The Letter to the Hebrews - Jon C. Laansma

Скачать книгу

this history of the promise and the Son. The word spoken in the Son addresses all humanity so that, objectively speaking, all are responsible for it. Thus the urgency of this “word of exhortation” (13:22) and the urgency of the mission to all nations that is everywhere assumed in Hebrews.

      1:5–14

      “You will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”

      Context

      The exordium (1:1–4) has set the tone and the agenda for the sermon. It also introduced the leading foil—angels—which will be used to set in relief who the Son is, the one in and as whom God has spoken his word of cleansing (1:5–14). When this theme continues after a brief exhortation (2:1–4) it will develop the Son’s career (2:5–18). The preacher liked to bundle associations and arguments so there is no one reason why angels are brought into the mix but two reasons are immediately evident and a third can be inferred. Firstly, Ps 8 was routinely joined to Ps 110 in early preaching (see on 1:1–4) and the writer is headed toward Ps 8’s exposition in 2:5–9. The Son’s place on the divine throne over the angels is exploited as a way of contemplating who the Son really is and how the promise reaches its conclusion in him; this of course is done through the Scriptures because of the theme of God’s speaking. Secondly, as is noted in 2:2, the angels were to have played a role in the giving of the first covenant that has now given way to the new covenant. As a sign of divine authorization the angels mark the great weight of the first covenant, and so the even greater weight of the new covenant. Thirdly, with God as creator, history always proceeds from heaven to earth. This contemplation of angels has a literary effect not unlike that of Rev 4–5. We are brought into the heavenly throne room where the work of God originates so as to move from there to earth where the Son joins his people and becomes their high priest.

      As for the arrangement of the seven citations, which tease out 1:1–4: The first (Ps 2:7) and last (Ps 110:1) are prominent elsewhere in the NT and would have formed cornerstones of their confession. The mid-point passage (Ps 104:4) is reprised in v. 14. Again, in the first two God addresses him as Son, while in the third the angels are to worship him. The fourth indicates the created and thus limited nature of the angels as servants, while the fifth and sixth declare the Son’s eternity as king and creator. The seventh, complementing the first (compare 5:5–6), is a key text for the whole sermon, and indicates where 1:3 was going. Finally, v. 14 provides a closing flourish that uses the middle citation to return to the theme of the inheritance promised in the divine speech (1:2). This will form the segue into both the exhortation (2:1–4) and the next stage of the argument (2:5–18).

      In the main, the imagined setting for all seven citations is the post-resurrection enthronement of the Son, but the writer does not labor here or elsewhere (e.g., 7:16) to keep that distinct from the Son’s eternity (e.g., 1:10–12). Son he was, and Son he became. In 1:5–14 the portrayal is of the risen, enthroned Son, yes. But more than that, he is the one who was already Son, who received the body prepared for him, who obeyed and was crowned. He is the Son of God—God, Creator—and the seed of Abraham—man—who inherits the glory that Adam forfeited. Heb 1:5–14 is the praise of the one who is Son not merely in one moment or aspect, but the Son who is Jesus and who can be addressed as God and Lord.

      Background

      Throughout his sermon the writer will make use of the Greek version of the OT, the Septuagint (LXX). The translation of the Pentateuch occurred in the third century bc and the rest of the OT trickled out over the following century or so. It was never a single translation to begin with, therefore, and the many copies would have added differing readings. Whatever books were to hand would have existed in scroll form; much of of it would have been committed to memory and cited as such. The extent to which there was a definite canon of Scripture before ad 70 is debated. All of Hebrews’ citations are from the books included in the Protestant canon, but there are also echoes and allusions to other writings such as Wisdom of Solomon (see 1:1–4) and the history of the Maccabees (see on 11:32–40). Hebrews has no qualms accepting the Greek version directly as God’s speech, consistent with the likelihood that 2 Tim 3:16 includes in its scope the LXX. Though there is no evidence that the writer of Hebrews knew the Hebrew language and though Hebrews’ argument can make use of the LXX’s distinctive wording (e.g., 1:6–7; 10:5–8), we take for granted that Hebrews’ interpretations have been informed by many influences including (possibly) other interpreters directly engaged with both Hebrew texts and alternative wordings of LXX scrolls. Like other early Christian interpreters of the OT the writer of Hebrews shares the formal principles that would have been utilized by most ancient interpreters. Just for that reason, the very different interpretive conclusions they drew compared to their Jewish neighbors must be indebted to their material principles, that is, for instance, their convictions about who Jesus Christ is and the reality that he was the subject matter of the OT; again, their convictions that the Spirit was involved in their reading (e.g., 3:7) and that their reading practices were to be shaped by obedience (see 5:11–14). It was in fact just such convictions that were indicated in 1:1–4 and that are now cashed in. Using the words of the Scriptures God speaks directly of and to the Son or about the angels in their relationship to the Son.

      There is no basis for thinking that 1:5–14 is correcting deviant speculation about angels and the Son, nor is it encouraging mystical participation in angelic liturgies. The argument of 1:5–14 is satisfactorily explained by the rationales noted above. The preacher is turning our attention to the Son. The exalted status of angels is assumed as well as their prominence in revelatory (especially apocalyptic) texts. Beyond their relationship to the Son and his salvation, however, little is said of the angels that could not otherwise be read off the surface of the OT as cited.

      Not all of the passages cited in 1:5–14 had been a part of Jewish messianic hopes. Their use here is for in-house consumption, as it were, not to prove that Jesus is messiah or even that he is God, but to extol him as the one in and as whom God speaks and works salvation.

      Comments on Wording

      1:5 You are my Son, today I have begotten you. No angel is addressed as son like this. Ps 2:7 was a well-established text in Christian traditions. Its chief point for Hebrews is the declaration of Sonship, though the today may refer to the resurrection where he was revealed as the Son he was (cf. Rom 1:4). As originally written it described a human figure in terms of his representation of God before the people, but as applied to Jesus it indicated who he is by nature. There can be no exegetical bridge to this latter meaning. It is firstly a claim about what is simply true and goes back to Jesus’ claims through his words and actions, God’s pronouncements in word and deed (Mark 1:11; 9:7; 15:39), and the Spirit’s witness. The original application of the psalm to a Davidic king such as Solomon is not canceled but it is being treated as among the shadows and patterns that witnessed to the Son (8:5).

      1:7

Скачать книгу