The Pulpit Commentary — Hebrews — Section 15

ing 80 much from cnch other in C'.haracter But in itself, as it surrounds "the fnoa" or and stylo. He who appeRred in the world Goel, it is still invisible and unapproachable; as Christ is, i_n the first plll,('0, hero said ( as cf. John i. 18, •• No ml\n he.th seen God at by St. John 1. 3) to have beon the Agent any time: " 1 John i. 5, "God is Light;" of creation; cf. Col. i. 15-17, where the l Tim. vi. 16, " Dwelling in the light whioh original creative agency of "tho Son of no man can npproe.ch unto (4>ws a.1rp&a-,.-011), his love" is emphatica.llv set forth, as well whom no man hath seen nor can see." It es his being "the Head of the body, the denotes really, under the image of eternal, Church." 'l'his cognate passage is of weight self-existent, unnpproo.chablo light, the age.inst the view of interpreters who would ineffable Divine perfection, the eesenco of take the one before us as referring to the Deity, which is beyond human ken. "Sem- initiation of the gospel ages; with re- piterna ejus virtns et rlivinitas" (Bengel). Of spect to which view see also the quotation this glory the SoN is the a1ra,rya.a-µa.-o. word from Bull given below under ver. 3. Here not occurring elsewhere in the New Testa- -,-oh a1,;was is equivalent to "the worlds," as in ment, but used by the Alexandrian writers. the A.V. For though the primary meaning of The verb d1ra,rycf.(w means "to radiate," "to a1,:,,, has reference to time-limited in periods, beam forth brightness; " and d.1ra.v-ya.rrµa., or unlimited in eternity-it is used to de- according to the proper meaning of nouns note also the whole system of things co.lied so formed, should mean the brightness into being by the Creator in time and beamed forth-this rather than its reflec- through which alone we are able to con- tion from another object, as the sun's light is ceive \ime. "Ol a1w11,s, s=ula, pro rerum reflected from a cloud. So the noun is crests.rum uni.ersit.a.te est Hebraism us" used in Wisd. vii. 26, as applied to :1.04>la., (Bull) ; cf. eh. xi. 3, 1ta.-a.P7la·8a, -robs which is there personified in a manner sug- alwva< p71µ.a.-, e.oii: also l Cor. ii. 7, ,rpb gestive of the doctrine of the A&.,,or: ,,.;;,,, al,:,,,..,,, : and 2 Tim. i. !) ; Titus i. 2, 'A.-µls -ydp la--rl -r;js -rov 0eoii 8v11cf.µe01s Ha.I ,rpb xp&n.,,, cil,,,.,£w11. d1r&{,po,a. -r1)s -roi) ffa.l'T01<pcf..-opos llo{-11s d>..,. Ver. 3.-Who, being, etc. The participle 1tpwf1s ... c/.,ra.,rya.rrµ.a. -yo.p ltr-rl 4>,.,,,.b, a.i8lov." &>11-not ;,e11oµe11os, :i.s in ver. 4--0.enores (e.s And Philo speaks of the breath of lifo does still more forcibly i,1rcf.pxw11 in the breathed into man (Gen. ii. 7) as .-7), cognate passage, Phil. ii. 6) what the SON p.a1<0.plas Hal .-p,a-µ.a.,caplas 4>vrrevs a.,ra.{,-yaa-µa is in himself essentially and independently (' De Spee. Leg.,' § 11). As, then, the eradi- of hie manifestation in time. This tran- ated brightness is to the source of light, scendent idea is conveyed by two metaphori- so is the SoN, in his eternal being, to the cal expressions, differing in the metaphors Father. It is, so to speak, begotten of the used, but concUirent in meaning. The source, nnd of ono substance witli it, and brightness of Iris glory. The word 3o{a yet distinguishable from it; being that (transhlted "glory"), though not in classical through which its glory is made manifest, Greek carrying with it the idea of light, and through which it enlightens all things. is used in the LXX. for the Hebrew ,1::i:;i, The Person of the Son is thus represented, which denotes the splendour surrounding not as ofone apart from God, irro.diated by God; manifested on Mount Sinai, in the his glory, but as himself the sheen of his holy of holies, in the visions of Ezekiel, glory ; cf. John i. 14, " We beheld his etc. ; and regarded ae existing eternally !!:lory, the glory as of the only begotten of "above the heaYens" (cf. Exod. xxiv. 15; the :Father;" also John i. 4; i. 9. The above tl 34; 1 Kinga viii. 11 ; Ezek. viii. 4 ; is the view to.ken by the Fathers generally, Ps. xxiv. 7, 8, etc.). But the full blaze of and expressed in the Church's Creed, this glory, accompanying" the face" of God, 4>w< l1t cpw.-&s. And express Image of his even Moses wo.s not allowed to see; for no substance; not "of his person," ne in the man could see him and live. Moses was A. V. 'fhe Jntter rendering is due to the long- hidden in a cleft of the rock while the accepted theological use of the word v1ro- Loao's glory passed by, and saw only its a-.-a.a-« in the sense of personal subsistence, as outskirts, i.e. the radiance left behind after applied to each of the Three in One. Whnt the it had passed; hearin:? meanwhile a procla- Latine called persona the Greeks at length mation of the moral attributes of Deity, by a agreed to call hypostasis, while the Greek perception of which he might best see God ova-la. (equivalent to essentia) and the Lo.tin (Exod. xx.xiii. 18, etc.). Similarly in the substantia (though the latter word etymo- New Testament. There also, as on Sinai, Joo-ically correepouds with hypostasia) were in the tabernacle, and in prophetic vision, ns~d as equivalents in meaning. But it the glory of God is occasionally manifested was Jong after the apostolic age that this under the form of an unearthly radiance; scientific ueo of the word became fixed. as in tlie vision of the shepherds (Luke After as well as before the Nicene Council i"I. 9), the Tralll)figuration (Luke ix. 28, u,ia was sometimes used to denote what we etc.), the ecstasy of Stephen (Acts vii. 55). mean by person, and hypostaai, to denote dll, I, 1-14-. J 'tHE EPIS'l'LE TO 'l'HE HEBREWS. 5