3. Being (@v). Representing absolute being. See on J.i. 1. Christ’s absolute being is exhibited in two aspects, which follow:
The brightness of his glory (azavyacpa Tis ddEns abrod). Of God’s glory. For brightness rend. effulgence. ’Avravyacpua, N.T.° LXX, only Wisd. vii. 26. Class. It is an Alexan- drian word, and occurs in Philo.t Interpretation is divided between effulgence and reflection.t Effulgence or outraying
* Lightfoot, on Col. i. 16.
+ See De Concupisc. xi: De Opif. Mund. § li: De Plant. No. § xii.
t Effulgence is the rendering of the Greek fathers and of the majority of modern interpreters. The few instances of the word elsewhere give little help toward a decision, since in most if not all of them the meaning is dis- puted. The reader will do well to consult Theodoret on this passage ; Athanasius, Contra Arianos, Orat. ii; Origen on John xxxii. 18, and Hom.
382 WORD STUDIES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. (Cu. I.
accords better with the thought of the passage ; for the writer is treating of the preincarnate Son; and, as Alford justly remarks, “the Son of God is, in this his essential majesty, the expression and the sole expression of the divine light ; not, as in his incarnation, its reflection.” The consensus of the Greek fathers to this effect is of great weight. The meaning then is, that the Son is the outraying of the divine glory, exhibit- ing in himself the glory and majesty of the divine Being. “God lets his glory issue from himself, so that there arises thereby a light-being like himself” (Weiss). Ad&a glory is the expression of the divine attributes collectively. It is the unfolded fulness of the divine perfections, differing from Hoppa) Geov form of God (Philip. ii. 6), in that popd7 is the immediate, proper, personal investiture of the divine essence. Acka is attached to deity : wopd? is identified with the inmost being of deity. Adfa is used of various visible displays of divine light and splendour, as Exod. xxiv. 17; Deut. v. 24; Exod. xl. 84; Num. xiv. 10; xv. 19, 42; Ezek. x. 4; xliii. 4,5; i. 28; ili. 23; Lev. ix. 23, etc. We come nearer to the sense of the word in this passage in the story of Moses’s vision of the divine glory, Exod. xxxiii. 18-23; xxxiy. 5, 7.
The express image of his person (yapaxtyp tis troc- Tacews avTov). Rend. the very image (or impress) of his sub- stance. . The primary sense of imrdortaats substance is something which stands underneath ; foundation, ground of hope or confi- dence, and so, assurance itself. In a philosophical sense, sub- stantial nature; the real nature of anything which underlies and supports its outward form and properties. InN. T., 2 Cor. ix. 4; xi. 17; Heb. iii. 14; xi. 1, signifying in every instance ground of confidence or confidence. In LXX, it rep- resents fifteen different words, and, in some cases, it is hard to understand its meaning, notably 1 Sam. xiii. 21. In Ruth i.12; Ps. xxxvii. 8; Ezek. xix. 5, it means ground of hope: in Judg. vi. 4; Wisd. xvi. 21, sustenance: in Ps. xxxviii. 5; ee ee
on Jer. ix. 4; Chrysostom, Hom. ii. 2. See also Riehm, Lehrbegriff des Hebréerbriefes, 278, 300, 408, 412.
Cx. 1.] THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 383
Cxxxvili. 15, the substance or material of the human frame: in 1 Sam. xiii. 23; Ezek. xxvi. 11, an outpost or garrison: in Deut. xi. 6; Job xxii. 20, possessions. The theological sense, person, is later than the apostolic age. Here, substantial nature, essence. Xapaxtyp from yapdooev to engrave or inscribe, originally a graving-tool; also the die on which a device is cut. It seems to have lost that meaning, and always signifies the impression made by the die or graver. Hence, mark, stanvp, as the image on a coin (so often) which indicates its nature and value, or the device impressed by a signet. N.T.°. LXX, Lev. xiii. 28; 2 Macc. iv. 10; 4 Mace. xv. 4. The kindred ydpaypa mark, Acts xvii. 29; Apoc. xiii. 16,17. Here the essential being of God is conceived as setting its distinctive stamp upon Christ, coming into definite and char- acteristic expression in his person, so that the Son bears the exact impress of the divine nature and character.