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typical sacrifices and offerings (9:, 10:), and above all examples and patterns (12: 1, 2).
None but Christ in every phase of His charakter can express the glorious hypostasis of
the invisible God.
A passage somewhat parallel to Heb. 1: is found in John's Gospel chapter 1: The title
there is, "The Word" (logos). It is the function of the word to express the hidden thought,
and creation is associated with this title (1-3). In verse 14 the subject changes to
redemptive purposes, and the Word becomes flesh. He then has another glory, "the glory
of the only begotten of the Father". His title, "The Word", is used no longer, and in
verse 18 the parallel with verse 1 is found, "No man hath seen God at any time, the only
begotten Son, Who is in the bosom of the Father, He hath given Him an exegesis". The
parallels may be seen the better if set out thus:--
Title.
The Word.
The only begotten Son.
Position.
With God.
In the bosom of the Father.
Purpose.
Implied in title.
He hath declared Him.
Of the only-begotten Son the Scripture says that He was "full of grace and truth. . . .
For the law was given through Moses, grace and truth came into being through Jesus
Christ". Moses did not originate the law, it was given through him. Christ, however, is
not a servant, but a Son (Heb. 3: 1-6), and the very same word that declares the creation
of all things to be through Him is used to teach us that in the new creation, as in the old,
He is the Creator.
Panta di' autou egeneto--"All things through Him became."
He charis kai he aletheia dia Iseou Christou egeneto--"The grace and the truth
through Jesus Christ became."
"Grace and truth" indicates, "True, real antitypical grace", something better and fuller
than the veiled symbols of the law. He who brings in real grace is the One who declares
the unseen God. The parallel with Heb. 1: is worthy of careful study. What the Word is
to God in creation, the Son is to God in grace, and the exegesis given by the Son as
unfolded in John's Gospel (see for example John 14: 7-11) is a part of the deeper
doctrine contained in the words of Heb. 1: 3, "The charakter of His hypostasis". Just as
John 1: speaks of Christ both as the Son and as God, so does Heb. 1: Similarly, as
John 1: speaks of all things, and true grace coming into being through the Son, so Heb. 1:
tells us that the ages were made through Him, and that the heavens are the works of His
hands. One great difference is to be observed if we would appreciate to the full the
teaching of Heb. 1: 3. Christ in John 1: is the Word made flesh, and as such is the only
begotten Son. In Heb. 1:, however, it is Christ in resurrection that is spoken of in the
words, "Thou art My Son, this day have I begotten Thee". This is the One who fills with
His glory the message of this epistle. As we ponder the fulness of the title, we may
perhaps appreciate the better the reason why the article is omitted before the word "Son"
in verse 2. God spoke through the prophets as His instruments; in these last days He has
spoken "in Son", His fullest and greatest theophany.