The first 3 verses form the crux of what the author is going to say in the rest of the book. The Author has an all business attitude, evidenced by the fact that he leaves off, purposefully the typical opening or greeting that is present in other letters. Instead he moves right to the theme, the person and work of Jesus Christ. So much is he trying to make the point, that the first 4 verses constitute one majestic opening sentence (exordium). The Author has something really important that he wants to say.
Chapter One
πολυμερῶς [polumeros /pol·oo·mer·oce/] (many times) v1
Made up of polus meaning many and meros meaning parts or pieces. Carries the idea of many pieces or fragments. Each revelation was a piece of the whole revelation. Not complete in and of it’s self.
πολυτρόπως [polutropos /pol·oot·rop·oce/](various ways) v1
Made up of polus meaning many and tropos meaning ways or fashions. This word carries the idea of the many ways God used the prophets in revealing his truth.
These words do not mean that God imparted or gave His revelations differently, that was always done by using the Holy Spirit and by "men carried along" (2Pet 1:20, 21). The point being made is that the revelations given were varying in content and form, or piecemeal. The author is, right off the bat developing His point of an inferior revelation.
It has been said that the Old Testament Jews "were like men listening to a clock striking the hour, always getting nearer the truth but obliged to wait till the whole was heard."
πάλαι [palai /pal·ahee/] (in the past) v1
There is more to this than seems. There are two words in Greek meaning old or long ago. One is archaios where we get our English word archaic, meaning old in point of time and palaios meaning old in point of use, worn out, ready to be replaced. From the latters close association with our word it suggests that the OT revelations were old and worn. Ready to be replaced. So "old" may be better than "in the past" in the NIV.
ὁ θεός [ho theos /theh·os/] (God) v1
We are mentioning this only in this verse because it's used really neat. The article ho in front of Theos literally means THE God. So right away he establishes he's talking about the God of Abraham, Isaac, & Jacob.
ἐν [en /en/] en tais prophatais (through the prophets) v1
The key words are en and prophatais. The preposition en is neat because it is used in the locative and instrumental case. That means it locates the prophets in a sense of the 'group' that God used exclusively and also calls them the instruments for writing the OT Scriptures.
προφήτης [prophetes /prof·ay·tace/] (prophets) v1
Has long been misunderstood in it's meaning. It is not some one who tells what is to come; it is someone that speaks out. In this context it is someone who speaks out the word of God. In a very real way you could substitute "God's mouthpieces". In John 1:23, John the Baptist says that he is a voice not THE voice. John knew he was one of many.
Note: The NIV has God as the subject of the sentence and that isn't what the author intended. The author wanted the "portions and ways" of the revelation as the subject. Also, the verb "spoke" in the NIV is a linking verb to "spoken" in verse two. So it reads, "God having spoken spoke". Linking the two thoughts in vv. 1 & 2. Spoke to the Father's, the Jewish Fathers, a definite and lasting commitment/relationship.
ἔσχατος [eschatos /es·khat·os/] (last) v2
Means the outermost, the extreme, last in time or place. So in the final days or final revelation God is now speaking through Jesus.
διά [dia /dee·ah/] (through) v2
Used not as a passive instrument but a helper in the action. Col 1:16 "in him and through (dia) him". The expression completes or adds to the thought of through him. The Amplified Bible is on the right track when it translates by whom "he made, produced, built, operates and arranged the worlds in order".
αἰών [aion /ahee·ohn/](universe) v2
This isn't just the world as we know it. This word takes in much more than that. It means space (or the physical worlds) and time or the ages and years through which God's purposes are being accomplished. So it isn't just a place or a thing; it is that and the management of, and operation of the world.
“The idea in the word aion (αἰών) is not merely that of the vastness and magnificence of the physical universe, but the thought of the times and ages through which the purpose and plan of God are gradually unfolding. Thus, the Son is the Divine Agent not only in the original creation of the physical universe, but also in the operation and management of that universe and all its creatures all down the ages of time. And that makes Him better than the prophets.”( Wuest, K. S. (1997, c1984). Wuest's word studies from the Greek New Testament: For the English reader (Heb 1:2). Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.)
ἀπαύγασμα [apaugasma /ap·ow·gas·mah/] (radiance) v3
English translation here would be effulgence or out-raying of the divine glory. "God lets His glory issue from Himself so that there arises thereby a light-being like Himself." This is a highly descriptive term of character and nature. But again this light being became flesh. (John 1:14)
“APAUGASMA (ἀπαύγασμα , (541)), radiance, effulgence, is used of light shining from a luminous body (apo, from, and augē, brightness). The word is found in Heb. 1:3, where it is used of the Son of God as “being the effulgence of His glory.” The word “effulgence” exactly corresponds (in its Latin form) to apaugasma. The glory of God expresses all that He is in His nature and His actings and their manifestation. The Son, being one with the Father in Godhood, is in Himself, and ever was, the shining forth of the glory, manifesting in Himself all that God is and does, all, for instance, that is involved in His being “the very image of His substance,” and in His creative acts, His sustaining power, and in His making purification of sins, with all that pertains thereto and issues from it.“( Vine, W., & Bruce, F. (1981; Published in electronic form by Logos Research Systems, 1996). Vine's Expository dictionary of Old and New Testament words (Vol. 2, Page 20). Old Tappan NJ: Revell.)
δόξα [doxa /dox·ah/](glory) v3
In Greek there are two forms of the word glory. Doxa is the glory that means various displays of divine light and splendor e.g. Moses on Sinai. This glory is of necessity attached to deity. Morphe is the other word, having to do more with form.
χαρακτήρ [charakter /khar·ak·tare/] (exact representation) v3
In classical Greek the word is used in noun form of an engraver, one who stamps and mints coins. Metaphorically, as it's used here, it means "a distinctive mark or token impressed on a person or thing, by which it is known from others, a characteristic." It was a Greek idiom (or expression) for person’s features. It came to mean an exact representation.
ὑπόστασις [hupostasis /hoop·os·tas·is/] (being) v3
This word is a compound derived from hupo meaning under and histemi meaning to stand so it literally means "that which stands under", such as a foundation under a building.
Note: These two words together form a phrase that really hits the deity of Jesus on the button. These words say that Jesus is the impress of the divine essence possessed by absolute deity who is an exact representation of that essence or nature. Webster's defines essence as: "The very being or power of a thing, the formal cause of being, peculiar nature of quality, a being, essential part, a concentration of the active ingredients sustained in a smaller mass."
φέρω [phero /fer·o/] (sustaining) v3
There is definitely more here than meets the eye. It sounds like the author is just saying that Jesus supports a dead weight. Jesus is not an Atlas, carrying the weight of the earth. The word would better be served by a combination of the words maintaining and sustaining. The word phero has the idea of both those words, but also more. The word says that these actions are being done to something that is in constant motion.
" He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together." (Colossians 1:15-17, NIV)
Philo (ca. 20 b.c.-a.d. 50) said that the "Logos" or the word (Jesus, John 1:1) was the desmos or the glue of the universe. Phero is not only a word of sustaining, but one of maintaining in order. Jesus does keep the rivers in their beds, and the planets are kept in their proper orbits. Jesus does this by "his powerful word"
καθαρισμός [katharismos /kath·ar·is·mos/] (purification) v3
Middle voice (verb) has made, by himself, upon himself, offering himself, in his interest. Not purified from sin, but of sin. Sin was the disease Jesus found the cure. This is the key word for this verse. The author defines his thought pretty well in verse 9:26 when he says:
"Then Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But now he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself." (Hebrews 9:26, NIV)
Do away in the above verse is ἀθέτησις [athetesis /ath·et·ay·sis/] from thetos meaning position or place or set and the prefix apha meaning opposite. Literally Jesus removed sin from its position. The total verb means to do away with something laid down or established.
καθίζω [kathizo /kath·id·zo/] (sat down) v3
When Jesus completed his work he "sat down" at God's right hand. We want to note a couple of things here. The fact that Jesus' work is done is in contrast to the Levitical priest's whose work in the tabernacle was never done. This verb is a very formal usage of sat down, a solemn, formal act of somebody assuming a position of dignity and authority. Don't get confused, Jesus is still "phero-ing" the world. The work being talked about here is his ascension and glorification. He is there as our high priest ever attaining forgiveness for our sins.
At the end of verse three the author has made his point regarding Jesus’ superiority to the prophets
1. Prophets were mouthpieces; Jesus was God speaking on earth.
2. Son inherits all things, the prophets are merely part of than inheritance.
3. The Son created all things and is the One who operates and manages the universe and all its creatures all down the successive ages of time.
4. The Son is the out-raying of the glory of God, co-eternal and co-existent with the Father, of the same substance of the Father, and very God of very God.
5. The Son is the exact impression of the Person and the character of Deity.
6. The Son carries the weight of the universe, maintains its coherence, and carries on its development.
7. He has by the shedding of His own blood removed sin’s position, or put it away.
EXPANDED TRANSLATION
Hebrews 1:1-3
In many parts and in different ways God in former times having spoken to the fathers by means of the prophets, in the last of these days spoke to us in One who by nature is [His] Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He constituted the ages; who, being the out-raying [effulgence] of His glory and the exact reproduction of His essence, and sustaining, guiding, and propelling all things by the word of His power, having made purification of sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high; .”( Wuest, K. S. (1997, c1984). Wuest's word studies from the Greek New Testament: For the English reader (Heb 1:2). Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.)
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