All the host of heaven shall rot away, and the skies roll up like a scroll.” In addition, we might consider Isaiah 51:6, “for the heavens will vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like a garment, and those who live on it will die like gnats. Further, 12 like a cloak you will roll them up, and like clothing they will be changed. But you are the same, and your years will never end." We find a similar thought in Zechariah 12:1, “Thus says the Lord, who stretched out the heavens and founded the earth and formed the human spirit within …”
[1] Barth (Church Dogmatics I.2 [14.2] 83-84).
[2] Pannenberg, (Systematic Theology, Volume I, 213)
[3] Barth (Church Dogmatics III.1 [41.1] 53-54)
[4] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume I, (ibid, 222, 240)
[5] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology, Volume I, (ibid, 237)
[6] Barth (Church Dogmatics IV.3 [71.4] 584)
[7] Barth (IV.3 [96.2] 93-94)
[8] Pannenberg (Systematic Theology Volume 2, 208)
[9] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology, Volume 2, 34
[10] Barth (Church Dogmatics I.1 [10.1])
[11] Pannenberg (Systematic Theology Volume 2, 22)
[12] Pannenberg (Systematic Theology, Volume 2, 369)
[13] (Church Dogmatics III.3 [51.3] 500)
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