διαφορώτερον παρ' αὐτοὺς κεκληρονόμηκεν ὄνομα. ὅτι ἐγὼ ἀρχιστράτηγος δυνάμεως Κυρίου, νυνὶ παραγέγονα. ὅσῳ διαφορώτερον] The actual exaltation of Christ above Angels is proportioned to the prophetic. The Name defined in Scripture is the measure of the superiority actually attained. (1) The adjective διάφορος occurs also in ix. Io, and in Rom. xii. 6, in the sense of different; as also in Deut. xxii. 9. Dan. vii. 19. Here the sense is excellent; different by superiority; as in viii. 6, διαφορωτέρας τέτευχεν λειτουργίας. The same twofold meaning is seen in the verb διαφέρειν (to differ, Dan. vii. 3. &c.; to excel, Matt. x. 31. &c.: in Rom. ii. 18 and Phil. i. 1o, it may be either). (2) The comparative διαφορώτερος occurs only here and in viii. 6. (3) The use of παρά after a comparative is pe culiar to this Epistle (ii. 7, 9. iii. 3. ix. 23. xi. 4. xii. 24) and Luke iii. 13, πλέον παρὰ τὸ διατεταγμένον ὑμῖν. κεκληρονόμηκεν] The Son, manifested in the fulness of time, has entered upon the inheritance of the predicted Messiah. Scripture has marked out the boundaries of the great ovoμa in many passages of promise: the Divine Son, as the Christ, has entered upon its possession. The word κληρονομεῖν occurs more than 125 times in the Septuagint; generally with an accusative of the thing (τὴν γῆν, τὰς πόλεις, &c.); sometimes absolutely Num. xviii. 20. &c.); sometimes with an accusative of the person (to be a man's heir; Gen. xv. 3, 4, κληρονομήσει με... οὐ κληρονομήσει σε κ.τ.λ.). In the New Testament it is found 18 times (τὴν γῆν, ζωὴν αἰώνιον, βασιλείαν Θεού, σωτηρίαν, εὐλογίαν, τὰς ἐπαγγελίας). ὄνομα] The name of a person is that which sets him before the mind as that which he is. In Scripture, the name of God, or the name of Christ, is the sum of His attributes, the whole of His revealed nature, character, work, &c. See Exod. xxxiii. 19. xxxiv. 5-7, καὶ ἐκάλεσε τῷ ὀνόματι Κυρίου. Κύριος ὁ Θεός, οἰκτίρμων καὶ ἐλεήμων, μακρόθυ μος καὶ πολυέλεος κ.τ.λ. John i. 12, τοῖς πιστεύουσιν εἰς τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ. xvii. 6, ἐφανέρωσά σου τὸ ὄνομα τοῖς ἀνθρώποις κ.τ.λ. ΧΧ. 31, ζωὴν ἔχητε ἐν τῷ ὀνόματι αὐτοῦ. Acts iii. 16, τοῦτον... ἐστερέωσεν τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ. Phil. ii. 9, καὶ ἐχαρίσατο αὐτῷ τὸ ὄνομα τὸ ὑπὲρ πᾶν ὄνομα, ἵνα ἐν τῷ ὀνόματι Ἰησοῦ πᾶν γόνυ κάμψῃ κ.τ.λ. The name is the designation, the description, in Scripture, of what the Messiah would be. 5. τίνι γάρ] Upon the quotations which follow it may be remarked in general, that the Epistle is addressed to persons 5 τίνι γὰρ εἶπέν ποτε τῶν ἀγγέλων, Υἱός μου εἶ (1) who believe in Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God, (2) who believe in the inspiration of the Old Testament Scriptures, and in their Messianic reference. It cannot be expected of those who are destitute of this twofold belief, that they should appreciate the argument of this passage. On the other hand, there is nothing arbitrary in the selection of the texts adduced. It is not that, wherever the name of God occurs in the Old Testament, the name of Christ may be substituted for it. The principles of the selection are two: (1) God in manifestation, whether for mercy or judgment, is always God in Christ; (2) where that is written of a man, which no mere man can satisfy (as, for instance, universal dominion, everlasting existence, &c.), there always lies in the background that one Person, divine as well as human, of whom alone these things can be spoken with literal truth. To be assured of this is the only postulate of this section. Known unto God are all His works from the beginning of the world (Acts xv. 18): God, purposing to reveal Himself in Christ, keeps that purpose in view throughout His Dispensations. The human writer is never obliterated, but there is a voice within his voice, a prophecy in his history, and a type in his life. To say otherwise is to deny, not verbal inspiration alone, but inspiration in any sense. τίνι γὰρ τῶν ἀγγέλων] Το which one of the Angels, &c. Whom did God ever single out from among the Angels to address him as His Son ? The argument is not shaken by the application of the title sons of God to Angels collectively (Job i. 6. ii. 1. xxxviii. 7; in all which places however the Septuagint has not υἱοὶ but ἄγγελοι), any more than by the application of the same title to Israelites of old (Exod. iv. 22, viòs πρωτότοκός μου Ισραήλ. Jer. xxxi. 9, Ἐφραὶμ πρωτότοκός μου ἐστιν. Hos. i. 1o, κληθήσονται υἱοὶ Θεοῦ ζῶντος), or to Christians now (Luke vi. 35. Rom. viii. 14, 19, οὗτοι υἱοί εἰσιν Θεοῦ... τῶν υἱῶν τοῦ Θεοῦ. 2 Cor. vi. 18, ὑμεῖς ἔσεσθέ μοι εἰς υἱοὺς καὶ θυγατέρας. Gal. iii. 26, πάντες γὰρ υἱοὶ Θεοῦ ἐστέ. iv. 6, 7, οὐκέτι εἶ δοῦλος, ἀλλὰ υἱός. Hel. xii. 5, ὑμῖν ὡς υἱοῖς διαλέγεται). The whole stress lies on the individualization of the name. Yiós μου el ou] Psalm ii. 7. We know not with what human hopes the words were first written. History is the key of Prophecy; and as the earthly kings of David's line successively fell on sleep, till at last σύ, ἐγὼ σήμερον γεγέννηκά σε; καὶ πάλιν, Ἐγὼ ἔσομαι αὐτῷ εἰς πατέρα, καὶ αὐτὸς ἔσται μοι εἰς υἱόν; ὅταν δὲ πάλιν εἰσαγάγη 6 the line itself was dethroned and effaced, it became plain that only in a Divine Person could the prediction be fulfilled, whatever shadows of fulfilment might be thrown before Him. σήμερον γεγέννηκά σε] In its first meaning σήμερον must have been the time of the decisive establishment of the throne of David; his recognition as the head of the theocracy against all rivals and antagonists (2 Sam. vii. I, ὅτε ἐκάθισεν ὁ βασιλεὺς ἐν τῷ οἴκῳ αὐτοῦ, καὶ Κύριος κατεκληρονόμησεν αὐτὸν κύκλῳ ἀπὸ πάντων τῶν ἐχθρῶν αὐτοῦ). In its application, it is the day of Christ's Resurrection, and the Psalm was rightly selected for Easter Sunday. Compare Acts xiii. 33, ἀναστήσας Ἰησοῦν, ὡς καὶ γέγραπται, Υἱός μου εἶ σύ, ἐγὼ σήμερον κ.τ.λ. Rom. i. 4, τοῦ ὁρισθέντος υἱοῦ Θεοῦ ἐν δυνάμει...ἐξ ἀναστάσεως νεκρῶν. Heb. v. 5, where the same text is quoted in proof of the Priesthood of Christ, with which Resurrection virtually invested Him, as Ascension actually. There is no direct reference in the passage either (r) to the Eternal Sonship, or (2) to the Incarnation. Ἐγὼ ἔσομαι] 2 Sam. vii. 14. The subject is the promised seed of David (verse 12, ἀναστήσω τὸ σπέρμα σου μετὰ σέ.....καὶ ἑτοιμάσω τὴν βασιλείαν αὐτοῦ). Of him it is said, ανορθώσω τὸν θρόνον αὐτοῦ ἕως εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα (verse 13). The very phrase made preparation for one greater than man. No earthly throne can be everlasting. The seed of David was evidently identifying itself (in such predictions) with the seed of Abraham in whom all nations should be blessed (Gen. xxii. 18), and with the seed of the woman which should bruise the serpent's head (Gen. iii. 15). ἔσομαι εἰς ἔσται εἰς] For the Hebraism, compare Matt. xix. 5. Mark x. 8. Luke iii. 5. I Cor. vi. 16. 2 Cor. vi. 18. Eph. v. 31. Heb. viii. 10. James v. 3. 6. ὅταν δὲ πάλιν] The place of πάλιν makes its sense ambiguous. Is it, like the πάλιν of verse 5 and ii. 13 (twice) and x. 30, the again of quotation; And when, again, He bringeth in, &c.? Or is it to be read with εἰσαγάγῃ, And when He again bringeth in, &c.; making the clause refer to the second Advent, the second introduction of the Son into the visible universe? (I) There is perhaps no precisely parallel instance of a transposed or parenthetical πά τὸν πρωτότοκον εἰς τὴν οἰκουμένην, λέγει, Καὶ λιν. But this Epistle deals much in rhetorical transpositions; and there is something easy and natural (in English at all events) in an again thus thrown in. (2) On the other hand, the particular word πρωτότοκος is more evidently suitable to the Risen Christ than to the Eternal Son. It suggests, if it does not compel, the thought of sons later born; a thought inappropriate altogether to the Second Person in the Trinity as such, but most suitable to the Incarnate Son alive again from the dead (see references in the note on τὸν πρωτότοκον). And the quotation introduced by the clause ὅταν δὲ κ.τ.λ., though appropriate to either Advent, or to the Advent as a whole, cannot but be especially suitable to the Advent in glory. ὅταν εἰσαγάγῃ λέγει] When He shall have brought in, He saith. That is, He saith in the foreview of His bringing in. The passage which follows has reference to the (then future) introduction. For the construction, see 1 Cor. xv. 27, 28, ὅταν δὲ εἴπῃ ὅτι πάντα ὑποτέτακται ...ὅταν δὲ ὑποταγῇ αὐτῷ τὰ πάντα, τότε αὐτὸς ὁ υἱὸς ὑποταγήσεται κ.τ.λ. When He shall have said the word, All things are subjected (manifestly excepting Him that subjected them) when, I say, all things shall have been subjected, then shall the Son also Himself, &c. Compare verses 24, 54, ὅταν καταργήσῃ ὅταν ἐνδύση ται. xvi. 2, 3, 5, ἐλεύσομαι πρὸς ὑμᾶς ὅταν Μακεδονίαν διέλθω. 2 Cor. x. 6. Col. iii. 4. iv. 16. &c. &c. τὸν πρωτότοκον] Here alone absolutely. In Luke ii. 7 with τὸν υἱὸν αὐτῆς. Rom. viii. 29, εἰς τὸ εἶναι αὐτὸν πρωτότοκον ἐν πολλοῖς ἀδελφοῖς. Col. i. 15, 18, πρωτότοκος πάσης κτίσεως...πρω τότοκος ἐν τῶν νεκρῶν. Rev. i. 5, ὁ πρωτότοκος τῶν νεκρῶν. See note on ὅταν δὲ πάλιν. If the εἰσαγάγῃ refers to the first Advent (or to the Advent generally, without marking the difference), then the πρωτότοκος will mean simply the Eternal Son, the viòs of verse 2. If to the second, there may be an allusion to the Resurrection, as in the γεγέννηκα of verse 5, and as in the above quotations from Col. i. 18 and Rev. i. 5. τὴν οἰκουμένην] The word occurs almost forty times in the Septuagint, in the wider sense of the inhabited earth (Psalm xxiv. 1, τοῦ Κυρίου ἡ γῆ καὶ τὸ πλήρωμα αὐτῆς, ἡ οἰκουμένη καὶ πάντες οἱ κατοικοῦντες ἐν αὐτῇ). And so Matt. xxiv. 14. Luke iv. 5. xxi. 26. Acts xvii. 31. xix. 27 (a rhetorical hyperbole). Rom. x. 18 (from Psalm xix. Rev. iii. ΙΟ. xii. 9. xvi. 14. In Heb. ii. 5 it has 4). προσκυνησάτωσαν αὐτῷ πάντες ἄγγελοι Θεοῦ. καὶ πρὸς μὲν τοὺς ἀγγέλους λέγει, Ὁ 7 ποιῶν τοὺς ἀγγέλους αὐτοῦ πνεύματα, καὶ the peculiar sense given it by the addition of τὴν μέλλουσαν (see note there). In Luke ii. and Acts xi. 28 the context limits it to the Roman Empire. Here it is equivalent to κόσμος, and the parallel passages are those of St John in which the Incarnation is spoken of as a coming into the κόσμος (John i. 9. iii. 17, 19. vi. 14. ix. 39. x. 36. xi. 27. xii. 46. xvi. 28. xvii. 18. xviii. 37. I John iv. 9). The Eternal Son is outside the οἰκουμένη (John i. I, ὁ λόγος ἦν πρὸς τὸν Θεόν). Incarnation brings Him into it (John xvi. 28, ἐξῆλθον ἐκ τοῦ Πατρὸς καὶ ἐλήλυθα εἰς τὸν κόσμον). Ascension again withdraws Him from the οἰκουμένη (πάλιν ἀφίημι τὸν κόσμον καὶ πορεύομαι πρὸς τὸν Πατέρα). The Advent brings Him back into it (John xiv. 3, ἐὰν πορευθῶ...πάλιν ἔρχομαι). The peculiarity of the expression here is the εἰσάγειν instead of the usual πέμπειν οι ἀποστέλλειν of the Gospels. Even of the second Advent we have ἀποστέλλειν in Acts iii. 20. The nearest approach to the eloáye εἰσάγειν here is the ἄγειν of I Thess. iv. 14 (ὁ Θεὸς τοὺς κοιμηθέντας διὰ τοῦ Ἰησοῦ ἄξει σὺν αὐτῷ). Καὶ προσκυνησάτωσαν] The καὶ is part of the quotation. This, and the third person, point to Deut. xxxii. 43 (καὶ προσκυνησάτωσαν αὐτῷ πάντες ἄγγελοι [Β, υἱοὶ Α] Θεοῦ) rather than to Psalm xcvii. ή (προσκυνήσατε αὐτῷ, πάντες οἱ ἄγγελοι αὐτοῦ) as the intended reference. In both passages, however, the subject is God's self-manifestation in judgment; and therefore the application to Christ is at once justified by the principle stated in the note on verse 5, τίνι γάρ. The Angels themselves are bidden in prophecy to worship God manifested in the Son. The word προσκυνείν is only onee used by St Paul (1 Cor. xiv. 25). 7. καὶ πρὸς μέν] The μὲν and Sè have the effect of subordinating the first clause to the second. And whereas the language of Scripture concerning the Angels is this...the language concerning the Son on the contrary is, &c. πρός] The towards of πρὸς varies according to the context between of (with regard to) and to. The one is the mental, the other the physical, looking to. Here, of the Angels ...to the Son. Compare, for example, Rom. x. 21 (πρὸς δὲ τὸν Ἰσραὴλ λέγει) with Heb. vii. 21 (τοῦ λέγοντος πρὸς αὐτόν). Ὁ ποιῶν] Psalm civ. 4. |