Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible · Hebrews Capitolo 1

Hebrews 1:1.— The design of the author of this epistle being, as we have observed, to shew the excellence of the Christian dispensation above that of the Jews in every respect; and that the Jews had no advantage in or by their law, which Christians had not in a superior measure by the law of Christ—he begins by giving an account of the dignity of the person of Christ; and intending to shew how vastly he was to be preferred to anyof those messengers from God whom they most highly valued, he here looks back to hisoriginal and divine character, which was eternally antecedent to his incarnation; and then insensibly proceeds to consider his advancement in the human nature above the angels at his resurrection, Hebrews 1:1-14.

At sundry times, and in divers manners,— The word Πολυμερως, signifies in many parts, or parcels, and refers to the parcels by which God's will was delivered, in opposition to a complete revelation: and this was done in various manners; namely, by dreams, visions, urim, prophets, voices, signs.

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Hebrews 1:2. Hath in these last days, &c.— This latter age of the world, or the days of the Messiah. By his Son, must here mean emphatically, "By his Son, as incarnate, and appearing in the human nature;" nor can any argument be gathered from hence, that God spoke not by the ministration of the Logos, or second Person, before; but only, that he spoke not in so clear and express a manner. The word heir signifies properly "one who hath a right to succeed to what another has in possession, after his death;" but this cannot be the meaning of the word in this place, as it is impossible for the God and Father of all to die; and therefore it is used in the sense of possessor or lord, as the ancient classics and lawyers use it: and thus it implies the same with what our Saviour says, Matthew 28:18. All power is given to me in heaven and in earth. See Galatians 4:1.Acts 2:36; Acts 2:36. The apostle here lays down the assertion which he undertakes to prove, namely, that God had constituted his Son Jesus heir or Lord of all things. Having mentioned this, he just gives a hint or two of the greatness of his character, and then returns to his main assertion, pursuing it closely in the latter part of the chapter, and shewing that the angels themselves, the higher order of beings, are not only infinitely inferior to him, but subject to his jurisdiction.

By whom also he made the worlds— All the Greek fathers unanimously say, this shews the divinity of Christ. The Socinians by the worlds here understand the new creation, or the church begun by Christ's ministry upon earth, begotten and renewed by the evangelical dispensation. But this exposition cannot possibly stand; for, 1. Though Christ be stiled in some of the Greek versions, Isaiah 9:6. The Father of the age to come, yet the phrase οι αιωνες, absolutely put, does never signify the church or evangelical state; nor does the scripture ever speak of the world to come in the plural, but in the singular number only, preserving the phrase Holam Habba, as they received it from the Jews. 2. Were this the import of the words, the worlds might as well have been said to have been created or made by Christ's apostles, they being the great converters of the world; or at least, this being done by them assisted by the power of Christ, after he had been thus made heir of all things, it must have properly been said that Christ made the worlds by his apostles, which yet the Holy Ghost never thinks fit to intimate. Moreover, whereas this making of the world by Jesus Christ, is done by his prophetic office, that is to say, his speaking to us in the last days, the apostle had mentioned this already, and makes a plain gradation from it to his kingly office, in saying that he was constituted Lord of all things, not speaking of making the world by way of consequence, thus, and by whom; but by way of farther gradation, by whom also he made the worlds; as if he had said, Nor is it to be wondered that he should be constituted Lord of the whole world, seeing he made the whole. And that the apostle here speaks, not of the reforming of the new, but of the forming of the old world, he himself sufficiently instructs us, by saying in this same epistle, by faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, Chap. Hebrews 11:3. For that by the phrase τους αιωνας, we are to understand the material world, the Socinian commentators grant. This was the doctrine of all the primitive fathers from the beginning, as well as of all the early commentators on this text. St. Barnabas declares, that he is the Lord of the world, the maker of the sun, the Person by whom, and to whom are all things. He is, says Justin Martyr, the word by which the heaven, the earth, and every creature was made, by whom God at the beginning made and ordained all things, viz. the heavens and the earth; and by whom he will renew them. This Irenaeus delivers as the rule of faith contained in the scripture, which they who hold to, may easily prove that the heretics had deviated from the truth. He adds, that the barbarians who held the ancient tradition, did believe in one God, the maker of heaven and earth, and of all things therein, by Jesus Christ the Son of God; and this doctrine he repeats almost a hundred times elsewhere. Our doctrine, says Athenagoras, celebrates one God the Creator of all things, who made all things by Jesus Christ, from whom, and by whom all things were made. God, says Theophilus, made all things by him, and he is called the beginning, because he is the principle, and ruler of all things made by him. He adds, that by this principle God made the heavens: that God said to him, Let us make man; he being his word, by which he made all things. We rational creatures, says Clemens of Alexandria; are the work of God the word; for he was and is the divine principle of all things, by whom all things were made, and who, as the Framer of all things, in the beginning, gave also life to us; by whom are all things; who made man, our God and Maker, the cause of the creation. In the third century we learn the same from Origen, Tertullian, Novatian, St. Cyprian, and others, cited by the learned Dr. Bull. So that in these two verses there are visibly these gradations; one from Christ's prophetic office, to his kingly office conferred on him as heir of all things; the other, from his kingly office to the foundation of it, laid in his divine nature, and in the work of the creation; it being, say Irenaeus and the ancient fathers, fit that he should reform and govern the world, by whom it was formed: that he should give new life to man, who gave him his being, and first breath.

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Hebrews 1:3. Who, being the brightness, &c.— Who, being a beam of his glory, and the express image of his substance. The word Απαυγασμα, which we render brightness, signifies that splendor or ray which proceeds from a luminous body. The words therefore represent the Father as Light, which is agreeable to other places of scripture: see 1 John 1:5. But to raise their thoughts of the matter, the apostle sets forth this Light, by which he describes the Father, under the title of Glory; the design of which is, to express the purity, perfection, and lustre of all his attributes. Suitably to this account of God the Father, he represents the Son, as a splendor or ray eternally and essentially derived or proceeding from the Father: and as the beams or rays cannot be separated from the sun, that great fund of light, so neither can the nature and the glory of the divine Son be separated from that of the Father: he is "Light of Light, very God of very God." The word χαρακτηρ, rendered express image, signifies an engraved or impressed mark,—an impress; and is a most emphatical word, since nothing can be more exactly and minutely represented, than byits impress on wax or metal. "Christ (says Leigh) answers to the divine perfections, as the impression of the wax does to the engraving of the seal." It is observable that Philo the Jew calls the Logos χαρακτηρ και εικων Θεου, "the character and image of God." The word 'Υποστασις, signifies subsistence, existence; or, as the Greek fathers, before the council of Nice, frequently applied the word, "a distinct person in the Godhead." Comp. Colossians 1:15. Upholding all things by the word of his power seems plainly to express, that as the Son gave being to all the creatures, so he maintains them all in being. The same thing seems designed, Colossians 1:17.—By him all things consist. In both places the same works are attributed to him. See Matthew 11:27; Matthew 28:18. John 3:35; John 13:3.—When he had by himself purged our sins, refers to the expiation of our sins by his death; nor can there be any question that the apostle refers to the death of Christ, considering what is here said to have followed immediately upon his purging our sins,—that he sat down at the right-hand of the

Majesty on high. The words by himself are very expressive: for as (Ch. Hebrews 9:12; Hebrews 9:26.) Christ is spoken of as making expiation by himself, and his ownblood, and not by the blood of bulls and of goats, so here it seems to be intended, that Christ alone, without any assistance or concurrence ofangels, or any other beings, made a perfect expiation of our sins. See Isaiah 63:3. 1 Peter 3:22.Ephesians 1:20; Ephesians 1:20.

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Hebrews 1:4. Being made so much better than the angels,— Being made so much superior to, or more excellent than the angels, by how much he hath obtained a more excellent name than they. The word Κεκληρονομηκεν, signifies to obtain, or be in possession of; without taking in the notion of inheritance. See on Hebrews 1:2. Christ is called the Son of God; a name, which implies peculiar love and affection in the parent, and superiority over the family in which he is. Christ, therefore, as being the only-begotten Son of God, is infinitely superior to angels, and is vested with an authority which they are of course destitute of; and has a right and title to dominion, to which they have no pretension; nor is any one of them ever dignified with that name. Some consider this as immediately referring to Christ's authority and dignity, as Mediator; with which he was invested, when he sat down on the right-hand of glory after his resurrection.

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Hebrews 1:5. For unto which of the angels said he, &c.— The word for, shews that the sacred writer is here proceeding to his proofs. All the texts that are alleged by him, are to be considered as brought forward with this design; to shew that Christ at his resurrection was constituted, as man, infinitely superior to the angels. This amounted to a full proof, both according to the nature of things, and the notions which the Jews entertained of the angels: for, it being certainly true, and believed to be so by the Hebrews, that theangels, according to their original creation, had been made superior in their nature to other creatures; it must of necessity follow, that as he is superior to them, he must be superior to all below them: and since the highest order of creatures was made subject to him as Man, it might reasonably be supposed that the others were so too. Besides, as the Hebrews gloried in the revelations which had been made to them by angels, and were apt, upon that account, to see light by Christ; nothing could be more pertinent to the general design of the epistle, than the discourse here given upon this argument. We refer to the passages in the margin, and our notes upon them in the former part of this commentary; and also to Acts 13:33.

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Hebrews 1:6. And let all the angels of God worship him— In proof of the infinite superiority of Christ over the angels, the apostle shews, that he was not only the Son of God, while even the highest of them were but servants; but that he was the object of their adoration and worship. It is matter of doubt, whence the quotation in this verse is taken; some taking it from Deu 32:43 and others from Psa 97:7 which seems the most probable. See the notes on that Psalm. Instead of spirits, in the next verse, Doddridge, Waterland, and others, read winds. "He who rules the winds and the lightnings, has his angels under equal command; and employs them with the strength of winds, and the rapidity of lightning in his service." However noble and lofty this description of the angels is, it falls infinitely short of what was before said, and what is immediately added in the next verses, concerning the Son: and in this view, the quotation was very much to the apostle's purpose.

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Hebrews 1:9. Thou hast loved righteousness, &c.— This refers to that unparalleled instance of the love of moral rectitude, which Christ has given in becoming a sacrifice for sin; by his atonement doing infinitely more, than has ever been done by any other intelligent and rational agent, towards displaying his love of righteousness, and his hatred of iniquity. See Philippians 2:8-9. Instead of fellows, some read associates. The correspondent Hebrew word to the word Μετοχοι, says Parkhurst, signifies associates; by whom are meant, "all men who believe on Christ." The word properly expresses "those who partake together;" brethren,—joint-heirs. See ch. Hebrews 2:11, &c. Romans 8:17. The force of this quotation lies in proving, that while the angels are but ministering spirits, (Hebrews 1:7; Hebrews 1:14.) the Son is invested with regal power, and sovereign authority. Hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness, &c. means, "Thou art exalted to superior honor and happiness; God the Father stiling thee here, God, and an eternal king, ascribing to thee a throne and kingdom, and a righteous government to reward thy righteous servants whom thou lovest, and to punish thine obdurate enemies whose iniquities render them odious to thee." So that these words again prove, both his Divine nature, and his exaltation to the government of the wor

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Hebrews 1:13. But to which of the angels, &c.— "But, not to insist on the manner in which men have addressed their homage and their praises to him, even under the inspiration of an unerring Spirit; let me refer you to another passage, in which the Father himself speaks to him under the character of his Son, exalted to his mediatorial kingdom; that you may thence take an idea of his grandeur. For to which of the angels, &c."

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