Uniform Lesson for October 2, 2016
Scripture passage and lesson focus: Hebrews 1
With this lesson we begin a study of texts that focus on the sovereignty of Jesus. From the beginning of the church, a rich variety of ways to describe Jesus gradually emerged. Out of this diversity arose the epistles of Paul and his followers, the canonical (and non-canonical) Gospels and other voices often linked with the first disciples of Jesus. How to describe Jesus for a variety of audiences and from various perspectives remains a complex and difficult question that theologians have attempted to answer over the centuries.
The epistle to the Hebrews is really an extended homily intended to help a predominately Jewish-Christian audience understand who Jesus is. The anonymous author, traditionally understood by some (but not others) in the early church to have been Paul, uses very sophisticated and literary Greek with an oratorical flourish.
The author’s unique style is quite different from the writings of Paul. The date of this epistle is unknown, but toward the end of the first century the Roman author of a document known as I Clement quotes from it extensively.
Hebrews 1:1-4 — God’s eternal Son
Without any of the introductory statements that typically begin an epistle, the author opens this homily with a lengthy Greek sentence that extends through four verses. He describes God’s past revelations through the prophets and then adds what God has said “in these last days” through a Son. By contrasting what God had said earlier in the history of Israel through the prophets with God’s most recent and definitive statement through “a Son,” the author establishes both continuity with the Old Testament and the superiority of what God has done (literally) “at the end of these days” (1:2).
God’s Son is identified as the “heir of all things” and the One through whom God created “the worlds.” The Son is linked to the eschatological future as an heir and to as the past as God’s agent of creation. The plural expression translated “worlds” is perhaps better translated as “ages,” referring to the present age and the age to come in Jewish and early Christian apocalypticism. It has both a temporal and a spatial dimension.
In verse 3 the balanced structure describing the Son as “the reflection of God’s glory” and as “the exact imprint of God’s very being” are rich with meaning. They may come from an early Christian hymn describing Jesus in terms borrowed from Jewish wisdom traditions. They express what theologians call a high Christology. One commentator has called this “a basic constituent of Hebrews’ portrait of Christ.” The relationship between God and the Son is so close that the Son is virtually a mirror image of God. A similar claim is found in words of Jesus to Philip: “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9).
After the Son completed his redemptive work that will be described in Hebrews 9 and 10, he assumed a position “at the right hand of the Majesty on high,” i.e. next to God.
Hebrews 1:5-14 — Superior to angels
The author supports a key theme of his homily about Jesus as God’s Son by citing seven biblical passages. They come from Psalms, 2 Samuel and Deuteronomy. In their original context they referred to kings of Israel. Here, the author of Hebrews expands their historical context and applies these passages to God’s Son. They all show that the Son is superior to the angels, which were widely recognized by Hellenistic Jews and early Christians as God’s messengers.
The passage quoted in 1:5 is Psalm 2:7, which early Christian interpreters understood as a prophecy about the baptism of Jesus (Mark 1:11) or the resurrection of Jesus (Acts 13:33). God had never said “You are my Son” to an angel, so the Son is superior to angels.
The passage quoted in 1:8-9, is Psalm 45:6-7. It is from a royal psalm addressed to the king of Israel. It is unusual because it appears to address Israel’s king as God. At least that is how the author of Hebrews understood it and applied it to the Son: “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever.” Much later this description of the Son as divine contributed to the development of the doctrine of the Trinity.
For discussion
Have you ever included Jesus in your understanding of creation as described in Genesis 1-2? How would you describe Jesus’ role in creation? (See John 1:1-4.) Do you think verses 5-14 could have been intended to correct those who considered Jesus to be merely an angel? Can you describe a time when you experienced the ministry of angels “sent to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation”? O
