250
ΠΡΟΣ ΕΒΡΑΙΟΥΣ ον
fol A -“ / Lal τῆς ὑποστάσεως αὐτοῦ, φέρων τε TA πάντα τῷ ῥήματι τῆς δυνάμεως αὐτοῦ, δι᾿ ἑαυτοῦ καθαρισμὸν ποιησάμενος τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν ἡμῶν,2
1 ΤΕ. in DCEKLM αἱ pler, d, e, Syrutr 47. 2 Omit μων with ΝΤ ΑΒΌΕἾΜΡ.
that “μὲ kingdom of the world is become the Kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ,” Rev. xi. 15. Cf Heb. ii. δ: But by His incarnation He came into touch with men and poured His life into human history, at once claiming and securing His great inheritance.
δι οὗ καὶ ἐποίησεν τοὺς αἰῶ- νας ‘through whom also He made the world,” “per quem fecit et secula” (Vulg.), «durch Welchen er auch die Weltzeiten gemacht hat” (Weizsacker). ‘*Secula et omnia in iis decurrentia” (Bengel). Weiss thinks it quite improbable that so pure a Greek writer should use αἰῶνας in the rabbinical sense as = “ world,” and he believes that the Greek interpreters are right in retaining the meaning ‘‘ world- periods”. But in xi. 3 it becomes obvious that this writer could use the word as virtually = κόσμος. ‘The thought of duration is never wholly lost in the Scripture use of αἰών, though in this place, and in xi. 3 it is all but effaced” (Vaughan). Cf. Schoettgen and McCaul. The writer perhaps has it in his mind that the significant element in creation is not the mass or magnifi- cence of the material spheres but the evolution of God’s purposes through the ages. The mind staggers in endeavour- ing to grasp the vastness of the physical universe but much more overwhelming is the thought of those times and ages and aeons through which the purpose of God is gradually unfolding, unhasting and unresting, in the boundless life He has called into being. Hewhois the end and aim, the heir, cf all things is also their creator. The καὶ brings out the propriety of committing all things to the hand that brought them into being. The revealer is the creator, Jo. i. 1-5. He only can guide the universe to its fit end who at first, presumably with wisdom equal to His power, brought it into being. [‘‘ Cette idée d’un étre céleste chargé de réaliser la pensée créatrice de Dieu est une idée philonienne; elle a pénétré dans le Judaisme sous I’influence de la philosophie grecque” (Ménégoz). It is true that this is a Philonic idea (see numerous passages in Carpzov, Bleek, McCaul and Drummond) but we may also say with
omit δι εαυτου with SRABDbHP, 17, 46”.
Weiss “" Die philonischen Aussagen . . gehoren gar nicht hierher’”’. Certainly Philo never claimed for a definite his- torical person the attributes here enum- erated.] For the Son’s agency in Creation see Johni. 2; Col. i. 15. Grotius’ ren- dering “ propter Messiam conditum esse mundum”’ is interesting as iliustrating his standpoint, but would require δι᾿ ὅν. Ver. 3. ὃς ὧν ἀπαύγασμα... .- “‘ Who being effulgence of His glory and express image of His nature.” The relative ὃς finds its antecedent in viw, its verb in ἐκάθισεν ; and the interposed participles prepare for the statement of the main verb by disclosing the fitness of Christ to be the revealer of God, and. to make atonement. The two clauses, ὢν . « « φέρων τε, are closely bound to- gether and seem intended to convey the impression that during Christ’s redemp- tive activity on earth there was no ken-
-osis, but that these Divine attributes lent
efficacy to His whole work. [On the difficulty of this conception see Gore's Bampton Lec., p. 266, and Carpenter’s Essex Hall Lec., p. 87] ἀπαύγασμα τῆς δόξης... ἀπαύγασμα may mean either what is flashed forth, or what is flashed back: either “ ray” or ‘“‘ reflection”. Calvin, Beza, Thayer, Ménégoz prefer the latter meaning. Thus Grotius has, ‘‘repercussus divinae majestatis, qualis est solis in παρε”. The Greek fathers, on the other hand, uniformly adopt the meaning ‘‘effulgence ’’. Thus Theodore: τὸ yap ἀπαύγασμα Kal ἐκ τοῦ πυρός ἐστι, καὶ σὺν τῷ πυρί ἐστι" καὶ αἴτιον. μὲν ἔχει τὸ πῦρ, ἀχώριστον δέ ἐστι τοῦ πυρός . . . καὶ τῷ πυρὶ δὲ ὁμοφυὲς τὸ-