Dipuy re ra rdvra 7% phuart rijg duve pews airod. After the descrip- tion of the person, the apostle returns unto an assertion of the power of Christ, the Son of God, and therein makes his transition from the kingly and prophetical unto his sacerdotal office; on all which he intends afterwards to enlarge his discourse.
He showed before that by him the worlds were created; where- unto, as a further evidence of his glorious power, and of his contin- uance to act suitably unto that beginning of his exercise of it, he adds that he also abides to uphold, or rule and dispose of all things so made by him.
For the explication of these words, two things are to be inquired after ;—first, How, or in what sense, Christ is said to “uphold” or rule “all things;” secondly, How he doth it by “the word of his power.”
®épwy is taken by expositors in a double sense, and accordingly variously rendered in translations. 1.Some render it by “ upholding, supporting, bearing, carrying.” And these suppose it to express that infinite divine power which is exerted in the conservation of the creation, keeping it from sinking into its ori-
Dipwye
VER. 3.] EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 101
ginal of confusion and nothing. Hereof our Saviour saith, “ My Father worketh hitherto,” gw; épr:, (or “ yet,”) “and I work;”. that is, in the providential sustentation of all things made at the begin- ning. “And this,’ saith Chrysostom on this place, “is a greater work than that of the creation.” By the former all things were brought forth from nothing; by the latter are they preserved from that return unto nothing which their own nature, not capable of existence without dependence on their First Cause, and their perpe- tual conflict by contrariety of qualities, would precipitate them into.
2. Some take the word to express his ruling, governing, and dis- posing of all things by him made, and (which is supposed) sustained ; and so it may denote the putting forth of that power over all things which is given unto the Son as mediator; or else that providential rule over all which he hath with his Father, which seems rather to be intended, because of the way expressed whereby he exerciseth this rule, namely, “ by the word of his power.”
The use of the word 9épw is not so obvious in this latter sense as it is in the former; as in the proverb, Ei divauor rijv aiya pépew, éxideré wor ty Body. But I see no reason why we should suppose an incon- sistency in these senses, and not rather conclude that they are both of them implied ; for as absolutely it is the same divine power and provi- dence which is exercised in the upholding and the ruling or dispos- ing of all things, so all rule and government is a matter of weight and burden. And he who rules or governs others is said to bear or carry them. So Moses expresseth his rule of the people in the wil- derness, Num. xi. 11, 12: “Thou hast put,” saith he, SW, “the weight” (or “burden”) “ of this people upon me; and thou hast said, NY bear” (or “carry”’) “them in thy bosom.” And hence from 8¥?, “to bear or carry,” is 82, “a prince or ruler;” that is, one that car- ries and bears the burden of the people, that upholds and rules them. To bear, then, or uphold, and to rule and dispose, may be both well intended in this word; as they are both expressed in that prophecy of Christ, Isa. ix. 6, “The rule” (or “ government”) “ shall be upon his shoulder,’—that together with his power and rule he may sustain and bear the weight of his people. Only, whereas this is done amongst men with much labour and travail, he doth it by an inexpressible facility, by the word of his power. And this is safe, to take the ex- pression in its most comprehensive sense.
But whereas the phrase of speech itself is nowhere else used in the New Testament, nor is gépw applied unto any such purpose else- where (though once gépéwevos be taken for “actus” or “ agitatus,” 2 Pet. 1. 21), we may inquire what word it was among the Hebrews that the apostle intended to express, whereby they had formerly been instructed in the same matter.
1. It may be he intended DB30, a participle from bp, “to sus-
102 AN EXPOSITION OF THE [CHAP. I.
tain, to bear, to endure,” as Mal. iii. 2. It signifies also “to feed, nourish, and cherish,” 1 Kingsiv. 7; Ruthiv. 15; Zech. xi. 16. épay re révre, that is, -2 °372, “sustinens, nutriens omnia, ’—“ sustaining and cherishing all things.” But this word hath no respect unto rule or disposal. And in this sense, as the work of creation is eminently ascribed unto the Father, who is said to make all things by the Son, so that of the preservation and cherishing of all things is here pecu- liarly assigned unto the Son. And this is not unsuitable unto the analogy of faith: for it was the power of God that was eminently exalted and is conspicuously seen in the work of creation, as the apostle declares, Rom. i. 20, although that power was accompanied also with infinite wisdom; and it is the wisdom of God that is most eminently manifested in the preservation of all things, though that wisdom be also exercised in power infinite. At least, in the con- templation of the works of the creation, we are led, by the wonder of the infinite power whereby they were wrought, to the considera- tion of the wisdom that accompanied it; and that which in the works of providence first presents itself unto our minds is the infinite wis- dom whereby all things are disposed, which leads us also to the admiration of the power expressed in them. Now, it is usual with the Scripture to assign the things wherein power is most eminent unto the Father, as those wherein wisdom is most conspicuously exalted unto the Son, who is the eternal Wisdom of the Father. And this sense is not unsuitable unto the text.