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Bible Notes - Tabernacle Commentaries
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Hebrews 1:5
Comments
It is not contested that the quotations that follow refer to Jesus Christ, but the point is that they could never have been addressed to the angels, because they speak in terms which it would be entirely inappropriate to use of angels. We never read such language used of them anywhere in the Bible, and in this case the argument from silence is conclusive. Scripture could not so mislead us as to their status by this silence if they were in fact worthy of it. God’s word in its entirety teaches us about all we need to know, and we cannot go beyond it. The word of God is very careful and bears intense scrutiny of this sort.The words quoted from these two Old Testament passages are magnificent. The first is from Psalm 2, in which God answers human rebellion against his authority and against the authority of his Christ by simply declaring the irresistible decree that the Son of God will come into the world, that he will rule the nations, he will save a people for himself, and all rebellion will be utterly suppressed. But Christ is God equal with the Father and equally eternal, so why do we read in verse five ‘Unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee?’ Christ was never begotten, because as the Son of God he always was. Some people take these words and they say, This is from God's point of view and refers to an eternal day, but it's much more likely, given the context of Psalm 2 that it describes the incarnation of Christ. It refers to the day when the eternal Son of God was begotten into human form to become the God man. The one who is the Son of God is God and he has always shared the divine nature, but at the incarnation it is proper for the prophet to depict God as saying ‘this day have I begotten thee’. The reference then is not to Christ coming into being at some point in the eternal past, but to his coming into being as a man in the Christian era when he came into this world.The second is from 2 Samuel 7:14, where God confirms his covenant with David and promises to raise up a son for him and to establish David’s throne forever. In the course of those prophetic words God says through Nathan, ‘I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son’, and that is probably also predictive of the incarnation of Christ. This promise refers first of all to Solomon, but the terms of the prophecy go far beyond anything that was true of Solomon, and must be understood of Christ of whom Solomon was a type, and who alone could do justice to the glorious fulfilment of these promises. Again, this quotation refers not to the second person of the Trinity in his eternal past state, but to the incarnation and the coming into the world of the God man, Christ Jesus. The Lord Jesus in his incarnate form was still called the Son of God and spoke of his unique relationship with his Father (John 10:36) and his Father testified to his unique relationship with the Son (Luke 9:35). Christ was careful to distinguish between his own unique relationship with the Father and that of his disciples – ‘I go to my Father and to your Father …’(John 20:17). We speak of the Son of God as eternally begotten, but that does not refer to an event but to an eternal relationship without beginning. There never was [a time] when the Father was not the Father and when the Son was not the Son. But the Son of God is said to be begotten when he is sent into the world, and he receives this exclusive title at the incarnation, because he remains unlike all others. As the God man he is unique, and so he is singled out from every other being in Creation and pronounced to be supremely beloved of the Father. He is spoken of in his incarnate form, for it is as the incarnate Son of God, Son of Man, that alone we can know him. This is what is essential for mankind to know about him. As the Son, Christ loves his Father, obeys his Father, honours his Father. God the Father loves his Son, gives him his words, shows him all that he does, and keeps nothing hidden from him. But when was such exalted language ever used of the angels? When did the Father ever express such intimate connection with any angel? Though highly exalted and having great power, they are not said to be members of God’s family, but are servants in God’s house.
Application
We forget great passages like this, and great truths about the status and the eternal Godhead of our Saviour as if we were on our own. We are subject to troubles and pressures and we go to pieces. No, remember words like this that are so momentous and majestic. Read them two or three times, and think about them; take them in. Give a word of praise and worship to God quietly. Even as you read each great statement, because then these truths of Christ and his greatness and power and glory, really surround us and uphold us, no matter what we pass through.
Questions
Some feel – and there could be truth in this – that when the psalmist says, ‘Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee, it means in eternity past, and ‘this day’ is being used as a term to describe eternity. That is probably unlikely; it is a much sounder interpretation of Psalm 2 and rather more obvious to see it as predictive: it’s a psalm of prophecy about the incarnation of Christ, his being begotten in time. But the point is that the Son is already the Son even before he’s begotten in time, and Psalm 2 makes it clear, and so does this quotation.
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