Hebrews 1:2 Archives » From Daniel to Revelation

Overview

The Bible consistently talks about God and Jesus as two distinct Persons. In other words, Jesus is not God. The Old Testament identifies God as the Creator. Jesus never claimed to be the Creator. He has always credited God with creation.

The New Testament adds that Jesus created all things but consistently describes God as the primary Creator and the Son as the Means through whom God created, for whom also everything was created (Heb 1:1-3; Col 1:15-17; John 1:1-3; 1 Cor 8:6; Rev 4:-11).

Since God created all things through His Son, His Son has always existed.

Discussion

God and Jesus are two distinct Persons.

The Bible consistently talks about God and Jesus as two distinct Persons. For example, at the beginning of every New Testament letter, the reader will find statements such as:

“Grace to you and peace from God our Father
and the Lord Jesus Christ” (Eph 1:2).

In other words, Jesus is not God.

The Old Testament identifies God as the Creator.

For example:

“In the beginning God created
the heavens and the earth” (Gen 1:1).

“Thus says the LORD … ‘I, the LORD,
am the maker of all things,
Stretching out the heavens by Myself
And spreading out the earth all alone’”
(Isaiah 44:24; cf. 42:5; 45:18).

As the capital letters indicate, “LORD” translates God’s name, YHVH, pronounced as Yahweh or Jehovah.

Jesus confirmed that God is the Creator.

Jesus never claimed to be the Creator. He has always credited God with creation. For example:

“Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning made them male and female” (Matt 19:4-6)?

Psalms 102 identifies God as the Creator, and Hebrews 1 applies that to the Son.

Psalms 102 identifies God as the creator of the earth and the heavens. Hebrews 1 applies those three verses nearly word-for-word to Jesus, implying that Jesus is the Creator God. [Show More]

However, Hebrews 1 also says God created all things THROUGH His Son.

Earlier in Hebrews 1, we read:

“God … in these last days has spoken to us in His Son …
through whom also He made the world.
And He is the radiance of His glory
and the exact representation of His nature,
and upholds all things by the word of His power”
(Heb 1:1-3).

These verses identify the Father alone as God and as the Creator while “His Son” is the Means “through whom” God created “the world.” This passage also describes “His Son” as “the exact representation of His nature” (Heb 1:3).

In Hebrews 1, the Son upholds the universe through God’s power.

In Hebrews 1:3, who “upholds all things?” (Heb 1:3)? The word “His” appears four times in Hebrews 1:1-3:

1:1 God … 2 in these last days has spoken to us in His Son … 3 He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power.

Since the first three “His”-phrases in these verses all refer to God, the fourth also refers to God. The phrase “upholds all things by the word of His power” thus means that “His Son” “upholds all things by the word of” God’s “power.”

Colossians 1 confirms that the Father is the primary Creator and His Son His Means.

Colossians 1:15-17 is very similar to Hebrews 1:1-3:

“His beloved Son … is the image of the invisible God …
by (Gr. en = in) Him all things were created …
all things have been created through Him and for Him.
He is before all things, and in (Gr. en = in) Him all things hold together.” (Col 1:13-17)

Both passages:

(1) Refer to the Father as “God” and to Christ as “His Son” (Col 1:13, 15; Heb 1:1-2).

(2) Identify the Father as the Creator and the Son as the Means through whom God created all things (Col 1:16; Heb 1:2). [Show More]

(3) Describe the Son as the Image of God (Col 1:15; Heb 1:3).

(4) Identify the Son as the Means through whom God holds all things together. [Show More]

(5) Say that everything has been created for the Son. [Show More]

The similarity of the two passages is quite remarkable. Perhaps Paul wrote both. But the main point, for the current article, is that God is the Creator while His Son is the Means through whom He created “all things.”

In John 1 also, God is the Creator but brought all things into being “through” His Son.

We find the same message in John 1. The first verse in the Bible reads:

“In the beginning God created
the heavens and the earth” (Gen 1:1).

John referred to that event when he wrote:

“In the beginning was the Word …
All things came into being through Him,
and apart from Him nothing came into being” (John 1:1-3).

“The Word” is Jesus (cf. John 1:14). “The beginning” was when all things were brought into being (cf. Col 1:16). In this passage, we again find that God is the Creator and that He brought all things into being “through Him” (John 1:3).

1 Corinthians 8:6 says we only have one God, the Father, who made all things.

This is a key passage because it is clear and concise, summarizing the principles above:

There is but one God,
the Father,
from whom are all things,
and we exist for Him;

And one Lord,
Jesus Christ,
By whom are all things,
And we exist through Him.

In this translation (NASB), all things are “by” the Son, which may give the impression that He is the primary Creator. However, the word in Greek is “di’,” which Strongs explains as “a primary preposition denoting the channel of an act, through.” (See Interlinear.) In Young’s Literal Translation, therefore, all things are “through” the Son. [Show More]

However, Trinitarians claim that this verse divides the words of the Shema between the Father and the Son, thereby including the Son in the ‘divine identity.’ For a discussion, see – the Shema.

The beings in heaven glorify God alone as the Creator.

Revelation 4 describes God’s throne room without Jesus present (Read Article). Jesus only enters the room in Revelation 5:6. While Jesus is still absent, the heavenly beings glorify God as the One who created all things. They:

“Will cast their crowns before the throne, saying,
‘Worthy are You, our Lord and our God,
to receive glory and honor and power;
for You created all things,
and because of Your will they existed,
and were created‘” (Rev 4:10-11).

Later in Revelation, in the context of the Mark of the Beast (Rev 13:16), a special message will proclaim that the Father, the Creator, alone must be worshiped (Rev 14:6, 7). [Show More]

Man had been created in the image of the Son.

The phrases “through Him” and “through whom” in John 1:3, Colossians 1:16, and Hebrews 1:2 indicate that God is the Creator, but He created all things through “His Son.” With this information, we can return to Genesis 1, where God said, concerning the creation of Adam and Eve:

“Let us make man in our image,
after our likeness” (Gen 1:26).

The next verse says that Adam was created in the image of God (Gen 1:27). This implies that, in verse 26, God spoke to His Only Begotten Son who, before His incarnation, “existed in the form of God” (Phil 2:6). And since God is invisible (Col 1:15), man was made in the image of the Son.

Conclusions

Since God created all things through His Son, His Son always existed.

Since God created all things through His Son, His Son “is before all things” (Col. 1:17). Since God even created time “in the beginning” through the Son, there was no time when the Son did not exist. He is “from long ago, from the days of eternity” (Micah 5:2).

Since God does not exist in time, there is no such thing as God’s first creation.

God created the universe and everything in it through His Son.

According to Hebrews 1:2, God made “the world,” but then verse 3 continues and says that His power upholds “all things.” “The world” in verse 1, therefore, means “all things.” Colossians 1:16 defines “all things” as:

“all things …
both in the heavens and on earth,
visible and invisible,
whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities.”

Therefore, the “all things” that God created through His Son include the universe and everything in it.. [Show More]

The Two Testaments

These verses contrast the two testaments:

What God spoke long ago in the prophets represents the Old Testament.

Son of man What God spoke in these last days in His Son refers to the New Testament, or perhaps more accurately, the Four Gospels.

The writer is saying with this contrast that the Four Gospels have a much higher authority because God spoke it in His Own Son, who is the heir of all things, through whom also He made the world and who still upholds all things (Hebrews 1:2-3).

Hebrews frequently quotes the Old Testament. It uses the Old Testament to show that the Four Gospels have a much higher authority. For this reason, the writer starts in Hebrews 1:1 by affirming the Old Testament as the Word of God.

Some Bible interpretations effectively classify the Four Gospels as part of the Old Testament, while the New Testament letters are used as the basis for Christianity. But Hebrews tells us that the four gospels are the foundation of the New Testament.

God Spoke

In these verses it is God that spoke; not the prophets and not His Son.

We should be amazed that the infinite and eternal God should speak to man; a speck of dust floating in the unending expanse of the universe. But this reflects His love for man; “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son” (John 3:16).

God exists outside the limits of space, time, and matter. If God had not spoken, we would have known anything about Him, and we would have floating around in this immeasurable universe without hope. But God has spoken, and we, therefore, do have hope.

The fathers include Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They are also the spiritual fathers of Gentile Christian believers (Rom 4:16; Gal 3:29).

Last Days

The phrase last days is commonly understood as meaning ‘recently’. However, Jesus said, His disciples believed and the entire New Testament—including Hebrews (Heb 9:26; 10:25, 36-37)—teach that the Lord is coming soon. The phrase “these last days” therefore indicates the writer’s belief that his generation was to be the last generation before Christ’s return. Please see Why did He Not Return in the First Century as He promised?

His Son

Even though Hebrews 1:2 says that God “has spoken to us in His Son”, the writer and his readers had not actually heard Jesus (Heb 2:3). They were second-generation Christians. Hebrews was written more than 30 years after Christ’s death.

The title “His Son” (Heb 1:2) signifies His unique relationship to God, just like the title “Son of man” designates His relationship to man.

Jesus as baby God created everything through His Son (Heb 1:2). His Son therefore always existed. To become a human being, His Son emptied Himself of glory, power, and even wisdom. He became a helpless human baby, had to develop like any other human being, and was utterly dependent on God.

The most wonderful event ever in the existence of mankind is that the Son of God should have come from heaven to teach mankind. But equally amazing is how few listened to Him when He was on the earth, and how few still regard Him today.

Conclusion

This letter to the Hebrews does not have an introduction as we would find in other letters. In Hebrews, the first three verses serve as an introduction, but also immediately confront the reader with the main theme of this epistle, which is the superiority of Christ, and therefore the higher authority of His message.

This is a summary.
To read the full article, see God Spoke.

Tag: Hebrews 1:2

God created all things through His Son.