Commentary

[1] μὲν … δὲ If for some reason the contrast being made is not clear in English translations, the μὲν … δὲ construction is explicit in Greek.

[2] Ambiguity, does αὐτοῦ refer to Moses or God or Christ?

[3] The ambiguity of αὐτοῦ persists and now the question of how many houses are there. Is there one house, such that Moses and Christ were over this singular house at different times? Or are there two houses, one of Moses and one of Christ?

[4] κατάσχωμεν hold fast, faithfully retain (BAGD, 422). We find it used in 1 Thessalonians 5:21 when scripture teaches us πάντα δὲ δοκιμάζετε, τὸ καλὸν κατέχετε. But examine everything that you may hold fast to what is good (author’s translation).

[5] παρρησίαν openness, confidence. Jesus is marveled at because he spoke openly (παρρησία) in John 7:26, 11:54.

[6] The Byzantine Text adds μέχρι τέλους βεβαίαν, firm until the end (author’s translation). τέλος here has to do with the goal, perfection and completion of something, not merely arriving at the end of one’s own life.

Commentary

[a] The earliest Greek manuscripts do not have αὐτῷ (Metzger, Textual Commentary). αὐτῷ would seem to have been inserted for clarity. In other words, conceptually it does not change the meaning of the text. Additionally, while I like the NRSV and its attempt to covey the gender inclusivity of the Christian Gospel, in its commitment to translate αὐτῷ as a generic plural (i.e., them) here has obscured the meaning of the text. There are three parties involved in Hebrews 2:6-8: humanity, the Son of Man, and the angels. The subordination of all things is to the Son of Man alone; humanity only participates in this dominion in Jesus, the Son of Man, who is the only one of whom it may be said, “nothing is outside of his control.”

[b] Greek he.

[c] ἀνυπότακτον not made subject, independent (BAGD, 76). There is a certain cosmic apologetic being put forth at this point. The atheist, agnostic and otherwise may assert that they are independent of Christ; that they live and move and have their being perfectly fine without the Christian God. However, Scripture and its cloud of witnesses assert just the contrary. Christ, the second person of the Trinity has already come down as the Incarnate God, being made lower than the angels for a short time. During that time he was crucified, died and was buried. On the third day he was raised from the dead and ascended into heaven where he now reigns with the Father and Holy Spirit, One God, forever. So it follows that if Jesus has already completed the short time of being made low, the subordination of all things is sure. Grace is that in such a supreme authority, Christ has tasted death for all of us, including the most scornful of God, who would come to him.

[d] While χάριτι θεοῦ (grace of God) is very strongly supported, a rather large number of Eastern and Western Fathers read χωρὶς θεοῦ, “apart from God” (Textual Commentary).

[e] γεύσηται θανάτου to taste death (BAGD, 157). Compare with John 8:52 where the Jews ask how it is that Jesus could say, ἐάν τις τὸν λόγον μου τηρήσῃ, οὐ μὴ γεύσηται θανάτου εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα. If anyone keeps my word, he will in no way ever taste death for eternity (author’s translation). While the Jews are recorded as using the same word as Hebrews 2:9, they actually serve as a further metaphor for the words Jesus is recorded as saying, that those who keep his word will in no way ever see death (θάνατον οὐ μὴ θεωρήσῃ εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα). The bottom line is that through Jesus, the experience of eternal death is written out of one’s script.

[f] παντὸς being a masculine singular would seem to refer to the collective ἄνθρωπος of Hebrews 2:6, having the weight of something like “all humanity.”

My wife and I are reading through a most contemplation evoking paper presently on the Eucharist that has sparked a great wonder and awe of God in me. Traditionally, we have thought of God as being of infinitely greater and altogether different kind of being from which we have our being analogously. Even so, one of my favorite theologians begins his volume on the Doctrine of God:

Mystery is the lifeblood of dogmatics. To be sure, the term “mystery” ( μυστηριον) in Scripture does not mean an abstract supernatural truth in the Roman Catholic sense. Yet Scripture is equally far removed from the idea that believers can grasp the revealed mysteries in a scientific sense. In truth, the knowledge that God has revealed of himself in nature and Scripture far surpasses human imagination and understanding. In that sense it is all mystery with which the science of dogmatics is concerned, for it does not deal with finite creatures, but from beginning to end looks past all creatures and focuses on the eternal and infinite One himself.¹

For newer generations to theology, the term ‘dogmatics’ simply means ‘systematic theology’. Systematic theology then serves its greatest purpose when it exposes its very limitation and inability to circumscribe God, compelling us to a greater sense of worship in the face of wonder and mystery.

God’s Givenness in Redemptive History

God’s people have believed for about 3,500 years that God was the one who gives himself to his people. He confined himself to a pillar of fire in the desert of Sinai to lead his people out of Egypt. The infinite God took up residence in a structure built by human hands(!), in order to demonstrate his givenness to us.

4But that same night the word of the Lord came to Nathan, 5“Go and tell my servant David, ‘Thus says the Lord: Would you build me a house to dwell in? 6I have not lived in a house since the day I brought up the people of Israel from Egypt to this day, but I have been moving about in a tent for my dwelling. (2 Samuel 7:4-6, ESV)

The question here is ironic. David out of good intention wants God to “live” in a better place. God reminds him that he has chosen to limit himself to a tent. In asking the question, the Lord is drawing the reader towards his givenness and help us to see his utter humility, to limit himself in ways that we can perceive and with which we may relate.

So when the Lord takes on flesh and makes his dwelling among us (literally tabernacles among us in John 1:14, looking back to the tent in the above reference;), we find the apex of his givenness to us. He is not our God at a distance, but has taken on humanity that we might take on godliness.

Incarnation as Paradigm of Givenness

Therefore, the Incarnation of God in the person of Jesus of Nazareth is one of the greatest if not the greatest mysteries in all of creation. The Incarnation is a double-sided confrontation. First, exposes us, who are poor beyond measure, leading us to mourn our poverty to be made meek that we hunger and thirst for righteousness that we ourselves do not have.

Second, in our poverty we find that God throwing aside the glory of heaven, limited himself to a human being, in time, in space, in life and death and in so doing redefines all things created. In other words, God the Son made himself poor to mourn with us, demonstrating truly meek submission to the Father, whose righteousness he hungered and thirsted after to no end.

The Incarnation as the apex of God’s givenness to us shows us with the greatest alacrity that he is not a God that is far off. Nor is he a God who merely wants to make our lives more comfortable. No, the God of heaven and earth is the God who is given, who has through out all history, both before and after the Fall of Humanity into sin sought to give himself in the deepest fellowship to us. This at once underscores the compassion of our God and his passion for his people, while at the same time exposes the insanity of rejecting the means by which he gives himself to us not just 2,009 years ago (being born c.a. 2 BC). No, God has pledged himself to his church as an eternal bridegroom to be given to us eternally, apart from time, always.

Givenness in the Meantime

We now live in the time between when this givenness is initiated and when it is consummated. We live in a time in which our eternal and incarnate bridegroom has gone to prepare a place for us in eternity, apart from time, always. We now wait as the betrothed.

He has not left us or abandoned us in this time in between. He has allowed himself to be revealed through human, created, finite language in the Bible, both preached and read. He indwells us with his Spirit, while the Son intercedes for us to the Father and helps us to pray acceptably (Romans 8). He gives himself to us in the baptism, promising to attend the baptism with his Spirit. He allows himself to be communicated in the Lord’s Table, the Eucharist, in which believers feed upon Christ, who is our life (John 1:4):

32Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. 33For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” 34They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.” 35Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. (John 6:32-35, ESV)

God’s Eternal Givenness

The written Word of God, both read but especially preached now, directs us to the moment (if we can employ such a temporally loaded term as ‘moment’) when we will be with the Word of God, Jesus Christ, the Son of God for eternity. It compels us towards our eschatological destiny in Christ, who we are taught will come again to give himself to us, and us to him, completely.

Prayer to the Lord is mediated now and quite imperfect on our part; nevertheless, we may come before the throne of grace boldly (though not arrogantly), on account of God’s givenness in Christ, who now as a human being (also fully God) intercedes for us to the Father. We look to the time when our prayers are unhindered perfect interpersonal connection with the Lord:

Prayer is beyond any question the highest activity of the human soul. Man is at his greatest and highest when upon his knees he comes face to face with God.²

Where the Scriptures and prayer are verbal means by which God communicates to us himself; the sacraments of baptism and the Eucharist are visible ways. Jesus is not the bread, nor is he the wine, but he does communicate himself to us through the means of bread and wine. He does give himself to us in promising to bind himself to us in baptism and gives us his life in when we receive the bread and wine.

We live in the time between that is both unique and at the same time very consonant with all history before us. God of heaven and earth has sought to and accomplished the reconciliation of the world in Christ Jesus, the God-Man, who perpetually gives himself to us as a picture of the eternal and unhindered givenness of God we will experience in glory.

He prays, but He hears prayer. He weeps, but He causes tears to cease. He is bruised and wounded, but He heals every disease and every infirmity. He is lifted up and nailed to the Tree, but by the Tree of Life He restores us, yes, He saved even the robber crucified with Him. He dies, but He gives life, and by His death destroys death. He is buried, but He rises again…³

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¹ Herman Bavinck, God and Creation, ed. John Bolt, trans. John Vriend, 3 vols., Reformed Dogmatics, vol. 2 (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Academic, 2004), 29.

² Martyn Lloyd-Jones. Studies in the Sermon on the Mount, 2 vols. [ Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1979], 2:45

³ Gregory of Nazianzus. The Fourth Theological Oration XX, NPNF Vol. VII, P. 309.

Nestle-Aland 27

1 Εἰ οὖν συνηγέρθητε τῷ Χριστῷ , τὰ ἄνω ζητεῖτε , οὗ ὁ Χριστός ἐστιν ἐν δεξιᾷ τοῦ θεοῦ καθήμενος · 2 τὰ ἄνω φρονεῖτε ,  1 μὴ τὰ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς . 3 ἀπεθάνετε γὰρ καὶ ἡ ζωὴ ὑμῶν κέκρυπται   2 σὺν τῷ Χριστῷ ἐν τῷ θεῷ · 4 ὅταν ὁ Χριστὸς φανερωθῇ ,  3 ἡ ζωὴ ὑμῶν , τότε καὶ ὑμεῖς σὺν αὐτῷ φανερωθήσεσθε ἐν δόξῃ .

My Translation

3:1 Therefore if you were raised with Christ, seek the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Be disposed to the things that are above, not to the things upon the earth. 3 For you died and your life has been encrypted with Christ in God. 4 Whenever Christ, your life, is made manifest, at that time you will also be made manifest with him in glory.

Grammar & Vocabulary

1 The idea that φρονέω conveys seems to be rather holistic. It seems to incorporate our attitude toward something (Phil 2:5) and also reflects the end to which we focus our thinking and discerning faculties (Rom 12:16; Gal 5:10).

2 The verb κρύπτω is often translated as “to hide”; however, there is much to consider in how one is hidden in Christ. The word ‘encrypt’ is etymologically related to this Greek word and fleshes out the semantic dimensions that while one is hidden in Christ it is such a hiding that conceals them in Him, that prevents them from being found. It communicates a sort of confident security in Christ.

3 φανερόω is used twice in verse 4. In both the case in which ‘you’ is the subject and the case in which ‘Christ’ is the word is an aorist passive indicative. While ‘manifest’ might be a little clunky here, it is my hope that we see the passive here directs us to the fact that all that happens is according to God’s plan, even when Jesus comes again to judge the quick and the dead.

Commentary

Chapter 3 of Colossians could be thought of under the heading of “Processional Living”. This heading speaks to us of who Christ is as king, who we are as heirs with him, and the fact that we, who have been justified by grace alone, in Christ alone, through faith alone, now walk with him to the same divinely appointed destination.

Paul begins by reminding the Colossian Christians who they are. They are those who by faith have been raised with Christ. They have received eternal life. They have become Christ’s sheep and no one or no thing can ever snatch them from the Father’s hand. By saying that they are raised with Christ, he is reminding them that they share the destiny of Jesus: resurrection from the dead unto unhindered fellowship with God.

Having reminded them of who they are, Paul then seems to answer the question, “What is someone united to Christ to do?” They are to seek for and be disposed to the things above and not to the things upon the earth (i.e., created things). This is an imperative to sanctification, the theological term for growing in godliness.

While regeneration, the making alive of a sinner to God, can never be thought of as cooperative; the progression of the Christian Pilgrim in this new life with Christ is very much a synergistic work. The Westminster Confession inform us that the irreconcilable war of sanctification is one in which the regenerate part of a Christian does overcome and so he or she grows in grace (WCF 13.3). Sanctification is the place where the justified walk with God working out their salvation because God works in them to will and to act (Phil 2:12-13). As such when one who is united to Christ does sin, we find that they, in turning from their hated sin, they are to purpose and endeavor to walk with Christ in all his ways and commandments (WCF 15.2). While there is no sin so small that it does not require damnation, there is no sin so great that it would bring damnation on those who truly repent (WCF 15.4). In other words, the activity of faithfully pursuing Christ and things above is done imperfectly and yet securely in Him.

If this would seem to be a sketch of what someone united to Christ would do, then we are left with the question of why such a person would do these things. The Christian has died to the old autonomy and againstness to God and the life (i.e., liveliness) that was given to them is hidden with Christ in God (v. 3). Paul returns us to the place he began. He returns us to our union to Christ who is our life (John 6:35,53; 11:25).

Christ is our life and our final destination. That is to say that he is not only the basis upon which we pursue godliness with Him working in us, but he is also the godliness that we pursue. When a person is justified and regenerated their sin is imputed to Christ and Christ’s righteousness is imputed to them. Sanctification is the working out of Christ’s righteousness in us with a view towards perfection. How could anyone ever be – ever hope of being – truly godly? The good news of the Gospel is that those whom Christ justified, he sanctifies; and those whom he sanctifies he glorifies, which is the perfect and holy godliness for which we strive now in Christ on this earth.

May the Lord empower us to run as those who know that they are rooted in one who loves them, will never forsake them, and who can never fail in remaking them in to the image of God that is in likeness of God and lives in fellowship with God. Amen.