Difficult Passages: Hebrews 1:8

It is very easy to understand this verse from a Trinitarian viewpoint since it clearly addresses “the Son” with the words “O God.” How should we approach this passage when talking with our Trinitarian friends?

For those who believe in the deity of Christ, such as Trinitarians, Hebrews 1:8 proves that Jesus is God. The verse says:

It is very easy to understand this verse from a Trinitarian viewpoint since it clearly addresses “the Son” with the words “O God.” How should we approach this passage when talking with our Trinitarian friends?

The key to studying any passage is its context. Let’s first think about the purpose of the book of Hebrews. It was written to combat the main controversy in the first-century ecclesia: the cessation of the Old Covenant and the rituals of the Law of Moses. A key word in Hebrews is “better,” as the author illustrates that everything about Jesus is better than things connected with the idea that salvation comes from following the rituals of the Law of Moses. The first two chapters show Jesus is better than the angels. The reason for outlining this point is that it was through angelic ministration that Moses received the Law (Galatians 3:19—“it was put in place through angels by an intermediary”) as he spoke with the angels of God on Mount Sinai (Acts 7:30, 35, 38). Then, in the following chapters, the writer shows how Jesus is better than Moses (Hebrews 3:3), and Joshua (Hebrews 4:8), has a better priesthood (Hebrews 5:5-7), and is the mediator of a better covenant through his blood (Hebrews 8:6-10). 

We focus on the first two chapters, where we learn Jesus is better than the angels. The term “angel” simply means a messenger, and the writer’s reference to messengers links back to the very first verse where we read “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets.” (Hebrews 1:1). Whether through prophets or angels, God made sure his message was delivered. However, as the next verse says, “But in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son.” (Hebrews 1:2). The Greek for “by” in this verse is en, which is often translated as “in.” So we could translate the phrase as God speaking “in his Son” instead, which seems to be the emphasis of contrast the writer wants to make. Notice what the writer then goes on to say about the Son:

• God appointed him heir of all things (v. 2).
• God created the world through him (v. 2).
• He is the radiance of God’s glory (v. 3).
• He is the exact imprint of God’s nature (v. 3).
• He upholds the universe by the word of his power (v. 3).
• He made purification for sins (v. 3).
• He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high (v. 3).

These are all points of contrast with other messengers God uses, be they prophets or angels. A Trinitarian might latch onto each of these and conclude they all teach us Jesus is God. However, look carefully at what the writer says. 

First, the Son has been “appointed” as heir of all things. That means it is not his inherent right as the supposed “God the Son.” Second, it is God who creates “through the Son.” Furthermore, the word for “world” is aion, which does not mean the physical heavens and earth but “the ages.” The writer is not referring to the Genesis creation, and it is much more likely he has in mind the New Creation. Third, he is the “radiance” of God’s glory. The word for “radiance” is unique here in the New Testament, but it is found in the Apocrypha in Wisdom 7:26, where the writer, speaking of wisdom, says, “For she is a reflection of eternal light.” Other writers, like Philo, use the term in the sense of reflection or image. Therefore, if Jesus reflects God’s glory, it follows he is not God Himself. Fourth, the phrase “exact imprint” is the word character, in the sense of a character imprinted through some process, e.g., if you were typing a character on a keyboard. If Jesus is the imprint of God, it follows he is not God himself.

However, it is in Hebrews 1:3-4 that we see the kernel of the author’s intent. He emphasizes “the word of his power” that “upholds the universe,” which takes us back to verse 2 and how God speaks “by” his Son. What makes the word of Christ so powerful? Why was it different from the words of angels or messengers? Because the word is now something that is “in” God’s Son, reflected not just in the physical words he said, but in the kind of person he was. Jesus reflected God’s glory and character, and we see in Jesus not just words being uttered, but those words being fulfilled in how he lived his life, treated others, and gave his life as a purification for sins.

However glorious the words of God’s other messengers, they were all flawed somehow. The prophets were sinful and could not fully reflect God’s glory. The angels, as the writer goes on to explain in Chapter 2, were not of the same nature as us, and so there is no connection between us. However glorious an angel might be in word and power; they cannot act as a mediator for us when it comes to the question of salvation.

After telling us Jesus was able to bring about purification from sin and sit down at God’s right hand, he writes, “Having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.” (v. 4). If Jesus was God himself, would this make any sense? He wouldn’t become superior to angels if he were God; he would already be superior. He wouldn’t inherit a better name than theirs; he would already have a better name inherent in him by his being God. Furthermore, if Jesus is God, why does the writer to the Hebrews need to go through such a process to prove Jesus is better than the angels (and the other things mentioned in subsequent chapters, for that matter)? If he is God, of course, he is better than the angels!

However, verse 8 still addresses the Son with the words “O God.” So, let’s think about the author’s intention in using this language.

Verses 8-9 together form a quotation from Psalm 45:8-9, one of a series of Old Testament quotations, which begins in verse 5. In using these Old Testament passages, the author intends to illustrate that God already spoke about the superiority of the Son; hence, each passage is introduced with something like “he says.” (vs. 5-8). Remember, he is concerned from the first verse of the epistle with the importance of God speaking, whether through messengers, angels, or in His Son. Instead of saying something like, “as the Psalmist wrote,” he is reminding us, “God himself already told us this,” which would add authority to the argument.

It is when we consider these Old Testament quotations up to verse 8 that we can have a better sense as to why he quotes Psalm 45 and refers to the Son as “God.”

The quotation is in Psalm 2:7:

We know from how this verse is quoted elsewhere in the New Testament that it does not refer to the birth of Jesus. In Acts 13:33, Paul says the verse was fulfilled in God “raising Jesus” from the dead. In other words, Psalm 2 refers to the exaltation of Jesus, which makes sense because the context of Hebrews 1 does refer to Jesus’ exaltation (v. 3-4). Hebrews 5:5 also quotes the same verse from Psalm 2, where the writer uses it to prove “Christ did not exalt himself to be made a high priest.” 

It is this exaltation theme that continues in the other quotations. However, first notice in Psalm 2 it refers to both Yahweh and the Messiah, “against the Lord and against his Anointed”. (v. 2). In Acts 2:36, Peter says, by virtue of his resurrection, “God has made him both LORD and Christ.” In Romans 1:4, Paul writes that Jesus “was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord.” Again, the principle to keep in mind here is Jesus’ exaltation.

That brings us to the second quotation in Hebrews 1:5, taken from 2 Samuel 7:14:

Hebrews’ reference to this verse is key for a couple of reasons. First, it refers to the promises given to the anointed king in the line of David—the Messiah or Christ. God promised David that his seed would be the Son of God, and of course, it all points forward to the Lord Jesus Christ.

However, Solomon’s initial fulfillment is important. Look at what David says of his son in 1 Chronicles 28:5-7:

Each element of the promise refers to Solomon, including the words quoted in Hebrews, “I have chosen him to be my son, and I will be his father.” If being the Son of God implies the Son is also God, then how do we account for Solomon also being the Son of God? 

In the next chapter, “They made Solomon the son of David king the second time, and they anointed him as prince for the Lord.” (1 Chronicles 29:22). As the anointed one, he becomes the Messiah, or Christ [the meaning of “anointed”]. Look at what happens next:

Here we see the exaltation of Solomon. He sits on “the throne of the LORD.” If we didn’t know this was Solomon, we might think the one sitting on Yahweh’s throne is Yahweh himself. However, this is a mere man who now points forward to Jesus in his exaltation. Remember, Jesus doesn’t even sit on Yahweh’s throne. He sits at God’s right hand.

The passage above also says Yahweh “made Solomon very great”—he was exalted. Yahweh also “bestowed on him such royal majesty” using the word hod, translated as “majesty.” This is a Hebrew word used consistently to describe the honor and majesty of Yahweh himself. For instance, earlier in the same book, David in praising Yahweh says, “Splendor and majesty are before him.” (1 Chronicles 16:27). In the same chapter Solomon is given this hod: David said, “Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty.” (1 Chronicles 29:11). Again, if we didn’t know it was Solomon, we might think that the one who sits on Yahweh’s throne with Yahweh’s majesty is God himself.

The following two quotations in Hebrews 1:6-7 are used to prove the inferiority of the angels. It is worth noting that the one from Psalm 104 says in the context, again using the word hod and speaking of Yahweh, “You are clothed with splendor and majesty.” (Psalm 104:1). 

All this leads to our main quotation from Psalm 45. Hebrews quotes the following verses from the psalm:

Verse 7, also part of the Hebrews quotation, answers verse 6. There, we read “your God” about the one referred to as “God” in the previous verse. So, the one called God has a God, which is very confusing if we conclude that the one reference in the Psalm is God Himself.

So, why is he called God if he is not God himself? 

First, note that verse 7 says, “God has anointed you.” Again, we are talking here about the Messiah or Christ. He is said to be “the most handsome of the sons of men” (v. 2), which confirms the Psalm speaks of a human being called “God.” The next verse says this:

Here again we have the word hod [splendor] which belongs to the gibbor [mighty one]. The fact he is anointed by God and has a throne (v. 6) tells us this is a psalm about a king. The Psalm goes on to speak of the king’s marriage to a princess, and could refer to Solomon himself, although the precise identification of the king is not material. 

What is important is the role of the king mentioned in verse 4:

These words follow the reference in verse 3 of the king having hod and tell us that it is manifest in things like faithfulness (“truth,” Hebrew emet), a fundamental characteristic of Yahweh himself (Exodus 34:6). In other words, the king is God’s agent, administering God’s will. This is what The New Interpreter’s Bible Commentary says on verse 6, where the king is called “God.”

Therefore, we can see why Hebrews uses the Psalm 45 quotation where the anointed king, the Christ, is called “God.” Previously, in Hebrews 1, we considered that the Son of God is better than the angels and prophets because God speaks in him, as he radiates God’s glory. Psalm 45, along with the example of King Solomon, teaches the same principles that the anointed of Yahweh is His agent, to show faithfulness and righteousness, shining forth with the hod of God’s glory. Therefore, it is right that he should be given the title “God,” just as much as any other agent of God, like Moses, or the Judges of Israel, who acted on behalf of Yahweh. It would be redundant to go through the process of the Old Testament quotations which establish his theme if Jesus was literally God himself.

Dave Jennings