iii. TiM;i)i,or.lc.\L Imi"oi:t. — This rapid sketch may .suffice to give .some idea of the drift of this Epistle on its apologetic side. But our main concern is with its juisitive theological significance, to which we now turn.
It is important for a true appreciation of the theological ideas of the Epistle to keep steadily before us its central conception of Christianity as the perfect and fimd religion, both perfect and final becau.se it brings men really nigh to God. All re- ligions aim at this, Leviticalism included. Never- theless, it ha<l a veil dividing the taberuivcle into two compartments, and a most holy place into which no man might go .save the high priest, .and he only once a year, and then only with due pre- cautions. Christianity is the one religion that has really solved the problem. In tlie language of the Epistle it perfects the worsliipper its pertaining to the conscience (0^), or purges his conscience from dead works to serve the living God. It really takes aw,\v sin (10'), so that believers in .Jesus can draw near with true heart and full assur- ance of faith to the very pre.sence of (iod (10--). There can never be any reason for suiierseding .such a religion. Therefore Christianity is eternal. The einthet ■eternal' is applied many times to the Christian religion and all that belongs to it. We read of an • eternal salvation ' (5«), an ' eternal redemption ' (9'-), an ' eternal spirit ' (!>'■'), an ' eter- nal inheritance' (!)'^). and an 'eternal covenant' (13-»). It is clear from such iteration that the thought of the perennial, because jierfect. absolute character of Christianity is not incidental and sub- ordinate, but fundamental in the author's system. It dominates his mind and affects his manner of viewing everything belonging to the Christian faith. As it is absolute, perfect, the ideal realized.
HEBREWS, EPISTLE TO
HEBREWS, EPISTLE TO
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so are all tlu- persDiialitics and functions connected with it. The Christian revelation is the ideal realized in that department. It is (iod'.s final, because full complete word to men, to which nolliini; needs to be added. The Person by whom (idd spoke that hust word is perfect in Himself, and in His functions a-s Kevealer and Kedeemer. His sacrifice is perfect, and possesses eternal validity and vahie.
( 1 ) (JllltlSTOI.oa Y. — This general statement pre- pares us to find in the Epistle a very exalted con- ception of Christ. The first thouiiht about Him to which we are introduced, in the very tirst sentence, is tliat He stands to God in the relation of .Sou {in vi<}). It is observable tliat, in all the four com- ))arisous already referred to, the superiority of .lesus Clirist is made to rest on the foundation of l/is iSmisltip. That is why He is greater than the prophets as the assent of revelation. The Son- ship of itself guarantees a perfect, therefore final, revelation. The reason is tliat Sonship involves likeness and intimacy. To know the .Son is to know the Father, and the Son knows all that is in the Father's mind. In like manner the superi- iirity of Christ to angels is made to rest on His Sciuship. The Son is begotten ; angels, with all otlu'r creatures, are made ; the .Son a-s the heir of His Father is destined to sit on a throne and be an oliject of homage to tlie nniverse, angels not excepted. Therefore His wcn-d, as the Hevealer, claims more attention than that spoken by angels, with whatever solemn accompaniments, on .Sinai. So also Sonship raises Clirist above Moses, however great his character, and however epoch-making his function as the Leader of the Exodus and the organizer of a horde of slaves into a nation. Moses was the greatest in God's house, yet oidy greatest among .servants; Christ is not only greater, but belongs to another category, that of Son. Finally, Sonship is the ground of Christ's incomparable superiority to Aaron. Aaron, though an import- ant personage within the Levilical system, was after all but a sacerdotal drudge, ever performing ceremonies which had no real value : ' daily minis- tering and offering ofteutime tlie same sacrifices which can never take away sin' (It)")- But our great High I'riest is .lesusthe Son of Gnil (4'-'), who, a.s a Son, learned obedience through suffering (5*), and who after His 1'a.ssion, voluntarily en- dured, was, as the Son, ' consecrated for evermore ' (7-»).
These contrasts compel a lofty conception of Chri.sfs Person a-s the Son of God. Sonship taken in a diluted sense will not bear the argumentative stnss laid on it. Sonship must be taken in a unique sense, not in a sense common to Christ with men and aiigehs, or even in a sense applicable only to the great epoch-making characters of his- tory, the heroes of the human race. Wliy should Sonship m.ake Christ greater than the (irophets a.s agents of revelation, unless it be of such a character as to involve absolute likeness of nature and perfectly intimate fellowship? We know what the author of the Fourth Gospel means when he says, ' .\o man hath seen (iod at any time : the oidy-begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father, lie hath declared him.' The author of our Epistle must mean .something similar when he makes Sonship the ground of Christ's ability to speak the final .satisfying word of (iod to men. And he shows that he does, and that he desires his readers to put the greatest fulness of meaning into the expression iv vlif by the comment he immediately goes on to make, wherein he gives, at the onl.set, a statement of his Christological position. In Ibis statement he represents the .Son .Hs made by God the heir of all things, an attribute arising naturally out of the relation of Sonship,