Nielsen’s Nook

Commentary

[1] Hebrews 1:3 continues the sentence begun in v 1 with the present active participle ὢν. As most other English translations do, I begin a new sentence here for readability; however, in doing so this participle is masked as an present active indicative verb. Consequently, the ongoing or continuous aspect of what is attributed to the Son in vv 4-5 is obscured.

[2] ἀπαύγασμα τῆς δόξης is a phrase found in the Deuterocanonical book, Wisdom of Solomon (7:26), speaking of the nature of wisdom. ἀπαύγασμα γάρ ἐστιν φωτὸς ἀιδίου καὶ ἔσοπτρον ἀκηλίδωτον τῆς τοῦ θεοῦ ἐνεργείας καὶ εἰκὼν τῆς ἀγαθότητος αὐτοῦ. For [Wisdom] is the radiance of eternal light, a spotless mirror of the working of God and an image of His goodness (author’s translation). It is worth noting that the Son is the active demonstration of these things, not a mere reflection, but the actively radiant representation of the divine glory.

[3] ὑποστάσεως (ὑπόστασις) is of course the creedal word relating Christ’s undivided dual natured singular person to us.

[4] Byzantine scribes out of concern for clearly communicating the unblemished nature of the Lord Jesus seem to have inserted ἡμῶν to clarify whose sins were purified. Metzger gives a brief discussion to the textual variations concerning τῆς δυνάμεως αὐτοῦ, καθαρισμὸν. This is also the case, of course, in the Textus Receptus.

[5] The Byzantine text adds the reflexive ἑαυτοῦ (Himself) for clarification here. This is also the case, of course, in the Textus Receptus.

[6] τοσούτῳ κρείττων γενόμενος prominence here assumes a hierarchy. The rank of the Incarnate Son is above all created things. While the second person of the Trinity was always the Eternal Son, Creator and Sustainer of the world, He of course as uncreated is superior to all created beings such as angels. However, he became the Incarnate Son. His incarnate nature was created and fallen (i.e. under the curse), yet without sin. Jesus, the Incarnate Son, was raised to a position of prominence relative to all other creation because he alone had been the apex of creation that Humanity had been intended to be. As such, the undivided Son takes his place next to the resplendent Majesty and sits down, standing only when his beloved is persecuted and martyred (Acts 7:56).

Commentary

[1] Πολυμερῶς καὶ πολυτρόπως is an interesting pair, perhaps hinting at Semitic authorship of the book with its parallelism. Πολυμερῶς speaks of the many parts (μέρος), while πολυτρόπως expands the scope of the parallelism to the manner (τρόπος) in which God spoke. In other words, formerly God spoke by means of his prophets in many episodes, using a variety of media.

[2] ἔθηκεν (τίθημι) When used with a double accusative as is the case here, τίθημι conveys the idea of making something of someone (BAGD, 816). Consider Psalm 109:1 (LXX) Εἶπεν ὁ κύριος τῷ κυρίῳ μου Κάθου ἐκ δεξιῶν μου, ἕως ἂν θῶ τοὺς ἐχθρούς σου ὑποπόδιον τῶν ποδῶν σου. The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand while I make your enemies a footstool for your feet” (author’s translation).

[3] διʼ οὗ καὶ ἐποίησεν τοὺς αἰῶνας First, there is a word order variation from this phrase in the NA27 and διʼ οὗ καὶ τοὺςN αἰῶνας ἐποίησεν, appearing in the Byzantine text and Textus Receptus.

Second, αἰῶνας is one of those Greek words that does not translate well into English. The ESV has “world” as a sort of generic plural, where the KJV opts for the plural “worlds” as does the NRSV. The NIV attempts to be more concrete rendering “universe” for αἰῶνας. While I believe these are conceptually true and sound translations (Jesus is in fact the creator and sustainer of the world, worlds and universe), I think the context directs us to an even more specific understanding for τοὺς αἰῶνας.

I believe that what may be in view might be paraphrased like this. All the episodes and ways and times and situations in which God spoke to us through his prophets - all of that - was made by the One through Whom God now speaks to us, namely, His Son, Jesus the Christ. In other words, while it is true that Christ Jesus is Lord and Maker of the universe, this opening sentence is a statement about His lordship over revelation and the sitz im leben (historico-cultural situation) in which revelation came to us previous to the Incarnation.

I have been exceedingly busy with programming work, such that the cyber-contemplative side of my life (also known as Nielsen’s Nook) has been largely neglected this March.

So I’ll be moving on from the desert into this oasis of God’s Word. One of the most paradigmatic books of the entire Bible is the book of Hebrews. It provides for us a living example of the Reformed idea of scriptura ex scriptura explicanda est (Scripture is interpreted by Scripture). ¹ Namely, in the Epistle to the Hebrews we see the way the Old Testament story finds its completion, perfection and climax in the person of Jesus, who is the Christ.

To that end, much like the series on the Martyrdom of Polycarp, I’ll be plugging away at the book of Hebrews in bite-sized chunks that are aimed at my edification and yours. As always comments are welcomed; interaction is treasured.

For those interested in the technical side, my base text will be the NA27; however, I will also be working with the UBS4, the 2005 Byzantine Text Form and the 1550 Textus Receptus (Stephanus).

¹ It should be noted that the idea of Scripture interpreting Scripture is not for the magisterial reformers (or for me) a practice that is divorced from the witness and tradition handed down to us from the Apostles and prophets; but is rather assumed.

²⁸After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), “I thirst.” ²⁹A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. ³⁰When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. (Jn 19:28-30 ESV)

I must first acknowledge that this is a meditation upon our Fr. David Houk’s homily last night at St. John’s (so perhaps this is a re-meditation on John 19:28-30). I woke up thinking about one central moment in the crucifixion of Jesus that has gripped me this Holy Triduum.

The God who made the world hung upon a Cross, the wood of which he brought into being and sustained in its existence. He hung there in the merciless Jerusalem heat having his torn and lacerated flesh sun-burned by the very sun that he had made and sustained.

I have access to this account through Scripture interpreted through the tradition handed down through the apostles and prophets. Even that scripture itself is a deep form of divine condescension:

For who is so devoid of intellect as not to understand that God, in so speaking, lisps with us as nurses are wont to do with little children? Such modes of expression, therefore, do not so much express what kind of a being God is, as accommodate the knowledge of him to our feebleness. In doing so, he must, of course, stoop far below his proper height. ¹

John Calvin is speaking against those who had over-emphasized the references referring to God anthropomorphically (e.g., God’s right hand) and made the point that such language about God has nothing to do with body parts but is telling us much about the immeasurable degree of the divine condescension that began in the Garden, continued in revelation, and reached its apex in the Incarnation of the Second Person of the Trinity, God the Son, Jesus the Christ.

If we back out of Calvin’s polemic, I believe the point can be made that divine condescension does, as a matter of fact, express quite precisely what kind of being God is.

He is a being that when reviled by those to whom he gave and sustained life, he did not revile in return but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant. And being led to the slaughter by those same revilers, by me and by you, he opened not his mouth, but said, “I thirst.” And when the soldiers gave him this last bitter drink, the last chalice of his Passover meal, he declared “It is finished,” and died, bearing the death of death upon his life that in him, and him only, we might have life that never ends.

Yes, indeed, God has stooped beyond what words are able to convey. He has humbled himself beyond what we can know in the person of Jesus. And in showing us these things, he has in fact expressed quite boldly what kind of being he is. God is mercy. Amen.

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¹ Jean Calvin and Henry Beveridge, Institutes of the Christian Religion (Translation of: Institutio Christianae religionis.; Reprint, with new introd. Originally published: Edinburgh : Calvin Translation Society, 1845-1846.;Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1997), I, xiii, 1.

³ Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, ⁴ rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. ⁵ Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him. ⁶ He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, do you wash my feet?” ⁷ Jesus answered him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand.” (Jn 13:3-7 ESV)

Last night we celebrated Maundy Thursday, a remembrance of the Last Supper, when Christ instituted the New Covenant. I could not help but weep as I watched the celebrant priest divest himself of his magnificient chasuble (Eucharistic outer-garment) and take up a basin and wash the feet of three representative laity.

There is a God. I struggle to know what it means to be godlike, but what is even more overwhelming is that God proclaims himself to be Jesus-like. Jesus of course had already divested himself in taking on humanity (Philippians 2:6-7). He left the splendor of heavenly glory to become one of us.

However, the Incarnation itself could have taken countless variations. The one we have is not that God became a king, like the ancient Egyptians taught in Ra, but that He became the son of a carpenter. He did not surround himself with twelve princes, but with fishermen, a tax collector and a traitor. The Incarnate God did not promote himself but demonstrated always love and mercy and humility. God washed Peter’s feet.

It is quite amazing to me that as the Church of the Risen and Exalted Lord continues on for some 20 centuries, the way he has chosen to visibly communicate himself to his people is in something as common as bread, the most common food on earth. It is one of the least expensive foods to buy no matter where you live. It is common, yet sustaining and nourishing.

Of all the other visible means he could have used to communicate himself (if any) to his Church throughout the centuries he chose wine. Wine is not so common. The poor do not have fine wine at their meals. It is not something you necessarily drink at every meal. Wine underscores the celebration, the banquet to which Christ has invited his Church to participate with him, His banquet. Humble bread and exalted wine circumscribes the wonder of Jesus. The exalted God became a humble man that humble we might participate in the very life of Jesus now exalted at the right hand of the Father Almighty.

17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

“That is,” writes Farley, “they are to manifest the Lord’s life on earth, as His Body.” ¹ I remember one of the extremely helpful and paradigmatic books I read in seminary by Benjamin B. Warfield. In this little booklet that he wrote to incoming students to Princeton Seminary, he encouraged us that there is never a time that we would turn from worshiping the Lord to our books or from the study of our books to the worship of the Lord (to paraphrase). ²

Warfield, Farley and St. Paul all resonate symphonically together here. The strange thing about truth is that it transcends all kinds of boundaries, traditions, cultures, and time. Colossians 3:17 underscores union with Christ the paradigmatic element of Christian theology and life. This union is in fact a participation in the divine energies (workings, ενεργη) and is most profoundly proclaimed at the Lord’s Table, where Christians by faith receive the Body and Blood of the Lord Jesus—where God gives us himself and we give Him ourselves. And so we say during the consecration of the Bread and Wine:

And here we offer and present unto thee, O Lord, our selves, our souls and bodies, to be a reasonable, holy, and living sacrifice unto thee; humbly beseeching thee that we, and all others who shall be partakers of this Holy Communion, may worthily receive the most precious Body and Blood of thy Son Jesus Christ, be filled with thy grace and heavenly benediction, and made one body with him, that he may dwell in us, and we in him. ³

This is of course a continuation of the theme we find in John 15, where Christ makes plain his desire that we abide in Him and He in us, as He—the Second Person of the Trinity—abides in His Father. In this way Christians graciously participate in the divine life given to us in Christ Jesus. “[Our] life is His life. [Our] existence is to be one continuous outpouring of thanksgiving to God in His Name. The Christian calling is to be a eucharistic man.” ⁴

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¹ Farley, Lawrence. The Prison Epistles, The Orthodox Bible Study Companion Series. (Ben Lomond, Calif.: Conciliar Press, 2003) , p. 186.

² Warfield, Benjamin B. The Religious Life of Theological Students.

³ Book of Common Prayer, 336.

⁴ Farley, 187.