Chapter One

Introduction indicating the uniquely exalted nature of the New Testament Mediator of Divine revelation (1–4). Scriptural proofs (5–14).

Hebrews 1:1. God, who spoke many times and in many ways of old to the fathers through the prophets, “Many times (πολυμερώς) and in many ways (πολυτρόπως)” — through many prophets and by varied means. The latter refers both to the ways in which God’s will was communicated to the prophets, and to the ways in which the prophets communicated this will to people, for which purpose — in addition to ordinary speech — unusual means were also employed: visions, signs, miracles, symbols, prophecies, and foreshadowings. The Slavonic «многочастне» more accurately and correctly renders the meaning of the original, which aims to point to the simple multiplicity and, as it were, repetitiveness of revelation — specifically its manifoldness and fragmentary character — together with the variety and characteristic particularity of what was revealed in each individual case and with the closest connection of each individually revealed truth to the general, single and whole, content of revelation. Thus, through the prophet Isaiah, for example, the birth of the Messiah from a Virgin and His sufferings were revealed; through Daniel, the time of His coming; through Jonah, His three-day burial; through Malachi, the coming of His Forerunner; and so on. In contrast to this fragmentariness and manifoldness, in the New Testament God revealed through His one Son the fullness of truth — essentially, visibly, tangibly — in the incarnate Son, who is Truth itself. — “Of old” — (an indefinite adverb) — is again less characteristic than the Slavonic “древле” for the most accurate shade of the original’s meaning. This “of old” (πάλαι) is set in contrast to what follows — “in these last days” (ἐπ’ ἐσχάτου τῶν ἡμερῶν τούτων) — and means here the entire time of the Old Testament, all antiquity in its totality, not in its individual moments. — “Through the prophets” — this expression must be understood here in the broadest sense, taking “prophets” to mean all the holy men of the Old Testament who received revelation from God.

Hebrews 1:2. in these last days He has spoken to us in the Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom He also made the ages. “In these last days” — the last times designates in general the period of the Messiah’s reign. With the onset of this period (“when the fullness of time had come,” Gal 4:4), the days of the law-governed service — which by God’s appointment was not eternal but temporary, destined for replacement by a new, eternal, gracious dispensation — appeared to be the last not merely in a chronological sense, but, so to speak, also in essence, as days that had exhausted the temporal necessity of the Old Testament and called forth the birth of the New. “He spoke...” — in juxtaposition with the previously used “who had spoken” from the same verb λαλεῖν (Heb. דבר — used to denote Divine revelation) — points to the inner connection of both revelations, the Old Testament and the New Testament, with the first serving as only a divinely predetermined preparatory stage toward the second. — “To us” in contrast to “to the fathers” indicates also our advantage, which flows from the further contrast of “in the Son” versus the earlier “through the prophets.” — “In the Son” — as “through the prophets” — the Greek ἐν in the sense of δια — through the Son, through the prophets — but with the special nuance that both the Son and God’s prophets were not merely external instruments of revelation, but living mediators and expressors of it. The Greek text uses “ἐν υἱῷ” (without the article), wishing thereby to say that the One set in contrast to the prophets stood in relation to God not in the capacity of a simple prophet, but in the far closer relationship of a Son. Other interpreters explain the omission of the article here by the fact that υἱός (as also in Heb 7:28) has the significance of a proper name of the Messiah, and as such, being determinate in itself, does not require further determination through the article. As the true Son of God, equal to the Father (Heb 1:3), this last Mediator between God and people gave to people in Himself the most complete and perfect Revelation of the Deity, covering and completing all former revelations through the prophets. Having mentioned the Son, the writer strives to clarify His Divine and human nature and essence, doing so in three correlative clauses. The Son is also at the same time the “heir”; hence the Son of God is the “heir of all things” — that is, the Lord of the entire universe, since in Hebrew usage inheritance and heir denote dominion and lord (cf. Ps 2:8, and also John 16:15; Matt 28:18). — “All things” — πάντων — as in Col 1:16, denotes the sum of all things. But why is it said “whom He appointed” (ἔθηκε), and not “who is”? — St. Chrysostom and Theodoret explain this by noting that here the speech concerns the human nature of the Messiah. As God, He was always, from the beginning, Lord of all things, because through Him everything was created. But as man, He became in time the Heir and Lord of all things, having accomplished, as the God-man, a second creation — that is, the redemption of all creation. — This redemption has not yet concluded in its effects and will continue as long as the world lasts. Christ established for Himself a special God-man kingdom, at the end of which all His enemies will be subdued under His feet and the full dominion of the Son over all things will come (cf. 1 Cor 15:25 and following). The expression “appointed Him heir of all things” must therefore be understood in the sense of the eternal predestination of the Son of God to a future possession which, so to speak, legally began from the moment the Savior pronounced the words: “It is accomplished,” and will factually be fulfilled and completed when God “puts all things in subjection to the Son, and when the Son Himself also is subjected to Him who put all things in subjection to Him, and God is all in all!” “Through whom He also made the ages...” This clause, as the particle “also” indicates, forms the basis for what was said before: “whom He appointed...” Christ was appointed heir of all things because through Him God also made the ages. — “Made the ages” — that is, not only time itself, reckoned in ages, but everything that exists in time or together with time. It is noteworthy how the apostle proceeds gradually, as if step by step, ever higher in his theology: first he calls the Founder of Christianity the Son, which someone might perhaps take as a common title for children of God; then he calls Him the heir of all things — this is already a higher level; next he calls Him the Creator of the ages — this is still higher than the previous titles; and finally the apostle presents something still more exalted — beyond which there is nothing higher.

Hebrews 1:3. He, being the radiance of His glory and the exact image of His essence, and sustaining all things by the word of His power, having by Himself accomplished purification of our sins, sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty on high, John 1:18. “The radiance of His glory and the exact image of His essence.” This directly denotes the Son’s eternity and consubstantiality with God the Father. “The radiance from the sun and not after it; for the sun and the radiance are simultaneous (Theophylact).” As the sun in relation to its radiance is from itself, and the radiance is from the sun, so the Father is from Himself, and the Son is begotten of the Father. As radiance proceeds from the sun without taking anything from its essence and without separating from it, so the Son proceeded from the Father. The sun exists before the radiance, yet simultaneously with it; so too is the Son with the Father. The radiance cannot exist without the sun, and the sun without its radiance: so the Son cannot exist without the Father, and the Father without the Son — and yet They are both distinct. One cannot see the sun without the light that comes from it: so no one can see the Father without the Son (cf. Jn. 1:18; 5:19 and following; John 6:46). If the one that shines is God, then His radiance is also Divine. If the one that shines is eternity — having neither beginning nor end — then such also is the radiance. Complete consubstantiality and equality in all things. — “The exact image of His essence” — χαρακτὴρ τῆς ὑποστάσεως — an impress, imprint, engraving (from χαράσσειν — to cut, to engrave). As a seal impressed by a stamp fully corresponds to the image engraved upon it, so the Son is the most exact and perfect representation of the Father’s essence (cf. John 14:9 “whoever has seen me has seen the Father”). In a completely different sense man is called the “image of God and His likeness.” Created in time, with a capacity for infinite development, man gradually comes to resemble God and is deified. The Divine essence is reflected in his soul as a faint likeness, as a small spark of Divine radiance, and not as the full light — fully and perfectly poured forth by the Son. Man is only of like essence to God, whereas the Son is of one essence with the Father. Or: the Son is of one essence with the Father in a full and all-perfect degree, as a Person undivided from Him, whereas man is of one essence with God in the sense that God has given him a small likeness of His essence for eternal perfecting in the image of his Creator. — “Sustaining all things by the word of His power.” Having created all things by His Word, God also sustains all things — that is, preserves the existence and order of things — likewise “by the word of His power.” This sustaining of the world is, as it were, a continually continuing creation; and both are accomplished by the one word of Divine power, which will also bring all things to completion by that same word, when by the power of the lips of the Son of God the one opponent of the moral order of the world’s existence — the Antichrist — will be destroyed (2 Thess 2:8). “Having by Himself accomplished purification of our sins...” The purification of our sins, the sanctification and justification of man are frequently mentioned in this epistle as the fruits of the Messiah’s high-priestly ministry, of His sacrifice offered not through the blood of goats or calves, but “by Himself” — the sacrifice of His obedience, His self-offering, His blood and life. Having offered such a sacrifice for people, Christ also for Himself — that is, for His own human nature — obtained exaltation above all creatures: “He sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty on high” (ἐν ὑψηλοῖς — properly “in the high places,” i.e., in the heavens; cf. further Heb 8:1). That this expression refers to the human nature in Christ is evident from the fact that nowhere in the New Testament is the sitting at the right hand of the Father attributed to Jesus Christ prior to His Ascension into heaven (cf. John 17:5). Before this Ascension, the Son is spoken of in more exalted terms: “abiding in the bosom of the Father” (John 1:18). The figurative expression about sitting at the right hand — denoting participation in Divine authority and governance of the world — is borrowed by the apostle from Ps 109:1, which was always regarded as Messianic, though with different interpretations. “At the right hand of the throne of the Majesty on high” — in this figurative expression every word is full of deep meaning: “at the right hand” — points to the kinship and equal honor of the Son of God with the Father; “throne” — denotes the dignity and authority of the Deity; “sitting” — rest and contentment; “Majesty” — the same as the earlier “glory” — that is, the glory and majesty of the Deity; “on high” — a significant expression that does not intend to confine God to one definite place, even if that be heaven, but only to indicate His position as highest above all — that God is above all.

Hebrews 1:4. having become as much superior to the angels as the name He has inherited is more glorious than theirs. The apostle begins to develop the thought of the superiority of the Son of God further by comparing Him with the Angels, aiming to show that the revelation communicated by Him is also higher and more perfect than that given through the mediation of the Angels by the hand of the Old Testament mediator — Moses. The name in which alone the preeminence of Christ over the Angels is already expressed is the name of the Son, which He bore before the ages and “inherited” — in the apostle’s expression — in the sense that it was precisely in Him, and not in anyone else, that the following prophecies were fulfilled and to Him they refer. — One can also understand this “inherited” similarly to how above — “appointed,” “sat down” — are referred to the human nature of the Son of God. Christ was from eternity the Son of God and preceded the Angels. Having become man, He appeared to have been humbled below the Angels, but this humbling was limited to a brief time. Having shown obedience to His Father even to death on the cross, He earned for His human nature too exaltation above all creation, inheriting also in His humanity the name Son of God — possessing this Name by right of inheritance, and not as we do — by adoption.

Hebrews 1:5. For to which of the angels did God ever say: “You are my Son; today I have begotten you”? And again: “I will be a Father to Him, and He will be a Son to me”? The apostle confirms and clarifies his thought with a series of Old Testament sayings, showing that his thought is not new but eternal, like truth itself. “He said... He introduces... He says...” — predicates with the implied subject God. In some places of the Old Testament the Angels are also called “sons of God,” but in the present case the apostle intends to point to a completely special, personal, unique sonship, emphasized also by the Psalmist with the more precise definition: “my Son, whom I have begotten” — that is, the Only-Begotten Son by essence, equal in nature and Divine properties. “Today (this day)” — according to some interpreters — points to the eternal begetting of the Son by the Father, since in eternity there is no past or future, but only the one eternal present, the eternal “is.” The past tense of the verb “I have begotten” (γεγέννηκα) denotes, on the one hand, completion, and on the other, the continuous ongoing character of this begetting. According to others (especially Greek interpreters), the expression “this day” refers to the temporal birth in the Incarnation, when Christ also as man became the Son of God. According to this interpretation, “today” is to be referred to the time of the earthly life of the incarnate Son of God, in which case the past tense of the verb “begotten” points to the time of His incarnation by the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit from the Virgin Mary. According to a third group, the expression of the psalm is applied by the apostle to the Resurrection and Ascension of Christ — to the time of His glorification, which is to continue forever (cf. Acts 13:33 and following). “And again” — that is, “to whom did God ever say?” (the implied answer: to no one, never). — “I will be a Father to Him, and He will be a Son to me...” These words, spoken most immediately about Solomon, also contain the promise concerning the restoration of the seed of David and the eternal continuation of his kingdom and throne, which was fulfilled in its full measure only in the person of Jesus Christ the Messiah — to whom this promise was referred by David himself, by Solomon, by the prophets, and by the Archangel Gabriel in the Annunciation to the Virgin Mary (Luke 1:32; cf. 2 Sam 7:19; Isa 22:22; 1 Sam 5:5; Isa 9:6-7; Jer 23:5; Zech 6:12-13; Acts 2:30).

Hebrews 1:6. And again, when He brings the Firstborn into the world, He says: “And let all the angels of God worship Him. “And again, when He brings” — an imprecise translation of the Greek ὅταν δὲ πάλιν εἰσαγάγῃ; the Slavonic renders it more correctly: “егда же паки вводит” — that is: when He brings again. — “He brings the Firstborn into the world” — the Greek εἰσάγειν means to bring into possession of a certain object (a legal term); to bring into the world means to bring into possession of the world; “He brings the Firstborn” means to bring One who has by law the full rights of inheritance. “Again” — by this expression the intention is not to indicate a second bringing of the Firstborn into the world, but a second citation of the text corresponding to the one just quoted above: “when He again brings the Firstborn into the world, He says...” or more clearly: “again, when He brings the Firstborn, He says” — that is, not: He brings again, but: He says again. The expression “Firstborn” (πρωτότοκος) is a favorite among the Hebrews for designating the Messiah. In the Apostle Paul it recurs several times with different nuances. Thus, in Rom 8:29 Christ is called the “firstborn among many brothers,” in relation to redeemed people who in Him are once again adopted by God as children and thus have become His brothers (Heb 2:11). — In Col 1:18 Christ is called the “firstborn from the dead,” as the first to overcome the death that comes from Adam. In Col 1:15 the apostle calls Christ the “firstborn of all creation,” as the Prototype of all that was created by Him and through Him. In all these cases the said expression must be understood in application to the human nature in Christ. As Christ, being the eternal Word, is the Only-Begotten (μονογενής) of the Father, so, being man, He is the “Firstborn” of God (πρωτότοκος τοῦ θεοῦ). He is the Firstborn in relation to Christians, who are His brothers and therefore also “sons of God” (Heb 2:10). As the Firstborn, He will therefore be brought someday into His full inheritance, and then the Angels will bow down before Him as king of all creation (cf. Phil 2:9 and following). “And let all the angels of God worship Him...” — the expression is borrowed from Ps 96:7 and is applied most immediately by the Psalmist to Jehovah, who is glorified in this psalm as the King and Judge of the entire universe. In applying what is attributed to Jehovah to the Son of God, the apostle acts in accordance with the indication of this Son of God, who revealed to us that “the Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son” (John 5:22).

Hebrews 1:7. Of the angels He says: “You make your angels winds, and your servants a flaming fire. Against the scriptural saying about the Angels, the apostle sets several texts that speak of the Son, who surpasses the Angels. — “Of the angels it is said...” — Greek: καὶ πρὸς μὲν τοὺς ἀγγέλους λέγει..., more precisely in Slavonic: “ко Ангелом убо глаголет...” — “to the Angels” — (πρός — in relation to, concerning) as for the Angels, or with respect to the Angels — it says, that is, Scripture, or the author of Scripture. What is said about the Angels is borrowed from Ps 103:4, where the Hebrew text expresses itself properly as follows: “He makes the winds His messengers (angels) and a flaming fire His servants.” The LXX gives a certain modification to this expression, reversing subjects and predicates: ὁ ποιῶν τοὺς ἀγγέλους αὐτοῦ πνεύματα καὶ τοὺς λειτουργοὺς αὐτοῦ πυρὸς φλόγα — “the one who makes His angels spirits (winds) and His servants a flame of fire...” The meaning obtained is that the Angels are such subordinate and serving beings to God that, in fulfilling God’s will, they even descend into matter and serve as elements of nature — wind and fire (cf. John 5:4). This makes it possible to better highlight the superiority of the Son over the Angels, about whom (πρὸς δὲ τὸν υἱόν) the same Scripture says (Ps 44:7-8): “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever...” and so on — Heb 1:8-9 verse.

Hebrews 1:8. But of the Son: “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever; the scepter of your kingdom is a scepter of righteousness. Hebrews 1:9. “You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness; therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions. The force of the proof of the Son’s superiority over the Angels lies in the fact that, while the Angels in Holy Scripture are called serving elements of nature, the Son is called (twice) God and eternal King. The power of the Kingdom of the Son of God lies in the fact that it is the kingdom of righteousness, which alone endures forever and ever. Love of this righteousness and hatred of unrighteousness are — in the Old Testament understanding — the most essential qualities and conditions for the dignity of a true king. In the Son of God these qualities and conditions were elevated to such an exclusive perfection that they became the reason for His being anointed with the oil of gladness above all His companions — in other words, He became the Anointed One of God in a far more perfect sense than ordinary anointed ones — kings who receive their anointing to kingship from that same King of kings (“by me kings reign...”), and than all the other participants in His kingly glory and victory — the believers in Him who are “children of the kingdom.” — “Anointing with the oil of gladness” — applied to the Son of God — is the union of His human nature with the Deity, as St. John of Damascus said: “Christ Himself anointed Himself, anointing as God, being anointed as man; and the anointing of the humanity is the Deity.” — “Beyond your companions...” — that is, beyond and in preference to all other people, although they too are His brothers (Heb 2:11). These last also receive the Deity into themselves by grace, but not as Christ, in whom the Deity and humanity are united hypostatically.

Hebrews 1:10. And: “In the beginning, Lord, you laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands; The next text cited from Scripture in proof of the superiority of the Son of God over the Angels is borrowed from Ps 101:26-28; what is said there refers most immediately to Jehovah, but is quite rightly applied by the apostle to Christ as well, who is the Power and Word of God, through whom all things were created and who is consequently coeternal, consubstantial, and coequal with the Father, and whose superiority over all creation is immeasurable and indisputable.

Hebrews 1:11. “they will perish, but you remain; and they will all wear out like a garment, Hebrews 1:12. “and like a cloak you will roll them up, and they will be changed; but you are the same, and your years will not come to an end. Hebrews 1:13. And to which of the angels has He ever said: “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet”? The final confirmation of the superiority of the Son of God over the Angels is borrowed from Ps 109:1: to which of the angels did God ever say — “sit at my right hand” and so on? The Messianic significance of this psalm during the earthly life of Jesus Christ was regarded as so indisputable that the Lord cited this passage in debate with His fiercest enemies (cf. also 1 Cor 15:25: Acts 2:35). — “Sitting at the right hand” — see comment on Heb 1:3. — “Until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet” — that is, until I subdue everything that opposes you... The word “until” (дондеже, ἕως) aims not to set a limit to the sitting at the right hand, but to designate the accomplishment of one of the purposes of the God-given full authority given to the Messiah — the subjection of enemies; whereas the very state of sitting at the right hand will outlast all its temporal purposes and consequences, being eternal, unshakeable, and triumphant (a similar significance ἕως has in the Evangelist’s expression about the perpetual virginity of Mary: “he did not know her until she had given birth to a Son...” (Matt 1:25) — that is, he did not know her not only before she gave birth to the Son, but in general this cannot even be spoken of).

Hebrews 1:14. Are they not all ministering spirits, sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation? Verse 14 concludes what has been said about the Angels with the affirmation that all of them, in contrast to the Son — the Lord, are His servants and executors of His will regarding the salvation of all people. — “Are they not all” — not excluding, therefore, even the highest among them. — “Ministering spirits, sent out to serve for the sake of those who...” The spirits serve God also when they are sent by Him to serve in the salvation of people. Therefore “to serve” cannot be referred directly to those who are to “inherit salvation”: what is meant here is service rendered by the Angels to God, but for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation. — “Salvation” — the entire fullness of grace and truth that appeared in Christ, which will reach its complete consummation only in heaven.