How Is Jesus the Unique Son of God?

The opening verses of Hebrews contain some remarkable truths about Jesus, the unique Son of God. In fact, there are eight life-transforming truths we can learn about Jesus in these verses. Let’s see how these are unpacked in the Hebrews volume of the Bible Speaks Today commentary series.

The Majestic Christ

The letter to the Hebrews begins by asserting the greatest single fact of the Christian revelation: God has spoken to man through his word in the Bible and through his Son, Jesus. In Christ God has closed the greatest communication gap of all time, that which exists between a holy God and sinful mankind.

In many and various ways God spoke of old to our fathers by the prophets; but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He reflects the glory of God and bears the very stamp of his nature, upholding the universe by his word of power. When he had made purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.

Hebrews 1:1–3 (RSV)

Some first-century Jewish Christians had abandoned their faith because they no longer recognized Christ’s deity and equality with God. The author’s first task is to expound and exalt God’s Son. He reminds them of eight things about Jesus.

1. Jesus is God’s Prophetic Voice

It is naturally important in these circumstances for the author to emphasize the continuity of the Old and New Testaments. Christ does not break with the great Jewish past. He comes to bring it to fulfilment. Without him the Old Testament revelation is partial, fragmentary, preparatory and incomplete. God spoke at different times by different means. He used many and various ways. But in Christ he spoke fully, decisively, finally and perfectly. The first-century Christians must listen to him, the greatest prophet of all times. Ezekiel portrayed the glory of God, but Christ reflected it (1:3). Isaiah expounded the nature of God as holy, righteous and merciful, but Christ manifested it (1:3). Jeremiah described the power of God, but Christ displayed it (1:3). He far surpassed the best of prophets of earlier times, and these wavering Christians must listen to his voice.

‘Attending to the word’ is a key theme in Hebrews, especially in the opening and closing sections of the letter. These Christians cannot hope to press on to mature spiritual experience if they ignore, minimize or despise it. Christ is God’s greatest prophet with a distinctive message for these last days. His coming inaugurated a new era. In him the last days have most certainly begun; the phrase conveys the superiority of the message and the urgency of the times.

2. Jesus is God’s Son

Those Jewish Christians whose faith in Christ was faltering may have come to regard him merely as a good man, a captivating teacher, or an impressive leader. He was all that, but much more. He is the Son of God. The theme of Sonship is a recurrent one in this letter. We are here reminded of the message of the Son (1:2). Later passages discuss the superiority of the Son, his reign, mission, achievement, obedience, nature and perfection.

One interpreter of the letter’s teaching entitles his commentary Sonship and Salvation. It is an excellent reminder of this epistle’s leading ideas. Because these two ideas are inseparably united, apostasy is so serious and disastrous. Without the work of the Son there is no salvation. Those who deliberately and persistently spurn the Son of God (10:29) are inevitably exposed to spiritual atrophy. How can they possibly be brought to repentance when there is no salvation outside Christ? They have refused to walk in the only way ordained by God. They have opposed the truth revealed by God. And they have despised the life approved by God. How can man hope to be saved if he rejects the Saviour?

3. Jesus is God’s Appointed Heir

Christ was appointed heir of all things. Possibly this idea of the inheritance of Christ is drawn from Psalm 2:8, later to be used in the unfolding argument: ‘I will make the nations your heritage.’ But surely by describing Christ as ‘heir of all things’, he intends to convey to us the idea that the Lord Jesus will inherit not only this earth but the entire universe. The Son obviously comes into a rich inheritance. Moreover, in other contexts the New Testament says that believers share this inheritance. The seventeenth-century commentator John Trapp says, ‘Be married to this heir and have all.’

4. Jesus is God’s Creative Agent

The author takes his readers directly from Christ’s destiny in the future to his role in the beginning of creation. He is at pains to emphasize that the Lord we have trusted was no mere Galilean preacher. He shared actively in the creative work of Almighty God. It is all closely linked with the idea of inheritance; in other words, ‘what the Son was to possess he had been instrumental in making’ (Moffatt). Surely a Christ whose hands had shaped the universe and summoned the galaxy of stars into being could hold these Jewish Christians in days of testing and guide their steps through times of adversity. If the chaos before creation could be overcome, surely he could control their destiny and provide their immediate needs.

5. Jesus is God’s Personified Glory

For the Hebrew people the glory of God was a visible and outward expression of the majestic presence of God. When the law was given at Sinai ‘the glory of the Lord’ settled on the mountain. Likewise, the glory of God became manifest at ‘the tent of meeting’; it was a visible sign to God’s people of his continuing presence. Later, when the ark of the covenant was captured, the Hebrew people lamented, ‘The glory has departed.’ Now, says the author of this letter, in these last days this same glory has been seen in the person of Christ who reflects or is ‘the radiance of God’s glory’ (NIV). The word used (apaugasma) can mean either ‘radiation out from’ or ‘reflection back’.

These early Christians knew only too well that their non-Christian Jewish neighbours refused to acknowledge the deity of Christ. Wistfully, they recalled the great moments of their history when God’s glory had been manifest. Some may even have thought with pride about the Jerusalem temple, doomed to destruction in AD 70; surely the glory of God was manifest there in its ceaseless ritual and sacrificial cultus! But the author of this letter reminds his readers that nowhere has the glory of God been more perfectly manifest than in the person of God’s Son. In Christ all the majesty of God’s splendour is fully revealed.

6. Jesus is God’s Perfect Revelation

How can this writer impress upon his readers the message of Christ’s person? He insists that Jesus bears the very stamp of God’s nature. All the attributes of God became visible in him. The stamp vividly presents the picture of an image or superscription on a coin or medal. It exactly and perfectly matches the picture on the die. The verbal form of the word used here (charaktēr) means ‘to engrave’. In other words, if man wants to see God he must look to Christ. How could the first-century Jews, who were opposing these Jewish Christians, hope to know God if they were turning their backs upon Christ in whom God is perfectly revealed?

The terms used in this great introductory passage of the letter clearly expound the unity of Christ’s nature with the Father and yet maintain the distinction of his person. The word translated ‘nature’ (hypostasis) here describes the very essence and actual being of God. As Hughes points out, ‘the radiant light of God’s glory’ suggest ‘the oneness of the Son with the Father’ while ‘the perfect copy of his nature’ maintains ‘the distinctness of the Son from the Father’ though, as this commentator observes ‘oneness and distinctiveness are implied in each’.

7. Jesus is God’s Cosmic Sustainer

This letter’s introductory exposition of the superiority and adequacy of Christ moves on to its dramatic climax as mention is made of Christ’s present work in the universe. He keeps the planets in orbit by his authoritative and effective word of power. It is the author’s compelling way of emphasizing Christ’s equality with God. Every Jew passionately believed that Almighty God kept the entire universe in the hollow of his hand. He is not only creator but sustainer. Quite deliberately this is described as part of Christ’s present role. The word of authority which has been proclaimed by the Lord as prophet is the same word which holds the universe in order.

It is important for the writer to emphasize that Christ’s word is powerful and able to do what he determines. He speaks in the universe and what he commands is done. He has spoken in their hearts and what he demands can most certainly be accomplished whatever opposition and persecution they may encounter. In the strong hands of such a Christ they are eternally secure.

Possibly our vision of Christ is limited. We are in danger of confining him to our restricted experience or limited knowledge. We need a vision of Christ with these immense cosmic dimensions, a Christ who transcends all our noblest thoughts about him and all our best experience of him. These first-century readers would be less likely to turn from him in adversity if they had looked to him in adoration. The opening sentences of the letter are designed to bring them and us to our knees; only then can we hope to stand firmly on our feet.

8. Finally, Christ is God’s Unique Sacrifice

In presenting this impressive opening exposition of God’s Son, the author rightly emphasizes Christ’s work in redemption as well as creation. This is to become a central theme in his later exposition. At this point our attention is turned from who Christ is to what he did. Jesus is ceaselessly ‘the radiant light of God’s glory and the perfect copy of his nature’ (JB). He continously upholds ‘the universe by his word of power’. But when he gave himself up on the cross Jesus shed his blood once for all at a single point in time. No repetition of this saving act will ever be necessary, nor can anything that we do serve to procure our own salvation. Christ is God’s unrepeatable sacrificial provision for the greatest problem of mankind—sin. Our author explains that Christ’s saving death on that first Good Friday was a finished work.

Purification for Sins

This cosmic Christ effected such purification entirely alone. Some manuscripts emphasize this aspect of his sacrificial work with the words ‘by himself’. Whether this reading is original or not, the truth is certainly supported in a host of different contexts through the epistle. In his own person he did for sinful man what man could never achieve for himself. The law said, ‘Do this.’ It demanded man’s work. But Christ came and effected by his saving death man’s purification from sin. His message was, ‘Trust this.’ Man was urged to believe in Christ’s work, not his own. It was not to be achieved by the multiplicity of good works, but by Christ’s work.

Sat Down at God’s Right Hand

When this eternal work of purification was brought to its triumphant conclusion in the death and resurrection of Christ, our Lord sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high (1:3). The first readers of this letter were not likely to miss the implication of this statement and, if they did, its author was to press home its meaning in a later passage (10:11–12). The Old Testament priest’s cultic work had constantly to be repeated because it was only temporarily beneficial. But Christ ‘offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins’. The priest stood because his task was never complete. He could never hope to bring it to the moment of final achievement. Only Christ’s sacrifice could be eternally effective. He sat down to indicate that the work was finished. On that day when he bore our sins in his own body, he cried, ‘It is finished.’

He has ascended to the throne of God. The right hand is the place of special honour. This sacrificial, saving work is recognized and authenticated by God. He is given the seat of distinctive privilege. The Son who was humiliated on earth (12:3) is enthroned in heaven.

Whilst preserving the important truth of Christ’s essential humanity, this letter presents its readers with a revelation of Jesus in his matchless deity. He is the enthroned Lord, worthy of all our honour and worship. No wonder that, throughout the centuries, Christians have taken upon their lips the confession of a transformed doubter, released from his cynicism: ‘My Lord and my God.’

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