1 God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, ² at the end of these last days has spoken to us in the person of a Son, whom HE APPOINTED heir of all things, THROUGH whom He also fashioned the ages. ³ And He is the radiance of God’s glory and THE EXACT REPRESENTATION OF HIS NATURE, and upholds all things by the word of His power.

Briefly, a word on the previous 1-chapter epistle to Philemon, only to say that I won’t comment on it at all, for uniquely in terms of New Testament epistles it has no direct relevance to the subject in hand, being the breadth of God’s benign providence. Written by Paul it is of course worthy of study and I found a useful commentary here for those who wish to do so. I now move on to Hebrews which in contrast to Philemon is packed with doctrinal issues that require study in the context of our subject matter. That is why I have restricted my first passage to just the opening three verses!

Luther’s nemesis?

Martin Luther was not the first to challenge some earlier assumptions that the epistle to the Hebrews was written by Paul, and in this regard he is almost certainly right. But he had more serious concerns that the epistle appeared to contradict some of Paul’s teaching, especially concerning grace and perseverance, and that is certainly the case in terms of how ML interpreted Paul. At best, Luther believed Hebrews needed to be read alongside other scriptures to be properly understood. Rather I suggest it is Paul who needs to read alongside other scriptures (especially the teaching of Christ) in order that Paul should not be misinterpreted. And should Paul contradict Jesus, dump the apostle and hearken to the Lord of the universe – but there is no need, for Paul rightly interpreted contradicts no one!^NOTE#1

Not a favourite with the Reformers

But back to Hebrews, and it will soon become evident why Luther along with other Protestant Reformers had a problem with it. I have agreed with Luther (and virtually all commentators these days) that Paul did not write Hebrews, yet the opening verses concerning the Lord Jesus Christ and His status within the Godhead is in accordance with the great apostle in that it clearly affirms the monarchical status of the Father. For God appointed His only begotten Son to be heir of all things, by which appointment LJC is affirmed supreme over all creation, indeed the One through Whom all things were created (v2). Nevertheless an appointee cannot meaningfully be equated with the appointer yet both can be equally divine and of the same essence.  Just as with human appointments, he who is appointed is equally human to the appointer.  It is a question of order and authority, not essence or nature as the writer to the Hebrews is just about to inform us with regard to our Lord.

An exact representation of the Father

Some may have a problem with my comments regarding an order within the Godhead. I am not concerned, for most of the earliest Church Fathers who had not  been reliant on Scripture alone but had received the Faith from the apostles or their immediate appointees were considered by the post-Nicene church  to be tending to “subordinationism” ^NOTE#2.

However, for Luther and the Reformers a more problematic consideration might be the inverse reality that the Lord Jesus Christ is so similar to His Father in nature – in the writer to the Hebrews words, He is “the exact representation” (v3). And that equally applied to how He  conducted Himself in His earthly ministry (examine Jesus’ response to Philip’s request in Jn14:9 – the telling phrase being “How long have I been with you”).

Thanks to the Gospels we have a reasonably comprehensive account of what Jesus was like as a Person. In certain circumstances and in certain company He could certainly appear fearsome, yet overall most would discern He was compassionate, merciful and gracious. Jesus the Nazarene could be described as saintly-plus, the plus being that unlike even the best of saints He was totally without fault. What is more His justice and judgements were thoroughly comprehensible, His teaching often illustrated by situations from human life.

This accords with God the Father as far as, for example, the apostle John was concerned, who described the Creator as love personified (1Jn4:8). But I know as a former Calvinist it is far removed from God as the Protestant Reformers understood Him in terms of His comprehensibility, kindly nature and equitable dealings with humanity as a whole. I cannot expand upon that here but if you have been following my posts or read my book you will already know of what I speak, and this  will be developed as we proceed through Hebrews.

NOTE #1 i.e. in terms of salvation, moral requirements and judgement. Paul however discloses new revelation with respect to God’s secret plan for the Gentiles which Jesus did not delineate during His earthly ministry (cf. Eph3:9-11; Rom11:11,12,15,30)

NOTE #2  Neither Paul, the Hebrews writer, most early Fathers nor I are ontological subordinationists – study further HERE.

The Little Book of Providence:

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