basicallyblues wrote:

much snipping
>
> Edgar Foster
>
> Hebrews 1:3-4

In Heb 1:3, we come to yet another thorny problem in the exordium of
Hebrews. .......Harold Attridge offers a perspicuous observation
regarding this issue, when he informs us that "the context of Hebrews
itself, where apaugasma is paralleled with 'imprint' (character), MAY
support a passive understanding of apaugasma, although that second
term [character] is not entirely free from ambiguity" (Attridge 43).


>In Heb 1:3, the Son is manifestly identified as the apaugasma
>(reflection or radiance) of God. The expression is similar to Paul's
>use of eikon tou theou in Col 1:15 and, furthermore, the phrase
informs
>us that as the image of God, Christ starkly resembles God

oh how subtly he slips in his editorial comment "starkly."

>and perfectly reflects his Father's matchless characteristics. He is
not,
> however, equal to his Father (Buchanan 7).

But where is the contextual exegesis to draw such a conclusion? In
point of fact Heb 1:1-4 is a single poetic unit and cannot be taken
apart piece meal to draw conclusion. There are point and counter
points that crescendo to "He is the radiance of His glory and the exact
representation of His nature." It then decrescendoes with contrasting
point opposite to those on the other side of the crescendo. If you
don't know Hebrew poetry and style, you would miss this. But after
all, this epistle is titled, "Hebrews." It must be interpreted via the
Hebraic mindset.

Again, there is no development of the word charaktEr: Christ is the
eikwn of God (Col 1: 15 ). Eikwn ("image") means more than mere
likeness or similarity. It includes the ideas of representation and
manifestation. [read Fritz Rienecker and Cleon Rogers, "A Linguistic
Key to the Greek New Testament", p. 567] This echoes Christ's own
words found in Jn 14:9, "He who has seen Me has seen the Father."
In Mt 22:20, eikwn refers to a ruler's image on the face of a coin.
Christ is described as the "radiance of [God's] glory and the exact
representation of His nature" (Heb 1:3), the image [eikwn] of God (2
Cor 4:4), and the One who existed in the very form of God (Phil 2:6).
As the "image" of God, Christ is the "great and final
theophany." [S. Lewis Johnson Jr., "Christ Preeminent," p. 13]
As the personal revelation of the living God, Christ is"the
'projection' of God on the canvas of our humanity and the
embodiment of the divine in the world of men.

Here is John's Logos. Not some Platonic synthesis. He took that which
was familar and used it in its true form even as Paul later did on Mars
Hill in reference to the "unknown God." We will never see God except
as He expresses Himself through the Logos. The Logos is God'